In the debris that Republicans face from the historic 2022 midterms, a bit of truth is slipping out. But don’t be fooled. It won’t last.
There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth from Ben Shapiro, editor of The Daily Wire (Tucker Carlson’s vanity project); The Wall Street Journal (subscription required); Marc Thiessen, The Washington Post’s resident far-right troll columnist (on Fox News, no less!); outgoing Senator Pat Toomey; The New York Post; Scott Jennings, former McConnell lackey and current Republican apparatchik; and the far-right Red State.
In fact, if you’re in the mood for a little fun, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel had a compendium nearly a minute long of one pundit or politician after another declaring Donald J. Trump a loser, starting just before the 8:00 mark. Former Senator and sycophant Rick Santorum, now a Newsmax propagandist, actually said on Newsmax that Trump’s endorsement hurt candidates in the general election. Even Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former press secretary, advised Trump to stay out of Georgia while urging Right-Wing darling-of-the-day Ron DeSantis to campaign for Herschel Walker instead. How sharper than a serpent’s tooth to see a thankless sycophant move on to kissing a new behind!
In The National Review, of all places, Jim Geraghty summarized the disheartened lament of the GOP’s corporate wing:
My takeaway from all this is that Americans are tired of the circus, the freakshow, the in-your-face, all-controversy-is-good, Trump-influenced wannabes. The country’s got real problems, and they won’t be solved by table-pounding pop-culture celebrities who want to emote populist rage on Hannity. Maybe that schtick can win you a primary, and if you’re in a sufficiently Republican-leaning district or state, you’ll be okay. But the country is full of purple and light-blue states that the GOP needs to win if it wants to steer the ship of state.
Don’t you believe it!
Remember in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol, how many Republicans were horrified enough to blame Trump and declare that their party needed to steer away from violence and the crazy? Weeks later, the same folks were denying they’d said any such thing — despite video evidence — and pledging their allegiance to the orange idol. I don’t have to rehash how the vast majority of Republicans bashed Trump for being what he is — a selfish, racist, dishonest blockhead without a single principle — only to fall in line at various levels of obsequiousness. (I’m talking about you, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.)
Lackey Lindsey got one thing right, though, and that is that the GOP will continue embracing Trump — no matter what: “Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no. I've always liked Liz Cheney, but she’s made a determination that the Republican Party can’t grow with President Trump. I've determined we can’t grow without him.”
Don’t think a catastrophic midterm will change anything. The only question is when the amnesia and historical revisionism begin.
--30--
