Hillary Was Right: The GOP Base of Deplorables

Calling people out for who they really are may not be popular and can lead to tantrums and threats of violence, but sometimes it needs to be done.  Fast forward from 2016 when Hillary Clinton stated that half of Donald Trump's base of support were a "basket of deplorable" and the phenomenon that prompted Clinton's statement - and an earlier one by Barrack Obama that Republican voters are "bitter" people who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them" - is all the more apparent.  The myth that Trump voters were motivated by "economic uncertainty" has been laid bare as open racism, homophobia, "Christian" extremism, and vulture capitalism now make up the pillars of the Republican Party base and party policy.  The GOP offers nothing to working class whites other than fanning and mainstreaming their sense of grievance and hatred towards others.   Sadly, much of the mainstream media continues to give zealots and hate merchants a pass and refuses to accept the reality that the overwhelming desire of a shrinking reactionary base of white voters to continue to control society at any cost, including the overthrow of democracy and political violence, is what the nation must defeat (including here in Virginia in the November, 2023 elections).  Giving deference to bigots, abject hypocrites in the case of evangelicals, and extremists does nothing to confront the danger the GOP base poses as it continues to embrace Trump and misogyny in general.  A piece at Salon looks at Hillary's - and Obama's - accurate assessment of todays Republican Party base.  Here are excerpts:

"Hurt dogs sure do holler." That was the saying that came to mind in 2008 when then-candidate for president Barack Obama drew outrage from Republicans because he described their voters as "bitter" people who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them." The phrase came to mind again in 2016, when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton used the memorable phrase "basket of deplorables" to describe supporters of Donald Trump. Since a cardinal rule of politics is "insult your opponent, but never their voters," the mainstream media picked up and amplified the umbrage-taking from Republicans. 

What wasn't discussed very much in all this media coverage: The truth value of either Clinton's or Obama's comments. And what a shame, because both of them were right.

New polling out this week from CBS News proves, as many feared, Trump's fourth set of indictments — he now faces 91 felony charges across four jurisdictions — has only caused the GOP to rally around their seething orange leader. (And let's not forget this comes after a jury recently found him responsible for sexual assault.)

And, in a poll finding that really is astonishing, Trump voters claimed they trust the notorious fraudster more than anyone. A whopping 71% of Trump voters claim "what he says is true." Only 63% of them say that about family and friends, 56% about conservative media figures and 42% about religious leaders.  The word that comes to mind is "cult." 

"Cult leaders must be dynamic, charismatic, and convincing because their goal is to control their members to acquire money or power-related advantages," said Joe Scarborough on MSNBC in response to the poll Monday.

Political scientist Brian Klaas tweeted, "you need to understand what an authoritarian cult of personality is, because that's what it has become."

MAGA is a cult, but it's a mistake to view Trump followers like DeSantis does, as "listless vessels" for Trump. Take this poll with a strong grain of salt, as it's unlikely that so many people are so delusional as to truly see an honest broker in the chronic liar and criminal that is Trump. Instead, the poll is a reminder that Trump backers are both deplorable and bitter clingers. 

That poll doesn't measure a sincere belief in Trump's trustworthiness. It measures people who, consumed with bitterness towards the more liberal majority, are clinging to Trump even harder in a pathetic bid to save face. Which, as anyone who has studied cults can tell you, is a surprisingly strong factor in why people squelch their doubts to stay in the cult. They were warned so many times that this was a mistake that they stick around, hoping to prove the skeptics wrong. 

The rally-round-Trump effect is fundamentally an eff-you-liberals response. This is demonstrated by the way this sentiment surges around every embarrassing reminder that the man is a criminal, and an idiotic one at that. There's a pattern emerging to the MAGA reaction to Trump indictments. The first swell of emotions is a tantrum, full of "how dare you" screaming, as they metaphorically (or literally in some cases) follow their leader's ketchup-throwing ways. Once that crybaby reaction fades, however, you can see concerns about betting it all on a profligate criminal start to seep in.

It's unsurprising that the conniption fit is especially strong after the RICO charges against Trump and 18 co-conspirators were announced in Atlanta because the face of these indictments is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A Black woman having the power to charge Trump triggers both the racism and the sexism that fuels the Trumpist movement. When the prosecutor reading charges is Jack Smith, a stern-looking white man from the Justice Department, it's a lot harder for Republicans to tap that bitter clinger energy that makes them so deplorable. But now they're in high dudgeon because they refuse to accept a world where a Black woman has the right to make accusations against a rich white man. 

It would be funny if these folks weren't a massive threat, and not just to democracy. As Obama said, they bitterly cling to their guns. Violence is the inevitable result of all this rage. They may not be rioting at the courthouse, but, as I wrote in March, the MAGA fury is being redirected at women, LGBTQ people, and racial minorities, the people that MAGA believes they shouldn't have to share power within a democratic system. There was yet another reminder this weekend of how bad things have gotten when a California store owner named Lauri Ann Carleton was murdered by a 27-year-old man. The reason the 66-year-old mother of nine was shot in cold blood? Because, police say, she flew the LGBTQ pride flag outside her clothing store, Mag.Pi.

The irony of all this is, if you read both Obama and Clinton's comments in context, they were actually far more charitable than the media coverage would lead one to believe.

Trump is barely literate, but, likely due to his own narcissism, he's especially adept at manipulating people's ego defense mechanisms. He's managed to get his followers to believe that, if they admit he sucks, it's as good as saying they also suck. That's hard for anyone to do, but especially people who have spent their whole lives being told they're the only "real" Americans. 

The irony here is that this stubborn unwillingness to face the truth about Trump is a big factor in the MAGA deplorability. Having the humility and grace to let liberals be right about Trump would crack open the door to the possibility there are other things liberals are right about, from the facts of history to vaccines to climate change. Republican voters aren't really the dead-eyed zombies DeSantis invoked. But it may be something worse: Millions of grown adults slamming their hands over their ears and singing loudly, "nah nah I can't hear you."