Man Trump called 'my African American' says president has 'white superiority complex'
Where has Obvious Man been his entire adult life??
The Guardian said:
Where has Obvious Man been his entire adult life??
*rump’s African American cops a clue, quits the GOP over racism
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I have thought from the beginning that conservatives will rally around Trump until he is no longer useful to them. People have been trickling away from the start (Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, etc. etc.) and at some point we are bound to reach a critical mass where Trump is utterly isolated. What I don't get is why these ones and twos calling it quits aren't banding together. The only realistic things (short of "Trump's got dirt on all of them" conspiracy stuff) I can think of is that either 1) the right blood isn't yet in the water for the sharks to start circling, or 2) there is not yet a cause Trump's blocking that they care about for them to crystallize around--the two are not mutually exclusive. The flow of defections has been completely manageable, and that's the problem. The irony is that an issue that galvanizes the Republicans against Trump will make them stronger and more of a threat to Democrats, who I'm rooting for.
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I think they're isolated because they don't really have anywhere to go. It's hard as hell to start a new party and be successful--no one has done it in the US since the early 1800s. There still aren't enough of them to take control of the GOP and change its trajectory. Independents rarely get anywhere politically (and vary too much to build their own coalition). And they sure as heck (most of them, anyway) aren't going to join the Democratic party.
As for simply speaking up collectively, I think they are scared of what the majority of the party has become--either rabid "true believers", or else soulless followers who are going along for the sake of their careers. The dissenters are still outnumbered, and if they create a visible challenge to the GOP status quo, all the viciousness and vengefulness that's so prominently on display will be turned on them.
And yeah, most of them probably do have vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
Some of them probably still believe in what the party is trying to do too, if not with its methods. So they don't want to rock the boat too much. They still want to be able to "come home" once Trump is dead or whatever. If they burn all their bridges, they won't be able to do that.
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I'm sure some of this is the sunk cost fallacy in action, some is the nature of regressive policies championed by the party, some is the fact the Russians have lots of dirt on lots of GOP members, and some people just aren't quitters (sadly).
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I think sunk costs are definitely a motivation for some people. It probably explains why so many working class people continue to vote for a party that clearly isn't supporting their interests, aside from a few mealy mouthed platitudes about jobs being taken by immigrants and too-liberal trade policies. Heh, remember when Democrats were the protectionists?
However, there are a lot of Americans whose ideology does align more closely with the socially conservative elements of the GOP, and some wealthier people who will happily vote for whoever lowers their taxes. The right-wing establishment has been successful at creating very persistent lies--that the government is "bigger" than it's ever been, that taxes are higher than ever, that red states' tax money is supporting the cities in blue states, that crime is increasing and that immigrants commit more crime in general, that guns make us safer, that white, straight, Christian men are victims of "reverse discrimination," that climate change is a hoax perpetuated by academics who want more grant money and so on.
As they say, a lie makes it around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
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