Trump's Base Has Become Too Delusional for the GOP's Own Good

[DonViejo]

12:01 P.M.

By Eric Levitz@EricLevitz

or decades now, the conservative movement has sought to keep its core voters confined to a carefully curated media ecosystem — one where the Democratic Party is a Marxist-Islamist organization, America is the world’s most over-taxed nation, illegal immigrants bear sole responsibility for the stagnation of middle-class wages (and/or all violent crime), and there’s never been a better time to buy gold coins.

In many respects, this project has been a great boon to the Republican Party. Research suggests that Fox News’ existence significantly boosts the GOP’s vote-share (and might have even swung the 2004 election to George W. Bush). And, in addition to helping Republicans win elections, the right-wing echo-chamber has given the party a freer hand once in power. More tax cuts for the wealthy, less social insurance for the working class, and near-total impunity for polluters and predatory lenders is not a popular platform, even with Republican voters. But by supplying conservatives with “alternative facts” about such policies; stoking their cultural resentments and racialized fears; and branding all non-conservative media as biased or liberal (or, in today’s parlance, “fake news”) the GOP has succeeded in retaining the loyalty of its grassroots, while betraying their stated preferences on a wide range of economic issues.

But cultivating mass delusion has also had downsides for the GOP — or, at least, for its Establishment. During the Obama years, the tail began wagging the dog — the party’s propaganda outlets went from selling the leadership’s policies to dictating them. Alarmist lies about an imminent debt crisis didn’t just provide momentum to Paul Ryan’s austerity agenda — they nearly forced a debt default that the Speaker (along with all of corporate America) had no interest in. And then, of course, Fox News lost control of its own audience, and the network’s “birther” correspondent became the GOP’s 2016 standard-bearer.

Now, Republican consultants are concerned that the combination of their voters’ insulation from reality — and Donald Trump’s fragile ego — could cost the party control of the House.

And their fear is quite rational. The party that controls the White House almost always has a tough time mobilizing its base in midterm elections. When voters see their team in power everyday, they feel secure; and thus, complacent; and thus, less obligated to drive to their polling places after work. GOP strategists hope to combat this perennial problem by turning their party’s weakness into a strength: With polls predicting a “blue wave” this November, Republicans hope to instill an energizing panic in their base over the terrifying prospect of Speaker Pelosi.

more
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/2018-midterms-trump-red-wave-gop-base-delusional-fake-news.html

[beachbum bob]

1. We out number the delusional base...and soon GOP will be removed from

Power, perhaps for decades.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. They say: We outnumber the delusional libtards and the Dems will be removed from power

They forget that Hillary won the election by 3 million votes and Putin stole the Electoral College for tRump.

Here is a sample from what they think of as a reasoned blog post:

But the chasm Trump needed to cross was a demographic one. Minorities, specifically black voters. And because he did, nothing about our electoral politics will ever be the same.

Rasmussen released a bombshell report on Friday stating that Trump’s support among black voters is now a whopping 36%. This versus 19% a year ago. Now, Rasmussen skews Republican in his sampling like Gallup skews Democrat, so lop 3-5% off both of those numbers, the margin of error. Go back to Trump’s polling with black voters just a few months ago and you’ll see numbers in the 17% range.

Today 36%. That, my friends, is crossing the chasm in a big way.

...

Kanye’s support of Trump was the Battle of the Bulge in the Culture War with Marxism. He punctured all their myths. He rubbed their noses in their smugness. And he led black people by example. While the race-baiters shamed themselves and their brethren.

I said back in June when it happened to my newsletter subscribers it would permanently fracture the fragile coalition of the Democratic Party. And it has.

Trump stole the Union vote back in 2016, now he’s stealing the minorities. By the time the mid-terms are over, he’ll have solidified the rest of the centrists.

This will leave the Democrats as a permanent underclass in U.S. electoral politics for the next generation.

...

And these are the epitome of abnormal times.

Going forward, what will be abnormal is the Democrats winning any major election.

Don't get too excited, at the same time Trump was doing that, the dems have totally locked up the transgendered muslim communist vote.
17 posted on 8/20/2018, 4:01:08 PM by pepsi_junkie (Russians couldnt have done a better job destroying sacred American institutions than Democrats have)

"Conditions were ripe. The Democrats were going to places unacceptable to most people"

I think 8 years of Barak Mohammed Obama were actually a wake up call in the sense that his presidency became anti-climatic to the Black community. Like, ok, we got our black president, now what?
18 posted on 8/20/2018, 4:12:07 PM by VRW Conspirator (Enforce the Law. Build the Wall. Deport them All. - Q is the new V)

Q cult members are the epitome of delusional.

[Little Star]

3. I want them to eventually straighten out their act.....

We need two healthy political parties in the USA.

That said, I want us to win almost all the time. Just lose enough to keep our party honest.

[beachbum bob]

4. We will need decades to fix what GOP has disrupted....

Takes time to rid ourselves of the judges alone

[Little Star]

5. True!