Trump may be losing control of his followers

[dixiegrrrrl]

As most parents know, when you read bedtime stories to the lil kids, they go thru a phase when they want the same book read to them over and over and over. They know it by heart and if you leave anything out, they are quick to call you on it. The story is very real to them, knowing it by heart is soothing..

I was reminded of this while watching the pasture rally in Cullman. Both trump and Mo Brooks got loudly booed when they changed part of the familiar story.

Trump actually said people should get vaccinated. Immediately boos and shouts of NO No.
He finally had to say, with some snark..." Ok..get vaccinated or don't, it's up to you," then he added " You'll find out soon enough"...The crowd relaxed.

Mo Brooks, who came on before trump, urged the crowd to "leave 2020 election behind us" and was interrupted by loud boos. He tried again, got booed again.
Brooks was visibly taken aback by this.
3rd time he was able finish his thought, awkwardly, by saying something like "ok.ok..remember the past election, but focus all your efforts on 2022 and 2024"...words to that effect.

thoughts?

[SoCalDavidS]

1. The Cult Leaders Are Being Led By The Cult

"OK, OK.....Whatever you guys want."

[viva la]

2. You'll find out soon enough? What does that mean?

You'll get covid and then find out you should have gotten the vax?

He's incoherent.

[Merlot]

3. No, he's not incoherent. He knew about covid and got vaxed ASAP

He know the unvaxed will get it, some seriously. If they dare to boo him, he dares to tell them the truth.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. They go to these rallies for the hate. They don't want to listen to facts and reason.

[brush]

9. Bingo! trump created Frankenstein and is loosing control.

[PortTack]

12. Exactly..and as any socialist type worth their salt could have told you this would happen

[lagomorph777]

42. "any socialist type" ?

What's that mean?

[lame54]

14. 2 minute hate...

Except this is 2 hours and rambling

[cayugafalls]

5. The Turd never had control.

Think of it like a cowboy herding cattle.

Cattle are really dumb. If a snake farts, they will scatter and run down anything in their path.

All a cowboy does, with aid from really smart and brave dogs, is control the chaos and move the stampede in one direction.

Turd and the Dogs of the QOP have simply moved the herd in one direction towards fascism and we are witnessing the aftermath.

[Traildogbob]

35. If a snake farts😂😂😂😂

All the westerns I have seen in my life, never thought of snake farts spooking cattle. Thanks, beer though my nose is an awesome feeling. 🐍💥🍺🍺🤧

[texasfiddler]

6. Trump made his bed.

The GQP is worried that his constant rant that elections are rigged will suppress the GQP voter base. He is concerned that the "hoax" is killing off a portion of his voting base. He can't un-ring those bells that he has constantly banged on. His fault. His followers are stupid and stubborn. That is the cliff notes version of my thoughts on this.

[malaise]

7. You are correct - they both pivoted back to bullshit in the cow pasture

It won't be long before the said crowd literally turn on them. I live for that day.

[ShazzieB]

33. OMG, malaise, me, too!

"It won't be long before the said crowd literally turn on them. I live for that day."

It will be glorious, won't it? I can't wait!

[malaise]

38. And it's coming

[lagomorph777]

43. "bullshit in the cow pasture"

Bon mot of the day, my friend!

[malaise]

45. the lines make themselves these days

[Lovie777]

10. GOP lost them awhile back . . .

and the GOP cult is absolutely insane.

[Kittycatkat]

11. They never had many tools in their toolbox to begin with.

Now their toolbox is empty... except for those zip ties. That can't be good

[lagomorph777]

44. Just a box of hammers.

Or possibly even dumber.

[oasis]

13. A Trump created army of uncontrollable robots. nt

[Beastly Boy]

15. I don't think he ever had control over them.

I believe the relationship between Trump and his minions is just the reverse - they created Trump. He assumed a public persona which appeased their misguided delusions every step of the way. Rather than planting notions in their minds, he took advantage of their already existing notions, and lied his ass off to reinforce every single one of them. Trump himself did not advance a single original idea, no ideology, no political strategy, no platform other than what he surmized from what he heard from his base. From "deep state" to "owning the libs", to rabid xenophobia, the talking points were all theirs, not Trump's. Trump didn't invent a single one of them. He merely reinforced every misguided notion that defined his base without even attempting to evaluate them in any way, thus validating his base's stupidity and arrogance. This is the reward his base gets for worshiping Trump. And Trump gets what he wants: being worshiped and getting richer in the process.

