— Clayton Cubitt (@claytoncubitt) March 17, 2016
For your reading pleasure, Molly Ball at the Atlantic on “The Final Stage of Republican Grief”:
There are times when you can look at Donald Trump, presidential candidate, and almost see something normal. Or certain Republicans can, anyway. Newt Gingrich—the former speaker of the House, a man who has spent his life seeing things others could not—can.
“Here you have a guy who is talented enough to come from a standing start and dominate every poll, who has won state after state, who dominates the media, who has brought thousands of Democrats and independents into the party,” Gingrich told me, referring to primaries in which non-Republicans are allowed to vote. Under normal circumstances, he said, party leaders would be celebrating the arrival of such a figure.
But Trump is not a normal circumstance. Even as he barrels toward the nomination—winning at least three of the five big states voting on Tuesday, knocking Marco Rubio out of the race, and claiming a large lead with more than half the delegates awarded—his party remains mostly in shock at his rise. Over the past week, as he has refused to discourage the violence erupting at his events, many in his party say they are frightened by the specter of authoritarianism and the possibility of escalating conflict.
But in other precincts, it’s possible to detect a thaw. They couldn’t beat him. And now many Republicans say it may be time to join him, to make the best of the situation, to try to refine and civilize Trump, to nudge his candidacy toward normalcy…
“In the end, whoever the nominee is, the party will, to one degree or another, rally around him,” predicted Ron Kaufman, the longtime lobbyist and Republican National Committee stalwart. Kaufman supported Jeb Bush this year and was a close adviser to Mitt Romney, who has recently come out strongly against Trump and what he represents. But Kaufman saw no need for such hysterics. People walked out of the convention on Ford in ’76 and Reagan in ’80, he said, but they were the exceptions.
Kaufman waved off concerns that Trump’s rhetoric has reached a dangerous and unprecedented level. “Lots of folks say lots of things that probably they don’t mean,” he said. “I’m not in any way, shape or form defending things these candidates have said, including Donald Trump, but in the end, this is about governing.”…
Of course New Gingrich is ready to acknowledge a fellow grifter as his king, as long as he thinks there’s a few bucks to be made from that king. But Ron Kaufman is the epitome of a political coatholder, a lifer whose security lies in enabling the whims of the foremost GOP leading light, however dim and smokey that light might be. If he’s willing to publicly announce a provisional fealty to His Royal Vulgarity, it’s all over but the head-bashing in Cleveland.
redshirt
Someone explain Cthulu to me. I don’t get it as I’ve never read that racist white mans writing.
Keith P.
@redshirt: He was Kodos’ running mate in the last election.
Urza
@redshirt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu
redshirt
@Keith P.: Not true. That was Kang.
benw
The Call of Ktulu!
magurakurin
over on our side I know, but…
My biggest problem with Bernie Sanders: Tad Devine.
He is a soulless fuckwit that completely embodies the lack of ethics in politics. Here he is discussing how the pledged delegates aren’t actually bound by any “law” to vote for the candidate selected by the voters. Of course, they don’t have a plan to actively get Clinton delegates to switch..wink, wink, nod, nod…say no more. Listen to this brain dead, sack of shit go into descriptions of the 1980 primary as an example of how it might go down. 1980? The 1980 where Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan after a bitter primary challenge from Ted Kennedy? That 1980? For fuck’s sake! This shit needs to be put to bed if for no other reason than to banish Tad Devine to a little peat hut on the Siberian wastelands. Fuck you very much, Tad Devine, and as to your “plan” to win the nomination by using delegate fuckery at the convention…yeah…how about…no.
redshirt
@Urza: Well yeah I can search the internet too. I was hoping a devotee would give their version.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: Ever read Jack London?
pseudonymous in nc
Someone on primary night mentioned that Chuck Todd had a momentary relapse into being a useful wonkish numbers person, and that he’d seen pretty compelling data to suggest that the Trumpenproletariat isn’t ‘Democrats and independents’, but instead is Republicans who historically have just voted for the Republican in November but who this year chose to choose which Republican they wanted on the ballot in November. For those people, he’s the Homermobile candidate.
