Eugene Robinson takes what I see as a contrarian view of the GOP's "disintegration." In general, contrarian views are popular, which is something of a paradox. Do they not buck consensus, that is to say, the majority and thus more popular view? They do. Yet who wishes to defend the unoriginality of what has come to be forbiddingly called "conventional wisdom"? Hence the contrarian view, while being a less popularly held view, is, often, nonetheless popularly welcomed and cuddled — even if the conventional wisdom stays put in the throne. This is a peculiarity indeed; over it, however, let us dally no longer. On to Robinson's contrarianism, which opens with the wisely conventional view that "It is no longer possible to think of 'the Republican Party' as a coherent political force." Robinson then gets contrarily weird:
It makes no sense anymore to speak of "the GOP" without specifying which one. The party that celebrates immigration as central to the American experiment or the one that wants to round up 11 million people living here without papers and kick them out? The party that believes in U.S. military intervention and seeding the world with democratic values or the one that believes strife-torn nations should have to depose their own dictators and resolve their own civil wars? The party that represents the economic interests of business owners or the one that voices the anxieties of workers?
To me, that's really weird. Unless memory serves me ill, Robinson has been of the many regular voices on "Hardball" proclaiming the GOP as (mostly) ideologically monolithic. Though it is true that one can no longer predict its everyday chaos, broadly the party is nativist, the party is "militarist," and the party, although ceaselessly voicing middle-class anxieties, is welded to the wallets of business. Some internal ideological differences do adhere; principally, though, these differences are muted, in that the old guard (what's left of it) is altogether intimidated by the threat of the primary-voting mob.
On nativism, just witness Marco Rubio's defensive crouch — since he once was so stupid as to be somewhat intelligent on immigration policy. As for militarism, Donald Trump loves and caresses the word, while Ted Cruz — to giddy base approval — wishes to make Middle East sand glow. Jeb is George!, and Rand Paul is the anti-neoconservative outlier. Finally, Robinson cites the GOP presidential candidates' vague opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as evidence of a break with Chamber-of-Commerce thinking. My dear Eugene, these GOP candidates oppose the TPP pact only because the TPP pact is President Obama's pact. In reality they oppose it as much as Hillary Clinton does.
What Robinson sees (today, anyway) is the disintegration of GOP "beliefs." What I see is the disordered pettiness that the GOP embraces. The party's fundamentals, so to speak, haven't changed; what has changed is the party's core base. It has metamorphosed downward, down to the point of white, largely male, lower-middle-class and enormously uninformed rage — most of it stemming from the petty rabidity of anti-Obamaism. That, not a disintegration of GOP beliefs, is what has crippled the GOP as a "coherent political force." Unmitigated rage isn't much of a political program and the GOP's insular base isn't much of a party. And that view, if furthers seems to me, is, pace Robinson, conventional wisdom at its wisest.
What's frightening me about the GOP is that their "leaders" in congress and their sick joke of a republican presidential primary field seem to tell more outright lies, and refuse to see the truth, making them only more popular with the base. Their ugly and hateful language and harassment of organizations like Planned Parenthood, their open bigotry towards muslims, is leading to more disturbed and violent behavior from their drooling followers. The GOP may be disintegrating, but they are doing a lot of damage to the country in the meantime.
Posted by: Anne J | December 18, 2015 at 08:49 AM
This is a beautiful piece. I know it is perfect because I agree with every word of it. That the Republicans disdain the TPP treaty for any other reason than that it has gotten Obama all over it is ridiculous. There is no treaty or international action that could have been done by this administration that they couldn't have improved upon by the simple expedient of being more awesome.
Your memory does not fail you when it comes to Robinson's Hardball performances but to paraphrase a biblical quotation, in our Robinson are many Eugenes. Perhaps not as many as there are Republican factions but definitely more than one. You have but to watch Morning Joe Eugene to appreciate the contrast. It was but two weeks ago that Scarborough went off on a report that intelligence estimates had been tailored to presidential expectations (this after the listening to the generals had been established as the only sound policy) for it is in the nature of subordinates to curry favor with Obama. And then the subordinate crew of Scarborough, Eugene included, bowed their heads in affirmation that bosses only get told what they want to hear.
Posted by: Peter G | December 18, 2015 at 09:23 AM
Your view is spot on. The party's core base *has* metamorphosed downward. The Republicans brought this on themselves. The base is now Nixon's Silent Majority (the term is even being recycled) and Reagan Democrats. Republican strategists won them over by playing on ethnic resentment by convincing them their hard earned money was being taken by unfairly high taxes and used to support undeserving minorities. They were also convinced by accusations Democrats were weak on defense, crime, and a host of moral issues. This was done for votes needed to further the goals of the business wing. Too bad it took so long for the cynicism to come home to roost.
Posted by: Bob | December 18, 2015 at 09:43 AM