How Trumpism Has Become a Cult of Losing

[Nevilledog]

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Ezra Klein
@ezraklein
"58 percent of Republicans believe the attack was 'mostly an antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few Trump supporters,' more than double the number who describe it as 'a rally of Trump supporters, some of whom attacked the Capitol.'”

How Trumpism Has Become a Cult of Losing
Why do Republicans still love a loser whose entire appeal was that he’s a “winner”?
nymag.com
4:10 PM · Feb 26, 2021

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-cpac-golden-calf-election-loser.html


In the American system, with the president’s dual roles of symbolic head of state and head of government, defeated presidents generally fade from sight. The last two presidents to be defeated after a single term, George Bush and Jimmy Carter, immediately entered into political exile. Their fellow partisans wished to escape the stench of failure, and the only people who brought up their names at all were members of the opposing party. Their rehabilitation came only years later, after a long absence from the political scene allowed them to return in a nonpartisan context.

Donald Trump has refused to follow the script. He has moved into a role of opposition leader and president in exile, a sort of hybrid between a parliamentary system (where a defeated prime minister might often slide immediately into opposition leadership) and banana republic, where a deposed strongman flees the country with a Swiss bank account and a retinue of goons.

The Republican response has ranged from resigned acceptance to active encouragement. Examples of the former include Mitt Romney, who conceded that Trump will win the 2024 nomination if he seeks it, and Mitch McConnell, who agreed that Trump will have his full support should that happen. Examples of the latter include Representative Jim Jordan, who has deemed Trump the party’s leader and urged him to take an even more active role in its direction, and the CPAC Conference, which includes a Golden Calf–style statue. (The worship is metaphorical, though Politico recently reported on some Christian sects that prophesize Trump’s return quite literally.)

To the outside world, it seems strange that Republicans would not only tolerate this but in many cases actively encourage it. Trump’s appeal to his party was rooted in his reality-television-corroborated claim to be a lifelong winner. Come to Trump’s side, he promised incessantly, and you will win so much you’ll get tired of it. What value does he still have now? When previous defeated presidents were discarded, why cling to the one whose value proposition was based on never being a loser?

An important part of the answer is that, seen through Republican eyes, Trump didn’t lose at all. Recent polls have found anywhere from 68 to 83 percent of Republican voters believe the election was stolen.

*snip*

[SoonerPride]

1. He's all they have.

They are losers and worship the biggest loser ever.