Newt’s gonna grift and bullshit. It’s what he does.
mclaren
Utterly wrong.
The Republican establishment will never accept Trump because he’s not reliable. The guy is a loose cannon — no one has any idea what he’ll really do. He started out touting lots of progressive policies — pro-abortion, in favor of cracking down on Wall Street crime… now he’s flip-flopped. But what’s to guarantee Trump won’t flip again once he gets into the White House?
The billionaires who run the Republican party will not tolerate an agent of chaos in control of their party. The guy is totally unpredictable. He’s not a team player. They’ll never stand for it.
The run-of-the-mill Republican voter is an authoritarian, and will also never tolerate someone whose unrpedictable whims might result in radically progressive policies like prosecuting Wall Street criminals or enforcing antitrust laws.
Trump is unacceptable to Republican because he’s an agent of chaos. He loves spreading dissension and making crazy unpredictable statements. No one knows what this guy’s policies are going to be…he has no policies, he’s clearly just making shit up as he goes.
No authoritarian bully-worshiper wants someone like that in control of the party. It’s like having Abbie Hoffman in control of the Democratic party, completely out of the question.
No, all of you are wrong, Trump will provoke a massive stampede out of the Republican party and a huge revolt among formerly Republican voters if he becomes the nominee.
mclaren
@Keith P.:
No! Kang is Kodos’ (alien) opponent in the perverted presidential elections in the Simpsons cartoons.
Get your Star Trek lore straight. Kang was the Klingon villain from the third season Trek episode Day of the Dove, while Kodos was the villain in the first season Trek episode Conscience of the King.
Technocrat
@mclaren:
I mostly agree – witness how he pissed all over the hallowed CPAC – but then there’s people like Chris Christie and Rick Scott, who will latch onto the nearest mealticket no matter how distasteful.
mclaren
@redshirt:
The opening lines of H. P. Lovecraft’s “Call of Cthulhu” (1926) illustrate why people find his writing impressive:
AkaDad
While it’s certainly true that Trump is inciting violence and constantly lying, I still support him because I know he will protect my white male privelage.
C.V. Danes
All that stuff Hitler said about the Jews–he didn’t mean any of it. He was just talking smack to get elected.
eemom
As if this batshit crazyworld weren’t batshit crazy enough, now I have to agree with mclaren?? #helpmejesus
gf120581
@magurakurin: Don’t take Devine too seriously. He’s just trying to keep the illusion of Bernie’s chances alive so he can keep the gravy train going a while long. Guy’s got to get paid.
Flipping any of Hillary’s delegates is a pipe dream, especially now when the nomination basically hers. I’ve already heard stories of Sanders supporters trying to persuade superdelegates supporting Hillary to switch and all they’ve done is piss them off and harden their support for her. So don’t expect it to go much better.
mclaren
@Technocrat:
And notice the Republicans who are clinging to Trump like pilot fish — they’re the losers, the down-and-outers, the political dead-enders whose careers are in the process of crashing and burning. Chris Christie awaits an indictment in Bridgegate and faces catastrophically bad opinion polls in his home state of New Jersey. Even the most influential state newspaper has ganged up on him and pissed all over him. This guy’s career in politics is in the tank.
Rick Scott barely squeaked out a win for the Florida governorship by a mere 64,000 votes. His career is also on the ropes.
These are losers frantically trying to latch on to Trump in the desperate hope of reviving their moribund careers. Both Christie and Scott are headed for private law firms…they’re done in national politics. Absent cabinet positions in a putative Trump administration, they have no future in the Republican party.
C.V. Danes
@mclaren: At the end of the day the Republican billionaires will play ball because, at the end of the day, they’re whores for money.
They only have one ideology: $$$
C.V. Danes
@gf120581: Well, I was hoping he could keep the gravy train going until NY and California had a chance to vote. Otherwise, just end the primary now and tell the other half of the voting public to suck on it.
