In the early hours of the morning after America’s worst civic failure, an hour or so after I had finally gone to sleep with the help of science, the most awful realization of all snapped me wide awake. Rush Limbaugh had been right all along! My Lord!
Since Obama routed McCain in 2008, Limbaugh, who had no brand other than to go all in with fringe elements, blamed the whupping on whatever declining vestiges of moderation were left in the Party of Lincoln. Until Republicans were ready to go full George Wallace, he screeched every week day for three hours, things would only get worse.
Of course, when Obama was re-elected comfortably in 2012, Limbaugh and Fox/AM doubled down. The establishment was betraying the base promoting these candidates who spoke complete sentences and wouldn’t carry around pictures of aborted fetuses. Honor is vastly overrated, the Fat Ass droned, all-you-can-eat red meat and good conspiracy will get the job done.
Throughout the run up to November in 2016 every time Trump would try to derail his candidacy, Rush would lead the Fox/AM chorus, poo pooing the little things – lying, misogyny, ugly bigotry, complete policy ignorance – and imploring the faithful to keep their eyes on the ball. Trump is the extremist we have been waiting for; governance and decency do not matter to him. He won’t let us down.
Sweating and up for good at 3AM, the full horror that an imbecile was now going to go on-air in a few hours and be fully validated for a decade of nasty gibberish felt like a very sharp knife in the right kidney. And we now see, even though any worst case scenario last January couldn’t come close to describing the last 18 months, the GOP leadership has acceded to Limbaugh’s prescriptions as it heads into mid-terms. Trumpie acolytes are everywhere, running unabashedly as toadies ready to go to the mat with him, come what may. In Virginia we will see whether we need to update our passports and look into foreign residency requirements…Corey Stewart is running against Tim Kaine. If their debate last night is a predicter, there will be nothing left to interpretation, Stewart is a Limbaugh wet dream. And were he to make a contest of what should be decided very early in the evening, it will be hard to argue Trumpism is but an unsightly blip on our screen.
Stewart, the former Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, made his bones scapegoating immigrants. A Trumpie from the beginning, he was actually deemed too toxic by the Donald’s team and unceremoniously replaced as member of the VA Presidential effort. Yet and still, there is little doubt Trump will devote plenty of time to this race, if for no other reason it provides proximate locales for rallies, which we know usually extend hopefuls meant to benefit with but cursory mention amidst his meglomanical monologues.
The binary choice in Virginia will mirror many across the country, competence and reason vs. “politically incorrect” white grievance. Stewart checks off all of those boxes. In addition to bashing immigrants and, forget apologizing, cheerleading for family separation, Stewart never met a confederate monument he didn’t want to use as a dog whistle in service to the “attacks on our heritage” narrative. Indeed, aside from Trump tax cuts and the obligatory pro life extremism, it’s hard to find much else in the Stewart platform. He will spend the campaign not apologizing for, until Trump, was an automatically disqualifying resume.
Tim Kaine should dispatch Stewart with prejudice, which is why anything else will have far larger implications. A popular Governor and Senator, Kaine wasn’t sheepish calling out his opponent’s ugliness, while casting aside Stewart’s efforts to label him a radical left winger. But Stewart is example A of the emerging Trumpie playbook: start with the premise you’ve lost and stay unhinged; the base is all that matters, don’t ever give them reason to doubt you. Truth is not your friend, lie first, you can always gaslight or walk it back. Everything is zero-sum, never agree with your opponent; if he wants to cure cancer, you’re against overpopulation. Finally, you owe it all to Trump; anything you are or will be is due to him, and he is always right.
On paper the Virginia Senate race should be over before dessert. But Kaine is a breathing reminder of the last time we took for granted America’s decency. That night it was when Hillary Clinton actually trailed Trump in Virginia at bedtime that it began to occur the worst was possible. The stakes this time may be even higher. If Stewart is even close election night, things are dire. Trumpism as our future…instead of a wretched mistake we are relegating to our past. BC
A sad state of affairs indeed. I am extremely concerned that the Democrats are too fractured right now to recover and right the ship. Unless the progressive wing can make peace with the more traditional liberals and moderates in the party we may be doomed to Trumpist’s most un-American of leadership.