Here’s the frightening part: Republicans have stopped pretending to make sense. They’re not trying to win new voters. That means they don’t see their next victories from successful elections. This is the GOP breaking bad. The Republican Revolution has started.
Lies and Hypocrisy
Not that Republicans have been sensible in decades. The GOP pretends Ted Cruz is an honorable man. They promote self-serving, self-dealing policies we already know won’t work and lie to their voters so routinely we stopped paying attention. It doesn’t matter. Their faithful voters moan about sexuality in school while happily voting for admitted child molesters. Even when we catch Republican politicians committing serious crimes – corruption, sexual assault, even treason – they usually win reelection with full GOP backing. Republican voters reward loyalty over anything. (I started writing ‘governance,’ but that ship sailed.) It was no surprise when Republicans dropped their platform entirely. When voting is primarily tribal, ideas are excess baggage.
Minority Party
Even with the best recruiting, America only so many Incel racist assault-rifle-loving White Nationalists. So, why have Republicans stopped trying to win new voters? That doesn’t make sense if you want to win elections. Instead, the GOP political speeches aim to prop up their most fervent 2nd Amendment MAGA base. Republicans are many things, but they’re not stupid. (Mostly. Louis Gohmert, Ron Johnson, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are important, but they’re a distraction.) Party Republicans focus on their reliably violent adherents for a reason.
Civil War 2.0
Is the Republican Revolution our new Civil War? The Republican Party attacks America’s social fabric, splitting us by politics (of course), wealth, sex, region, but most especially race. Paul Krugman argues in “The GOP War on Civil Virtue” that the Republican attack on virtue is their reignition of Jim Crow. It’s a good point. How many times do those terrorists gun down or bomb civilians to ignite a Race War? For that matter, how many recent domestic terrorists have been Republicans? (All of them.) And when right-wing politicians froth their best red-meat taunting to pro-gun crowds, they always slip in something about the necessity of assault weapons in “combatting tyranny.” They don’t mention “shooting scary dark people” because they don’t need to.
Republican Revolution
It started with Nixon, Lee Atwater, and Roger Ailes, but the Republican Revolution started long ago. The question was when the Republican Party would pull the trigger.
This is it. The next election isn’t about voter choice; it’s about power. Republicans already know they can’t win based on honest voting. Eli Mystal said that “…A coup that is not punished is just practice for the next one.” The hard right used political violence in local, state, and federal elections, with almost no consequences. The Republican Party has abandoned democracy in a rush to fascism. This is the Republican Revolution. Will we stand up?
