CT Blue

One of my favorite bloggers is driftglass, who rather singlemindedly documents bothsiderism and media apologetics for the Republican Party, as he does so ably here. The thrust of the piece is to the effect that the recent wave election is being characterized as a renunciation of Trumpism, rather than a renunciation of the Republican Party. As he concludes, the two terms mean the same thing, despite the media’s attempt to cover for the Republicans:

In 2017, there is once again no Republican Party to be held responsible for what happened on election night because, suddenly, there is only “Trumpism”.

Except, (sing it with me now)…

There is no “Trumpism”.
There are just Republicans being Republicans.

There is no “Trumpism”.
There are just Republicans being Republicans.

There is no “Trumpism”.
There are just Republicans being Republicans.

His basic point is well taken. The media will be falling all over themselves to promote the Jeff Flakes and the other Republicans who, having made the decision to bail out of politics, offer tepid criticisms of Trump while being practically indistinguishable in terms of their political positions.

But I would argue that there is at least a chance that a good percentage of the country now realizes that Trumpism equals Republicanism. The very fact that so many people turned out to throw out Republicans at all levels supports that thesis. If nothing else, Republican dominance of all three branches has exposed them for what they are. When Obama was president they wouldn’t shut up, but they never had the need to put up. Now, for instance, we’re getting a look at the “loopholes” Paul Ryan always invoked, but never specified, that he would close to deliver his tax cuts to the billionaires. The media may not be willing to admit it, but the simple fact that people decided to blame Republicans at all political levels for the current state of affairs in Washington indicates that a good percentage of them are recognizing the Republican Party for what it is. It’s going to be harder for any politician to justify membership in the Republican Party, no matter how much they try to persuade the voters that they should be judged for the “moderates” they themselves are, rather than by the (to quote driftglass) “the actual, racist, paranoid, rage-drunk Republican Party” to which they have aligned themselves.

I should add that Tuesday’s results should be replicated in 2018, but one must never underestimate the ability of the Democratic Party to (I’m repeating myself here) snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. However, my guess is that despite their best efforts, the jaws will hold firm in 2018. The Democrats will do their snatching in 2020, in line with their custom of always performing shittily in years ending with zero, so that Republicans will have another opportunity to gerrymander democracy out of existence.