Or, as the lovely and talented Blue Gal wrote over at Crooks & Liars back in August of 2016:
Don't You Dare Call It 'Trump-ism'I swear, imma marry that woman!
Lost in the long and ponderous shadows cast by the stupidest David Brooks column in a very long time was this little gem of stupid denialism in today's column by former George W. Bush chief speechwriter, senior Republican policy adviser and reliable Beltway Republican stalactite, Michael Gerson.
The GOP’s hard, messy options for destroying TrumpismThere is no such thing as "Trumpism", Mr. Gerson. There is just "Republicanism" as all of us out here in the real world have experienced it for decades.
Trump has been ruled by compulsions, obsessions and vindictiveness...Just like the base of the Republican Party.
He has demonstrated an egotism that borders on solipsism.Just like the base of the Republican Party.
His White House is divided, incompetent and chaotic...Just like the minds of the base of the Republican Party.
He has told constant, childish, refuted, uncorrected lies...Just like the base of the Republican Party.
[He has] ... demanded and habituated deception among his underlings.Just like the "Fair and Balanced" sewer from which the base of the Republican Party get their opinions.
He has promoted self-serving conspiracy theories.Christ on a chemtrail, Gerson, have you ever in whole your life actually met a member of the base of your Republican Party? Or does your GOP come out of the same hokum hookah where David Brooks finds his?
He has displayed pathetic, even frightening, ignorance on policy matters foreign and domestic.Just like the base of the Republican Party.
He is dead to the poetry of language and to the nobility of the political enterprise, viewing politics as conquest rather than as service.Just like the base of the Republican Party. See also, "Any comment section of any Conservative website any time, day or night".
Trump has made consistent appeals to prejudice based on religion and ethnicity...Just like the base of the Republican Party.
[He has] ... associated the Republican Party with bias.Honestly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this level of infantile self-deception from a grown-ass man.
He has stoked tribal hostilities. He has carelessly fractured our national unity. He has attempted to undermine respect for any institution that opposes or limits him — be it the responsible press, the courts or the intelligence community.You have just articulated the basic building blocks -- the Guanine and Adenine -- of the political DNA of the base of the Republican Party.
For many Republicans and conservatives, there is apparently no last straw, with offenses mounting bale by bale.And halfway through his column, Mr. Gerson's gives up on his own ridiculous thesis, because here is no such thing as "Trumpism". There never has been, just as there never was a "Tea Party". There is just raw, thuggish, nihilistic"Republicanism" as it has always existed behind the thin veneer of Beltway respectability that people like Michael Gerson were paid to applique onto the true face of the Party of Jefferson Davis.
And so Mr. Gerson asks the only question that is left for the Right to ask:
So what is the proper objective for Republicans and conservatives? It is the defeat of Trumpism, preferably without the destruction of the GOP itself. And how does that happen?And his answer? He has none. He only has terrible alternatives, one of which is
Creating a conservative third party — as some have proposed — would have the effect of delivering national victories to a uniformly liberal and unreformed Democratic Party. A bad idea.Fuck you and your fucking Both Siderism you knee-biter. But in the spirit of unity, let us end on a note of agreement.
Whatever option is chosen, it will not be easy or pretty. And any comfort for Republicans will be cold because they brought this fate on themselves and the country.They didn't bring this fate on themselves and the country. Mr, Gerson.
You did.
You brought this fate on yourself and our country.
And we will never let you forget it.
5 comments:
Once upon a time, I wondered if the reason that the allegedly hostile Republican establishment accepted Trump so readily is that they knew they could blame him for all of their failures, and here we are.
The inevitable troubles of the Trump years are proving to have very little to do with Trump. Break it down, and here's what's wrong with having the Orange Menace in office: It's embarrassing when he speaks. That's about it, really. I once would have expressed worry about having such an ignoramus around in the events of a war, terrorism or some other international incident, but it seems like the generals have just taken the responsibility for that away from him. Beyond that, he's proving to be one of the most toothless politicians I've ever personally seen.
No, the real problem with the Trump years is Congress. Congressional Republicans have decided that they'd rather be aristocrats than politicians, and have taken the logical first step - locking up the mad old king in his quarters so he can't pooch their plans. The antidemocratic maneuvering in Congress is terribly disturbing, a naked power grab by people who no longer feel any obligation to the voters (and do we really need that whole "universal suffrage" thing? The GOP is working on that, too). And since it's the same pack of pricks we've had for years espousing the same bullshit they've been spitting for years, there's no way you can blame this on some recently invented fiction of politics.
My concerns over U.S. politics no longer have anything to do with Trump. Concern #1 is that reality turns into one of my own novels and the GOP simply cheat their way into becoming the de facto sole party. Concern #2 is that they fail in this but that the usual suspects pin all their dastardly deeds on an unpopular president (again) and they get to try again in a few years.
Let us not be to hasty to give Gerson all the credit. he has had lots of soul selling help.Right down to this.
* My House Rep Representative gives a floor speech on Civility after the Ballpark shooting. That should only take place at places where the important people aren't.
His civility speech went like this;
The shooting of my dear friend Steve brings me here to __blah blah..
We need to be more respectful of others and disagreements. We can all do better and people that have 'cut off bloody heads of the president" to express there hate needs to stop. We all need to tone it down.
(notice he does not cite any specific instance of his republican brotherhood).
* The Georgia election. karen Handel runs a campaign ad that reads (and I quote word for word)
AS--
Sounds of gunfire.
Now the unhinged left endorsing and applauding shooting republicans.
When will it stop. It won’t, if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday. Because the same unhinged left is cheering last week’s shooting
Are all backing jon Ossoff. And if he wins, they win. Stop them, stop them now.
Stop Ossoff, stop Nancy Pelosi. Vote karen handel for Congress.
Paid for by the republican leadership PAC.
End of as.................
* karen Handel gives victory speech calling for civility. To end discourse in politics. How close she has gotten with Scalise and wishes him well. That the hatefulness that permeates is wrong and must stop.
(Yes, she stood right up in front of the people that responded to that campaign Ad of hers and voted for her. She stood tall and told them how we all need to come together. Work together and tone it down.
Nowhere is there any notion that Steve Scalise might have done much harm to many people from his good ole boy days running around in the republican Brotherhood Hoody while being civil working with David Duke and the KKK.
Sykes got this deception down, Temporarily until the fad fizzles like his shtick-hate on the radio caught up with him..
There has been many diagnosis of DFB, who like a dog with a bad case of fleas from his favorite bed. needs one of those stop chew funnel collars.
He keeps chewing for the fleas and chewing himself bald and raw. Because, he knows but cannot help himself. They all seem to have their own special neurosis that invades their humanity and self respect.
They have been convinced, no matter if you come by money Crook or Trump rip off university. The money makes you respectable.
There are times this agnostic, leaning atheist wants to believe the Pearly Gates to heaven exist and St Peter is there with his questionnaire of their lives.
Because if the Pearly Gates exist. That means the burning heat below eternal exists for St Peter to reward just deservesto the ones that did not study or practice life and failed his test.
"Honestly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this level of infantile self-deception from a grown-ass man.* Well, there's mistake, man... in what level of reality are either of these basement dwelling spleen venters masquerading as *serious*people* be described on *any* level as grown mature adults?
Saw Gerson's essay on social media in a few places (including via DAN RATHER, dammat), so I posted your essay as an antidote. Thanks, Mr. Electro!
Driftglass: inoculating the masses against Bothsideritis since 2005.
One of your best takedowns evah, DG. I bet you didn't even work up a sweat.
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