The acknowledgement that Trump did not create the current crisis in the GOP, but simply gave permission for white nationalists to come out from under their rocks and do what they want & he’d stand with them.

Dowd: 70% 80% of Republican voters — what they wanted more than anything was White Christian Nationalism, and that democracy was not important to them as long as they had that.

I agree with him, and with Jolly and Nicolle. What they are doing is brave, and as normal traditional conservatives, they are orphans with no political home to go to.

betsuni

(29,078 posts)

6. Hiding in plain sight, they were never conservative ideologues.

Reply to Septua (Original post)

Wed Apr 6, 2022, 11:53 PM

Apr 2022

As Newt Gingrich and later G.W. Bush when he tried to change SS found out. Don't know why it was a surprise.

"Trump's campaign surprised and dismayed many Republicans ... : it revealed that many rank-and-file Republicans were not movement conservatives. ... Most voters, even primary voters, are not ideologues. In 2016, those voters finally had someone to vote for. ... A former staffer from one of the organizations affiliated with the Koch brothers said, 'We are partly responsible. We invested a lot in training and arming a grassroots army that was not controllable, and some of those people have used it in ways that are not consistent with our principles, with our goal of advancing a free society, and instead they have furthered the alt-right.' A Koch donor said, 'What we really feel badly about is that we were not able to educate many in the tea party more about how the process works and how free markets work. Seeing this movement that we were part of creating going off in a direction that's anti-free market, anti-trade, and anti-immigrant -- many of us are really saddened by that.' ... Trump ignored the many Republicans who criticized him for emboldening fringe white nationalists -- and then became the champion of white voters with racially inflected grievances. What Republican leaders did not appear to understand, however, was just how long standing and potent the constellation of sentiments was. Trump tapped into beliefs, ideas, and anxieties that were already present and even well established within the party. His support was hiding in plain sight."

From "Identity Crisis"

Yet there are still idiots who think people vote for Republicans because of "economic anxiety" .

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