Alternet - that’s a deep cut!
That article is hilarious, all those hand-wringing Republicans worried about a Trump win and what it could do to the party! Oh, my sides! If it were dated September 4, 2016, I’d have some sympathy!!
And they think the “Republican” party - whatever that is - is going to rebound in time to win in 2028!! Pull the other one! It’s like they have no idea where they’ve been, what they’ve done, where they are and where they are going - which is straight into the shitter. They don’t even expect that there will be a fatal fracturing of their party, post-Trump loss? They think MAGA is going to give them their party back or that, so-called “Evangelicals” - I mean, who the fuck are they? Seriously? Isn’t that now just another identifier for MAGA that the media uses to make them sound like somebody rise and that Trump’s support is more expansive than it is, who are “Evangelicals”?? - but anyway, aren’t going to lose faith in the party once Dobbs is rolled back by the federal legislature? What, do they think Ted Cruz will top their ticket in 2028 and ride it to success?
Trump is a failed, wannabe authoritarian loser. And we’re lucky for that. We should consider ourselves lucky. Because make no mistake - there is a substantial authoritarian movement afoot in our country. But they have been exposed and are in the process of being dismantled. This is Trump’s last shot and there’s already talk and expectation that he will run again - which is hilarious because one thing this election season has done is firmly set the age limit for the Presidency at a hard 80 - and that will likely fall to 75 in future cycles. But that’s what that party will have to contend with - getting rid of Trump first, even after an electoral disaster.
But they were lucky too because Trump emerged - for some, not all, never a majority - as a fake authoritarian figure on TV. He was always fake, he could only ever fake it and it was packaged for him. But it was the power of that medium that made him a suitable authoritarian figure. And where are they going to get that? DeSantis failed miserably, though is likely still nursing ambition. If Harris wins Florida - a total long shot - that would further quell his ambitions, having lost the state. You can watch in real-time the negative appeal of an authoritarian state lackey like Vance has on the electorate - imagine if he was at the top of the ticket???
Trump was definitely like a once in a generation opportunity for the authoritarian movement in our country. And it’s going to take them some time to locate a suitable replacement - it’s more like a Haley’s comet kind of thing. They certainly aren’t going to find him in the next two years. And in the meantime, their party, such as it is, will just splinter into nothing. They don’t even mention the down ballot races in that article which is just the pipe dream of some Never Trumpers, longing for the old days, absolutely clueless to the fact that that GOP no longer exists - and was the cause of and allowed for Trump. Because make no mistake: they were trying this authoritarian thing on during the Bush years. It was comparatively stealth - or was it? - but that’s what they were up to then, barely acting within the law, sanctioning torture, manipulating the country into war - we were definitely on our way to at least an “illiberal democracy”. So, it’s not like there’s anything of worth to go back to, no golden oldies. 2028?? lol
