“….Something touched me deep inside, the day the music died.”
Don McLean
To read Politico’s exhaustive recreation of how Trump weathered the outcry of his Access Hollywood misogyny is to fully realize how bleak America’s future may be, and how realistic the prospect of his re-election is. As the Trump candidacy hovered on the edge of dissolution, the victim of audio so bluntly degrading it spurred on arguments whether in fact Trump was confessing to criminal acts, his critics and defenders alike shared one fundamental flaw in their perception of the most important piece of the whole sorry affair…. how resilient the candidate’s base of support was, how utterly unconcerned they were of recorded evidence as unpresidential as anything ever publicly disclosed.
The Politico article may very well document the watershed event of when America reached its tipping point on a number of fronts, all coalescing to create an irreversible slide toward the shamelessness necessary to make democracy a thing of the past. As Trump’s team of misfits worked feverishly under the impression his “locker room” story of sexually assaulting a married woman would blow up his candidacy, only Trump was blissfully confident MAGAites would hardly blink. Of course we suffer the consequences of how accurate his assessment was, but the most ruinous aspect of the whole affair lies in how all of the “shocked and disgusted” GOP pols, from Paul Ryan to John Thune, Lindsey Graham to Susan Collins, so quickly came back into the fold once they realized the wretched core was going nowhere. Within 48 hours, following perhaps the ugliest public debate ever witnessed in America, calls for Trump to step aside ceased, outrage replaced by shrugs…. “what are you going to do?”
The non-reaction to, even enthusiasm for, the Access Hollywood audio by Trump rally crowds was the final act in several tales all playing out at once, First, since Trump had announced his candidacy with a bigoted diatribe against immigrants, the question was how powerful were the racist forces within the GOP base, and could unabashed embrace of bigotry and xenophobia actually eclipse all else in the eyes of a significant bloc of party faithful. Like pro-life zealotry, had Trump’s abandonment of all pretense and overt disdain of immigrants clarified sizable numbers of Republicans prepared to forgive and forget all else so long as “illegals” were sent packing?
Next, were the evangelicals, the pro-lifers prepared to look past behavior running mate Mike Pence’s wife found so ugly she initially refused to stand on the same stage with Trump. Did overturning Roe v Wade and “religious freedom” – read anti-gay and transgender nastiness with a clean conscience – provide an end to justify any means, any degree of hypocrisy?
Third, if Access Hollywood was a worst-case scenario, it also provided the ultimate test for how effectively Fox/AM could spin and reinvigorate the self-inflicted wounds its creation constantly foisted on his candidacy. Almost immediately the message from Hannity et al was singular and unrelenting: what about Hilary’s husband?! Fox prime time was far more concerned with Juanita Broderick than Nancy O’Dell. Don’t throw stones from glass houses. False equivalence to the rescue!
Finally, most importantly, there was never a more appropriate and critical time for GOP leaders to, er, lead. After all, if you can’t move the party away from this, when could you lead it. Any shred of principle left from the bad dream of Trump’s nomination dictated a clear, unified and sustained response was necessary, lest the party stand for nothing but the craven opportunism it’s critics had constantly accused it of during the previous eight years. If you can’t take a troglodyte who brags about grabbing pussies to task, what do you really have left to offer on the moral high ground front? Easy peasy!
History is always looking for pivotal moments, make or break situations. Politico accurately portrays the immediate aftermath of the Access Hollywood audio as just that in the minds of most everybody involved, except the two most important parties, Trump and his wretched core. Reince Priebus fought back an onslaught of GOP biggies demanding Trump be dropped from the ticket. Priebus, always light as a feather, had no stomach for such a move and saw no precedent or procedure for carrying it out. Trump, for his part, already regretting he even issued a quarter-hearted apology, and perhaps being told by Moscow it was not an option, tweeted he had zero intention of withdrawing from the race. He backed that declaration up by outrageously convening a hasty press conference of Bill Clinton accusers. When Hillary had the gall to call him unfit during that night’s debate, Trump hissed he would have her behind bars in no time. And just like that, the danger had passed. A fresh news cycle awaited.
In the days leading up to Decision 16’ there was nary a GOPer in DC who either gave Trump a chance at victory nor actually wanted him to win. With the exception of Freedom Caucus back benchers and assorted Senate extremists with a fondness for Fox/AM interviews, the Republican Party was focused on rebuilding its brand and maybe even attempting to lead the party away from la la land. However, the wretched core failed to get that memo, and Clinton payed with disgraced defeat for taking Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin voters for granted. All now suffer hourly.
The various rivers, flowing separately as Trump faced disqualification after the Access Hollywood audio emerged, have all met at one junction to form a mighty torrent. Yes, plenty in the GOP are now dedicated single-issue bigots, with more than 60% of the party faithful approving of border atrocities. Yes, evangelicals could not care less about Trump’s disgusting personal peccadilloes, as they will surely again show in fully discounting new documentation of the President’s friendship with Jeffery Epstein. Yes, Fox/AM is more than up to the task of shamelessly spinning every Trump lie and outrage for its regulars’ consumption, with overt racism now a specialty… ask Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham. And finally, no, the GOP never was up to the job of leadership, its cowardly stiffs all shuffling forth, tails between legs, seeking to at least remain off Trump’s twitter radar. Those most vocal about dumping him never recovered, and are either gone or fully marginalized…ask Paul Ryan.
Historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt observed that, while “the mob and elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself,” the rest require propaganda. Go to any Trump rally and it’s easy to feel that momentum. Ditto watching flunkies like Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows carry his dirtiest water in Congress. The rest of us? Give it time. The Politico piece makes clear plenty were able to get past Trump’s worst with little effort, and watching Chuck Todd lately one can fully appreciate how insidious Fox/AM propaganda can be, how it can leach into mainstream analysis and normalize our worst. Three years in and I suppose the future is still our call, but the clock is ticking, and gravely, soon the die may be cast. BC