Some observers think the Right will drop Trump down the memory hole like they did George W. Bush. (Note David Frum’s pinned tweet: “When this is all over, nobody will admit to ever having supported it.”)
I actually think they’re going to mythologize Trump like they did the Confederacy. It’ll be a 21st-century Lost Cause.
What do you think?
They may still refuse to wear masks but hand-washing will be way up.
Which “Right”? The fake-media-incited authoritarians or the establishment fiscal/tax conservatives?
The former will lionise; the latter will memory dump.
Which faction will own the soul of the R party going forward is the $64Trillion question upon which the future of our country lies.
Nice.
Exactly. The actual hardcore Trumpers are going to lament his time in office, and wail about stolen elections, and what-not for decades to come.
But the pre-Trump Republicans are going to basically shake their heads and consign him to the trash can of memory, and move on. They’re not going to spend a lot of time entertaining conspiracy theories or any other nonsense like that. He’ll just end up another Republican president, only notable for being an embarrassment and a threat to democracy.
I’m sorry, but “establishment fiscal/tax conservatives” are about as relevant right now as Log Cabin Republicans.
I said this in the other thread:
Our chance to end fascism was to win this election in a landslide. On Tuesday morning, when I heard about “record turnouts”, I thought we just might do it. But this “too close to call” election plays right into Trump’s hands. I am elated Trump lost. But I fear this will accelerate our slide towards fascism.
Agreed. I’m laying out the contenders; not handicapping the race.
Recognizing that 2024 is (duh) 4 years from now. The authoritarians have the bit in their teeth. Today. As you say.
Once Trump is banned from TwitFace for trolling, and if we assume some favorable leaks and investigations about who really controls the RW media (e.g. the Russians, Murdoch, etc.), there might be a huge groundswell in a different direction. Not towards Progressive Kumbaya, but also not towards exactly Trumpism either.
A “Make All Americans Great for the First Time” could be an avowedly capitalist, avowedly isolationist, avowedly law and order and hard work, and avowedly inclusionary possibility. “We can’t beat the Chinese with 1/3rd of our populace being pushed down by the other 2/3rds. Let’s pull together to beat the enemy and grow our economy with good jobs for all!” kind of thing.
Not hugely probable, but not batshit insane either.
Agree. Sadly. And we needed to have had a blue wave in Congress. Which also did not happen.
What we have seen instead is that fascism is popular enough with the folks in the electorally advantaged parts of the the country that the WAG 30% of the 60% is enough to send us down the tubes.
There’s one (faint, I think) glimmer of hope, depending on what you’re desperate enough to believe.
Bandy X. Lee has been consistently pushing her thesis that mental illness of the Trumpian variety is contagious, and that Trumpism has been an infectious epidemic that 40-some% of the population has caught. She believes that when Trump is gone from the scene, that the contagion will dissipate and the ambient mental health of the nation will drift back towards something more nearly normal.
I saw a very recent article she wrote on this theme. Hang tight, I’ll see if I can find it again.
Well, I tried googling for recent stuff by Bandy X. Lee, but that gets me so many cites that I can’t pick out the one I’m looking for. But google for yourself if you’re interested, and you’ll find plenty of articles to choose from!
Looking for herd immunity?
They’ll make up whatever shit serves their purposes at any particular moment, and deny having said that the moment something else appears to serve them better.
Anyone who did not openly oppose that shitstain has no principles.
They will remember him as the patron saint of electoral luck.
there will be more books, TV shows, etc from white house folks and most will be negative to him.
I think they have already idolized that individual.