“Republicans have increasingly ensconced themselves in a right-wing information system that they once understood to be for the rubes; they are now the target audience of their own propaganda, and as such their mental habits have deteriorated.”
This is so insightful. I grew up in a doomsday cult (humble brag), and and now assist those recovering from similar groups. MAGA is certainly a cult movement, and what you’ve described here is actually incredibly common--maybe even inevitable--for cult leaders. At the end of his life, L. Ron Hubbard nearly electrocuted himself to death trying to destroy the “thetans” in his body. He’d become convinced of his own doctrines, which at the outset he understood to be a con.
I remember noticing the same thing a few years ago. In the two thousands elected Republicans went on Fox News as a PR strategy, but they’d all grown up with three channels and still paid attention to the mainstream media. The current crop has been marinating in right wing media since before they could get a drivers license.
Perry Bacon at the Washington Post wrote a piece in January with the idea that the Dems and a handful of Republicans getting behind a retired moderate (ACTUAL moderate) GOP rep for Speaker. Something like that happened in Ohio earlier this year where the GOP caucus could not agree on a speaker, so a coalition speaker was elected instead.
Perry suspects that the Dems are hoping to parlay the dysfunction into electoral success, but the track record of that is, frankly, TERRIBLE. The worse the GOP acted during Obama’s term, the more electoral success they had, culminating in a trifecta headed by Trump and a now-unbreakable supermajority on the Supreme Court.
Sitting back and letting the GOP destroy themselves is an utter fantasy.
The sheer possibility that Stefanik could be speaker has just given me massive indigestion. She knows nothing about anything. She is a parrot, (apologies to all parrots)....
Yep. I was hopeful, but wrong about the feasibility. What we know now is that being pro-Ukraine and anti-shutdown is less important than election denial to EVERY SINGLE R HOUSE MEMBER. Donald Trump just picked the Speaker.
What I'm still waiting for is for Jeffries to now name some names -- which Rs would he have preferred, what did he do to court them, and why did they refuse.
"But the acute threat is from this partisan formation, this perpetual-motion machine of bad faith, and it will continue in this way until its leaders are stopped for rejecting truth and the rules of fair play."
The rejection of the rule of law is the will to power made manifest. MAGA knows in its heart that it has lost the game (of status) and can only win by the sheer exertion of will. This tactic has worked surprisingly well up to now despite a torrent of columns from Jennifer Rubin, the late Michael Gerson, Peter Wehner and other scolds. The defining feature of the Maga world is despair over a world that they feel has made no place for them.
The only vote over Jim Jordan should be his expulsion. How many wrestlers were 17 year old freshmen? The man is a pedophile and a traitor, and I will not take that back if every wrestler happens to have been over 18.
There are reasons for Republicans to oppose Jordan unrelated to policy, incompetence, or toxicity. He’s probably a real jerk and no fun to be around. Not someone you want to have lunch with at the country club. If Jordan can’t make deals to get elected (and his chips are limited as chairmanships are already assigned and he can’t raise money for $£!t), the Republicans will rally to another Trumpista. Remember, it’s the daddy party, and will gravitate to whoever looks like the boss.
I don't know if that's true. There may be MAGA House members with slightly less baggage than Jordan, but they have other liabilities that'd repel more than a handful of members. But we shall see!
The road back to normalcy starts by isolating the Trumpist radicals in Congress from rest of the Republican party.
Next question (which I have raised on bluesky only to be shouted at by folks who don't get what Brian is saying here): Can Jeffries nominate Buck or Bacon as speaker, and give them enough Dem votes to get over 218? Obviously it's a "hold your nose" situation, but it does seem like that's the Dems' best outcome for the next 15 months.
Jacob Crites' comment put an image in my mind of them spraying each other with their own maga Death Ray and I had to laugh. I could see the con and guile juice steaming out of their eyes and ears, and their heads popping like the martians in "Mars Attacks."
I may be losing it--but we can dream, we can hope, right?
I hope some of the Republicans hold strong, but we will see. The best-case scenario is that a group remains unmoveable in opposing Jordan, but what then? Do they come back to Scalise, or perhaps some power-sharing arrangement?
Trump fights for no one but himself and he’s always been this way. He doesn’t care about people like you--though he’d be fine with you using violence against his “enemies”: anyone who disagrees with him or goes against him. He sides with autocrats, belittles wounded warriors, is a pathological liar, and a serial philanderer. He has said the Constitution should be suspended to let him be president again. He believes in nothing but himself and his own “right” to do as he pleases, including cheating on his taxes and screwing his contractors. He’s a bad businessman who declared bankruptcy six times. And that’s before all the “winning” he did while in the Oval Office, including building his big beautiful wall and making Mexico pay for it. The only thing he inspires is hate--he isn’t a leader, he believes in dividing and conquering and cowed the GOP through intimidation, including threats of violence from his followers. I just feel sad for people like you who believe he is a great man.
“Republicans have increasingly ensconced themselves in a right-wing information system that they once understood to be for the rubes; they are now the target audience of their own propaganda, and as such their mental habits have deteriorated.”
