“But Sir, You Are ‘The Man’”

"...it’s remarkable (if not amazing) that Trump’s opponents don’t seem to understand that the first step toward defeating Trump is to honor him." https://t.co/A2oNFFlE5Z

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 4, 2023

I saw this (but didn’t want to sign up to read it; who needs so many “subscriptions”?) and just thought it was somebody else being cutely contrarian. 

This argument reminds me of an ad from decades back: a white haired CEO and his much younger aide are discussing the advantages of whatever the ad was selling, and the CEO declares his consumer choice to be “Just my way of sticking it to ‘The Man.’” To which the astonished side replies:…well, you’ve read that line already.

So, yeah:

Almost all of these attacks were used in 2016 - he’s not a real Republican being the main one - and ended with him as nominee from a weaker place than he is in now with the base. https://t.co/yC8yPXisnE

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 7, 2023

To be clear, Kapur’s argument is based on DeSantis’ (who overlooks the fact he’s a worse political candidate than Hillary Clinton).

Hitting Trump for not being a GOP team player appeals to the DC/consultant set, but is there evidence the grassroots cares? Trump’s original campaign premise that won over the base was that the party establishment had become useless and needed to be toppled like a jenga tower. https://t.co/1J4AJOm3Ti

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 7, 2023

Maggie's point is the more salient one; Trump’s base are the crazies who think “the establishment” (the ‘60’s term that has swung from radical left to radical right) is the problem, and with just a few more crazies, a la the House, they’ll run everything and finally get their way and they can “stick it to ‘The Man.’”

But if you treat Trump as the new boss, same as the old boss…

The first step toward defeating Trump within the GOP (not in the general!) would be to treat him as the party leader. As long as he’s the failed president/candidate who should be in the wilderness (again, the most recent example is Hillary Clinton), he’s still the outsider attacking the party establishment. But treat him as the new party establishment, the leader of the GOP, the guy in charge… he might start losing his luster.

Chris Christie is sort of doing that, but he’s beating up Trump for being Trump. Democrats like it, but Trump’s base isn’t listening. You want to separate Trump from his base in the GOP? Treat him like he won the fight to control the GOP; because he did. Treat him like he’s the GOP establishment; because he is. And how’s that working out for you?

Not that that’ll happen; nor do I really want it to. First,  it’s not perfect. MAGA heads simultaneously think Trump did everything he set out to do, and that nothing Trump did lasted beyond 2020. It’s a child’s view of reality, and a child’s demand everything please them, even when they don’t know what pleases them. It’s Michelle Bachman insisting American slavery was not sinful; well, not at first, anyway.

'That isn't true': Michele Bachmann says slavery was not 'sinful' at America's inception https://t.co/0CyRWCVfuJ

— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 6, 2023

It’s a child’s simplicity, and a child’s ignorance. But that’s why you could turn it against Trump.

Personally, I’d love to see Trump v. Biden again. I expect it to be Nixon v. McGovern redux. People forget Nixon wasn’t all that popular in ‘72, but McGovern provided him the perfect opponent for an incumbent to roll up the country. (Trump did as well as he did in ‘20 because he was the incumbent. Biden has that high ground now.) Not to mention sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Trump thinks his indictments make him stronger with the base. But that same base wants to impeach Biden. Which would only boost Biden in the general election. Besides the fact trying to do Trump’s bidding in such things proves he’s the establishment now. And not voting for impeachment proves you aren’t with the GOP establishment….

A clever GOP candidate could have a lot of fun with this. Not that I’m weeping while the GOP continues purging…