Back in October 2016 just after the release of the "grab her by the pussy" tape, Ms. Blogger asked how could the Republican party politicians stick with a person like Trump. I responded because he has a strangle hold on the Republican base. I was right and he still does, arguably now even more so.
We have all encountered the Trumpian tribe via friends, family or social media. Deep into his one term presidency, Trump has pursued an unwavering strategy of stoking the resentment and grievance which energize this tribe. The tribe appears utterly resolute in its loyalty at this point. I see decreasing efforts on tribal or non-tribal members to engage at this point. We all appear to have settled into a mutual disdain. I have no doubt that Trump could literally do as he bragged and shoot someone and his tribe would not waver. The opinions of the non-tribal members especially someone like say me are not only not of interest but vociferously resented.
That said I mention his one-term presidency as I firmly believe (putting aside voter suppression and who knows what other chicanery may emerge around the election) that Trump is steering his party into a box with no exit door. It is no more complex than a feverish base comprising 30% of the electorate can dominate primaries and even drive our national government (whilst abetted by cynical allies) but ultimately in a remotely fair general contest 30% is not sufficient. As the following article covers, there is no room in the current iteration the Trumpian party for dissent else its adherents will tune out or turn on the less slavish Republicans leaving them in no mans land electorally.
From Rolling Stone:
"…while pockets of Republican resistance have
roasted Dear Leader, elected officials in D.C. and...the
consultant class have remained steadfast…
These swamp creatures were never the biggest Trumpers in the first
place…So why, as Trump’s numbers plummet, are these establishment RINOs
continuing...to protect someone who is politically faltering...
I reached out to…former allies and rivals who still consult for Republican candidates at the highest levels of Senate and House races... I asked them to speak candidly…How is the president’s performance impacting their candidate?...And finally, why in the hell aren’t they more pissed at this incompetent…
…their answers were one part Stockholm Syndrome, one part survival instinct. They all may not love the president, but most share his loathing for his enemies on the left, in the media, and the apostate Never Trump Republicans with a passion that engenders an alliance with the president, if not a kinship. And even among those who don’t share the tribalistic hatreds, they perceive a political reality driven by base voters and the president’s shitposting that simply does not allow for dissent…
…in 2006, Republican candidates could strategically distance
themselves from an unpopular president without facing a mutiny within the
ranks. That won’t work in 2020…“There are practical realities — we ran a bunch
of red district primaries, and it would come back that the number one issue for
80+% of Republican primary voters was loyalty to Donald Trump. I’m not
making that number up,” a respondent told me.
Several consultants pointed to the situation that Sen. John Cornyn faces in Texas to illustrate the problem. They indicated that internal polling shows Trump either tied or very slightly ahead in the Lone Star State…Cornyn’s “quietly in trouble.” But rather than addressing this by creating some strategic separation from Trump to solidify the historically conservative Dallas and Houston suburbs where Trump is bleeding out, Cornyn has become a Mr. Trump fan girl, echoing his virus denial and defending the attack on nonviolent protestors in Lafayette Square.
Why? According to one: “You have 25% of the state is
rural and Trump gets like Saddam Hussein level numbers here. 87% in 25% of the
state…
This same calculus pervades no matter the race, no matter the
district, no matter the geography: The operatives insist that the pro-Trump
zealotry the president’s supporters demand makes it far more difficult for
candidates to win over anyone else…
…The idea of separating from Trump is so verboten in GOP circles that
the best consultants won’t even talk about talking about doing
it in mixed company, for fear of being stigmatized, and thus losing potential
client work on other campaigns.
…Trump “sucks the oxygen out of the room from every other
candidate” to such a degree that you “can’t run independent of him,” as one put
it.
…’We haven’t worked for anybody who seriously thinks the guy has it all together,” said one consultant.
But what I found was that, underneath that surface level eye-rolling at Trump and hat-tipping to the record on judges, there was an emotional alliance with the president that is deeper than they might let on in mixed company. A compartmentalization of the badness of the orange man, set aside in favor of a deep and visceral hatred of the president’s enemies…”
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