(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Why Trump Remains Such a Force in Our Politics [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-01 Sunday often brings out the most interesting commentators (and some of the worst). There are three columns this morning that, though written independently, together explain why Trump remains a force and why, win or lose in 2024, he is so hard to recover from. First up is E. J. Dionne’s column in the Washington Post, focusing partly on yesterday’s events: The GOP’s arsonists lost on the shutdown, but they’re not going away. The obvious threat to democracy comes from Donald Trump, yet he is often treated as a normal, if much-indicted, presidential candidate. So it was important for Biden to call the former president out, repeatedly and forcefully, for his open promises, as Biden put it, to rule “with no limits on [his] power” in the name of “vengeance and vindictiveness.” Dionne goes further; Trump, he points out, as many others have, is only taking advantage of a system that is already crumbling: But democracy is also in trouble because of dysfunctions in our system created by the insistence of a far-right minority to rule at all costs. The extremists’ contempt for the wishes of the majority explains why they revere Trump’s eagerness to subvert free elections and why they were willing to burden military personnel and civil servants with the cost of a shutdown. Trump is responsible for egging that minority on, not so much because he believes in their specific policies, such as they are (though he does share some), but because he sees them as a major part of his plot to regain power — like them, at all costs. Next up is someone whom I have, over the years, come to respect, Jennifer Rubin: Republicans (rightly) panic. Good luck finding a viable alternative. The media obsession with finding fault with President Biden or fanning “but he’s too old” chatter (worse: “But he wears sneakers”) not only renders a disservice to voters facing an existential threat to democracy but also misses the real “they should be panicked” storyline: Republicans’ growing realization that the MAGA cult cannot be weaned from a candidate who might well be convicted in one or more criminal cases by Election Day 2024. One of Rubin’s virtues is her consistent scolding of the media for focusing on Biden’s minor foibles while giving Trump’s massive disasters a free pass. (Another virtue is that she has proven by example that it’s possible for people to change and grow, even as adults.) But it’s also the fault of the party she used to be proud of: In consistently normalizing Trump, refusing to debunk his lies and avoiding scrutiny of his abominable record (e.g., no coronavirus inoculation plan, a devastating recession, no border solution, no infrastructure deal, a horribly damaged national image), most Republicans, including the ones now panicked, effectively discouraged any competent, competitive and cogent alternative from jumping into the race. . . . Truth be told, there might be no solution to the GOP’s quandary. And that — not Vice President Harris, not Biden’s age, not premature polls and not pointless debates — should be the election campaign story. Instead, the media — like too many in the GOP base — pretend this is a competitive primary. Maybe the last debate debacle will convince them otherwise. [emphasis added] Dionne and Rubin effectively call out the Republican party for their extremism, their authoritarianism, their failure to govern, their failure to stop Trump when they had many chances to do so. However, there is another, even more pernicious, player in the game, and that leads me to the third column, by David French in the New York Times: One Reason the Trump Fever Won’t Break. The more I consider the challenge posed by Christian nationalism, the more I think most observers and critics are paying too much attention to the wrong group of Christian nationalists. We mainly think of Christian nationalism as a theology or at least as a philosophy. In reality, the Christian nationalist movement that actually matters is rooted in emotion and ostensibly divine revelation, and it’s that emotional and spiritual movement that so stubbornly clings to Donald Trump. The Christian right long ago bought the soul of the GOP (and they bought it cheap), but they are not all of them Christian nationalists (though the line is often fuzzy). French quotes from Baylor professor of church history Thomas Kidd, who explains that “theological Christian nationalism” is intellectual in nature, ranging from Catholic integralism through Protestant theonomy to Pentecostalism’s Seven Mountain Mandate. If these terms aren’t familiar, that’s the point — Christian nationalists don’t care about that. But walk into Christian MAGA America and mention any one of those terms, and you’re likely to be greeted with a blank look. “Actual Christian nationalism,” Kidd argues, “is more a visceral reaction than a rationally chosen stance.” He’s right. Essays and books about philosophy and theology are important for determining the ultimate health of the church, but on the ground or in the pews? They’re much less important than emotion, prophecy and spiritualism. Which leads to French’s concluding argument: That’s why the Trump fever won’t break. That’s why even the most biblically based arguments against Trump fall on deaf ears. That’s why the very act of Christian opposition to Trump is often seen as a grave betrayal of Christ himself. In 2024, this nation will wrestle with Christian nationalism once again, but it won’t be the nationalism of ideas. It will be a nationalism rooted more in emotion and mysticism than theology. The fever may not break until the “prophecies” change, and that is a factor that is entirely out of our control. [emphasis added] Emotion is one of Trump’s favorite tools (mysticism perhaps not so much). When he says “I’m being indicted for you!” he’s playing on his followers’ emotional feeling of being neglected, mocked, ignored. (Never mind that in practice he is one of their biggest mockers; they will never admit that.) I don’t want to make this too long (maybe it is already? Don’t tell me!), but I want to suggest a few tactics going forward: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/1/2196678/-Why-Trump-Remains-Such-a-Force-in-Our-Politics Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/