What's Under The Hood?

It's been said that Trump is a car hood ornament. A big, flashy, garish hood ornament that now represents the GOP. He is its symbol. And when he speaks, the engine below him roars. He directs and the vehicle moves. So... what's under the hood? How is this engine constructed? Why has there been no change in the design of this vehicle since the 2016 version?

A simple answer is the engine is powered by "the 35%." These are the implacable and immovable supporters of the President. His base. No matter what he does or says, his support doesn't dip below this approval percentage level. And while this doesn't translate into good governance, it is an impressive phenomenon. And it is enough for him to be re-nominated and keep GOP politicians in line, no matter what happens.

So despite the car always pulling towards the shoulder, the shocks and suspension failing, and the wheels going all wobbly, there are no plans for a design overhaul. We know this because of the annual GOP Auto Show, also known as the CPAC.

The CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) is very much like a Car Show. It's where GOP politicians, operatives and activists gather every year to kick the tires of this year's model. It used to be the centerpiece showcase for mainstream Conservative thought. But over time, it has steered to the far right, pulling the GOP along with it. And over the last decade it has become a real freak show.

This is where Trump, Pence, the Cabinet, and other high-profile politicians appear for keynote speeches. Right wing media celebrities rile up the crowd. It's also where a world-class prank happened in 2017 (handheld Russian flags with "Trump" printed on them were distributed to the audience before his speech). This year there were no pranks. But weird stuff still happened. For example, when suggested by Pence that Trump's election had been divinely appointed, audience members stood and cheered, and some fell to their knees in praise of the Almighty.

For a deeply humorous look at the absurd shenanigans at this year's CPAC, here are a couple of quick pieces by Molly Jong-Fast. These were written for the conservative magazine, The Bulwark. They are both 2-minute reads. She is not conservative and she is great:

https://thebulwark.com/cpac-this-is-definitely-the-bad-place/

and

https://thebulwark.com/cpac-blexit-is-real/

Jeez, she is fun. By the way, her take on Oliver North is SPOT-ON. Now, if her observations make you wonder what the mainstream media thought of it all, here's the Washington Post's chief political reporter, Robert Costa:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/were-not-going-to-turn-on-our-own-republicans-rally-around-trump-as-threats-mount/2019/03/02/6b9786ac-3bb2-11e9-aaae-69364b2ed137_story.html?utm_term=.89fb646ee625

Yep, attendees like the 2016 - 2019 GOP model just fine. They especially appreciate the slight modification made that enhances the "Democrats are Radical Socialists who Kill Babies and Capitalism and Hate the USA and Jesus and Want MS-13 and AOC to Usurp Dear Leader" featured line of stable reasoning.

Let's get a little closer to the engine and have a look-see. The 35%, the Always Trumpers, are primarily GOP voters. As Henry Olson points out in his recent Washington Post article, over 80% of the GOP approve of Trump. This bumps to 93% of those who voted for him in 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/26/gop-is-party-trump-not-reasons-anti-trump-conservatives-think/?utm_term=.6c146378c33a

Olson makes some good points. The Four Pillars of the pre-Trump Republican party had been fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, business conservatives and moderates. Trump added a fifth column - the nationalist conservatives. It made the difference in the 2016 election.

But in 2018 midterms, he lost the moderate pillar. They are gone, prolly for good. And many fiscal conservatives sat it out, for the foolish Tax Cut and spending resolutions. This sounds kinda fatal, but they weren't much of a faction in today's GOP. But it was enough to lose the House in the largest turnover of Republican seats since Watergate.

So... why the determined allegiance to Crazy? Agreeing with debatable but legitimate policy goals are one thing (more conservative judges, an end to abortion, deregulation of environmental rules, etc.) but what about the toxic shit that imbues this administration? What about the constant lies? What about the bigotry and misogyny? What about the slide towards authoritarianism? Why accept his incurious mind and ditto-ism of Fox News opinion? What about this Kakistocracy? What about the ongoing grift? What about the gawdawful seditious relationship with Russia? Why the abandonment of bedrock Republican principles like Small Government, Personal Responsibility and Fiscal Conservatism? Why are so many willing to exalt this slimy guy as The Chosen One of God?

