I have a bone to pick with Robert Reich. He put together a great video, Eight Reasons Why Republicans Must Dump Trump. He’s completely right about everything that is wrong with Donald Trump. And these are indeed eight reasons why normal human beings should not even consider voting for Donald Trump. But they aren’t reasons why the Republican Party should dump Trump. If anything, they are eight reasons why almost none of them would ever even consider dumping him.
Let’s go through the list, because it’s telling:
- He divides us by race and ethnicity and religion;
- His incendiary lies are inciting violence across this land, but he excuses them;
- He bullies, humiliates, and threatens those who dare cross him;
- He spreads baseless conspiracy theories;
- His hateful and demeaning attitudes toward women and boastful claims of sexual dominance have been filling the airwaves for years;
- He believes climate change is not caused by humans, contrary to all scientific proof;
- He proposes using torture against terrorists, and punishing their families, both in clear violation of international law;
- He wants to cut taxes on the rich, giving the wealthiest one tenth of one percent an average tax cut of more than $1.3 million each every year.
There are only two reasons there that are not complete Republican orthodoxy. Number 3 is still largely true of the Republican Party, but party actors aren’t in general so obvious about it. But listen to Michael Savage some time and you will see that this is still at the core of Republican thought. Number 5 is quite true of the Republican Party, but the way that Robert Reich has presented it, it is too specific to Trump. Reich could have just as easily written, “Trump treats women in a demeaning way and tries to control their lives.” Then that too would be Republican orthodoxy.
Robert Reich Wants to Believe
I know what’s going on. Robert Reich still holds out hope that the “reasonable” Republicans will step up and take over the party. But that just isn’t going to happen. Look at what happened to the segregationist Democrats in the 1960s, they ran screaming for the Republican Party. But as the Republican Party has gotten more and more insane, we haven’t seen a huge exodus of Republicans to the Democratic Party. Instead, we’ve just seen more and more extreme claims from the Republicans.
This is why we heard throughout the 1990s that President Clinton wasn’t just a liberal but a “socialist” and even a “communist.” So there’s always a reason why the Republicans don’t change parties. And the real reason is that the Republican Party is still controlled by those bigots who left the Democratic Party because they didn’t think blacks ought to have the right to vote.
What I’m saying is not new. I’ve said it many times before and so have lots of other people. But as time goes on, people lose grasp of the truth. And that truth is that Donald Trump is not an outlier in the Republican Party. Sure, he has his own style. But what he stands for is what the party stands for. Just because Paul Ryan seems more reasonable than Trump doesn’t mean that he is. The truth is that they are very much the same and if they were in power together, they would get along just great.
And Robert Reich understands this. The only reason that Republicans have for dumping Trump is that he is almost certain to lose. Otherwise, there is nothing substantive that the Republicans can complain about when it comes to Donald Trump.
It is a great video. Normally I’d object to spooky music of that kind, but it’s appropriate here.
I dunno who Reich is shooting for with his terrific videos (he must have been a fun college professor.) If he’s aiming to change the minds of powerful people, that’s just silly. If he’s hoping conservative voters accidentally stumble across his stuff and are informed by it, well, they ain’t gonna be looking at MoveOn.
I suspect his videos are meant to be shared. I’m sure your conservative relatives flood your e-mail with links to “THIS ARTCLE PROVES TRUTH GLOBAL WARMING LIES!” and the sort. These videos are the right length, and so charmingly made, that they’re perfect for e-mail/social media sharing.
And, hey — nobody could possibly watch his stuff and find it so obnoxious they switch to conservatism. A small but significant number of conservatives started out liberal, then switched because of liberals they found annoying/arrogant. Which is a real thing; I’ve been annoying/arrogant. Everybody is sometimes.
I find it sad that people who switch to conservatism because of liberals’ guilt by arrogant association tend to forgive horrid conservative monsters as “they don’t speak for the majority of the movement” or “they’re exaggerating to make a point,” but that’s human nature, I guess. Like religion; most people born into a faith aren’t as obsessed with it as converts. After you’ve decided that once you were lost and now you have found The Truth, it’s pretty hard to go back to “hell, I dunno, I figure it out as I go.” Believing in The Truth is a heavy emotional commitment, and abandoning it can make one feel like a dipshit who’s dumb and should have no opinions on anything.
(Kudos to Reich for quoting the s-word in his video!)
So, anyhoo. Reich’s work won’t turn anyone to the Dark Side. And if each of his videos affect the mind of only one conservative voter — well, that’s more than I’ve done!
“I find it sad that people who switch to conservatism because of liberals’ guilt by arrogant association tend to forgive horrid conservative monsters as “they don’t speak for the majority of the movement” or “they’re exaggerating to make a point,” but that’s human nature, I guess”
Couldn’t agree more, James. Horrid conservative monsters like, oh I don’t know, Henry Kissinger? And his disciples…
I’m gonna tell you something about Reich that I know only because I’m exactly the same way: he’s a ham. He loves an audience. He’s also quick-witted and funny. I suspect being short has something to do with it. When I was a kid, being funny was how I got attention. Otherwise, people just ignored me — like they do all short people. (There’s a down side to it: would Miachel Savage be such a loud mouth if he weren’t 5’4″?)
But why did you mention Reich being a professor in the past tense? As far as I know, he’s still a professor. And if the footage from his last film is any indication, he’s great and well loved.
Certainly, he puts out the videos to be shared. They are funded by MoveOn.
I do think they are useful, though. Reich has a “common man” touch. He comes off as an intellectual, but as an intellectual who’s a regular guy.
This article was really just supposed to be a quote from the video. But I couldn’t choose. And I didn’t want to write an article about how right he was. So I went for the angle I did.
You tink I’m funny?
It’s just, you know… You’re just funny, it’s… funny. You know the way you tell the story and everything…