Trump's Hold on the GOP Rank and File Continues to Be Amazing

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Splits in perceptions between elites and plain folk over political controversies are hardly a new development. But we are living through an unusually large and dangerous moment of disjunction in the Republican Party. As Ben Jacobs explains, it is hard to find a Republican elected official or any other “insider” who doesn’t privately acknowledge that Donald Trump really did lose the presidential election this year. They describe their silence over his claims to the contrary as “like letting a toddler, overdue for naptime, tire himself before attempting to put him to bed.” And they generally deride the bizarre spectacle put on by the Trump campaign lawyers on Thursday, one saying “I wouldn’t let those lawyers represent me for a parking ticket.”

Yet polling shows that tens of millions of Trump voters appear to share the views of the toddler and his incompetent attorneys toward the election outcome, as Dhrumil Mehta reports for FiveThirtyEight:

According to a new Monmouth University poll, about three in four Republicans now doubt the fairness of the 2020 presidential election, even though there is no evidence that the electoral process was compromised in a way that could affect the outcome … [D]istrust among Republicans has skyrocketed since Election Day.

Is this just a universal “sore loser” phenomenon? Apparently not. Democrats were vastly more surprised by Trump’s win in 2016 than Republicans had any reason to be this time around. Yet they largely accepted the results after the votes had been counted, says Mehta.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-hold-on-the-gop-rank-and-file-continues-to-be-amazing/ar-BB1bd9KX?li=BB141NW3&ocid=DELLDHP

[Blue Owl]

1. They just worship and adore their con-man-toddler-grifter

Who knew filing 5 bankruptcies would make you that popular and trustworthy???

[gohuskies]

2. Il Dooky is the biggest loser and ultimate cult leader

He will lead his lemmings over the cliff by the time he is dragged out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

[DFW]

3. That's McConnell's hold, not Trump's

Trump on his own is no more a shrewd a manipulator than a petulant whiny three-year-old who couldn't find his way across an empty football field in broad daylight without a GPS.

This is McConnell's way of obstructing things from the shadows, as has always been his preferred M.O., not wanting to show his hand manipulating the action until it can no longer be concealed.

[Hortensis]

4. They're authoritarian followers and he's still their leader.

His hold on them will plummet as soon as they are forced to realize they backed a loser who isn't going to smash us for them.

It was like that with W. His loyal support held, unshaken through strings of disasters, until the last weeks of his second term, when it finally dropped into the 20s, and then the very last week into the teens. When almost everyone lost hope that he was going to magically turn into a democracy-smashing strongman for them, though I never saw an approval poll below 12.

I believe this is one of the things Trump understands well because he's a lot like them, only malignant leader version.

[JHB]

5. It's less mysterious if you look at it this way...

Republicans have loved, loved, loved conservative ranters for decades. They love having all their pet peeves and bigotries tickled by guys "just telling it like it is." These guys can go all out, because they're not actually responsible for anything. They don't have to run a government, they say "I'm just an entertainer" to justify their endless streams of bile, rumors, and misinformation.

Rush has been the star of a fanatical fan club for 30 years, and they'll go after anyone who bad-mouths him, or any Republican who simply doesn't agree he has talent on loan from God. Any Republican pol who said something less than praiseworthy about him was on his show the next day trying out for the Olympic backpedaling team.

How about Glenn Beck? The whole Tea Party was practically The Glenn Beck Fan Club, and people ate up his every smear on that chalk board.

The same with all of them: Sean, Tucker, Savage, Charlie Sykes before he bailed out, Billo, the whole stable of Fox Blondes.

They could all be ranting cranks and loved for it. The only thing better is if any of them was actually in charge of the whole shebang.

Then along comes Trump, who says all the same things they eat up AND THEY MADE HIM PRESIDENT!!!

He keeps saying the stuff they eat up. The libs are out to get him, just like they've been out to get Rush and the rest but couldn't do it. So now is the time to rally around their president.

None of this behavior is really new, it's just showing up in places it hadn't been seen before.

[TheRealNorth]

8. He provides confirmation for their craziness

and they love him for it.

It make perfect sense that Trump is good at it - a good con man (con is short for confidence) will say or do anything to trick the customer in to buying whatever he is selling. Usually, a key part of their methodology is "appearing" successful and be willing to say whatever he thinks his mark wants to hear in order to gain their confidence.

[KentuckyWoman]

6. It has been like this a long time.

Social media just amplified it. Saint Reagan could do no wrong because USA USA USA USA.

There have obviously been contentious times before, but in my lifetime that seems to be when things went south. Before that we surely had some hard fights. The 60's were no picnic. But it seems like in the 80's it stopped being about policy and started being nothing but a football game ... pick a side and by golly mine better win. And if "my team" puts the quarterback from the other side put into a coma the rest of his life then that's spectacular.

There is almost no substance to it. Even the short time I've been on DU I can see the difference ... it is just getting worse every election.

Edit to add I did not mean to say the DU crowd is getting worse ... just as a time benchmark....

[Alacritous Crier]

7. Hey, Kool-Aid!