Trumpism

by | Nov 19, 2021 | Editor's Blog | 9 comments

At a news conference recently, a reporter asked Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “Why is it that the only thing Republicans punish their own members for is speaking out against Donald Trump?” The question came after all but three Republicans refused to censure Rep. Paul Gosar after he posted an animated video of him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Yet, just a few months ago, those same Republicans stripped Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership position for insisting that we find out the truth about January 6. The Wyoming GOP also voted not to recognize her as a Republican. She had drawn the ire of her party for voting to impeach Donald Trump.

This is Trumpism, to answer the question of one frequent commenter on this blog. It’s an unquestioning loyalty to Donald Trump and putting his political well-being above the well-being of the country as a whole. In essence, it’s rejecting accountability. Republicans can do and say anything without consequences–except criticize the former president. Much of the Republican Party has succumbed to this cult of personality.  

The only Republican held accountable for anything in recent years was former Rep. Steve King who was stripped of his committee assignments after years of racist comments. King threatened to hurt Republicans’ electoral chances by reinforcing criticism that the party tolerates racism. That was the sin more than the comments themselves.

Other Republicans get passes that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking and having sex with an underaged girl. The Republicans stood by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene despite her views supporting executing Democrats and peddling Qanon and other conspiracy theories. Almost the whole GOP caucus opposes investigating the assault on the Capitol. The former party of personal responsibility no longer believes in accountability unless the offense is directed toward Donald Trump. That’s Trumpism.

The shift toward cultish authoritarianism has been rapid. In 2015, if you had suggested that Republican Members of Congress would block an investigation into an assault on the Capitol that left members in locked down secure locations, resulted in the deaths of several people, and led to vandalism of the building and the occupation of Congressional chambers, the GOP would uniformly dismissed those accusations as hyperbole. Today, they are fact.  That’s Trumpism.

9 Comments

  1. cocodog

    Several lawyers have been disbarred, folks associated with Trump have gone to jail or are awaiting trial, the Jan 6 gang are either doing time or awaiting trial, or on the lamp, huge judgments have been handed down against folks who were involved with Trump. Yet, Trump resides in a plush estate, plays golf, and enjoys the benefit of contributions from folks that view him as the real president. A great sting if he can continue to pull it off. He really is the boss of bosses.
    Meanwhile, folks whose lifestyle is nowhere near what he has going are sending their contributions to cover hiss expenses, even the GOP kicked in for part of his attorney fees to cover legal costs for actions such as the New York investigation into his company’s business practices that originated before he became president. The Taxpayers are paying him millions for the Secret Service to stay at his plush golf club. Although, he is unable to use Air Force One to haul his tail around, the Taxpayers are paying for protection wherever he may choose to go. Moreover, charges for his presence at a political event. Trump is doing what he does best, living off other folks’ money. Yet folks forced vaccinations that could save their lives and lives of others the big issue. Go figure on that one!

  2. Phoenix

    Funny . I think the same of you!

  3. cocodog

    Tom, one of the clearest and most comprehensive definitions and application to the crime of Trumpism, I have ever read. Every element is there and your application to the facts is outstanding.

  4. Rick Gunter

    I never thought I would live to see what has happened to one of our two political parties. What is wrong with people? I can understand that not everyone would agree with me on any number of policy issues, from Social Security to gay and lesbian rights. But when what once was a major party sells out to a thug who cheated his way into the U.S. presidency and operated as a mob boss once there with help of our most ardent enemy, well, enough already.

    These are not normal times. I sense in my rural Virginia that people think or pretend these are normal times. We remain in a national emergency. Adding to the flames is the fact that too many of us don’t understand that our democracy is hanging by a tenuous thread.

    I am unsure if any calamity would wake up these people. This is why those who understand the threat that engulfs us need to work like the dickens to save the country from the anti-democratic cultists.
    How any America could vote for a Republican next year is a total mystery to me. Such a vote represents a blow to democracy.

    Every GOP candidate from the doghouse to the White House should be asked their views on Trump and democracy. Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen? Do you plan to support the nullification of the next presidential election if it does not go your way? What are your views on Mr. Trump? Why do you support a two-time impeached president? Do you believe the January 6 incident at the U.S. Capital was a hoax or an insurrection?

    You get my drift.

    I have this quote (from me) on my business card:

    “Don’t let democracy die in darkness — or in broad daylight.”

    • Phoenix

      A bit over wrought don’t you think? And in fact if you look at the injection mandates happening right now and how The fed gov is forcing companies to toe the line or else. Its absolutely fascist. Not the rhetorical “fascist” the Democrats throw around but real authoritarian fascism.

      You guys better look closer to home you’ve got fascist problem. Its not the Republicans It the Crownd running the show right NOW. If you’ll admit it anyway.

      The “insurrection was nothing of the sort. I’ve opined on that many times. The main concern I see is that the LAST thing the fed gov ever wants to see is people protesting in the street that Actually have something to lose (For instance older white conservative males) because its precisely these people YOU DON”T SEE PROTESTING EVER, ( as opposed to young liberals who protest at the top of a hat) This means you have pissed off the wrong guys, and they are so mad that are putting it all on the line. and likely they are in the street for PRINCIPLE which is not easily put back in the bottle, (unlike emotion that is) The problem is that thet are mad and likely going to STAY MAD until whatever offends their principles is stopped. (not easy to do)

      Also Pelosi et. al were embarrassed that an ad hoc group could stroll right into their sacred spaces so easily. They are weak everyone always knew it, these guys just showed it.

