They Really Do Hate You (Us)
The goal is permanent Republican rule, and there’s no room for compromise, taking turns, or fighting fair.
Although my newsletters have been pretty dark so far, this one’s going to get a lot darker. I hope you’ll stay for the ride because this one’s really important. As a former Republican who knows how Republicans think and knows how much worse the party has become since I left it, I just don’t think enough of my new political allies realize how bad things have become.
Yes, things were awful under Trump, but he astutely read what the Republican base wanted and did all he could to give it to them, and a second Trump administration would be exponentially worse and more dangerous than the first. But the problem runs much deeper than to Trump; it is with the party itself. Maybe the only thing more terrifying than a second President Trump would be a Republican president with all the malice but without the bluster, buffoonery, and incompetence.
And there are several such contenders in the wings.
People older than I am may point to an earlier period, and they may be right, but in my experience, the cancer that the Republican Party has become began developing and metastasizing in the early 1990s.
Back then, I was a Republican, and I remember the 1992 presidential campaign. So please take a walk back in time with me to the late 80s and early 90s…
As a Republican, the messaging I constantly received from Republican friends and from conservative media voices– and this was before Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, and all the even-worse personalities and outlets that followed them, were on the scene– mostly came down to the following:
Democrats are weak.
Democrats are unmanly.
Democrats hate all that is good about America.
Democrats are commies.
Democrats want to turn America into a socialist dystopia.
Democrats hate everything you value and are coming to take it or put you under their boots.
Democrats are the party of feminists, gay men, men who hate themselves, and minorities who decry racism but really need to just suck it up.
Voting for a Democrat is unmanly and unAmerican. No real man and no real American can ever vote for a Democrat.
The messaging has been the same and worse ever since then, and, as buffoonish as it sounds (and is), it’s very effective. Shameful as this is, I totally bought into it back then. Even though my best friend at the time was black and I had many other friends who were horrified by the Republicans, I wasn’t willing to listen; I just wanted to tell them why they should go against their self-interests and vote R.
During the 92 campaign, there was a debate moment wherein Bill Clinton respectfully turned to George H.W. Bush and effectively said this to him:
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for our country. Now it’s time for a change. Let someone else have a try.”
My reaction was something to this effect:
“No way, you pot-smoking, draft-dodging hippie. You have no business being president. You don’t even deserve to be here next to President Bush. You’re a fake, and you’re illegitimate.”
Ah, the I-word!
Even back then, Republicans were starting to take the position that Democratic victories and administrations were illegitimate. At the time, the allegation wasn’t voter fraud; it was just that those victories and administrations were aberrations to be ignored and undermined as much as possible until the “right” people were sent back into power by the “right” people.
Today, we have a Republican Party that sees American demographics shifting against it and, instead of adapting to it and trying to expand their coalition, seeks to rig the system so that with the support of their base and enough right-leaning independents, they can cement minority rule– their rule– for at least a generation or two, if not longer.
A number of things make this possible and are making them successful at it. Some are institutional advantages that work in their favor; others are the result of decades of effort at state and local levels while Democrats mostly only paid attention to the “big” elections. Here are the biggies:
The Electoral College– Many Americans first became aware of the peculiarities of the EC in 2000 when Bush, despite having lost the popular vote, won the EC. Then it happened again in 2016. There’s a very good chance it will happen again in 2024. The last time a Republican won the popular vote and the EC was in 2004. If the trend we’re seeing continues, it spells serious trouble for our system. However, only a constitutional amendment can change that system, and it’s simply not going to happen since the small (population-wise) rural states overwhelmingly lean Republican and disproportionately wield clout in the EC. So they have no incentive to change that.
The Senate– What’s wrong with the Senate is very similar to what’s wrong with the EC. When Republicans hold a Senate majority these days, they represent less than half the country’s population yet hold sway over a majority that poll after poll shows disagrees with their priorities. This is another reason our system is coming close to unraveling. As with the EC, only a constitutional amendment can fix the Senate, and that won’t happen anytime soon.
Partisan Gerrymandering– Okay, so let me start off with admitting that both parties play this game. If you want to point at Democrats, you can look to Maryland, Illinois, and New York for great examples. But, as it is with truth-deniers and sore losers, the problem is way worse in Republican-controlled states.
Take North Carolina first. Although called a purple state, NC is still R-leaning. Since 2000 and through 2020, here is how it has gone in terms of D vs. R for president: 43.2-56, 43.6-56, 49.7-49.3, 48.4-50.4, 46.2-49.8, and 48.6-49.9. So although NC has only gone D for president once over 20 years, it’s become very close since 2008. NC also elected a Democratic governor in recent years. Yet, the legislature, which gets to draw congressional districts, is dominated by Republicans, who also organized a special session to strip the incoming Democratic governor of certain powers purely out of spite, and it has created a congressional district map that creates an 8-5 Republican advantage in a state that is almost 50-50 and leans slightly Republican. Thanks to how those districts are drawn, there is almost zero chance that Democrats can ever take the state and federal legislative majorities even if they start seeing the state go D in presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate elections.
