The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump killed the Republican Party with racism and the rest of us.....

[marmar]

The Useful Idiot
How Donald Trump killed the Republican Party with racism and the rest of us with coronavirus.

By S.V. Date


The following is excerpted from “The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican Party with Racism and the Rest of Us with Coronavirus,” by S.V. Dáte.

(HuffPost) A pandemic never occurred to them. The idea that Donald Trump would ever be required to sit still, pay attention and make rational decisions that would determine whether hundreds of thousands of Americans would live or die not once crossed the minds of those who put him into the Oval Office.

Oh, they all had their various reasons for wanting him there. For white evangelical Christians, he had explicitly promised to appoint the federal judges they had so longed for to turn back the nation’s cultural clock. For Mitch McConnell, a Trump win — as unlikely as it seemed — was the only real path to making sure Republicans retained control of the Senate and he himself remained majority leader. And for Vladimir Putin, having Trump in the White House — as unlikely as it seemed — would be a dream come true, an opportunity to wreak havoc on his longtime adversary and weaken its historic alliance with Western Europe.

Russia’s dictator, of course, was not remotely interested in what Trump’s ascension might mean for Americans in the event of an actual calamity. If they were dumb enough to vote for him, well, they deserved whatever they got. In any event, it was not his problem.

As for Trump’s American supporters, perhaps so much time had passed since Sept. 11, 2001, that the idea of a genuine national emergency was but a faded memory. Perhaps the quiet competence that President Barack Obama’s team had employed with the 2009 flu pandemic and later with the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak had diminished the perceived threat that a simple virus could present. ..............(more)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-useful-idiot-book_n_5f4bf594c5b697186e379058?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. This is a very good piece - a long read but worth it.

Thanks for posting.

[vlyons]

2. Wall St and the 1%ers wanted a tax cut

Putin might have wanted Obama's sanctions lifted. That was probably Flynn's job. But what Putin really wanted was for Americans to sow division amongst ourselves, to lose faith in our government, to undermine NATO, and for the US to lose respect and leadership on the world stage. Boy he sure got that in spades.

[Edwcraig]

3. Trump did not destroy the Republican Party. He embraced it.

You would think the conservative Grand Ole Party was hijacked by Donald Trump. In 2016, charged up by the election of a black man as President, the Republicans were looking for a leader. It did not matter if that leader shot someone on 5th Avenue. They wanted a leader that would vanquish minorities. They were in ecstatic when he jumped in front of their parade and proclaimed.

“When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.”

They were sold.

It was a Republican parade of racists. Racists and those who do not believe in government, because government since LBJ, helped minorities and those that need help. You would think the conservative Grand Ole Party was hijacked by Donald Trump.

The beautiful pristine, virtuous and “conservative” Republican Party was duped by a monster. Here is the thing. Donald Trump is a Republican. Over 85% of Republican’s today APPROVE of the job he is doing. Trump is a Republican. The Republicans are Trump. And there never was a “conservative”, pristine, and virtuous Republican Party. These people are and have been evil.

[EarthFirst]

4. Quite right.

Ask any GOP good ole boy about the ‘good old days’