WITH TAX CUTS PASSED, MAYBE THERE'S NOTHING LEFT OF CONSERVATISM EXCEPT THE TRUMP CULT

The little girl who thanks President Trump "for letting us say 'Merry Christmas' again" in this extremely early campaign ad is getting a lot of attention:



Charlie Pierce writes, "There's more than a little North Korea in this one." He's right, except for one thing: North Koreans are compelled to pay homage to the Dear Leader, and there are very serious consequences if they fall short in this effort. Members of the intended audience for this ad joined the personality cult voluntarily.

What's left of conservatism? In Washington, it's long been focused almost exclusively on tax cuts for the wealthy -- and now that that's accomplished, what remains as a rallying point for the base is nothing other than Trump worship, along with a legacy list of long-standing resentments.

And look, here's GOP congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania expertly blending the two (on Fox, naturally):

I will tell you what. For those people on the Trump train or not on the Trump train, this is high-speed rail right now. And so if you’re not on the Trump train, you get on the train or get off the tracks. You’re gonna get run over. Look, the House had done its work in the appropriations. We had our 12 bills ready to go. Unfortunately it didn’t get through the Senate. But the big news — the big news is for America, you look at today, and I can tell you walking around the streets of Pittsburgh, people walking more erect, not just whispering ‘Merry Christmas’ but saying ‘Hey, Merry Christmas.’ You can feel it, you can see it. And I’m not just bumping sunshine for the sake of bumping sunshine. I am telling you, this is a different country. In 11 months, this president has changed the entire complexion of our entire country and our place in the world. We are no longer leading from behind, we are leading from the front and everybody else is looking to us and saying ‘go, go, go.’

Going into 2018, Democrats will be told by many Very Serious Pundits that they need a plan of action in order to win over voters. But Republicans won't have a plan of action -- all they'll have is "Trump is awesome and liberals suck!" Conservatism shrank itself down to a single idea -- tax cuts -- and now that the cuts are on the books, there's just Trump worship. I don't think voluntary North Korea-ism is going to hold the House (maybe the Senate), but we'll see.