      Tyrants don’t like to be embarrassed. So they lose their minds over it.

      No one is afraid of Pelosi et. al. and she does not like it.

      In short they had their feeling hurt and were scared

      Too bad.

      after 2022 midterms unless there is a ton of cheating. The Dems will thankfully be out of power for a decade or so. Probably going to lose the house and Senate I don’t see any Democrat who stands a chance in 2024 so likely they will lose the white house too.

      Then hopefully they can learn how to be Americans again. Because this current crop is a mess. As a former Democrat I suggest forcing the progresives into their own party. Because I can’t go where they want to go.

      And hopefully, although I doubt it very much The Republicans can right the ship and get the country moving the the correct direction. Even 75% of DEMOCRATS agree Biden et. al have us going the wrong way.

      • Jay Ligon

        In May 1940, German troops overran Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France in six weeks starting in May 1940. On July 10, 1940, the Vichy regime was established following the French surrender to Germany. French loyalists resisted the occupation by fighting guerrilla battles against the Nazis while the Vichy government helped the Nazis administer the repression of the people of France. Vichy officials chose to obey Hitler’s demands to crush their fellow countrymen. Even though the Vichy were mostly French, they worked with the enemy and against the interests of France. The conquered French despised the Vichy regime whose officials later paid a dear price for complicity with the enemy.

        Today’s Republican Party is divided into two factions. There are psychopathic Republicans who know the truth but prefer to lie to their constituents and the rest of America. They relish the psychological warfare they wage against Democrats and the Americans. State legislatures under Republican control pass laws, many illegal or unconstitutional, to demonstrate their power. They use taxpayer money to fund scams like the Qanon vote counts.

        The psychopaths concoct lies about the ineffectiveness of the vaccines which stamp out COVID. They sell the repeated Big Lie that Trump’s loss to Joe Biden was caused by inaccuracy or deliberate manipulation of vote counting in the states. Trump lost because he was an unpopular loser. Republican psychopaths invent messages about why they support the White Supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, Qanon, and the Insurrectionists, who attacked the American Capitol on January 6. The easiest, least costly political statement a politician could make would be: Nazis are evil and anti-American. Psychopaths support Nazis even when they murder unarmed people.

        Psychopaths organize meetings to strategize about ways to support the movement to undo our Constitution and to strip Americans of their rights under the Constitution. They organize Trumpers to “audit” elections and to declare all elections in which Republicans were defeated invalid.

        The psychopaths lead the GOP. They know better but they have bathed themselves in lies and relish the chaos and lawlessness that puts the nation on the road to ruin.

        They supported the murder in Charlottesville and the murders and beatings of law enforcement in Washington, DC, on January 6. They do not speak ill of the Republican criminals who try to overturn our institutions. They adopted violence as a tool to deploy against other Americans. They only speak ill of the defenders of honesty, the needs of Americans, and our democratic values. The psychopaths, the leader of which is Trump himself, discard all truth when it is an obstacle to their need to dominate Americans. Their cult members and blind followers do not question their lies and disinformation. They follow. They are the Vichy Republicans.

        These are the Republicans who may privately wish their party weren’t so dishonest, but many of them aren’t educated enough to know they are being lied to. They may even believe the ridiculous. They mistakenly believe their Party to be pro-American, but they do not understand what it means to be American. They do not understand the world around them. They replace devotion to our country with hatred of others.

        They would like to see the rickety bridges and the potholes on their streets repaired, but not enough to vote for them. They vote against their constituents’ desires and lie as they cut the ribbon to the new airport or new bridge. They need those checks from the billionaires, Big Pharma, and the NRA.

        They are afraid. It is easier for them to turn on their voters, and allow them to die from a preventable pandemic, or allow the infrastructure to collapse, or allow the economy to suffer as it did under Trump and Bush than to help people who need representation. They stab their supporters in the back. They see the misplaced anger against liberals, democrats, and law enforcement as cover for their malignant party’s corruption. As long as the uneducated continue to fight the wrong battles, Vichy Republicans will keep their seats.

        There was an opportunity in the Vichy government for ambitious people who could not advance in life by being pro-France. They somehow reconciled their actions for ignoble reasons. The vast majority of Republicans have fallen into line because they see the power in their lies and they pay no price for it. They would like to support America, but they feel that they can’t. To be honest might cost them a small duchy, their seats in Congress. So they fill the Congress with the stench of cowardice and the nation with disease, not just COVID but with the disease of anti-Americanism.

        Both the psychopaths and the Vichy are important cogs in the machinery of undoing America by betraying its people.

      • cocodog

        Phoenix, when I initially read your comments, I got the impression you needed to work on Grammar, Spelling and Conciseness. But I was wrong. Understanding US History, Basic Constitutional principles and Common human decency appear to be your major weakness. You might spend a little time reading the Bible or the guiding principles of whatever faith you follow. Comprehension also appears to be a little week.

  5. Jill McCorkle

    It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Thank you!

  6. phoenix

    Finally. Thank you!

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