Technocrat
@mclaren:
Yeah,,a good point. The activist base (i.e.Redstate and The Blaze) can’t stand the guy.
magurakurin
@C.V. Danes: Tell it to Tad. He’s the one who’s telling those who have already voted they might have to suck on it. How people can look past Tad Devine is beyond me. I certainly don’t want that fuckstick running the general campaign.
gf120581
@mclaren: If that’s the case, I expect Bobby Jindel to throw his support to Trump shortly.
Hell, given how dim his future prospects are, Rubio should go for it.
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Trump/Cthulu 2016: Why settle for the lesser evil?
Anne Laurie
@mclaren:
Well, yeah, but that’s why I find Ron Kaufman’s defection significant. Kaufman, as a professional parasite, doesn’t need his candidate to win, he just needs them to survive. When the coin flip works his way (Bill Weld) he’s In Politics; when it lands against him (Romney 2012), he’s a lobbyist.
The fact that Kaufman is willing to embrace Trump for publication means he’s calculated that Trump will be the GOP nominee… and that some rump of the party, however battered, will survive the Cleveland convention and the November election with enough clout to keep Ron Kaufman in wingtips and DC steakhouses. Kaufman is our modern Colonial version of the Vicar of Bray; if Ron accepts Trump as the GOP nominee presumptive, it means Trump is no longer an “outsider / insurgent”. Whether or not Trump can win in November is a separate question.
Mike in NC
So there you have it:
Drumpf / Gingrich 2016
Maybe they’re already comparing notes about their newest trophy wives.
andy
If there’s a cock to to sock then you can be sure there’s a Republican ready and willing to suck it. Even if it belongs to a short-fingered vulgarian. What the party is discussing now is how far back in the receiving line they want to end up.
Omnes Omnibus
@andy: Are you sure you want to go with that metaphor?
seaboogie
If there are any Republicans left who actually believe in governing, rather than being party loyalists devoted solely to obstruction to all and everything Democratic (v. just being in it for the power and the grift and turning the country into a flat out oligarchy in service to their corporate overlords who fund their elections), they will go all Senator Jeffords after the election, and identify as Independent, caucusing with the Dems. I think they’d have enough power (if their numbers are sufficient, at least in the Senate) to marginalize the Freedom Caucus/Tea Party wing, and Hillz would be only too happy to work with them. Maybe in this way the Republican Party could become and effective and semi-sane voice for a small “c” conservative party – although this would require a level of self-awareness of the results of their actions and rhetoric have wrought – so not terribly likely.
That Graham is endorsing Cruz after declaring that if Cruz was murdered on the floor of the Senate, there would be no conviction by the Senate just exposes how morally bankrupt they are.
I’m looking forward to President “No Fucks Left to Give” Obama getting out on the campaign trail. At least he can guarantee press coverage. And he speaks well – in a voice that is not ‘hoarse’*, so we won’t have that inane distraction.
*/snark
Also, FVCK McConnell – I hope Obama pwns him with the SCOTUS nom!
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: Different strokes for….mmmm – nevermind.
Calouste
@srv: So what did happen in 1816?
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: No, I think that he is implying that a particular sexual act is inherently demeaning when that is simply not the case. I don’t like the implication.
Frankensteinbeck
@mclaren:
No, Kang is everybody.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: DougJ is Kang?
mclaren
@Anne Laurie:
Well, you’re assuming that Kaufman’s calculations are correct. From my perspective it looks more like a lifetime inside-the-Beltway parasite desperately trying to make the best of a bad situation. He’s doing a variant of Pascal’s wager — Trump will get the nomination and he likely won’t win in November, but it costs me nothing to come out in support of Trump early on the off chance that Trump does win.
My take on Kaufman is that he gets a dim sense that the generational winds have shifted. The Republican party and movement conservatism is now in universal retreat. The future belongs to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic progressive movement. That spells the end of his inside-the-Beltway neocon gravy train. So this represents Kaufman’s hail mary pass.