To believe Olson, Republicans are happy enough with new judges, millionaire tax cuts and deregulation of environmental rules to overlook the Big Mess. But at times, it seems like much of our country and fellow citizens have been seized by some kind of wild psychospiritual disease, "a parasite of the mind". It's like a contagion of the mind-soul, leading to a type of low-level and long-lasting mass hysteria. Like the fall of the Roman Empire, when its citizens too long drank from lead-laced water sources and gradually went off the rails.

Well, as Ronald Reagan once said, there are no easy answers but there are simple answers.

One major source of polluted political well waters is Fox News/Hate Radio. It's no accident that the rise of  the far right can be traced to 1987. That's when the Fairness Doctrine was repealed, negating the news and opinion broadcast requirement to present "both sides". Radio host Rush Limbaugh saw this opportunity to give 100% voice to his jaundiced and stilted opinions. AM radio stations across the nation picked up his show. It was cheap for them and filled time. And rural stations strapped for money and content loved it. So did their listeners. AM radio remains the preferred (sometimes only) mode in rural America.

Likewise, Fox News rose under these conditions. When Cable/Satellite providers were making their plays in the late 1990s, the role of providing access to rural areas was problematic. It was not especially profitable for news channels like CNN and MSNBC to get onto these rural packages. Sometimes they chose not to participate at all. The emerging Fox News broke through by offering rural cable/satellite providers a nice "per subscriber" payout that the others had not. Suddenly, Fox News was being carried everywhere!! They won the Market Share war and haven't looked back.

For more on how Fox News has affected political mindsets, check out this fine piece by Dylan Matthews at Vox:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/8/16263710/fox-news-presidential-vote-study

For a wider and more chilling look at how Fox News became the Propaganda Wing of the GOP, dive deeply into Jane Mayer's new article from the New Yorker that's been causing much excitement:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

TL;DR The result is a political party whose supporters resemble a Comments section from a Breitbart article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"Crossing The Swamp" George Washington would plotz!

It all leads to a wacky and warped lens on reality. Watch as a Trump rally attendee matter-of-factly suggests that the October pipe bombs that were sent to various Democrats were sent by these same Democrats:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1055988302749163520

OK, that is a special kind of indoctrinated dumb. Now let's get onto the next Simple Answer: Education!

One party is becoming more educated, while the other is actively working to disengage from higher education. One seeks to have College For All. The other is deeply suspicious of book-learnin'. This chart says it all:

This is an embarrassment. It should be read as a rout for Republicans. But it won't. To help explain why, here is a very fine piece from The Atlantic that delves into the big differences between parties regarding their appreciation of higher education:

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/11/education-gap-explains-american-politics/575113/

Yep. The highly-educated Republicans are leaving the party. They are the moderate "Never Trumpers". They may not become Democrats, but they aren't going back to the fold. Higher Education is becoming perceived by Republicans as Elitist and Liberal and Anti-American. It is accused of preventing conservative thought from being expressed. Meanwhile, public university budgets continue to be chopped while private for-profit and religious schools are being promoted.

This confluence of Education and Propaganda factors reminds me of "The Wave", a fictionalized account of a true story. Recently, the writer Larissa Alexandrovna tweeted about the ease of getting people to follow a person or movement that turns out to be Fascist in nature. Here is her thread:

https://twitter.com/larisa_a/status/1095350968961679361

And here is a trailer for the documentary of that real-life experiment, "Lesson Plan":

Yes, it is a chilling thing to consider. Another similar work from the 1930's, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis, seemed like a fantasy restricted to the Huey Long era of U.S. history. It couldn't happen now, right? Right?

Strip away the bigoted resentment of many GOPers for the economic gains made by immigrants and POC, and you're left with something John Lennon would recognize. Millions of citizens struggle to just to get by on pennies and promises while they watch "the Elite" carry on without them. It ticked him off mightily, too. Here's the most powerful song ever written, "Working Man's Hero" as performed, lovingly, by Green Day. That last line, man... every damn time I hear it I get all verklempt when he's brought in. Yes, I'm a big softie. And I believe JL would have approved of this version with enthusiasm. A classic.