"The Conservative Mind Has Become Diseased" - Michael Gerson

[sheshe2]

Washington Post features a lucid, beautifully written opinion piece by former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who declares that Trump has sickened the conservative mind, driven it mad with conspiracy theories; he writes of the Seth Rich tragedy and the ugly exploitation on FOX, the progression of formerly ordinary Reaganites like Rush Limbaugh to full-fledged unhinged loons, www.washingtonpost.com/…

He says,

“To many observers on the left, the initial embrace of Seth Rich conspiracy theories by conservative media figures was merely a confirmation of the right’s deformed soul. But for those of us who remember that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were once relatively mainstream Reaganites, their extended vacation in the fever swamps is even more disturbing. If once you knew better, the indictment is deeper.

The cruel exploitation of the memory of Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer who was shot dead last summer, was horrifying and clarifying. The Hannity right, without evidence, accused Rich rather than the Russians of leaking damaging DNC emails. In doing so, it has proved its willingness to credit anything — no matter how obviously deceptive or toxic — to defend President Trump and harm his opponents. Even if it means becoming a megaphone for Russian influence.

The basic, human questions are simple. How could conservative media figures not have felt — felt in their hearts and bones — the God-awful ickiness of it? How did the genes of generosity and simple humanity get turned off? Is this insensibility the risk of prolonged exposure to our radioactive political culture? If so, all of us should stand back a moment and tend to the health of our revulsion.”

snip

So I welcome Gerson’s insights. But we need a great deal more honesty from Republicans and we need it right now, before the nation is lost forever.

Read More:http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/25/1666181/--The-Conservative-Mind-Has-Become-Diseased-Michael-Gerson

This is what they have become...cruel, evil and have lost any sense of simple humanity and decency.

[vlyons]

1. A few "regular" republicans are beginning to realize that their party has become a monstrosity

Watched a bit of Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC today, where she and her panel were lamenting how much conservatives have lost their souls. She even had Rev Al Sharpton on her panel. There's not many "regular" conservatives, but the few that are popping up and speaking up about the Trump corruption and yes! anti-Americanism should be applauded. It appears that not too many of them have the courage to call a thing, a thing.

[justiceischeap]

2. Moderate Repubs on Twitter are practically begging Evan McMullin

to start a new party.

[sharedvalues]

3. We are in an information war and have been for years

Fox News and Limbaugh have been doing this for years. It's not new under this president.


Progressive Americans and the working class have been losing this propaganda war to the wealthy GOP donor class.

[sheshe2]

6. This is far more than an information war.

[Thomas Hurt]

4. The right has been stumbling down the path to christofascist theocracy since Reagan...

We will soon be a governed by a christian version of the Muslim Brotherhood, maybe even under one party rule.

[workinclasszero]

16. Thats the end game for sure

The horrific/fascist Republic of Gilead is right around the corner.


http://the-handmaids-tale.wikia.com/wiki/Republic_of_Gilead

[mcar]

5. Did he just wake up from a 30 year coma?

Trump didn't bring this on. The Republicans did it to themselves with their corruption and heartlessness.

[sheshe2]

8. They have been on this road for a long time.

[mcar]

14. They have succeeded beyond their wildest expectations

And they and their party will rot because of it.

I'm so old I remember when I enjoyed political convos with Repub friends and family.

[QC]

7. Michael Gerson and David Frum helped get us where we are now.

It's nice to see that they don't like Trump, and we've all made mistakes, but let's not forget that they were the ones telling us, not so long ago, that George W's abysmal ignorance was no problem because he had a good gut and smart people around him and all that shit.

They sold presidential ignorance as no big deal, maybe a positive. It's OK if the man who wants to reshape the Muslim world has to have it explained to him that there are different types of Muslims and they don't all like each other, because his gut instincts are solid. Don't worry if the president thinks Jesus was a political philosopher--he's a nice guy! And it would be fun to have a beer with him, unlike that boring Al Gore with all his facts and numbers and science and mathematics and all that sissy stuff.

It's good when people see the error of their ways, but they don't get to pretend that they just emerged into our world this morning.

[sheshe2]

9. Our current media should also be held accountable.

They gave a huge amount of air time to trump, set a low bar for him and tried to normalize a man that is far from normal and in fact insane. They helped enable him and his crew.

[QC]

11. Absolutely. Remember what Les Moonves said?

"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."

Our corporate media are the reason Americans are the most ignorant people in the first world.

[CrispyQ]

10. It's getting harder & harder to be civil to those who identify as republicans. -nt

[mountain grammy]

12. Now a warning?

Where the fuck has he been the last 30 years?

[0rganism]

13. i think Gerson misses the big picture

the shift from "mainstream Reaganite" to "fever swampdweller" didn't happen overnight, but it wasn't slow either
there has been a steady progression along that continuum since 1968, with Trumpism representing only a recent step - albeit a largish one - which embarrassed conservapundits like Will and Gerson try to point at as part of an apologetic. but it is not.

i think Gerson's correct when he writes "To many observers on the left" this looks like more of the same, "a confirmation of the right’s deformed soul" as he puts it. there has been no quantum leap, no obvious turning, no inflection point we could easily look at and say, "yep, 1993 was the year they went batshit insane," or, "before 2008, the right wingers were normal and now they aren't." the sickness has always been with them, lurking just inside their various personality cults, there to reinforce their "betterness" through measures of class, race, ethnicity, and always at the expense of labor and environmental regulation. the latest outrages are disturbing to me not in how bizarre they seem but rather how natural they seem -- simply an expression of there previous madness taking that next logical step.

perhaps someday he will dare to consider where this path will lead his fellow rightwingers -- it is not pretty, it is not unique in our world, and it is not new.

[FenwayDonkey]

15. IMO Gingrich has had an enormous impact on the GOP, greater than Reagan's

While the crazy had been germinating for years, to me Gingrich was the one who opened the Pandora's Box.

[Dawson Leery]

17. Gerson had no trouble with Gingrich's burn the house down mentality.

He excused Bush's ignorance, defended the tea party's bigotry. Now he's upset.
American Conservatives by far and large are to blame for this treason.