MAGA doesn’t do martyrs so good. They’re all sociopaths, and only care about themselves. Other people are only good for as long as they are useful, so once you’re dead, your usefulness starts to end. There’s a bit of utility in the time right after the death, but that soon fades. They’ve already forgotten about a Charlie Kirk, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen when Trump assumes room temperature.
Nowhere is this more manifest than Trump’s obsession with what he can’t have, loyalty.
He knows his only value is what he can provide for others and as soon as they get more utility elsewhere, they leave. This is also why he uses fear to prevent attrition, the deal they get for ‘betrayal’ must overwhelm their fear of Trump, which is dependent on his power to act on the threats, which is partly why he wants absolute power. As soon as that damn cracks and the first successful betrayal is visible, his followers will see him as powerless and begin scouting for offers to betray him as well and it all collapses. That is the exact scenario Trump fears most, the lack of power to keep people loyal. Either by offering them the most or by terrorizing them into obedience. Both can fail and inevitably, as his mind fails him and his incompetence reduces both the rewards and the ability to punish, both will fail.
Among the encounters Comey describes is a Jan. 27 dinner at the White House. He says that after Trump asked him if he wanted to remain as FBI director, the president declared: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.”
Comey says he replied that he could offer his honesty, and that when Trump said he wanted “honest loyalty,” Comey paused and said, “You will get that from me.”
Exactly. The way I see it, Trump has managed to act as a magnet for the 00’s Fox audience. The people that were indoctrinated by Fox style tv and talk radio to feel heavy emotions around certain issues that made them into a powerful voting block. Trump snatched that from the classical GOP by acting as somewhat of an avatar of that feeling, more than they could ever be because they remained, well, attached to reality somewhat. He just went and said Obama wasn’t a real US citizen and that Mexico had to pay for a wall and yeah that reaped success.
Any vague sense of a durable movement or ‘loyalty’ can go f itself because it’s still all built on lies sold to a dying generation.
Vance can’t envigorate these people against the horrible Obama (because they can’t remember why those years were so horrible). He can’t envigorate them against abortion or migration or something because that fizzled out.
So Trump managed to catch a wave and hold it past its due date, and now his hangers on are slowly seeing this. I hope the midterms come too early for them but rest assured that the extreme right in the US will come up with a new strategy for the coming decade.
MAGA doesn’t do martyrs so good. They’re all sociopaths, and only care about themselves. Other people are only good for as long as they are useful, so once you’re dead, your usefulness starts to end. There’s a bit of utility in the time right after the death, but that soon fades. They’ve already forgotten about a Charlie Kirk, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen when Trump assumes room temperature.
Nowhere is this more manifest than Trump’s obsession with what he can’t have, loyalty.
He knows his only value is what he can provide for others and as soon as they get more utility elsewhere, they leave. This is also why he uses fear to prevent attrition, the deal they get for ‘betrayal’ must overwhelm their fear of Trump, which is dependent on his power to act on the threats, which is partly why he wants absolute power. As soon as that damn cracks and the first successful betrayal is visible, his followers will see him as powerless and begin scouting for offers to betray him as well and it all collapses. That is the exact scenario Trump fears most, the lack of power to keep people loyal. Either by offering them the most or by terrorizing them into obedience. Both can fail and inevitably, as his mind fails him and his incompetence reduces both the rewards and the ability to punish, both will fail.
Among the encounters Comey describes is a Jan. 27 dinner at the White House. He says that after Trump asked him if he wanted to remain as FBI director, the president declared: “I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.”
Comey says he replied that he could offer his honesty, and that when Trump said he wanted “honest loyalty,” Comey paused and said, “You will get that from me.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/comey-congress-president-trump-told-need-loyalty
The “honest loyalty” always cracks me up.
Exactly. The way I see it, Trump has managed to act as a magnet for the 00’s Fox audience. The people that were indoctrinated by Fox style tv and talk radio to feel heavy emotions around certain issues that made them into a powerful voting block. Trump snatched that from the classical GOP by acting as somewhat of an avatar of that feeling, more than they could ever be because they remained, well, attached to reality somewhat. He just went and said Obama wasn’t a real US citizen and that Mexico had to pay for a wall and yeah that reaped success.
Any vague sense of a durable movement or ‘loyalty’ can go f itself because it’s still all built on lies sold to a dying generation.
Vance can’t envigorate these people against the horrible Obama (because they can’t remember why those years were so horrible). He can’t envigorate them against abortion or migration or something because that fizzled out.
So Trump managed to catch a wave and hold it past its due date, and now his hangers on are slowly seeing this. I hope the midterms come too early for them but rest assured that the extreme right in the US will come up with a new strategy for the coming decade.
So, what’s the next iteration of this playbook going to look like?