How Trumpism Fractured the GOP
His infectious narcissism and incessant victimhood fueled a cult of personality.
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Bad marriages usually lead to ugly divorces, and that’s where the GOP is heading.
After Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, the word went forth on the right: It’s a binary choice. You’re either for Hillary or you’re for Trump. I never agreed with this reasoning, but in a two-party system the claim was defensible. The peculiar thing is that even after he was elected, the “binary choice” bullying never went away; it just changed from “Hillary or Trump” to “for Trump or against him.”
There were left-wing and right-wing versions of this all-or-nothing mentality, the former requiring total resistance to all things Trump, the latter total support. But it was the right-wing version that probably cost Trump the election. And it’s now threatening to tear apart the GOP.
On cable TV, talk radio and right-wing web platforms that dedicated themselves to round-the-clock Trump support, Trump’s minor successes were celebrated as unprecedented victories. His major successes were offered as proof of the president’s almost superhuman qualities. His failures were usually explained in one of two ways. They were either proof of his four-dimensional chess master genius—just wait, this is part of his master plan!—or evidence that powerful, sinister forces were undermining him: the “deep state,” the establishment, the “fake news” media, the cultural Marxists, the military-industrial complex, the “never Trump” fifth columnists or a combination thereof.
Because Trump’s narcissism was so profound, he responded to criticism with the political equivalent of a nuclear counterstrike. And because Trump’s insecurity was infectious, his fan base—which had outsize power in primaries—would follow suit. This ensured that most Republican politicians shouted their praise of Trump and muzzled their criticism.
The same dynamic applied to most right-of-center media and many conservative institutions. Kellyanne Conway may have been joking in 2017 when she said CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) was now TPAC, but it didn’t take long for her observation to seem prophetic.
Institutionalized Trump narcissism probably cost him the election, because the superhuman image he insisted his loyalists embrace never reflected the reality on the ground. Many Republicans were in fact not that into him. They liked the judges, the tax cuts, even some of the “own the libs” bombast. But they were turned off by the self-indulgence, the conspiracy theorizing and the constant need for praise and attention. Still, few conservative politicians or media figures were willing to say so. Trump believed his most fawning media, and his fawning media told him again and again, “Never change.”
The result was a massive turnout of anti-Trump voting. The bulk of it manifested as historic turnout among Democrats enraged by four years of being trolled by the president. But a significant chunk of it took the form of Republicans or Republican-leaning voters who split their tickets or declined to vote for the top of the ticket. In normal times, if you’re willing to vote for a Republican governor, senator or congressman, you are by definition a gettable vote for a Republican presidential candidate. But Trump lost in many states where other Republicans won. It’s true, as Trump says, that he got more votes than any Republican president; he just didn’t get enough of them.
To the extent that there is any good faith to the false claims the Democrats stole the election, it can be explained by the fact that many Republicans, including Trump himself, believed the pro-Trump propaganda they’ve been fed for four years. If you actually think the president can’t lose, that the American people are with him and that the shadowy forces he was battling are real, why wouldn’t you scoff at the idea Biden won?
But Biden did win. And that fact is shattering the Temple of the Binary Choice on the right.
For four years, Donald Trump was president, which also meant he was the de facto head of the Republican Party. This allowed the acolytes of Trumpism—however you want to define that sloppy term—to marry Trumpism, nationalism, patriotism, populism, tribalism, MAGA, etc., to old-fashioned party loyalty.
That marriage is over now. And the breakup is ugly—and revealing in its ugliness. For many, Trumpism wasn’t about the party. For a few, it wasn’t even about the country. It was about him. His infectious narcissism and incessant victimhood fueled this cult of personality, which he valued more than the office he held. Trump has lost his grip on the office, but he’s doing everything he can to hold on to the cult by claiming he was robbed. It remains to be seen how many people he’ll take with him. But we can be sure the answer will be “too many.”
Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images.
The false "stolen election" claims can be explained by Trump believing his own propaganda? Jonah, I know you're trying to be charitable, but I just don't buy it.
Trump made the same claims when Ted Cruz win the Iowa caucuses in 2016. Cruz "stole" the election. His votes were from "fraud." Donald Trump was going to sue, and the only way to make things right was for Iowa to disqualify Ted Cruz and declare Trump the victor. Trump blasted this garbage all over Twitter at the time. The difference now is that a lot of Republican officeholders (and the Justice Department, thanks Bill Barr!) are joining in on the conspiracy theory. That takes it from "laughable" to "dangerous."
Trump is a narcissist who lies as easily as he breathes. He is and always has been a sore loser. His current tantrum is just one more example of this.
You're right that he's bad for the a Republican party, but even if his antics led to pure electoral success, he is the most poisonous American politician I've ever seen. In four years, he has corrupted the soul of the Republican party. (Just look at the response of officeholders, party leaders, and the rank and file members to the current election misinformation blitz). May God forgive these spineless cowards and sycophants who are working with him to undermine the foundations of our Republic.
Excellent as always. Some random thoughts:
First thought: I'm harboring a small hope that someone, somewhere in the Republican Party will stand up and absolutely denounce Trump and Trumpism. Ben Sasse and Tim Scott (who during the "What's Next" event confronted Trumpism in greater or lesser degrees, respectively) would be excellent places to start. It's a speech that IMHO writes itself: the Republican Party is based in fundamentally conservative principles, and Trump never fully represented them - he only dressed in their clothing when it served his purposes.
Second: two of the worst political actors in Trump's theater of the absurd are Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. To watch them journey from primary opponents accurately describing Trump as a con man to debasing themselves during his narcissistic tirade against imaginary election fraud is one of the saddest spectacles I've seen from people I once thought had standards for themselves. A lot can obviously change, but I suspect Rubio is a marked man in 2022. Cruz has the luxury of much more time before his reelection, but he'll have to give the granddaddy of mea culpas to separate himself from Trumpism.
Third: if the Republican Party is headed for an ugly divorce between its traditional members and Trumpists, better to get it done fast and hard. While the left has its own unity problems, they've been historically better at getting their troops in line. If the GOP is mired in chaos for too long, the AOC's of the Democratic Party will only be emboldened to think that now is the time for sweeping, fundamental change.
Last: I'm afraid none of this in the end will matter. Sitting in the background of America's political and cultural infighting is the very real specter of our crushing, uncharted levels of debt. Decades from now, historians may see this time period like many see 19th and early 20th century Europe: lots of palace intrigue that were unimportant after the whole structure came down.