Pierce: 'We' Did Not Miss the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism. You Did.

[Garrett78]

15. The right wing is in denial about what the right wing is and has been for the last half century.

Show me an anti-Trump Republican and I'll show you a person in denial about the monster they helped create.

They continue to worship at the altar of Saint Ronnie without acknowledging the linkage between the rise of Trump and the white backlash to the Civil Rights Movement and Nixon's Southern Strategy in the 1960s, the Powell Memo and creation of the Moral Majority in the 1970s, Reagan's dog whistling (like kicking off his campaign with a speech on "states' rights" less than 10 miles from where 3 civil rights workers were murdered) in the 1980s, and so on.

Trump is a symptom and part of a continuum. As intelligent and articulate as the likes of Steve Schmidt are, these anti-Trump Republicans are in denial. The alternative is coming to terms with what they helped make possible. Denial helps assuage guilt, so they opt for denial.

I worry very much about what the dominant narrative will be after Trump is gone. Republicans (and members of the media) will try very hard to establish a narrative that is downright dangerous and will only allow for Trump 2.0. It's starting already. Democrats better be prepared and better understand the importance of establishing narrative in the public consciousness. Being on the defensive (as we've been against the "liberal media" narrative for the last 30+ years) is a losing position.

The ones who still worship at the altar of Saint Ronnie can't seem to accept their complicity. They simply want to go back to using a dog whistle instead of a bullhorn. Because that'll make everything okay again and assuage their guilt. In reality, of course, it'll simply feed the extremism.

And by "monster," I mean the Republican Party base (as well as all the right wing "independents" with their bothsidesism). Trump is merely a symptom. Once Trump is gone, the monster will remain. As Obama said, the GOP has been "feeding the base all kinds of crazy for years." The monster must be fed, which is why Republicans hoping to get re-elected don't speak out against Trump except in rare cases. Eventually we'll see the rise of Trump 2.0, a more intelligent and politically-savvy and charismatic demagogue. We best be ready.