Republican-style "Merry Christmas"
And the real secret to why they adore Trump like a golden calf
By now, you’ve certainly heard about Trump’s Christmas wish for all of us who oppose him: “rot in hell.”
“But that’s Trump,” many people think. “Of course he is an a-hole.”
This is how people have grown used to giving Trump a pass. Behavior that would make Christ retch is fine for Trump.
But, as I keep pointing out, Trump would not be where he is unless he were put there by millions of “conservatives.” He is a massive projection of their inner life—the life of degenerate, despicable characters.
Here is a post on Twitter (okay, stupid “X”) by a “conservative” I don’t know, reposted by Cathy Young:
Cathy’s comment is a good question. It provoked at least two good responses. One was from David Corn, who wrote, “So much of Trumpism is about celebrating the freedom to be mean.”
Indeed. In fact, so much of “conservatism” is about the “freedom” to be mean. Mean to non-Christians, mean to women, mean to non-white-non-straight-non-bigots, mean to immigrants, mean to poor people, mean to anyone who is recognizably more compassionate and more intelligent than they are.
Another good response was from James G. D’Angelo. He pointed out that this is hardly a new attitude and quoted Aldous Huxley on the topic:
The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. Men must be bribed to build up and do good by the offer of an opportunity to hurt and pull down. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior “righteous indignation”—this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.
This is an articulate diagnosis of the deviant “conservative” soul, except that they have no “good cause” nor any desire to “do good.” “Conservatives” have a twisted character. It begins with the patently true observation that there are other people who are better than we are. For normal people, this is a manifest truth. Any honest person has to admit it, set about figuring out how they are better, and learn how to be as good as they are.
But that’s not the “conservative” way. Noticing that others are better in many respects, the “conservative” soul does not admire and try to emulate others. Instead, it takes umbrage and tries to destroy the others. In the lizard brains of “conservatives,” it seems to make sense that they could never be inferior if there were no superior people. So, as far as they are concerned, exterminating the superior people makes perfect sense.
Unfortunately for them, society has inherited a stubborn interest in justice and equity from superior people in the past. So exterminating superior people is frowned upon. This outrages “conservatives.” The only plan their tiny minds can conceive to lift the sting of their inferiority is prohibited by law and convention.
And this is why “conservatives” love Trump. As Huxley says, Trump promises them that they will be able to harm their superiors—the “liberals” they so despise for being more compassionate and more intelligent—without suffering any consequences. That is what Trump gives them: a get out of jail free card for acting on their worst impulses.
Gerrymander Democrats out of government or shut down voting in Democratic counties? You will get a pass from Trump’s Justice Department. Enact religiously deviant laws that threaten women with death for getting pregnant? You will get a pass. Mount an insurrection? You will get a pass.
And now he’s offering even more. Go out, round up Trumpist “enemies,” and put them in camps? Deport anyone you think doesn’t look “American”? Start a civil war? Kill Democrats? Not only will you get a pass; you will be given high offices in the bureaucracy of Trump’s tyranny.
Still, this is not the real reason that “conservatives” refuse to leave Trump’s side.
The secret reason behind “conservative” adoration for Trump is not just that he promises absolution or even rewards for their deviance. The secret reason is that Trump models for them the invulnerability to which they aspire.
When they look at Trump, they see an a-hole who has gotten away with everything they wanted to get away with all their lives. He is living proof to them that you can be a conscienceless criminal, screw people over every which way to Sunday, cheat on everyone, rack up debts and never pay, get other people to cheat, steal, and—who knows?—even kill for you, while constantly lying, lying, lying—all without ever suffering a single significant consequence.
That is why Trump is their idol. He is Satan incarnate, and that is the “savior” they really want—the one that will stop telling them they need to be better than they are and tell them instead that they can be worse than they ever imagined. And that they can get away with it.
This is why it is a real tragedy that Trump seems to be succeeding at delaying all his trials. Since what “conservatives” really want to see is Trump getting away with everything, their hopes may be dashed by seeing him finally brought down to earth. It may begin to dawn on them that if their god Trump can’t pull it off, neither can they.
Now, it’s true that the deep perversity of “conservatism” makes it run counter to all rationality. There will certainly be some “conservatives” who simply refuse to acknowledge any Trump conviction. They are already very practiced at recasting reality to suit their fancy.
But along with the profound perversity there is also the boiler fire that energizes the whole “conservative” experience—fear. Fear of loss, fear of truth, fear of self-incrimination, fear of death.
It just may be that “conservative” fear outweighs “conservative” perversity. It just may be that the conviction of their orange god will scare enough of them away from Trumpism to save us, fearing that they may suffer the same fate.
It’s pathetic to have to hope that base cowardice will save democracy. But “conservatives” have that vice in abundance. So if there is one thing we can count on them to do, it is to scurry away like rats at the first apprehension of danger. And convicting their golden calf would be a powerful signal of danger.
Let’s hope it can get done before the election. Maybe a combination of the rats jumping ship and decent Americans turning out in record numbers can save the nation from the tyranny of the mean minority.