Which Trumpism Suits the Show-Me State?

The three leading GOP Senate candidates offer three variations on the stolen-election theme.

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BRANSON, Missouri—A campaign screening of Dinesh D’Souza’s 2020 stolen-election movie. An own-the-libs comedy set from Sen. Ted Cruz. A state barnstorming tour featuring social-conservative luminaries like the Susan B. Anthony List’s Marjorie Dannenfelser and the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins.

With a week to go before the primary, Missouri’s Republican Senate contenders are pulling out all the stops as they attempt to distance themselves from the pack in the race to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. The victor, in this state that has gone from purple to solid red over the last two decades, will be a near-lock for the Senate following the general election in November.

In many GOP primaries around the country this year, the main storyline has been the involvement of former President Donald Trump, whose chosen candidates have surged to victory in many races but crashed and burned in others. In Missouri, though, Trump has largely held back, offering punditry from the sidelines but declining to make an official endorsement. As a result, Tuesday’s primary will have less to do with Trump’s own actions than with which flavor of Trumpism Republican voters find most appealing.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Andrew

    Excellent piece of reporting, sir. And as a native Midwesterner, I'm culturally obligated to be excited to see my home state so thoroughly analyzed on my favorite political website, even if it is profoundly depressing.

    "Spoiled for choice" isn't necessarily the phrase I'd use - all of our candidates are just variations on the same Trumpy theme. If, like me, your first litmus test has become "not a Trump sycophant" in terms of evaluating candidates to vote for, then the MO senate race offers 0 choices.

    The reporting from the Hartzler camp is especially insightful, as she does seem to be the one most trying to thread the needle and probably wishing Trump would fade away; but her choice of quote is almost more damning than the other two. "in matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle stand like a rock." Well, that means that, when it came to acknowledging the certified results of a presidential election vs. voting for constitutional instability to appease a failed president, and when it came to holding that failed president responsible for his dereliction of duty and attempts to upend the normal transfer of power, we can conclude one of two things: Either she sees these important issues as matters of "style," in which she chooses to swim with the MAGA current; or she truly sees this kind of chicanery as a matter of principle, and is making that her rock to stand on. Either way, she loses my vote.

    Schmitt isn't worth discussing much; joining in that idiotic lawsuit put him off my vote even before this race started shaping up. Greitens needs no explanation. I've never voted for Billy Long a single time for congress in my district (he seemed supremely unqualified back in the 2010 primary compared to several of the other candidates), so I don't see why I'd vote for him for Senate. (The race to replace him as representative isn't going much better.)

    Bottom line is, it's probably going to be a few years before those of us who are disappointed to see the self-immolation of the once-Grand Old Party have any real reason to go cast a vote. About the only thing that has me fired up about elections at this point is seeing what can be done about getting rid of this asinine "first past the post" primary system and implementing more runoff-style processes like ranked-choice so that we quit selecting candidates that a broad majority of the electorate opposes (it's Todd Akin all over again!).

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  2. Daniel Seiler

    Great piece, Andrew. As a 30 something who grew up in the Show-Me State, it makes it sad this is the political environment. Sad these are the choices, but even sadder this is the culture that produced them. We, including me, all have blood on our hands.

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  3. Avatar photo
    John A Johnson

    He has forever tarnished the image of "Republican"

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  4. Brook

    As always, Andrew, great job — informative and well written. Also, depressing as hell.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Paul B

    I ask once more: can anyone point me to credible research—however limited—on the prevalence of sociopathy in high-functioning, successful professions?

    John Edwards and Eric Greitens are the only two successful statewide politicians I’ve ever seen who genuinely appear to lack “it” (i.e., capacity for empathy or guilt). Greitens in particular is darkly fascinating, and now that he’s fading, I’m more comfortable speaking in abstract terms.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Man-Eating Cow

      I think actual sociopathology is quite rare in high-status individuals. Someone with both extreme narcissism and utter lack of empathy, and showing indications of an inability to internalize societal constraints, is going to raise too many red flags among politicians, CEOs, and celebrities who are potentially his peers.

      But narcissism, of a somewhat less extreme form, may be quite a bit more common.

      https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/LODJ-09-2015-0209/full/html

      And it's on the rise.

      https://meridian.allenpress.com/jmar/article-abstract/28/1/39/182115/It-s-All-about-All-of-Us-The-Rise-of-Narcissism

      Which will surprise no one who works with young people.

      Narcissism should not be confused with narcissistic personality disorder, which is actually very rare.

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      1. Seth

        Good points, but I think there is a form of "narcissism" (although perhaps not the clinical definition) that has value in democratic leaders, that being the interest and ability to please large groups of people, motivated by their desire for attention and praise. You could even argue that it's a kind of rational, aggregate correlary to empathy.

        I can't remember who it was, but I heard an interesting interview a while back making the argument that Bill Clinton had this sort of personality, which had its political benefits, but also its hazards, when manifest in seeking the adoration of young women instead of constituents.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Man-Eating Cow

          Agreed. Churchill is a good example of a politician I greatly admire in spite of obvious flaws, and narcissism (of a less than psychotic kind) was definitely one of them.

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          John A Johnson

          While I first learned it from two industrial psychologists fifty years ago, "a weakness is frequently a strength carried to excess," and that is the case -- Clinton's being a superb example -- of where seeking to please (which is what seeking praise is) is a strength to a point, but when it means you bend and ignore principle, then . . .