This is so insightful. I grew up in a doomsday cult (humble brag), and and now assist those recovering from similar groups. MAGA is certainly a cult movement, and what you’ve described here is actually incredibly common--maybe even inevitable--for cult leaders. At the end of his life, L. Ron Hubbard nearly electrocuted himself to death trying to destroy the “thetans” in his body. He’d become convinced of his own doctrines, which at the outset he understood to be a con.
Really great article, man!
I remember noticing the same thing a few years ago. In the two thousands elected Republicans went on Fox News as a PR strategy, but they’d all grown up with three channels and still paid attention to the mainstream media. The current crop has been marinating in right wing media since before they could get a drivers license.
Perry Bacon at the Washington Post wrote a piece in January with the idea that the Dems and a handful of Republicans getting behind a retired moderate (ACTUAL moderate) GOP rep for Speaker. Something like that happened in Ohio earlier this year where the GOP caucus could not agree on a speaker, so a coalition speaker was elected instead.
Perry suspects that the Dems are hoping to parlay the dysfunction into electoral success, but the track record of that is, frankly, TERRIBLE. The worse the GOP acted during Obama’s term, the more electoral success they had, culminating in a trifecta headed by Trump and a now-unbreakable supermajority on the Supreme Court.
Sitting back and letting the GOP destroy themselves is an utter fantasy.
Disagree. That's last year's thinking. We saw 20 publicly defy Jordan and Trump yesterday, and 22 today.
Yes, Stefanik (more obsequious than Scalise), remains a possibility. Which is why Dems should be proactive about getting Buck or Bacon to stand.
Agree 100% David.
The sheer possibility that Stefanik could be speaker has just given me massive indigestion. She knows nothing about anything. She is a parrot, (apologies to all parrots)....
Yep. I was hopeful, but wrong about the feasibility. What we know now is that being pro-Ukraine and anti-shutdown is less important than election denial to EVERY SINGLE R HOUSE MEMBER. Donald Trump just picked the Speaker.
What I'm still waiting for is for Jeffries to now name some names -- which Rs would he have preferred, what did he do to court them, and why did they refuse.
"But the acute threat is from this partisan formation, this perpetual-motion machine of bad faith, and it will continue in this way until its leaders are stopped for rejecting truth and the rules of fair play."
The rejection of the rule of law is the will to power made manifest. MAGA knows in its heart that it has lost the game (of status) and can only win by the sheer exertion of will. This tactic has worked surprisingly well up to now despite a torrent of columns from Jennifer Rubin, the late Michael Gerson, Peter Wehner and other scolds. The defining feature of the Maga world is despair over a world that they feel has made no place for them.
The only vote over Jim Jordan should be his expulsion. How many wrestlers were 17 year old freshmen? The man is a pedophile and a traitor, and I will not take that back if every wrestler happens to have been over 18.
There are reasons for Republicans to oppose Jordan unrelated to policy, incompetence, or toxicity. He’s probably a real jerk and no fun to be around. Not someone you want to have lunch with at the country club. If Jordan can’t make deals to get elected (and his chips are limited as chairmanships are already assigned and he can’t raise money for $£!t), the Republicans will rally to another Trumpista. Remember, it’s the daddy party, and will gravitate to whoever looks like the boss.
I don't know if that's true. There may be MAGA House members with slightly less baggage than Jordan, but they have other liabilities that'd repel more than a handful of members. But we shall see!
Spot. On.
The road back to normalcy starts by isolating the Trumpist radicals in Congress from rest of the Republican party.
Next question (which I have raised on bluesky only to be shouted at by folks who don't get what Brian is saying here): Can Jeffries nominate Buck or Bacon as speaker, and give them enough Dem votes to get over 218? Obviously it's a "hold your nose" situation, but it does seem like that's the Dems' best outcome for the next 15 months.
Brilliant post Brian!
Jacob Crites' comment put an image in my mind of them spraying each other with their own maga Death Ray and I had to laugh. I could see the con and guile juice steaming out of their eyes and ears, and their heads popping like the martians in "Mars Attacks."
I may be losing it--but we can dream, we can hope, right?
Durn. Jacob was quoting you, Brian--Apologies!
Right on. Keep it up! And good luck to you and your blog in the future.
I hope some of the Republicans hold strong, but we will see. The best-case scenario is that a group remains unmoveable in opposing Jordan, but what then? Do they come back to Scalise, or perhaps some power-sharing arrangement?
The delusion runs strong in this one, Luke.
Trump fights for no one but himself and he’s always been this way. He doesn’t care about people like you--though he’d be fine with you using violence against his “enemies”: anyone who disagrees with him or goes against him. He sides with autocrats, belittles wounded warriors, is a pathological liar, and a serial philanderer. He has said the Constitution should be suspended to let him be president again. He believes in nothing but himself and his own “right” to do as he pleases, including cheating on his taxes and screwing his contractors. He’s a bad businessman who declared bankruptcy six times. And that’s before all the “winning” he did while in the Oval Office, including building his big beautiful wall and making Mexico pay for it. The only thing he inspires is hate--he isn’t a leader, he believes in dividing and conquering and cowed the GOP through intimidation, including threats of violence from his followers. I just feel sad for people like you who believe he is a great man.