But the minute Trump stops stroking the collective ego of his base, the relationship is over. He is dependent on their good graces, not the other way around. He knows he made a mistake by encouraging his minions to get vaccinated. I don't think this will happen again.

[Kaleva]

18. I agree.

[leftstreet]

46. +1

Excellent observations, worthy of a thread all its own

This is the base that existed for him, and he just knew how to activate it:

“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud

A Trump voter hurt by the shutdown reveals the real reason the president attracts hardcore supporters.

Jan 8, 2019

On Monday, the New York Times’s Patricia Mazzei published a dispatch from Marianna, Florida — a small, politically conservative town that depends on jobs from a federal prison and thus has been deeply hurt by the government shutdown. In the piece, Marianna residents grapple with the fact that President Donald Trump, who most residents support, is playing a role in the pain created by lost wages.

Most Marianna residents support Trump’s border wall, his key demand in the shutdown fight, and don’t blame him for the fight. But Crystal Minton, a secretary at the prison who is also a single mother caring for disabled parents, had a somewhat different reaction — one that reveals an essential truth about the core Trump’s political appeal.

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” Minton told Mazzei. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida

[czarjak]

16. Name-Taking Butt-Kicker can go and take Clint Eastwood's advice and GFY!

[Kaleva]

17. Trump isn't a leader. He's a follower.

He tells his faithful what they want to hear.

I dare say the Magahats control Trump.

[kentuck]

19. They have pushed the Big lie for so long...

...people expect it to come true.

They believe the trump should be in the White House. They believe he was cheated out of the election. They believed he would be back on August 13th.

Their expectations were raised by politicians like Mo Brooks and others, including the Pillow Guy.

They were led to believe they were cheated. They were not. But those that led them to believe that are now facing their wrath.

[The Blue Flower]

20. At some point the mob will turn on them and tear them apart

I'm certain of this.

[ZonkerHarris]

21. Funny thing about a Golem, they always turn on their creators.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. It's No Longer A Cult Of Personality

The personality is no longer relevant.
The belief system has been formalized & they're now in worship of the notions, not any one person.
If T***p gets booed, we know it's gone full cult.

[Kittycatkat]

23. these freaQs are afraid of cannibalistic vampires because deep down

on a cellular level the repugs know they are going to eat each other alive from within.

[GoodRaisin]

24. Perhaps they are starting to realize that Trump (and Brooks) is a bag of hot air, and a fake.

Trump has never delivered anything he has ever promised his supporters. He is a talker and not a doer. Perhaps they see their insurrection heroes being incarcerated while Trump plays golf and does nothing to help them. The same people he promised he would meet at the Capitol, people he organized and rallied to do his bidding, he lets them rot in jails and prisons. And now he changes his anti-vax message, which is like saying “I have been lying to you all along and really didn’t care a damn about your life or the lives of your loved ones. It was all just bullshit, because you people are stupid, and believe anything you hear if it’s what you want to hear.”

He just wanted to continue to play golf on their tax dollars. Maybe it’s finally starting to sink in.

[Chainfire]

25. The problem with the far right cult is that they require more and more stimulation to keep

their attention. There will come a day when only blood in the streets will make them happy. The Republican party has chosen their path and have been recruiting and supporting their troops. Republicans can not win without their 30% of hard cases so they can not get off the Fascist horse now, and hold any significant power, even if they wanted to. Republicans like DeSantis and Abbot are perfectly willing to do anything to maintain and grow their power; they have already shown that they are perfectly capable of sacrificing their populations on the alter of right-wing politics.

Today, there are armed men actively planning and training for your destruction. That crowd in Cullman are psychologically prepared to carry out the orders, direct or implied, of their god, Trump. They want total control of the Nation and would love to purge all of those who are not just like them. The alarm bells are ringing, the red lights are flashing, the only question left is how or if we will we respond in time to prevent total disaster. Will we have the guts to say, "this far, and not a step further?"