Seriously, Anne, look at articles like “Carl’s Jr. CEO wants to try automated restaurants where customers never see a person” and “Deep Learning Is Going to Teach Us All the Lesson of Our Lives: Jobs Are for Machines.”
The old nostrums of “more education” and “more training” are dead. No one believes those policies will solve the AI/automation/Big Data/algorithms-eating-our-jobs problem. Ordinary economists like Brad deLong are now touting wildly radical solutions like Social Credit and pundits are starting to talk about Guaranteed Minimum Income as a solution to the economic upheavals that are riptiding through our society.
In this environment of unprecedented economic transformation, the same old tired supply-side neocon tax-cuts-for-the-rich policies are attracting no one, energizing no one, impressing no one. Even in the 1980s those bogus proposals were recognized as voodoo — now they’re apparent to everyone as grossly obsolete voodoo economics, not even worth satirizing.
That means that the future belongs to progressives. Just look at the Republicans’ primary campaigns against one another. They’re all a blast from the ancient past, a plaintive echo of the glory days of Reagan and Limbaugh when one-to-many media like talk radio ruled the world and a telegenic prez with Roger Ailes to control the talking points of the days’ news cycle guaranteed dominance of the press.
Today, with youtube and twitter, that era is long gone. Likewise, the topics on which the Repubs base their primary campaigns are old and tired — terrorism and hatred of foreigners.
The big topics today are economic inequality, the future of work, the restructuring of a post-robotic society. The Repubs aren’t even clued into the fact that this conversation exists, much less prepared to engage in it.
shomi
Mistermix and wrong way Cole both agree with Ron Kaufman. So they got that going for them…which is nice.
Drumpf is formidable and should be feared by the left according to mistermix and Cole and their perpetually wrong crystal balls.
benw
@efgoldman: congrats on the win! Yale over Baylor was a classic 12-5 upset. Tech is in the NIT this year, but playing again on Monday!
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: I sort of get that. Been there as a loving and devoted (catcher) partner. However it is one of those situations that requires communication and a fine balance of power and positioning to make it truly mutual. Don’t forget that this blog is what comes up when you google skull (ahem) a kitten…
GregB
Can we start calling them bowel movement conservatives now that their policies have universally turned to shit?
BR
@mclaren:
I’m afraid to say thy don’t have to acknowledge reality to win — they just have to find someone to blame and convince 51% of their preferred persecution. It’s the authoritarian solution to an economic problem, what happened in Weimar. The only thing that can save us is that things are much better than in Weimar.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Sanders was on Maddow tonight and called on elected delegates to disregard their electorate and switch their votes to him.
He’s gone mad. It’s like Kurtz in “Heart of Darkness”. All the
nativescrowds treating him like a god has warped him into thinking he’s indispensable.Chris
@mclaren:
It’s a Simpsons reference.
andy
Omnes Omnibus: It is as mother’s milk to them. Naturally, I’m talking about metaphorical cock sucking. I know a number of fine ladies and gentlemen who enthusiastically do just such a thing in a loving and committed relationship- there’s nothing to do with love or commitment with any of our republican “friends”.
Chris
@srv:
I’ll take “Unfortunate Implications” for nine hundred dollars, Alex.
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: Me, I am with Peter Pumpkinhead, ” Any kind of love is alright.”
Omnes Omnibus
@andy: Why use their iconography?
mclaren
If you want to know why Trump and Sanders have appeared out of nowhere, like twin Godzillas rising out of the Tokyo bays of their respective political parties, take a look at articles like this:
Pay Is Stagnant for Vast Majority, Even When You Include Benefits, Economic Policy Institute, 15 July 2015.
Frankensteinbeck
@Omnes Omnibus:
Have you ever seen them together?
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: Hmmm… I know people who met DougJ and they did not mention tentacles. I think they would have mentioned tentacles. I would have.
