Thursday, November 05, 2020

A USER GETS USED (updated)


It's hilarious that Donald Trump's inner circle can't get many Republicans to back up his baseless argument that he's about to lose the presidency to Joe Biden because of electoral fraud in multiple states:



What does everyone who writes a profile of Trump say about him? That he's transactional. His relationships with people are all about what he can get out of them.

For years we've been complaining about Republicans turning themselves into a cult of Trump, but now it seems that that wasn't what was going on. They knew their base wouldn't vote for them if they didn't seem like Trump loyalists, so they clung to him. And now it appears that, particularly in red states and districts, that worked out well for them: Trump voters who turned out in large numbers to vote for him also voted for them, which meant that some Republicans who appeared to be endangered survived.

Which means they got what they wanted from him. And now that he's on the verge of defeat, they don't think they need him anymore.

It's quite possible, as I've been saying, that Trump will continue to make noise and remain the effective head of the Republican Party. It's possible that he won't forget who remained silent in his hour of need.

But if you just got through an election cycle, you know that two years is a long time. If you want to run in 2024, you know that four years is an even longer time. And if you're a senator who just won an election, six years is longer still. You're guessing that by the next election cycle, even if Trump is still a big presence, he'll probably have a full agenda of different vendettas to pursue.

That may not be how it works out. Trump might get his revenge. But these folks have decided that they'll take that chance. For now, it appears that the user got used.

*****

UPDATE: Well, maybe I spoke to soon.

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