Interesting Jennifer Rubin piece about the future of Never Trumpers

[Martin Eden]

29. +1. GOP has been on the road to Trumpism for decades

The Republican Party has had to cultivate and manipulate their voting base through racist dog whistles, jingoism, religiosity, and lies because that is what's necessary to get people to vote against their own best interests.

Then Trump came along and beat the establishment GOP at their own game. His one true talent is immersing himself in the mindset and warped ideology of the voting base that was already waiting for a "populist" like him to come along and take the con job to the next level, raw and unfiltered.

Trump is criticized for spending so much time watching television, especially Fox News, but that really is the homework he does to hone his skills as president -- staying on top of the latest resentments and propaganda, then leading the narrative himself. He knows how to push the buttons of the GOP base. They derive great satisfaction from all his attacks and petty put-downs. The "stable genius" of this POtuS is in all the lies and rhetoric the rest of us see as stupidity and mental deterioration.

Trump is indeed appallingly ignorant and egregiously unqualified in terms of actual governance. His malignant narcissism is a mental disorder. He is a monster that walked into the laboratory of Doctor GOP Frankenstein, and was a perfect fit.