# Why did the Republican Party Allow Donald Trump to Corrupt Them So Fully? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 26, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407 "2022-08-26T19:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/81 "2022-08-30T15:58:54Z")
That’s absurd. Some massive percentage of the country still identifies as white and Christian. And that identification doesn’t mean that someone is going to be a Republican. I would bet that of the mainstream Protestant denominations, there’s a pretty good split between Republican and Democrat, with it leaning more Republican in the more conservative ones like Methodist, and more Democrat in the more liberal ones like Episcopalian. There are a LOT of white Catholics as well, and they are likely to vote Democrat. Identifying as a white Evangelical, Southern Baptist, or some other fundamentalist denomination does mean that you’re likely to identify as a Republican. That’s because of the identity that’s been schemed up over the decades- white, conservative Christian, rural/suburban, law and order, etc… But that identity doesn’t encompass everyone who’s white and Christian. Far from it. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/82 "2022-08-30T16:36:19Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s absurd. Not at all. What’s absurd is this fixation on lunatics like Limbaugh and Fox News and blablabla, which has been with us always. The difference is the inexorable change from a White Christian majority (or supermajority) into a White Christian minority, with trends moving further and further in that direction. Clowns and asshats fomenting white supremacism are lagging signs of racism and bigotry becoming the major issue of our day–that they’re taken seriously and not dismissed by the GOP as extremist whackjob is merely their recognition that, yep, that’s where our base of support is, and we gotta appeal to them openly. It no longer matters that they’re not a majority, and it only matters that they (they think) they can continue to dominate despite being an electoral minority, as long as gerrymandering, the Electoral College and other sleights-of-hand will give them a significant say in running this country. The fact that you’re reduced to claiming that I ever said that white supremacist politics must > [@bump](#): > > encompass everyone who’s white and Christian just illustrates my point. I never said anything as stupid as that in my life, or in this thread. But if you enjoy arguing with strawmen, suit yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/83 "2022-08-30T17:05:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > There are a LOT of white Catholics as well, and they are likely to vote Democrat. Gonna disagree with you here. There is A LOT coming from the pulpit of “Abortion is evil! Biden is not a Catholic because he is pro-abortion!”. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the few actual denominations that has official doctrine against abortion. Yeah, at one time it was “How could you be a Catholic and vote Republican?” Now, it’s more “How could you be a Catholic and NOT vote Republican?” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/84 "2022-08-30T17:13:10Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > There is A LOT coming from the pulpit of “Abortion is evil! Biden is not a Catholic because he is pro-abortion!”. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the few actual denominations that has official doctrine against abortion. This is true, and the Catholic church was fighting against abortion since the 1970s (if not before), long before the Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestant churches took up the cause. While there are certainly many American Catholics who are against abortion (including, notably, Justice Amy Coney Barrett), this article shows that nearly two-thirds (64%) of American Catholics believe that abortion should be legal; a similar proportion also feels that the church has little or no influence on their political views. Similarly, 2/3 of U.S. Catholics are also in favor of same-sex marriage. > **[No confusion about a new poll: Most U.S. Catholics disagree with church...](https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/06/06/poll-us-catholics-disagree-church-abortion-lgbt-243108)** > > Last week saw the release of yet another poll suggesting that a majority of U.S. Catholics do indeed hold pro-choice views on abortion. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/85 "2022-08-30T21:12:53Z")
But you go on about “White Christian majorities” or whatever… if that’s not painting with a broad brush, I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/86 "2022-08-30T21:24:56Z")
> [@bump](#): > > “White Christian majorities” Which part do you find inaccurate? White? Christian? Majority? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/87 "2022-08-31T19:44:06Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A lot of people voted for Trump, and others in the Republican party want those people to vote for them, so they agree with and protect Trump. This. In 2020 Trump received the 2nd most votes of any candidate for POTUS in our entire history. It was the second highest turnout election in the US in the last 100 years, with only 1960 having a higher turnout. On the Republican side those new voters were mostly people who didn’t vote for the likes of Bush, Romney, or McCain because they weren’t Trumpy enough. Those voters want a simple-minded leader who is bigoted and will try to “own the liberals.” The Republican leadership, seeing the numbers Biden racked up, realize that the only chance they have is to either keep those voters motivated or blow up the party and become a center-right party. ETA: Trump received about 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. The reason Republican candidates are doing what they’re doing is because if those 11 million voters stay home in the next election and the extra voters that voted for Biden still show up, that will make previous blue waves look like a ripple in a pond comparatively. > **[Voter turnout in United States presidential elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States_presidential_elections)** > > The historical trends in voter turnout in the United States presidential elections have been determined by the gradual expansion of voting rights from the initial restriction to white male property owners aged 21 or older in the early years of the country's independence to all citizens aged 18 or older in the mid-20th century. Voter turnout in United States presidential elections has historically been higher than the turnout for midterm elections. > Approximately 240 million people were eligible... ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/88 "2022-08-31T23:41:42Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Trump received about 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. Which is the basis for the “We wuz robbed!” The GOP did their estimates of how many votes, and in which states, was required to win in the EC. And they got them … and then some … and then some more. A lot more. The tea leaf readers were fixated upon their own numbers Increasing the GOP vote by 11mill, never occurred before. An incumbent increasing their vote by that sheer volume would surely guarantee an epic landslide, no? Absolute vindication of the previous term’s work. How could you possibly lose legitimately from that mountain of votes? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407/89 "2022-09-01T02:27:42Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Which is the basis for the “We wuz robbed!” > > The GOP did their estimates of how many votes, and in which states, was required to win in the EC. And they got them … and then some … and then some more. A lot more. > > The tea leaf readers were fixated upon their own numbers > Increasing the GOP vote by 11mill, never occurred before. > An incumbent increasing their vote by that sheer volume would surely guarantee an epic landslide, no? Absolute vindication of the previous term’s work. > > How could you possibly lose legitimately from that mountain of votes? Of course there’s a mix of Republican officeholders. Some are true believers, others realize that Biden increased his share by an even greater amount. My point was that among those who realize that Trump lost fair and square, they also know that their own future victories will depend in part on keeping the outrage of those 11 million true believers going. For those in deep red areas, they need to worry about being primaried by a Trumpist appealing to those same newly energized true believers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-republican-party-allow-donald-trump-to-corrupt-them-so-fully/970407.md?page=4)