So it seems that only now, after another serious national election defeat, the Republicans are beginning to get the message that Trump is actually not election gold. That in fact, far from it, the opposite is true. Trump is toxic.
How can I say that about somebody who never fails to proclaims greatness in himself, and who's supporters insist that he is a born, natural winner? Well, let's look at the facts. Yes, he technically won the 2016 election, which was a stunning result, admittedly. But he lost the popular vote by 2.7 million votes, and he barely won the Rust Belt states that proved to be what pushed him over. And he outperformed most people's expectations during that election, at that. So in other words, he barely "won" an election, despite what he says, and convincingly lost the popular vote. My guess is that the surprise win, coupled with the Republicans winning both the Senate and the House, effectively gave many Republicans and self-identified conservatives a rush, a high, and they have been looking for that same high ever since. When Donald Trump promised that America would just win and win and win once he was n office, I believe that his most loyal supporters mistook him seemingly getting on the nerves of "libtards" passed for the country winning.
When we look at the facts, however, it seems clear to me that the country was not "winning." In fact, the country was worse off after four years of Trump than it had been before he came into office. After all, Obamacare was weakened, and healthcare costs went up. Trump promised that he would deliver on a healthcare system that would be affordable and cover everyone, and moreover claimed that this would be, in his words, "easy." But then he lifted not a finger to actually try and set up such a system. He also said that he would pay off the national debt in eight years, but after four years, the national debt actually rose over 25 percent because of Trump, from $19.9 trillion when Trump first took office, to over $25 trillion when he left office four years later. Trump also failed to produce the kinds of historic numbers that he promised when he claimed he would be the "greatest job creating president" in history. He promised that the country would be respected around the world, but under him, it was ridiculed mercilessly. Giant balloons of a "Baby Trump" flew over foreign cities that Trump visited as president. Within hours of meeting Trump, several European leaders, who usually are masters of communicating with diplomacy, instead stated bluntly that they no longer could view the United States as a reliable partner. And Trump was outright laughed at to his face before the United Nations, and thus, the entire world. That's some track record.
As for elections, Trump and his GOP got their asses kicked in 2018, losing control of the House, with Democrats gaining 41 seats there, although the Senate remained in Republican control. But Democrats gained some footing in the Senate in 2020, and kept control of the House of Representatives, as well. Most notably, of course, Trump himself lost the election. Let me repeat that, since many people refuse to believe it even still. Yes, ahrd as it is to believe that Trump, a man who never received a majority of votes in any election that he has taken part of, lost the 2020 election. After record voter turnout - much of it fueled by Trump's unpopularity - he lost the popular votes by a huge margin: over 7 million. This time, the Electoral College did not work out in his favor, either. Oh, he contested it. He demaned recounts in some states, and MAGA supporters demanded the vote count be stopped in other states. It did not matter, because after the dust had settled following several recounts in a number of states, the end result was the same: Trump lost. Not a single state was overturned. Trump himself showed just how desperate he was, when he demanded that his team "find 11,780 votes." Does that really sound like someone who actually won an election? Does it really?
Now in 2022, yet another election that was largely defined by how people viewed Trump, the Republicans failed to produce what many, both on the left and on the right, expected to be a "Red Wave." True, Republicans seem to have gained back control of the House. But not by much, and certainly not by the margin that they had been hoping for. Trump doubled down on some candidates in key races, such as backing Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker in two of the most high profile and hotly contested races. Dr. Oz lost in Pennsylvania. As for Walker, there will be a run off next month. But now, some Republicans are finally starting to get the message, that Trump is not the glittering gold in elections that they have long believed. That in fact, he amounts to nothing more than orange colored toxic sludge. In short, he's a loser.
Some of us have known that about him for a long, long time though. I mean, I personally believe that when he promised America endless winning and winning and winning once he was in the Oval Office, to the point where people would go up to him and beg him to stop all of the winning, that he actually simply misspelled "whining." Because that was one thing that we got a lot of under President Trump. Indeed, the whining never stopped, and he refused to stop, or even slow down, even when people begged him to do so. He still has not stopped.
Now finally, some Republicans have gotten the message. FOX News has finally begun to question how politically profitable Trump is, and are calling for him to step down. Apparently, Laura Ingram actually now understands, as she never has before, that Trump seems to always put his own ego, as well as his related personal grudges, ahead of what is good for the country. Gee, you think? What tipped you off after seven damn long years, dating back to 2015? Former House Speaker Paul Ryan has finally begun to publicly question Trump's evident electoral toxicity, as has Newt Gingrich. And former New York Governor George Pataki also has declared that Trump's time as leader of the Republicans should now clearly be over.
Only now are they finally getting the message? The fact that Trump, despite his grandiose claims that everybody loves him and that there is no possible way that he could lose an election, never actually secured a majority of votes in any election he has run in never tipped them off? The fact that they lost over 40 seats in 2018, as well as three governor's races, in an election was largely viewed as a referendum on Trump and his presidency did not give them an inkling? When he outright lost both the popular vote (again, by over 7 million votes!) and the Electoral College, and that Republicans lost ground in the Senate in 2020, while also not winning back the House was not enough of a clue?
Apparently not until this election, the third straight embarrassment for Trump and his MAGA cult following - sometimes referred to as Cult 45 - are Republicans finally, finally now questioning just how much "winning" they are getting with the GOP having turned into the de facto Trump party. I remember Paul Ryan crediting Trump for the 2016 election win for the Republicans, and I remember Gingrich praising Trump, as well. But in politics, loyalty usually never lasts that long.In fairness, it lasted much longer than it really should have for Trump and his Cult 45 MAGA following. Indeed, Trump's mean-spirited tweets and the threat of MAGA voter turnout kept Republicans scared for a long time. But finally, only now recognizing that MAGA supporters never were, and never will give Republicans a solid majority of votes in this country, GOP members and supporters, including FOX News, are finally beginning to question just how politically profitable Trump really is.
Maybe, finally, this really is the end of Trump's freaking dominance over American politics. Personally, I felt that it was a national failing, that this enormous superpower nation of well over 330 million people could not break out from the shadow of this frankly small, petty man with an oversized ego. Perhaps a third straight election disaster on a third straight election that was often viewed as a referendum on Trump himself has finally allowed it to dawn, even on ridiculously stubborn and frankly often blind Republicans and FOX News, that Trump really is not going to deliver on them to the Promised Land of historical election wins that he keeps talking about, but fails to really ever produce. It took a very long time. Frankly, too long. But I guess that, if this really is, finally, the point where they recognize it and break his hold over them, that it is better late than never.
However, my own suspicion is that it won't actually last. Trump has an almost eerie hold over the GOP, and what passes or the American conservative movement these days. A few mean-spirited tweets, a couple of more threats, and some strong reactions by loyal Trump supporters, and probably those Republicans will fall right back into line.
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