Two former Republicans offer their thoughts on the cult of the Malignant Loser and the stakes involved. Here's Tom Nichols in ThreadReader:
I know it's obvious that Trump changes positions on a dime and how it's mystifying that his cult doesn't care, but picking all this apart is a fool's errand. They stick with him because he channels their diffuse anger about their lives at other Americans. But it's worse now:
After 2016, Trump voters thought they'd really made their point, pushed back change in America, and gained respect by electing a POTUS. All that blew up in their faces: They found out they're not a majority, and worse, the disdain of their fellow citizens only intensified.
2020 and J6 compounded their sense of humiliation and grievance. The know Trump is making fools of them, but they will never admit it. And Biden winning was like a national slap in the face. So now they're with him no matter what. They don't care about policy or positions.
And this time, they'll support him as he does even more desperate and hideous things. He could call for open borders and free abortions and most of them wouldn't care. All they care about is that he's promising to go after people they hate even more now than in 2016.
Talking about how he and Biden "differ on Issues X/Y/Z" is pointless and a distraction. It's all part of the "normal political horse race" narrative that is blinding people to the danger ahead.
Former Republican ad man with Lincoln Project Reed Galen on Substack:
Donald Trump, he of the would-be coup, the 91 indictments, and willingness to admit he’d be a dictator on “day one” is going to be the Republican nominee for president, again. Despite all the words, deeds, disasters, and death, the GOP can’t quit him, and his opponents have struggled for years to understand how to beat him. It’s simple, really: Attack him. All day, every day. [snip]
During a townhall with Sean Hannity earlier this week, Trump admitted he’d be a dictator if he retakes the White House. He was excited by Robert Kagan’s Washington Post op-ed warning of Trump’s tyrannical tendencies. MAGA goon Kash Patel threatened the media on Steve Bannon’s podcast this week. The men likely to occupy leadership posts in a second Trump term are for mass deportation, a system of organized camps, and unleashing the military on anti-Trump demonstrators as reported by Axios today.
As 2024 dawns on us, remind yourself and your organizations what we’re up against. Yes, we must defeat Donald J. Trump 48 weeks from now. He’s just the beginning. As Speaker Mike Johnson told a crowd in Washington on Tuesday that we are “engaged in a battle between worldviews” and “a great struggle for the future of the Republic.” He believes the White Christian nationalists will win.
If you’re not willing to go after the man who will make this dystopian worldview a reality, what are you willing to fight for? This isn’t about whether you like a certain way of campaigning or not. We fight the fight we’re in, not the one we’re used to. Next year is not a referendum, it’s a choice: America or Trump...
We're about a year out, and primary season is looming. This is the time in a campaign cycle when everyone starts providing their opinion about strategy, messages, etc. Both of these writers are essentially telling us not to waste time on the Malignant Loser's cultists; they're a long lost cause. You have to focus instead on your own base and on the distracted/ persuadable voters (how that is a thing these days is boggling, but it's reality). It's going to be another close race (again, boggling) and, paraphrasing Galen, if you're not willing to go after the Malignant Loser and his dystopian worldview, what are you willing to fight for?
BONUS: Also, don't be a "Doom Junkie!"