Peale
@Chris: not really. Scaring us with not only fascism but Federalism to boot? It’s kind of what they do and have been doing for 30 years. Attention getting.
Although Trump does give off that Adams aura. The part that was short tempered and passed Alien and Sedition Acts. The prudish part? not as much.
mclaren
@Omnes Omnibus:
They never mentioned it because DougJ has short tentacles. Very short tentacles.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t think that’s the problem so much as that it wasn’t really very funny.
chopper
newt ‘you can’t bluff mule drivers’ gingrich knows a fellow grifter when he sees one.
Omnes Omnibus
@Peale: The guy who defended the British soldiers from the Boston Massacre? The guy who wrote public education into the MA constitution? Don’t even try to equate Adams and Trump. It is offensive.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: It wasn’t funny at all. IMO, it was offensive.
Omnes Omnibus
@mclaren: I applaud your attempt at a joke. Keep trying.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: Meh, I’ve seen worse. I can forgive anything that makes me laugh, that didn’t.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: Fine. We all draw lines in different places.
Steeplejack
@mclaren:
So, a vulgar, short-tentacled octopod, then.
mclaren
Behold, the magic of the markets!
Capitalism at work.
NotMax
Maybe not a laugh, but perhaps a soft chuckle*.
Why God Never Received Tenure at Any University
He had only one major publication.
It was in Hebrew; had no references; wasn’t published in an academic journal; and some doubt he wrote it himself.
He may have created the world, but what has he done since?
The scientific community cannot replicate his results.
He never received permission from the ethics board to use human subjects.
He expelled his first two students.
When one experiment went awry, he tried to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
He rarely came to class; telling the students to, “Read the book.”
Some say he had his son teach the class.
His office hours were irregular and sometimes held on a mountain top.
Although there were only ten requirements, most students failed.
*(Mmmm, Chuckles. Definitely a top 10 kids’ candy favorite.)
Omnes Omnibus
@mclaren: And? Are you assuming that people here think that unfettered markets work? If so, you are wrong.
AkaDad
When Trump brings all the jobs back y’all are going to wish he brought fascim to America decades ago. Besides, there’ s only 3 million Muslim here so it wont be that bad.
? Martin
@srv: Why not just call it the Confederate Party? They have exactly the same vision, and it’s a more recent implementation.
magurakurin
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I just watched it. Oh.my.God. Okay, Senator, please allow me to retort.
Fuck it. I don’t give a shit anymore about anybody’s sensibility or playing nice with others. Here’s the fucking deal, you bitter old crank, you come into the convention with any less than 2026 and you fucking lost. Fuck that noise about super delegates. You motherfuckers just spent the last six months telling everyone you would split the party if the super delegates awarded Clinton the nomination is she had less than 2026. That’s the number, asshole, 2026. You get that many delegates and we can talk. Oh, I am willing to bet you’re gonna lose in AZ on Tuesday and you will literally have your motherfucking clock cleaned in NY, PA, MD, NJ and DE. Fuck you very much to you and your good buddies Tad and Jeff.
Prescott Cactus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Far be it for me to put on a BJ cop uniform. Very few thing give me the “ah what” feeling here, but that did.
I also apologize to Omnes for agreeing with him. He probably feels that is more offensive.
? Martin
@mclaren: If only they could be as competent as the NSA’s cell phone effort.
Prescott Cactus
@? Martin:
Plus most of them already have the flags
Calouste
@magurakurin: I’m starting to lean towards the idea that Sanders is a GOP plant. He seems to be about as far removed from reality as they are.
AFAIK, delegates in most primary states are bound by law to vote for the candidate they represent, at least on the first ballot.
NotMax
@Calouste
Certainly not bound by law, that would be a state function.
Obligated by party rules, yes, in some states. And not applicable to superdelegates in any case
tastytone
@magurakurin:
Democracy is all about momentum and polls and formerly-evil superdelegates. Duh.
(Sorry to piggy-back. Long time lurker (’08). Saw this tonight and spit-out my drink.)