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          1. Seth

            Yup, that's a wise perspective. My mom instilled a similar idea in me as I was an older teen, especially when there was friction between me and my dad. That being that most character traits have both virtues and vices intrinsically linked. Being self-aware and working to master them can help emphasize the positives and diminish the negatives of a trait, but being paired with a partner (be it spouse, or workplace team) that has a different spectrum of traits can provide even better leverage of your respective strengths, and de-emphasis of your weaknesses.

            I think it helped my mom enjoy life with my dad a lot more, as it gave her the ability to appreciate his strengths (caring, kind, patient, and a big-picture thinker), without getting as hung up on his weaknesses (poor short-term planning, chronic tardiness, etc). Her words have stuck with me, and I often reflect on them when I'm frustrated with something about my wife, reminding myself that the thing that frustrates me is often the dark side of a trait I really appreciate about her.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Paul B

        That all makes sense, but I don’t think an inability to adhere to societal constraints is necessary for sociopathy.
        For example, John Edwards deeply disturbed John Kerry during Kerry’s ‘04 veepstakes when Edwards recounted a story about how his own son’s death inspired him to enter politics. Kerry found the anecdote unbelievably creepy because Edwards had told him *the exact same story* only two years prior, except Edwards had completely forgotten.
        Now, I know that we can’t—and shouldn’t—be armchair psychologists, but if that’s not strong evidence of sociopathy (or at least its traits), I’m not sure what is. And Edwards was even a credible POTUS candidate four years later in his own right! All I’m wondering is how much this degree of pathological emotional detachment exists in the ranks of the standard, non-fringy-obscure-state-Rep.-type of politician.
        Edwards source link: https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1626498-2,00.html

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      3. Avatar photo
        John A Johnson

        Well, Trump is ill, whatever the exact diagnosis

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        Aylene Wright

        Yeah, I think that Trump obviously is a narcissist in the colloquial sense, but I recall George Conway and others basically claiming he had full-fledged clinical NPD, which I thought was ridiculous. Even when actual psychiatrists were doing it (I recall at least one claiming Trump *must* have NPD on CNN) . But Conway isn't even a psychiatrist. And the precedent of labeling political opponents as insane in order to discredit them, just strikes me as way too open to abuse.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Man-Eating Cow

          Supposedly the APA once declared that it was unethical for a psychiatrist or psychologist to diagnose anyone they had not personally examined. That seemed to go out the window as our politicians got crazier.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Man-Eating Cow

    Syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia? What a choice.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Ethan Cordray

    So I guess Vicki Hartzler, who is terrible, is the best choice. God, the bar is so low.

    I'm voting for the Democrats in every race, even though I think they're wrong on the majority of policy issues. Hopefully, the Dem nominate Lucas Kunce, who I think is moderate and charismatic enough to actually win the seat.

    Thanks for the depressing reminder of how many idiots live in my state and vote.

    Mel Carnahan, if you're in heaven, pray for us sinners.

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      Devin H

      And she still voted to overturn the Electoral College vote, so she doesn't earn my vote. I think that's the line I've drawn for myself. And with Eric Schmitt supporting the throwing out of Electoral votes, there really isn't anything on the Republican side I can support in this race

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  8. Avatar photo
    Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

    "Sheeeeesh!!!"

    I think that's a Lincoln quote. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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      Ethan Cordray

      More and more, Lincoln is my role model. Not just in his politics, but also in his crippling chronic depression.

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        Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

        Yup... and he managed it without drugs! Thank god we don't have to.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Man-Eating Cow

          Not that the drugs actually help.

          https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265928

          https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0

          PlosONE may not be a wholly reliable journal. But Nature is the gold standard.

          And I should add: I have known people who appeared to get a great deal of benefit out of antidepressants. However, it would be hard to think of a condition more susceptible to placebo effects, and antidepressants are notorious for their side effects, which makes a true double-blind study quite difficult.

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            Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

            Interesting. Well, if it's not a cure it'll do till one gets here.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Dave Conant - MO

    Well done. A followup piece on the two major Democratic candidates and a comparison of the two parties would be interesting. I'm not as resigned to a Trumpist Senator as you are provided that the Democrats have a competitive offering.

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    1. BSamuel

      Kinda disappointed Auggie IV didn't throw his hat in the ring. He seems like a perfect fit for today's GOP.

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    2. Avatar photo
      Devin H

      Trudy Busch Valentine seems like the only realistic option so far that I might consider from the Democrats, but that's from not a whole lot of digging on my part so far.

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        Dave Conant - MO

        Check out Lucas Kunce; I'm not sure why Ms. Valentine jumped in, she's old money and doesn't have much background that I can find either. Kunce has been in from the beginning and seems a fairly real life person although Act Blue is handling most of his campaign messaging.

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          Devin H

          Have not seen much but attack ads on or from him (his hit on Valentine I was not impressed with), but I'll have to look more closely after the primary next week assuming he wins it.

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            Dave Conant - MO

            I wasn't impressed with the attack ads either and I'm hoping there is depth there that doesn't come across in most of the begging messages. Having seen nothing at all from Valentine, I think we're all going to be doing a lot more digging on the 3rd.

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  10. Tom Valentino

    2,000 Mules indeed. More like 2,000 Morons.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Man-Eating Cow

      I think that's off by around four orders of magnitude.

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