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highplainsdem

(48,650 posts)
Fri Jan 1, 2021, 10:28 AM Jan 2021

The Unbearable Weakness of Trump's Minions (The Atlantic) [View all]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/cowards-are-destroying-the-gop/617534/



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What is happening in the GOP is that figures such as Hawley, along with many of his Senate and House colleagues, and important Republican players, including the former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, are all trying to position themselves as the heirs of Trump. None of them possesses the same sociopathic qualities as Trump, and their efforts will be less impulsive and presumably less clownish, more calculated and probably less conspiracy-minded. It may be that not all of them support Hawley’s stunt; perhaps some are even embarrassed by it. But these figures are seismographers; they are determined to act in ways that win the approval of the Republican Party’s base. And this goes to the heart of the danger.

The problem with the Republican “establishment” and with elected officials such as Josh Hawley is not that they are crazy, or that they don’t know any better; it is that they are cowards, and that they are weak. They are far more ambitious than they are principled, and they are willing to damage American politics and society rather than be criticized by their own tribe. I’m guessing that many of them haven’t read Nietzsche, but they have embraced his philosophy of perspectivism, which in its crudest form posits that there is no objective truth, no authoritative or independent criteria for determining what is true or false. In this view, we all get to make up our own facts and create our own narratives. Everything is conditioned on what your perspective is. This is exactly the sort of slippery epistemic nihilism for which conservatives have, for more than a generation, reproached the academic left—except the left comes by it more honestly.

The single most worrisome political fact in America right now is that a significant portion of the Republican Party lives in a fantasy world, a place where facts and truth don’t hold sway, where “owning the libs” is an end in itself, and where seceding from reality is a symbol of tribal loyalty, rather than a sign of mental illness. This is leading the party, and America itself, to places we’ve never been before, including the spectacle of a defeated president and his supporters engaging in a sustained effort to steal an election.

The tactics of Hawley and his many partisan confreres, if they aren’t checked and challenged, will put at risk what the scholar Stephen L. Carter calls “the entire project of Enlightenment democracy.” This doesn’t seem to bother Hawley and many in his party. But what he should know—and, one hopes, does know, somewhere in the recesses of his heart—is that he has moved very far away from conservatism.

Whether the Republican Party can be salvaged is very much an open question. I don’t know the answer. But here is what I do know: Patriotic Republicans and conservatives need to fight for the soul of the Republican Party, for its sake and for the sake of the nation. America needs two healthy and sane political parties. Trump’s departure on January 20 should open up space for at least a few brave and responsible figures to arise, to help ground the GOP in truth rather than falsehoods, reality instead of fantasy, and to use the instruments of power for the pursuit of justice.

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55 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Uh huh... Zoonart Jan 2021 #1
Hopefully it isn't too late for the GOP to pull back from... Vinnie From Indy Jan 2021 #2
Trump is just the symptom, I've got family who had Canoe52 Jan 2021 #22
Condolences on That, Although I Suspect You Have Plenty of Company The Roux Comes First Jan 2021 #47
50%+ in Red States Tiger8 Jan 2021 #53
It's too late. Person of Interest Jan 2021 #29
It's WAY too late Downtown Hound Jan 2021 #38
Well, Old Age and the Superspreader Events They Seem to be So Keen On The Roux Comes First Jan 2021 #48
Years ago the republican party PatSeg Jan 2021 #41
This is what I have been saying. chriscan64 Jan 2021 #49
I've known so many of these people PatSeg Jan 2021 #50
Spot on! Great post. Nt onlyadream Jan 2021 #54
Thank you! PatSeg Jan 2021 #55
Too bad there's no soul in the Republican party to fight for Blues Heron Jan 2021 #3
K&R, ".. it is that they are cowards, and that they are weak..." uponit7771 Jan 2021 #4
They are anti-democratic elected officials who support this attempted coup malaise Jan 2021 #5
They need to go Rebl2 Jan 2021 #12
Precisely malaise Jan 2021 #15
May the terminally ill GOP die a quick and painful death, very soon. Roisin Ni Fiachra Jan 2021 #6
agree housecat Jan 2021 #11
Yes,.. let us make a delicious and delectable beef stew,... magicarpet Jan 2021 #7
When all the famous dictators left office, safeinOhio Jan 2021 #8
In a cult like movement, not fully and many times not at all. paleotn Jan 2021 #20
Seems when it does, it's a close relative. safeinOhio Jan 2021 #21
Yep, but never has the original "magic"... paleotn Jan 2021 #23
They are playing right into Putin's hands. Destabilizing the United States. nt Irish_Dem Jan 2021 #9
The only way to kill fascism is to pull it out of the soil root and all Mr. Ected Jan 2021 #10
Good read...nt Wounded Bear Jan 2021 #13
There's nothing worth salvaging in the Repuke Party FakeNoose Jan 2021 #14
The GOP Brand needs to be Executed. Destroyed. Annihilated. Buried. Tommymac Jan 2021 #16
It is more like it has committed suicide PatSeg Jan 2021 #42
The only hope for the GOP Wednesdays Jan 2021 #17
Good read. This line grabbed me: c-rational Jan 2021 #18
Trump is the party and the party is Trump. There can be on successors.... paleotn Jan 2021 #19
Great article ismnotwasm Jan 2021 #24
Until obscene amounts of money are no longer required to attain public office dlk Jan 2021 #25
"Russians have bought their way into and have completely infiltrated the Republican Party" movingviolation Jan 2021 #44
Luv the headline. BlueWavePsych Jan 2021 #26
Its a bad bet by Republicans with bigger goals... Jon King Jan 2021 #27
The Republican Party will go the way of the Whigs. Marcuse Jan 2021 #28
I will never trust a Republican. Ever. OMGWTF Jan 2021 #30
I'll bet they will still use the lies establish in the Reagan years. Big tax breaks to the rich... usaf-vet Jan 2021 #31
Republicans must fix themselves. They tried to poison the entire system, but the system still holds. ancianita Jan 2021 #32
"patriotic republican" is the biggest oxymoron I've ever heard MyMission Jan 2021 #33
I don't see how the Republican Party survives peggysue2 Jan 2021 #34
"Two sane and healthy political,parties" leaves out the pukes. They are not, will not, can not, niyad Jan 2021 #35
It's an Ok article but fairly trite. gulliver Jan 2021 #36
The author of this piece Downtown Hound Jan 2021 #37
This did not start with Trump. JackHughes Jan 2021 #39
"fight for the soul of the Republican party? -- what soul? vlyons Jan 2021 #40
First of all, the bet isn't whether any of them have read Nietzsche. BobTheSubgenius Jan 2021 #43
Kill the messenger RecoveringJournalist Jan 2021 #45
All the bad actors have one thing in common. Mr.Bill Jan 2021 #46
Hell the GOP didn't even have a platform this past election. Historic NY Jan 2021 #51
When you see or hear TRumpism, just walk away. UCmeNdc Jan 2021 #52
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