What It Takes To Be A ‘Republican’ These Days
Not so very long ago being a Republican was pretty simple. You banged on a bit about ‘sound fiscal policy’ and fumed over controlling the national debt. You supported traditional conservative stuff. You knew where you were and what you stood for. Of course in addition, if you were a Republican politician, you quietly got on with your job of serving the rich and screwing the poor.
That was then and this is now, though. The Republican Party that paid at least lip service to conservative values is dead and buried. RIP Republican Party. In it’s place is the Party of Trump, which is a radical, cult-like, principle-free, anything-but-conservative organization dedicated to serving the will of it’s leader.
Since it’s all so recent there isn’t a settled name for them yet. ‘Trumpublicans’ is a bit unwieldy. ‘Trumpists’ is a possibility. That will sort itself out in time no doubt but for the moment, and for the purpose of this piece, I’ll stick to calling them ‘Republicans’ if you don’t mind since that’s what most of them still call themselves. As long as we understand they’re not. They’re something else.
To call yourself a ‘Republican’ these days in the Party of Trump requires a whole different mind-set. It calls for a completely different world-view and priorities. While the core Party functions of serving the rich and screwing the poor remain intact everything else has changed. For example, to be a ‘Republican’ now :-
- you must accept Trump as your supreme leader and always put him and his interests above all others. He certainly will.
- you must have faith that only Trump (and Fox) tell the truth and everything else that contradicts them is lies or FAKE NEWS.
- you must see that any opposition to Trump, especially from Democrats, is inspired only by hatred of America and the desire to turn it into a failing Socialist state.
- you must abandon all belief in conservative values and support your leader’s fiscal irresponsibility, a sky-rocketing national debt, and attacks on the constitution as the new way.
- you must dismiss as machinations of the ‘Deep State’ compelling and extensive evidence that your leader is a crook, only elected with the help of Russia, and guilty of multiple criminal and unethical acts.
- you must embrace (or be able to ignore) the racism, misogyny, islamophobia, white-nationalism, and all of the race-baiting and hate-mongering your leader so tirelessly dispenses to the nation.
- you must not mind that your leader causes bitter division in the country, encourages incivility, and is a worldwide laughing-stock. All acceptable as long as he’s ‘sticking it to the Libs’ on Twitter.
- you must be prepared to argue that up is down, fiction is fact, black is white, right is wrong, or the opposite, or anything your leader tells you on any day. Truth and reality are whatever he says they are.
- you must believe that America can only be ‘great again’ with a strong leader like Trump and that he must therefore be allowed to rule unfettered by Congress, the law, or the constitution.
Can you do all of that ? It’s a big ask, I know. A lot to get your head around. It’s quite a paradigm shift to go from being a proper conservative to being a Trumpist. Amazing, then, that what used to be the Republican Party and those in it have managed to make such a radical change so comprehensively and with so little shame over abandoning the values they previously claimed.
It’s a new world now. It’s Trumpworld. And for the Kool-Aid drinkers the future’s so bright they gotta wear shades. Oh .. and those silly red hats too, of course.
