The New, Bullying Breed of Republican That Inspired Mark Robinson

by | Dec 6, 2021 | Politics | 8 comments

With their cultural power in steady decline, the evangelical movement has shifted its efforts into the one arena of American life in which it still reigns supreme: politics. White, conservative evangelicals dominate the American political scene despite their minority status in the national population, due to a political system that was designed hundreds of years ago to privilege a propertied minority over other American citizens. The evangelicals, consumed with panic over their diminishing cultural hegemony, have assumed an ultra-combative stance in politics, and the politicians who attract their support happen to reflect this penchant for political aggression.

Thus, the leading Republican politicians of the day tend to be bullies with a keen sense of how to provoke the media and the Left. The beau ideal of this political archetype is Donald Trump. Never before in American history have we seen a politician with his ability to manipulate and exploit the news media to build political momentum and destroy enemies. Trump’s influence continues despite the loss of his Twitter feed, and will receive rocket fuel when he resumes campaigning for president, as it seems likely he will.

From Trump, the Republicans have grown a crop of “Mini-Donalds,” lesser Trumps who utilize his playbook for antagonizing the media and “owning the libs.” Governors Ron DeSantis, of Florida, and Gregg Abbott, of Texas, are instructive. Both of these men provoke constant battles with reporters and Democrats, eschewing substantive governance for high-profile cultural confrontations over identity and public health. In so doing, they have branded themselves as “fighters” and allowed their adoring supporters to experience the rush of combat through watching their governors fight.

An important aspect of all this is gender. I try to avoid jargon in my writing, but the academic concept of “hypermasculinity” is absolutely essential in understanding the new breed of Republican bully. With virulent intensity, these exclusively male politicians deploy the worst excesses of American masculinity to bludgeon and subjugate the people their followers hate. It’s one part George Wallace and one part “Scarface.” The GOP is an increasingly male-dominated institution, and not only that but a party dominated by men anxious about their place in a society where women are ascendant. Fragile, toxic masculinity is central to the authoritarian brand.

Which brings us home to North Carolina. The most prominent Republican in our state, by far, is Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. And if Abbott and DeSantis are mini-Trumps, Robinson is a two-bit demagogue aspiring to that status. He combines brash aggression with the mastery of electronic media that, after all, launched his political career. In addition, he flaunts his bigotry at every opportunity. He’s even expressed disdain for rape victims. Gregg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, and Donald J. Trump embody the zeitgeist in national Republican circles. In North Carolina, Robinson seeks ascension to their pantheon.

8 Comments

  1. Richard+Bilsborrow

    Phoenix, you show who is ignorant, Besides flouting your own misogyny and racism, you belie your ignorance in misspelling cemetery, where sadly many of your likely fellow anti-vaxers are ending up, sadly bring along many innocent people who have received their socially-responsible vaccinations.
    You don’t have a clue about what democracy really means or what it really is to be a normal American citizen.

    • phoenix

      You assume too much

  2. Lee Dennis

    “a society where women are ascendant.” I like that: an astute observation, and a nice turn of phrase.

  3. Phoenix

    You, Just as your boss Mr. Mills. Have absolutely no understanding of what is going on at all. I’ve never seen a group that goes on about how worldly,learned and intelligent you are and yet be so absolutely obtuse as the same time.

    Is there gravity where you guys live, or do you all just fly around?

    After 2022. (unless there is a ton more of the normal Democrat cheating like the cemataries voting etc..) the Democrats are going to hopefully have a VERY VERY VERY long absence from power. Hopefully multiple decades. One hopes that during this time and the requisite reflection and meditation The left will get a clue and remember what it is to be an American, and what American’s actually WANT not what you deign they NEED or how you FEEL they should live, but what they actually want from THEIR GOVERNMENT acting as their SERVANT.

    Hopefully after your long rest and reflection ( and the death of you communist and progressive wings) you’ll understand that they want very little from their government. In the mean time don’t get all judgey and moody and lash out and start burning things as you are wont to do.

    Thankfully You and Mr. Mills are not leading lights of the left (If there is any light at all frankly) Because if this pablum is what passes for insight. Its going to be a long winter of discontent on the left.

    Please feel free to have an internecine civil war among yourselves and wipe out your own factions though. I only ask that you be COMPLETELY thorough (details are important) and just leave the rest of us out of it.

    I’m just thankful that liberal tears are delicious!

    Good luck.

    • FlyAway

      I don’t understand you at all. I’ve noticed that you have negative comments on every single article posted by Politics NC, so why do you read it? Just to get your dander up and have something to rage about. And what I’ve read in your posts is a willful ignorance that only continues to divide – WTH is transgender rape – not a thing in any bathroom anywhere in NC, LGBTQ porn pushed on kids – that’s laughable, And point to any evidence of any vote cast by a dead democrat.

      The snowflakes on the right complaining about cancel culture and continuing to subsidize business at every turn. I’ll stick with the Democrats who actually give a darn about people in this country other than white straight males.

      • Phoenix

        In some alternate reality I hope to actually help the Democrat party. Because they are so obtuse. And I like for them to be more than the flighty old aunt that who is really nice but can’t be trusted with her own affairs because she won’t take her medication. So she boils the cat and vacuums the shower!

        I also read here because I read everything. I don’t silo myself.

        Also I hope that we can also get back to the ideal that we can talk to each other

        Its difficult because in 99% of democrat venues you get banned. KOS, Slate, DU, Blue, NC, Reddit etc. Don’t want ANY diversity of thought, unless its LEFTIST thoughts. So you can talk take policy ONLY FROM A DEM viewpoint leave that and YOU ARE GONE! This does not exist on the right. They will talk to anyone about anything (just about)

        Plus a lot of the stuff her is ludicrous and it can be fun to make fun of the absurdity sometimes.

        Hey I’m a cheap date 😉

    • Laura Reich

      So you prefer to live in an autocracy.

      • phoenix

        In anything I’ve said how do you get that?

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