Certainly after January 6 and the evidence that ties Trump to that horrific day, Trump could not possibly be reelected in 2024, could he? Or suppose he was shown to have raped a woman as he is facing a civil trial for, Trump could not possibly be reelected in 2024, could he? Or suppose Trump is indicted and even convicted for election interference in Georgia during the 2020 Presidential election, Trump could not possibly be reelected in 2024, could he?
If only the above questions referred to a TV show regarding Trump, then I would say: 'Stay tuned for the answer.' But this ain't 'no stinkin' TV show; it is real life that will possibly be played out next year. And perhaps we are asking the wrong question.
Perhaps we are asking the wrong question because Trump's electability in 2024 will not be depend on what Trump supports as much as it will depend on what he is perceived as opposing. And we could break what he opposes down into two categories: his political rivals and the people who serve as the center of America's Culture Wars. While one group is deeply hated, the other is deeply feared by many of Trump's supporters.
Today's hatred for Trump's political rivals started with the emergence of Rush Limbaugh's popularity. Rush taught his audience to think in black-white terms. Those who were true conservatives, in his eyes, were good while all others were compromisers and traitors.
Rush taught his audience to rhetorically ask the 21st century, American political version of the question that Nathaniel asked Philip when Philip invited Nathaniel to come and see Jesus. When told that Jesus came from Nazareth, Nathaniel asked, 'can anything good come from Nazareth'? And armed with the capital of the conservative label, Rush rhetorically asked whether anything good could come from the Dems. And of course Rush's implied answer was a resounding 'NO'! And his audience was eager to agree.
Or if we take the following Martin Luther King Jr. quote from his speech against the Vietnam War (click here for the source):
The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
Rush taught his audience to assume that conservatives not only had everything to teach liberals and leftists and nothing to learn from them, he promoted arrogance among those conservatives and taught them that it was well deserved.
According to Rush and his imitators that came afterwards, liberals and leftists--and for all of their self-proclaimed political genius, they could distinguish the two--posed a threat to America. And so it was their logic that dictated that liberals and leftists were to be hated because they were trying to undo and take away everything that God loving conservatives held near and dear about their nation.
Though Rush is no longer with us, there are others waiting in the wings to take his place. Tucker Carlson did that on Fox News but he has become a free agent and who knows where he will end up or what he will be saying next. There are Rush-wannabe influencers on Twitter. They include Tomi Lahren, Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz, and Jim Jordan. They hope to manufacture a scathing public view of Biden by scapegoating him for inflation, train wrecks, immigration and gun violence. They are not satisfied with their own personal hate for the Democrats, they want the nation to hate them too.
The arguments they make on social media exhibit the kind of thinking that is prevalent in authoritarianism. It is simple black-white thinking used to demonize one's opponents. To show the lack of logic in their arguments, just look at how they scapegoat Biden for inflation. What is implied by the logic of their arguments is that the only factor that has an effect on the nation's economy are Biden's policies. In making such an argument, they imply that the prolonged disruption of the supply chain caused by the pandemic along with a sharp increase in demand which followed the pandemic, had no effect on prices. They make the same implication about the war against Ukraine's effects on food and fuel and on the basic maximize profits ethic which is religiously followed by many publicly owned companies. The recent profits for the major oil companies serve as a case in point here.
Of course there are problems with the Dems. Biden himself, who campaigned on his record of being able to reach across the aisle refused to do so when non-Trump Republicans approached him about his spending packages. Instead of collaborating with them, which would increase the political and popular status of those non-Trump Republicans, he refused to shake their hands as they were reaching across the aisle to him.
It's not that Biden was spreading hate like some of the previously mentioned people. But it is the employment of a black-white view of the opposition where one sees oneself as having everything to teach them and having nothing to learn from them that is the issue that contributes to Trump's reelection because such an approach not only boosts the status of the Trumpublicans, it copies their actions.
So hatred is reserved for The Dems and anyone whom they see as being liberal or leftist--the Repubs seems not being able to distinguish the two. Who is feared by many of our nation's conservatives. One could summarize the answer by saying that many of our nations conservatives are afraid of ordinary people who are different from them. And those fears have been around for centuries. Those differences could be ethnic in nature such as race, ancestry, nationality, language, and religion (yes, anthropologist consider religion to be an ethnic characteristic). And immigrants from South of the border are the recipients of much fear by Trump's side of the Republican Party.
But another group that strikes terror into the heart of many Republicans are those from the LGBT community. That those from that community are emerging from being marginalized and are working to have society see them as being normal is just way too much change for many potential Trump supporters, especially for many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians, to take. And some of the old fears, such as those from racial minorities, especially the unsuburbanized ones, still illicit much fear among many Republicans.
Their fear of those who are different is contributing to Trump's popularity because he is one who is perceived as being able to protect these true Americans from those who are different. Perhaps one of the reasons why DeSantis has signed and promoted some of the laws he has is so that he could compete with Trump for the votes of those who are so afraid. Their fears of those people along with seeing Trump as their tough minded defender with a sharp tongue allows many Republican voters to acknowledge some of Trump's sins without compromising their support for him. But with that acknowledgement comes a minimization of Trump's sins since they need a savior from those who're different.
And so for as long as the Dems are perceived as taking no action against illegal immigrants, the teaching of CRT, and the LGBT community, then Trump will be given much support even by those who recognize his role in the January 6th insurrection. That is because protection from both the hated Dems and feared immigrants, LGBT community members, and the usual racial minorities is far more important to many of today's Republicans than any concern that they could possibly have over Trump's flaws and failures. And so it seems that for many Republicans, Trump still is their champion who is fighting against the changes these Republicans don't like. And their support for him could lead to Trump's reelection in 2024. Such a possibility should strike terror in the minds and hearts of Americans who want real leadership in the White House.
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