Anne Laurie
@magurakurin: Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, professional comic book dealer, seems to have convinced himself & fellow campaign manager Tad Devine that the Democratic party needs a comics-style retcon. Since Devine is himself one of the designers of the current Democratic superdelegate system, such a retcon would have the minor virtue of authorial approval. Tragically for Our Embattled Heroes, however much current American politics resemble a graphic serial with obscenely frequent release dates, our elections are not in the hands of a small band of professional enthusiasts…
craigie
@mclaren:
I would love for this to be true, but I expect the reality will be bumper stickers like:
“Trump: At Least He’s Not A Democrat”
hkedi [Kang T.Q.]
@AkaDad: Do you even listen to what dribbles out of your brain hole onto the keyboard? Hopefully you are just DougJ trolling…. If not, get help….
gene108
@Omnes Omnibus:
Don’t forget Adams was an abolitionist, helped write the Declaration of Independence, which put at risk of execution should the Brits capture him, i.e. he has his skin in the game during the Revolutionary War, created a naval academy for the USA, and passed health benefits or a pension (can’t remember exactly) of a sort for sailors.
He is one of a handful of Presidents for whom the office of the President was not their greatest accomplishment in life.
HeartlandLiberal
Hmm. Where have I read this before? Oh, yes, I remember now. (My emphasis added.)
Hitler appointed Chancellor
In December General von Schleicher replaced von Papen as Chancellor as it was clear that von Papen had little electoral support and had lost the support of the army. Von Schleicher’s policies worried President Hindenburg and his advisors especially his proposal for land reform that would affect estates in Eastern Germany. In January it was decided to get rid of von Schleicher and to try and bring the Nazis into government. Hitler and von Papen (who had great influence over President Hindenburg) agreed the terms of a coalition government and on the 30th Hitler was appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg.
Most of Hitler’s first Cabinet consisted of non-Nazis. Von Papen and his conservative allies thought that they could control Hitler; he said “We’ve engaged him for ourselves”. However the perceptive French ambassador noted “they believe themselves to be very ingenious, ridding themselves of the wolf by introducing him into the sheepfold.” Hitler as chancellor, William Frick as Minister of the Interior and Herman Goring as Minister without portfolio and Prussian Minister of the Interior were the three Nazi Ministers. Crucially they controlled the police in Germany and Prussia, the largest state.
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/hitrise.htm
AnonPhenom
Donald Trump is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.
Bruce K
@redshirt: If you want to get an idea of stuff like the Cthulhu Mythos without overexposure to the radioactive elements of Lovecraft, I can suggest the “Laundry Files” of Charles Stross, beginning with “The Atrocity Archive” and continuing from there. Basically take the essential mythology of Lovecraft minus the racism and misogyny, add a generous helping of John le Carre (or, in the case of the second book, an even more generous helping of Ian Fleming), liberally season with the absurdities of Dilbert, bake in an early-21st-century setting until golden brown, and enjoy.
Matt McIrvin
@Anne Laurie: Just yesterday I saw some Sanders supporters passing around a meme insisting that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is on the rocks and Sanders will pull this out and get the nomination, if they buck up and truly believe.
I can tell you now that they’re going to be crying fraud if Sanders is not nominated. I’ve seen some people talking about the Clinton campaign rigging the voting machines already.
Mary
@? Martin: Because any reference to Hamilton will attract the screaming hordes.
Sondra
Well this is Slate after all, so take it for what it’s worth and that ain’t much.
So these nice religious folk are having a sad… because their cushy little grift has been turned on their own dealios for a change?…awwww! It is interesting to see how they are attempting to rationalize their problem I guess, but what did they expect ?
For years they have insisted that their way is the only right way and for years they have mostly been getting their way. They have primaried the actual moderates in nearly every House race in the country and succeeded in electing Teabaggers who have taken over the House of Representatives in Congress.
