The Democrats knew exactly what to do after they lost the last major elections: Drive wedges into certain weak spots in the rightwing and exploit the major differences between influential individuals, groups and ideas. Trump is not really the classic vanilla GOP vibe. Vanilla GOP is very different from the truther realm that is still chasing the Windmills of Zion. Some truthers are still for a republic, others have a holy shrine at home for their prophet and saint Adolf Hitler. There are hardcore evangelical Republican voters, more relaxed Christians and a growing number of folks who think Christianity was just a Jewish conspiracy against Rome. People in the rightwing can’t agree if warfare is a fact of life or has to be avoided to the benefit of Russia. If Putin is a dangerous KGB goon or the savior tsar.
It was clear from the beginning of the Trump hype over a decade ago that this was a standard GOP big tent strategy that carried the risk of falling apart in endless infighting. Trump was not really a fit for any significant rightwing group, let alone for all of them simultaneously.
The party should have picked a presidential candidate that was as far away from the Epstein scandal and other scandals as possible.
Segments of the GOP universe and associated powerful players still went with Donald Trump, a very controversial man versed in casinos, real estate and beauty contests. They put way too much public focus on him.
They amplified wildly exaggerated salvation fantasies about a possible Trump presidency: Promises about fixing illegal migration super-quick, arresting “deep state” Democrats en masse, avoiding all wars, uncover crimes of the pharmaceutical industry, unveil the absolute truth on old cases like JFK and 9/11, etc.
They tolerated dangerous Russian influence campaigns. They financed countless influencers and endless social media pay-to-play campaigns based on algorithms and psychometrics.
A sober professional assessment over 10 years ago was not difficult to make. The GOP was not really changing. It is built to resist change. It just sometimes winks at radical voters and insinuates things. It was in essence the same party as it was during the Bush years. A president does not really make the big decisions and does not work out hyper-complicated policies.
Donald Trump was not some kind of rebel on a grand mission, his transition team was not surprising and the administration staff standard GOP. The Heritage Foundation had worked out policies in advance as usual. The secretive Council For National Policy (CNP) had managed things in the background to get different powerful groups on board with this whole Trump presidency plan. Internal dissent in higher circles was noted but ignored. Conservative mainstream media outlets and the internet influencers more or less fell in line. Within just a few months he went from a commercial brand to political savior.
The Q cult became a psychotic internet phenomenon fueled by wild fantasies of salvation and hidden symbols everywhere. A similar hype was manufactured by influencers like Alex Jones, Steve Pieczenik and General Flynn. Trump alone was not enough for the grandiose storytelling. There needed to be an entire powerful super-team behind him. This was the old salvation promise which had been believed by members of the John Birch society many decades ago without ever materializing.
Sometimes big media personalities outright pretended to trust and like Trump in order to secure their careers or simply to stabilize the GOP overall.
Some internet influencers were straight lying and sold outlandish fantasies to their audiences. Sometimes these influencers were huffing their own glue. It’s one thing when someone treats cryptic nonsense postings on a message board like a magic oracle. It’s another thing if Alex Jones gets reeled in by General Flynn with supposed grand inside info.
To complicate matters the Russians were trying to influence American policies. This became part of the online hype. Trump in combination with Putin was hailed as a world mega-alliance of rightwing power. For some audiences this was irresistible.
And of course the old, traditional conspiracy mythology saw the biggest boost in the West since the Nazi era 100 years ago. More than a billion Muslims also believe that a tiny Jewish family from a ghetto in Frankfurt Germany had once taken over the mighty British Empire where the sun never set. Trump always had some people around him with a Jewish background. Still, the internet cultists believed there was some 4-dimensional chess going on and Trump would ultimately defeat the Windmills of Zion.
The prophets of blah
Media people like Tucker Carlson used to publicly support Trump while being very negative about him behind the scenes. Tucker was negative about Islam in public and very negative about the Iranian regime. He has now flipped hard, trying to get Trump removed and acting like a reputation launderer for Iran. The only thing he hasn’t flipped on is the Putin regime.
Alex Jones used to caution people about the main GOP circles, he warned about Russia and he avoided the extreme truther lore. Then he cashed in on the Trump hype, hailed Russia and became far more extreme about Israel and jews in government or business.
Candace Owens started as a leftie doxxing conservatives, then turned into Trump supporter and now she thinks of him as a horrendous enemy while she is battling the Windmills of Zion.
Joe Rogan was about entertainment and some conspiracy content. He chose to support Trump, have former associates of Epstein on and now his program often seems like the old Coast to Coast AM with George Noory with flimflam about pyramids and aliens.
Many influencers can be sorted into the same kinds of categories:
- Some just continue to ride the Trump wave because they believe in it or they just fear the midterm elections. With those influencers there is no chance of ever making improvements within the GOP.
- Some will continue to make unrealistic demands of GOP politicians and cause damage to the party if they don’t get their way.
- Some may be paid subversive assets of Russia and other foreign regimes
Now the infighting is causing problems for the next elections. Some influencers tell their audiences to not vote or even vote Democrat. Only when a “real America first” candidate comes along in the future would they recommend voting Republican again.
Audiences were just as wildly irresponsible as their favorite influencers. Would you get surgery from a comedian or a former face on FOX News reading from a teleprompter? From an activist? Certainly not. But audiences will copy the opinions of non-professionals about the most important topics.
If the Republicans lose the next elections and the influencers can’t accomplish anything, voters panic, the GOP will do another classic big tent strategy, re-branding old content as “new” and “re-awakening”. They will buy enough voices. Once they win elections again the disappointment sets in among voters. Rinse and repeat.
