I grew up in a very “conservative” household. After I turned 18 I proudly voted for Bush 1. I continued that and voted for Bush 2 the first time. It was about this time I lost religion (literally - fuck the Christian religion) and jumped shipped politically as well. But, I think I am not the majority and I think you are correct that the bulk didn’t “see the light” and still support the wrong side while not talking about all the shit their side has caused.
Sure, but I also meant a social cost in general.
Saying “I don’t mind the open racism, misogyny, and appeals to fascism as long as I get mine” tends not to get you invited to the good parties, whether or not they’re actually thrilled by all that stuff (yeah…who am I kidding? a lot of them are thrilled at the idea of classifying large swaths of people as sub-human).
Thank you!! “Too bad, that’s how God (Trump) said it should be, and shall it be so. “ Rich pharaohs sit confidently, peasants cheer. That dopey book (and a few trillion $) are the source of Project 2025 and a blind Executive Branch who want the money.
One of the great tragedies of American politics in the 21st Century is the Republican Party’s failure to do any sort of real introspection after the Bush years. What they did instead was empower the crassest, most rabid figures in their coalition.
As I mentioned in my post, the people who loved Bush in the 2000s simply moved on to the next shiny thing, rather than think too hard about where their guy went wrong. In the years after Bush left office, that shiny thing was Sarah Palin. When she proved too dimwitted even for most Republicans, a procession of other flunkies tried becoming that shiny thing - Michelle Bachman, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, etc. But no one caught fire until Trump descended that escalator in 2015. By then the party was ripe for takeover by the crazies, and those in the GOP establishment were discovering they were as susceptible to being eaten by the leopards as anyone else.
This is a thought that has kept me up at night for many years now, sadly…
Excellent username/post combo! With sympathies for your restless nights… 
I don’t recall the Bible mentioning this.
It does, but it doesn’t work out so well for the people working for the Pharaoh. Or his first-born son.
Sure, but we don’t know that they cheered.
Thanks!
And… I did it… on purpose… totally.
That has been one of the characteristics of the ascendant faction. “Why do you bring up the past, that’s behind us, get over it.” See also: their approach to teaching history.
Oh, but they did. They issued a report after the 2012 elections that said that they had to become more open to women and minorities if they wanted to succeed in the future:
But the Party looked at that and said “fuck this” It was easier to gerrymander and lie, so they kept to their existing course.
There’s a clip of Tucker Carlson from his bowtie days, on stage at a conservative event. He says that the political right has ceded the ground on journalistic integrity, and he wants to start a channel on the right that is fact-based, accurate and doesn’t engage in inflammatory rhetoric. You could have heard a pin drop in the crowd.
To Tucker’s credit (and you don’t get to say that very often), he sure learned what the crowd actually wanted.
(sorry, I just realized how much of a hijack that was. It was just the U-turn on minority outreach reminded me of that)
I thought it was a good post, for whatever that’s worth. (since this is the ONLY rump thread I am following, I’m OK wherever it leads as long as people don’t post his hateful pumpkin face.)
But they’re also the ones saying, “America used to be Great! Let’s go back to the past!”
They did do introspection. And they decided Bush wasn’t cruel enough.
I don’t think it’s a hijack. This is all about surprises they should see coming, but won’t, and an inability to listen when someone explains what the problem is, is central to that.
I used to vote Conservative here in Canada, but the path the conservatives have chosen, both in Canada and everywhere else in the world, drove me away. I can accept that “mistakes were made”, particularly just post 9/11. Shit happens when shit starts exploding. Fine. But every time they’ve stopped to ask, “Why isn’t this working?”, they’ve rejected the reasonable explanations, and rejected the sensible solutions, and decided, “It didn’t work because we haven’t been awful enough!” They keep choosing the worst option, in hopes that this will suddenly make things work again.
And there’s enough stupid or awful voters out there to let them keep winning often enough to keep trying it.
I much prefer the Smashing Pumpkins to the hateful ones.
Certainly, some people in the GOP could read the writing on the wall and see the party was headed into a dark place. But the party leaders were content to continue throwing red meat at the leopards, or at the very least doing nothing to prevent anyone else from flinging red meat. And it wasn’t until Trump began garnering some traction in 2015, that they began realizing they were perhaps losing control of the beasts they had for years enabled.