So now that they have finally reaped what they have sown, they are not too happy with the crop they have spent so many years planting. Oh dear. What now? They want us to believe that they are moderates? I suppose in a sense they are moderate in comparison to what is being manifested in the Donald’s campaign, but pretty much anything is moderate compared to proto-fascism.
Now they want us to believe that they are not authoritarians either when the profile of an evangelical christian conservative is just that? Sigh…OK…they have been out- authoritarianed by more rigid folks on their own team and they don’t care for it very much. Forgive me if I quote myself here:
“Most of the people who come to Faith Angle are theologically or politically conservative. But they’re not authoritarian.” My note: hang on there sloopy – but that is not correct. These theological thugs are indeed Authoritarian. Witness their hero Kim Davis down there in kenturcky . OK Kentucky…she went to jail rather than do her job of issuing marriage licenses to gay couples remember? Not to mention all of those “faith/ Freedom/ bills being introduced into every State legislature in the the country. Bills which codify their prejudice against gay people by disguising it as religious freedom. Please – gag me with a spoon on this one.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/03/the_religious_right_is_in_a_battle_for_souls_and_it_s_losing_to_donald_trump.html
The Religious Right Is in a Battle for Souls, and It’s Losing to Donald Trump
What’s the mood among influential Christians? Sad!
By William Saletan
Donald Trump joins Jerry Lamon Falwell, Jr., president of Liberty University, on Jan. 30, 2016 in Davenport, Iowa.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Twice a year, the Ethics and Public Policy Center brings a bunch of journalists to Miami to talk about religion, society, and politics. This week’s gathering, which kicked off two days before Florida’s Republican presidential primary, is grim. Sen. Marco Rubio, the candidate favored by many of the pundits, reporters, and organizers on hand, is facing extinction. Donald Trump, who is poised to deliver Rubio’s death blow, is on track to win the Republican nomination.
WILLIAM SALETAN
Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right.
I’ve been coming to this conference, the Faith Angle Forum, for years. I’ve never seen anything like this mood. These people—evangelicals, Bible-believing reporters, conservative media stars—detest Trump. They feel him tightening his grip on their people and their party. The moderates already feel lost. David Brooks, the New York Timescolumnist who has been preaching compromise to hardline Republicans, is here. He laments at one point, “I’m representing a political ideology that’s dead.” The Christians, meanwhile, sense that they’re in a battle for souls, and they’re losing.
Three weeks ago, when Rubio was rising in the polls, a pro-Rubio super PAC likened the young senator’s battle against Trump to the struggle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. The analogy has proved apt, but not in the way Rubio’s supporters intended. Everyone at the Faith Angle Forum is thinking about you-know-who, even when they don’t say his name. At breakfast, an attendee explains to me why Hillary Clinton lavished excessive praise on Nancy Reagan: because in the current context—meaningful glance—people are looking back at the Reagans with nostalgia. At lunch, Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard confesses that his book on Jack Kemp, the Republican presidential candidate who tried to broaden conservatism by using the free market to solve the problems of minorities, isn’t selling so well in the present climate.
Most of the people who come to Faith Angle are theologically or politically conservative. But they’re not authoritarian. My note: hang on there sloopy – but that is not correct. These theological thugs are indeed Authoritarian. Witness their hero Kim Davis down there in kenturcky . OK Kentucky…she went to jail rather than do her job of issuing marriage licenses to gay couples remember? Not to mention all of those “faith/ Freedom/ bills being introduced into every State legislature in the the country. Bills which codify their prejudice against gay people by disguising it as religious freedom. Please – gag me with a spoon on this one.
In Monday’s opening presentation, Jamie Smith, a philosopher at Calvin College, dismisses simplistic religion by observing, “As soon as you have cable, fundamentalism is dead.” Michael Cromartie, the conference organizer, punctures sectarianism with a joke: “The problem with theocracy is, everybody wants to be Theo.”