People get the government that they deserve.

[MFM008]

26. I actually watched that

Then it hit me maggot is nothing but a figurehead... they're just using him as a focus for their own hate discontent hatred of society societal norms etc.
They were even people of color there and this applies to them as well, however he did let something slip and that's that he recognized some of these people from other rallies so these are people that are going to all of his rallies they're being handed around like a bottle of rum on a pirate ship. These are just clowns that hate everything.

[ShazzieB]

34. The MAGAts are like Deadheads, following TFG from one appearance to another.

Only in this case, dead=brain dead, both him and his followers!

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. When the rallies started looking like the audiences of Rocky Horror movie ......big clue.

For those who don't know, Rocky Horror was a 1970's cult film where audience members dressed as characters and chanted the lines, and those in the balcony would throw streamers of toilet paper because of a phrase " great Scott"..
Being stoned was a requirement,.
Movie ran at midnight on the weekend,.
I saw it 21 times...😎

I think the soundtrack songs may be on YouTube.

Anyhow, Trump's rally crowds have the same vibe, all sorts of merch. being sold and worn, those ubiquitous red hats everywhere.
Unfortunately, the audience is obviously not stoned.
Damn shame.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

27. The shock of the circle being broken. That is....

the talking point circle of right-wing media, their politicians and their voters.

Break the circle and you're a traitor in the world of lemming-like authoritarians.

KY

[mgardener]

28. Reminds me of Trump

Republicans thought they could control him.
How many Republicans have become Trumpers who did not really support him in 2016.
Case in point.
Elise Stefanik R NY 21 she was a reasonable moderate and was lukewarm in her Trump support in 16.
She has sold her soul to Trump in exchange for his support.

If they don't stand up to Trump now, they never will.
I fear for our country.

[TheRickles]

29. Great comparison! Never thought of it that way. Thanks.

[GoCubsGo]

30. It will be really interesting to see what happens if they ever finally come to realize

that Trump has been grifting from them all this time. They will not only turn on him, but also his toadies like Brooks, Graham, Haley, Abbott, Death Sentence, Cruz, Rubio... I just hope that when they take down the party, they don't bring the rest of the country along with it.

[bottomofthehill]

31. It was all fun and games until

The lunatics started running the asylum. Now what…. We are fucked. The circus trainer can’t control the animal.

[Ilsa]

32. The bedtime story analogy is quite good.

These loons miss the emotions they felt when mf45 would preach some lunacy. They are jonesying for more hate, declarations against the media, bullying individuals (did he even once rile them up with a lie about Hilary Clinton?)

[Corgigal]

36. The crowds will scare him soon,

he will feel it. Secret Service will do their best to not have him go out anymore. They will get tired of the promises that never happen.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer clown.

[bucolic_frolic]

37. Fungus grows and grows

until the die-off that takes them all down at once.

[progressoid]

39. Doesn't matter: Republicans Are Poised to Gerrymander Their Way Into Long-Term Power

https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/republican-party-gerrymandering-majority-rule-redistricting-voting-districts

Democrats just missed a crucial deadline in the fight against gerrymandering — and experts say very soon we will be witnessing the consequences.

On Wednesday, just before the Senate adjourned for its August recess, Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to get the chamber to consider pared-down versions of the party’s voting rights and democracy reform legislation. Schumer’s ploy was largely symbolic: It was doomed to failure, given the lack of any GOP support, because Senate Democrats have so far refused to eliminate the filibuster and therefore need ten Republican votes to pass most legislation.

...

Since the last redistricting, the Supreme Court has cleared the path for even more extreme gerrymandering thanks to two rulings: one from 2013, which struck down the formula for requiring jurisdictions to seek federal preclearance under the Voting Rights Act for changes to their election laws; and the other from 2019, which held that partisan gerrymandering is a political issue left up to the legislature to resolve.

Republicans are already planning on pressing their advantage. Recently, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-TX, told a conference of religious conservatives that redistricting “alone should get us the majority back” in the House.

It is a situation that Daley, author of several books on GOP gerrymandering, including Ratfucked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, finds deeply concerning.

[NNadir]

40. Well it does sound as if they'll be handing out Darwin awards...

...at the next powwow.