View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpO_RTSNmQ
This will piss off Donald Trump/Drumph supports & those of you that lean to the right. I would apologize, but it would be a lie. And if anyone does get overly butthurt, I get watch the world burn without the down votes. It also tells me who else is worth putting on ignore.
Also, this FRAT on Last Week Tonight's FB page is a good analysis on how Drumph became a thing:
"The first thing I saw when I woke up this morning was a one-sentence Facebook post from a mid-twenties Republican friend of mine: "I don't understand how Republicans can support Trump!" So I spent 45 minutes banging out a way-too-lengthy response, as follows.
Several factors combined to produce Trump.
1. The GOP outsourced its communication strategy to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the like. Those people and corporations are in the business of selling fear. For 20 years, they've been telling people that the only reasonable response to any event is fear -- fear of terrorism, of moderate Democrats like Obama, of losing their guns, of black people, of economic calamity, of homosexuals, of the rise of other countries, of disease, of Obamacare, etc. They've created an entire fear-based culture. Reagan, for all his many faults, was a sunny, optimistic fellow who told us it was morning in America. Now the message of the GOP (crafted by Fox/Limbaugh/Beck) is that America is a shithole where you are in terrible peril. So along comes Trump who cynically exploits those fears, fashions himself as a classic authoritarian strongman who promises to keep everyone safe by being "tough."
2. The GOP allowed itself to become, in Bobby Jindal's apt phrase, the party of stupid. It denied evolution. It denied global warming. It denied geology. It denied the need for any education beyond what might be needed to get a job. It kept returning to the theory that tax cuts would produce a booming economy, despite the fact that there was no evidence that that was so. (Kansas, anyone?) It denied the importance of facts themselves. Some Republicans even denied Enlightenment principles of scientific inquiry and discourse and embraced theocracy. And there was no intellectual enforcer like a Buckley who was willing or able to call out such stupidity. Stupid people are easy for carnival barkers like Trump to manipulate.
3. The GOP was infiltrated by and is now heavily dependent on religious literalists. As Barry Goldwater pointed out years ago, those people are impossible to work with in a democratic government because they refuse to compromise. If you are acting in accordance with God's law, then even the smallest deviation from that (i.e., the compromises democracy relies on for its very survival) becomes heresy. Though Trump is far from religious, he promises no-compromise tactics in defeating ISIS, in keeping Americans "safe."
4. The GOP became the party of the Lost Cause, the party of the south. Though it drives some of my Republican friends crazy to hear this said, the party went out of its way to embrace bigoted voters. And the party encouraged their racism, especially when Obama won the presidency. But for years, Republicans thought they had to couch their racism in dog whistles and cutesy allusions. Now comes Trump who proudly disdains polite speech and openly expresses his bigotry. And the reaction is delight and relief: finally, we can say what we really think and express our prejudices -- by voting for a man who does just that.
5. The GOP adopted Leninist tactics. "No enemies to the right" became its electoral message. No matter how kooky, antidemocratic, or reactionary you were, the GOP was willing to embrace you. And so unsurprisingly, the party moved right. Far, far right. Fear of being called a RINO drove party members to extreme positions. And at the extreme end of every ideology is authoritarianism (which is true of both left and right). Today the party bears almost no resemblance to the one my parents supported. So along comes Trump, whose ideology (to the extent he has one) isn't conservative, but is authoritarian. His very campaign slogan is revanchist: Make America great again. While his policies are not in line with past GOP policies, his tone and his authoritarian style are the inevitable result of the Republican's embrace of more and more extreme ideas.
6. Trump is a celebrity. He's best known as a reality TV personality, not a politician. We live in a culture that glorifies celebrities, but for years few celebrities have identified as Republicans. The entertainment industry is overwhelmingly moderate to liberal. For years, Republicans had to make do with C-list celebrity endorsements (Ted Nugent?). Suddenly, here comes an A-list guy and the Republican faithful are delighted. Finally, a celebrity who isn't a Democrat!
There are many other factors, of course. But these, I think, are a good starting point. As a liberal, I cop to feeling some schadenfreude at seeing the GOP in a Trumpian dilemma. But as an American, I am dismayed. Our democracy needs a principled, intellectually coherent, forward-looking conservative party. It doesn't have one now. And that's dangerous."