Now to Wisconsin, where it might actually be worse. Here’s how WI has gone, D-R, in presidential elections since 2000: 47.8-47.6, 49.7-49.3, 56.2-42.3, 52.8-45.9, 46.5-47.2, and 49.5-48.8. Except in 2008 and 2012, Wisconsin has been really close and has only favored the Republican once. Yet, the congressional districts look like this in a state that’s even more 50-50 than NC is: out of 8 districts, 5 are held by Republicans. This won’t change anytime soon because even though the current governor is a Democrat, the state legislature, thanks to partisan gerrymandering, which our esteemed Supreme Court effectively blessed last year, is even more tilted and more invulnerable to change unless the state goes deep blue. As of this month, the Republicans hold 57 of 99 seats in the State Assembly, Democrats hold 38, and there are 4 vacancies. This is in a state that has gone R for president only once in 20 years. Not unfair at all!
Voter Suppression: While many people trace this Republican project back to yet another disastrous Supreme Court ruling, that being gutting the Civil Rights Act and canceling preclearance, which was a check on states with a history of state-sanctioned racism from passing laws that would deprive black people of the right to vote, this movement got rolling during the GWB years when we started hearing bogus claims of voter fraud and illegal immigrants voting and encouragement to states to enact strict voting laws.
Unreasonable requirements. I’ve never understood the objection to making people prove who they say they are before they can vote. Every time I’ve voted, I’ve been asked to produce photo ID and affirm certain information, and I have no problem with that. Unfortunately, Republicans decided that the ticket was to make it harder for D-leaning voters to exercise their right to vote. So they restricted acceptable forms of ID (in some states, a hunting license was okay but a college ID wasn’t– note that hunters tend to be more conservative and college students tend to be more liberal). They closed polling places, ostensibly to save money, but mysteriously almost always being sites in minority neighborhoods or the sites closest to minority-heavy rural areas. Gosh, why could that be?
To go back to what I said earlier, the Republicans just don’t like those of us who don’t vote as they do. In fact, they hate us. Not all, but many, and enough to be worried about.
No, they are not looking to round us all up and execute us or put us to forced labor (unless you’re a woman or anyone who cares about women’s individuality and autonomy, in which case the latter is something you have to fear).
In fact, they may not hate you and me on a personal level.
Your Republican neighbor may invite you over for burgers and beers, and you might have a great time and become great friends.
When you get a flat and a stranger stops to help you change your tire, that friendly person who helps you and wishes you well might very well be a Republican.
If you go out to a bar and end up hooking up with a Republican, that person won’t refuse to go to bed with you simply because you voted for “Brandon.” You might actually develop a healthy relationship.
But what you need to understand is that while they may accept the individual you, they reject the collective you. You’re entitled to your views as long as you can’t act on them. You can live your life according to your values as long as they stay out of sight and out of mind. You’re free to exist as long as you stay in your place.
Remember, they think, or have, sadly, been tricked into believing, that they are in an existential war against forces that want to destroy all that is American, right, and good. They’re tragically wrong, but it doesn’t change the fact that millions of them are ready to take up arms to defend and preserve their idea of America.
I’m not really sure what their idea of America really is, but I know it comes down to a sense of something lost. Here’s my best take, and it’s something I’ll talk about in a later post:
Republicans, many of them, are in love with the Norman Rockwell version of America.
I’ll admit that, despite all the flaws those paintings reveal in hindsight, the images themselves are great. They speak to unity, family, tradition, and happiness.
But, while I can appreciate the imagery while rejecting the reality, many Republicans can’t. They see not only their values but their very selves and children as under the sword.
It’s not true, but the bad actors feeding them red meat for years have converted them.
And so people who consider themselves moral and family-loving give themselves to people who care nothing about family and morality.
They really think they are in a battle to the death. Although that isn’t true, many of them are willing, even eager, to make that become a reality, and the potential for political violence is now dangerously high. January 6, the recent attack on an FBI office by a deranged MAGA cultist, and other examples show it’s already here. The real question is how widespread it will become.
Our representative democracy is at stake this year and 2024 and perhaps beyond. One party is trying to undermine and destroy it, and another is trying to protect and strengthen it.
Me, I’m going with the party I used to see as lame and weak. You get to make your own choice. Thank you for reading!