These people oppose Trump for many reasons. They condemn his viciousness. They scorn his arrogance. They reject his “nativism, religious prejudice and misogyny.” In side conversations, one conservative journalist says Trump is a menace to the First Amendment, and another excoriates Trump’s “proto-fascism.” During the conference, the Deseret News—whose editor, Paul Edwards, is a regular at Faith Angle—publishes an editorial denouncing Trump’s “hate-filled diatribes against Muslims and undocumented immigrants.” The editorial reminds Mormons that “incitement to mob violence” once targeted and killed their own leaders.
Many of the attendees and organizers are evangelical. For them, Trump’s support among self-identified evangelicals is an embarrassment and a puzzle. Smith suggests that many of these voters are only “nominal evangelicals.” They say they’re evangelical because in South Carolina and similar states, that’s what you’re supposed to say. But they don’t live a Christian life or even go to church. According to Cromartie, Trump’s support among putative evangelicals plummets when the sample is narrowed to those who attend church at least once a week.
It sounds as though Smith and Cromartie are just making excuses. But they go further. Smith calls out the “straight-up xenophobia” among Trump’s supporters. “Their religious identity is a stalking horse or code for something else,” he argues. Evangelicalism, Smith suggests, can be used as a fig leaf to “cover your American nationalism.” He accepts pastoral responsibility to confront the underlying prejudice, through “theological correction within the Christian community.”
One thing you’ll learn from a conference like this one, if you didn’t know it already, is that there are thoughtful, responsible people in evangelical circles and in the right-wing media world. These people aren’t yahoos. They don’t even hang out with yahoos. But that’s part of the problem: How can they reach the yahoos when they don’t know them? Smith pokes fun at secular liberals who have no contact with devout Christians, but he seems totally unfamiliar with Trump’s evangelicals. In a side conversation afterward, a conservative writer makes a similar confession: She interviews people at churches, but Trump’s people don’t go to church, so she doesn’t meet them. Liberals, it turns out, aren’t the only elites who are out of touch with today’s angry white voters.
A pall of despair seems to have descended on the attendees here. A few are sympathetic to Sen. Ted Cruz, but most prefer Rubio, and they’re bracing for his destruction. In a conversation at the bar after dinner, several are interested in what the GOP could become if, instead of turning to Trump’s anger or Cruz’s absolutism, it pursued a more hopeful message and a more ethnically diverse coalition. The conversation turns to the final days of the South Carolina primary, when Gov. Nikki Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants, and Sen. Tim Scott, a black American, campaigned with Rubio across the state.
Today, that moment seems lost. When we gathered here in Miami a year ago, more than a dozen Republicans were lining up to run for president, and I told Cromartie to bet on Rubio. When we convened again in the fall, Rubio was surging, and I told Cromartie what a lucky dog he was that his guy would be the nominee. This time, I told Cromartie that unless six pollsters were wrong by 20 percentage points, Rubio was toast. Cromartie was crestfallen.
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I’ve said it before, but I do not envy the Republican who must look around in despair and realize that everything liberals have ever said about the GOP is true for such a significant portion of the party. More…
What depresses the Faith Angle crowd isn’t just the perversion of Christianity or the demise of Republican sanity. It’s the emergence of sycophants such as Gov. Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Jerry Falwell, Jr., who are luring conservatives and evangelicals to Trump. The conference attendees view these men as fools or sellouts. Kathleen Parker, a Washington Postcolumnist who often comes to Faith Angle, says they must pay: “The only real strength of Trump’s candidacy has been to expose and shame the cowards and opportunists among us. Remember them.”
Maybe she’s right. Maybe the 2016 campaign will turn out like the Harry Potter stories: The Dark Lord rises, the Death Eaters come out to embrace him, and in the end, he is defeated, and his acolytes are punished. But maybe, in real life, where we have no magic wands, the cowards and opportunists win.
AkaDad
@hkedi [Kang T.Q.]:
I’m just a typical Trump supporter here to persuade those Berniacs who have threataned to stay home or vote for someone else, because clearly Hillary would be such a bad POTUS only agreeing with Bernie 90% of the time.
Brachiator
@mclaren:
Can I borrow your time machine?