Reality: the Republican party of yore has disappeared. Beloved Presidents who proudly wore 'R's next to their names wouldn't even recognize what their party has become, and many current Republican's wouldn't endorse many of their signature policy decisions. If this GOP existed back in the time of Lincoln, you really think they would've gotten rid of slavery? Of course not! Many modern GOP'ers insist African Americans had it better under slavery. If this GOP existed back in the time of Teddy Roosevelt, you think large swaths of the American West would've been set aside for public park land? Of course not! They would've handed the American West to the wealthiest industrialists and just asked for campaign donations in return. If this GOP existed back in the time of Eisenhower, do you think the Interstate Road System would've been built? Of course not, at least not the way he built it. It would've been done for wealthy communities only, at an astronomically higher cost, with kickbacks to the industries that got them elected.
It wasn't one thing that changed the Republican party, rather people and events changed it over time. If the pre-1960's Republican party was a thick forest, the embracing of the Dixie-crats was the beginning of them cutting down the trees. Reagan was the next step, building a dirt road on the cleared land. Gingrich and Dole upgraded the dirt road to a country highway, and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney finished the job by paving over the whole thing. The funny part is, as the modern Republican voter cruises across this asphalt wasteland, they insist the best part of the drive, and the main reason they continue to vote Republican, is the lovely shade of the long gone trees.
The Republican party morphed over time to fit the Trump mold. It explains why he wasn't fully embraced when he broke onto the scene in the 80's and 90's. He was ahead of his time, needing the Republican Party to catch up, which they did after the last Presidential election cycle. After the 2012 debacle, the Republican's did their own 'autopsy' to try to figure out what went wrong with the Romney campaign. They correctly pinpointed the problem. They'd alienated African-Americans, Latinos, women, the GLBT community and anyone who supported those groups, which in turn is the majority of American voters. But then, the Republicans ignored their autopsy results, and doubled down on the bigotry, misogyny, homophobia and hatred. Much like Anikan Skywalker killing off Mace Windu, completing his turn to the dark side, after 2012, the GOP arrived at their current destination, welcoming in the Age of Trump.
Trump embodies every element of the GOP, much to their chagrin.
Trump mimics the wealthy financiers who create these presidential candidates, but he does the Koch brothers and their ilk one better. Their model involves getting some brainless low level Republican stooge, who can be sold as a pillar of political integrity, lifting them out of their obscure community or state position, giving them tons of money and some advisors, and propelling them onto a much larger stage. If they can maintain the mirage of competence, and if they pay back the wealthy donors through massive quid pro quo, they then get groomed for the big stage, a Presidential race (see Walker, Bush...well most of the GOP field).
Trump turns their model on it's ear. He doesn't need to find a brainless Republican stooge; he is one! He doesn't need the money people to back him up; he has that too. He's their worst nightmare, a candidate who's blown up the modern GOP grooming system, simply by eliminating the middle man!
Trump takes what the Republican politicians and pundits do, and has made it a way of life. Look at Trump's current war with Megyn Kelly from Fox News. Clearly she, and the rest of Fox News, wants Trump out of the GOP race, making it crystal clear at the first GOP debate in Cleveland. I don't think they were smart enough to bait him, but after taking the line of debate questions as a personal attack, Trump did what he always does, and took out his frustration, tearing into Megyn Kelly specifically, attacking her with shallow and ugly woman based insults.
Trump's insults not only opened the criticism door for GOP talkers who hate Trump, it exposed the massive level of hypocrisy within the GOP. As Republicans defend Megyn Kelly, insisting attacking her as a woman is crossing a line, they're trying desperately to avoid acknowledging they loved when Trump did the exact same thing to Rosie O'Donnell, because she's a lefty. Regardless of whether he's attacking women, Mexicans, or war records, Trump's only using the same play book the GOP themselves wrote! The Republican's love attacks on women, just not Republican women. You can't call someone a glutton for eating 50 value meals when your main problem is that they went to McDonald's, not Burger King.
It's the voters who Trump really resonates with, but why? A guy like this would've been run out of the presidential race instantly in 1992, but today, he says amazingly ignorant things and he gets higher numbers. After 25 years of wealthy donors and corporate media driving their agenda, Republican voters consistently see themselves as poor victims, with never-ending justifications for why "those people" are the "real reason" they're not more successful. The modern GOP voter has been cultivated to never try to solve their own problems, just baste in a brine of their own self pity, trying to figure out how to punish the people they think have wronged them. This is why the GOP draws in racists, misogynists, homophobes and religious zealots.
The GOP victim game started with Reagan. He sowed a seed with his followers; the reason they hadn't all become millionaires was the U.S. government, not corporate interests who started to erode the workers rights, wages and benefits in the 60's and 70's (proof of this is Reagan's 9 most terrifying words line). It worked so well, the GOP started applying it to more and more groups (Democrats, African-Americas, Latinos, all non-white minorities, gays, women). There wasn't a group they couldn't use to justify a Republican voter's personal failure. When we got to the W. Administration and their version, a hyper paranoid "them verses us" dogma, it became the Republican rallying cry.
This insularly view is constantly proven wrong. Cliven Bundy wasn't a western hero, rather a racist, tax-dodging, debtor who threatened to shoot government agents, while hiding behind women and children. Police officers aren't always the innocents, repeatedly under attack by African American 'demons,' rather some maintain a policy of racial profiling, sometimes with lethal consequences. The Confederate Flag isn't a symbol of southern pride, rather the flag is embraced and beloved by racists who feel the enemy of the United States was right in their treatment of minorities. Gay Marriage isn't an assault on traditional marriages, and it's not right to scream at gay couples because they dared asked for a crappy Indiana pizza.
Trump reverses the fight against ignorance, saying, "your delusional thought processes were correct, you're a victim, and I'm willing to double down, regardless of how insanely stupid it sounds, just to let you continue to live in your make believe world." To confirm this, let's just look at one of Trumps insanely stupid arguments he's made the last few weeks. Under Trump, Latinos aren't hard working people, desperately coming to the United States to perform menial, low paying jobs. No, "they're stealing you wages! Blame them for all of your problems! And don't feel bad about the undeniable racist element of what your thinking. They're all drug dealers and rapists, so being racist to them is OK!"
In the "poor us" Republican party, Donald Trump is a protective shield against reality encroaching in on their pity party. Of course the resonates. He validates them!
Look in the mirror Republican's, Trump is you, and you are Trump. Accepting this is the only way you can stop him. Until then, since you've made this excrement and hair piece pie, you have to eat it. Bon appetite!
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