The Monster That Lee Atwater and Karl Rove Made

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Frank Luntz got some Trump supporters together for a focus group. I believe this is what’s called a “cult of personality.”

Many sounded like relations of an ill patient, furious that all the previous doctors have botched a test or fumbled the scalpel. To them, Trump actually is the real-deal fixer-upper, and he is going to make America great again.

“We know his goal is to make America great again,” a woman said. “It’s on his hat. And we see it every time it’s on TV. Everything that he’s doing, there’s no doubt why he’s doing it: it’s to make America great again.”

The focus group watched taped instances on a television of Trump’s apparent misogyny, political flip flops and awe-inspiring braggadocio. They watched the Donald say Rosie O’Donnell has a “fat, ugly face.” They saw that Trump once supported a single-payer health system, and they heard him say, “I will be the greatest jobs president God ever created.” But the group—which included 23 white people, 3 African-Americans and three Hispanics and consisted of a plurality of college-educated, financially comfortably Donald devotees—was undeterred.

At the end of the session, the vast majority said they liked Trump more than when they walked in.

“You guys understand how significant this is?” Luntz asked the press breathlessly when he came back into the room behind the glass. “This is real. I’m having trouble processing it. Like, my legs are shaking.”

It’s easy to psychoanalyze this crew and call them authoritarians, but it’s also the case that they’re really disgusted with other Republicans.

Much of Trump’s support in the room seemed to stem from a weakness in the Republican party. The 2014 midterms did not usher in the conservative renaissance Republicans expected. Obamacare has still not been repealed, Congress is looking less likely to override a veto on the Iran deal, and there are still 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

The group of 29 went around the room, each supplying a single adjective for the legislative body that let them down after the 2014 elections. Congress “does nothing.” It’s “too old.” “Useless.” “Lame.” “Inept.” “Wrong party.” “Cocktail party.” “Gridlock.” “Costly.” “Sold out.” “Sucks.” “Douchebags.”

Then, the group did the same for Trump. This time: “Tough.” “Businessman.” “Great.” “Successful.” “Not afraid.” “Leader.” “Has guts.” “Charismatic.” “A true American.” “Kicks ass and takes names.”

And again, we can assume this crew is not exactly cracking the IQ ceiling. But lo … Josh Marshall tells us it is possible that Trump really could end up with the Republican nomination. With such a divided field, just 25 to 30 percent of the primary vote could get Trump into the general election.

24 thoughts on “The Monster That Lee Atwater and Karl Rove Made”

  1. “it is possible that Trump really could end up with the Republican nomination”

    Sure why not Trump? I just watched some of his “speech” in Iowa, it can be best summed up by one of my favorite South Park episodes summarized here!

  2. Yes, he’s a walking joke, but do not underestimate the destructive power of walking jokes. Not to go all Godwin on you, but a certain brush-mustached demagogue was also considered a buffoon, at first.

    The Republican candidacy is Trump’s if he truly wants it. And as for the general, remember 2000.

  3. Reagan was a (bad) joke, too. And he won the White House. Twice. After a disastrous first term. There are a LOT of dense, selfish, angry people out there and they ALWAYS find a way to get to the ballot box.

  7. Trump -Arpaio 2016 🙂

    I think the GOP has got a real problem on their hands..and if Trump does get the nomination I think the GOP has an even bigger problem on their hands. I know the expression never say never, but I’m willing to say that Trump will never get elected President. I believe there are more people in America who have a basic sense of decency and won’t go along with the idea that Trump is fit to act as the ultimate representative for the spirit of America than there are those who are frustrated and angry, and think Trump is the cure for their bitterness.

  9. hopefully if the Donald gets the nomination, it will help to get Democrats elected in down ballot races…This seems to be a large base of power for the gop, and is dominated by the Kochtopus…

  10. I remember with some discomfort, that I was convinced that “Dubya” was unelectable. As they say, live and learn.

    My right wing friends, whom I use as a kind of barometer to predict the future movement of conservative thought, posted a governmental “dream team” the other day. Trump was President, Cruz was V.P. (IIRC), Allen West was Secretary of Defense, and Carly Fiorina was Secretary of State. I should, after so many years, be sufficiently conversant with the world that I am no longer astonished by such things. I am familiar with the phenomenon of our friends on the right ascribing to outrageous policies and supporting unbalanced whackjobs simply to display their dedication to the cause, and stick the metaphorical finger in the liberal eye. Still it is difficult to categorize this declaration precisely. For now, I would classify it as a common, but successful gambit wherein proponents of one side of an argument display such mindboggling detachment from reality and such unbridled anger, that their opponents must abandon the field of reason and logic and retire, despairing of the possibility that the “berserker” that they’ve encountered can ever be brought back into the fold of humanity and civilization.

    Alternatively, they may have penetrated the arcana of politics and correctly interpreted the depth and meaning of the inscription on Donald Trump’s hat.

  11. I definitely do not want Trump for president. However, I do appreciate how he is revealing the hypocrisy, unfairness and corruption in politics in this country. What it will lead to I can’t predict and won’t even attempt to try. But the whole world (maybe universe) is in a state of flux, change. I tend to look at things from what I consider a metaphysical perspective. Our little blue planet is being infused with a different kind of energy from the vast cosmos. I think it is a big evolutionary step for humans. It’s sort of like childbirth, messy, painful, hard work but the result is a new beginning. Reminds me of the images I sometimes see of the beginning of a New Year, the old man leaving and yielding to the baby. Interesting times indeed!!!

  12. At this point in the 2008 election, another big-mouthed and pompous Authoritarian “hero” was leading the pack with over 30%:
    Rudy Giuliani.

    I’m not saying there’s nothing to worry about, because there is.
    But, Trump’s never – and hasn’t yet, that I know of – set-up a state-to-state ground-game system of supporters, door-knocker, phone-callers, etc.

    Now, he’s got name-recognition all over this country, so he might not need to do as much as other candidates.
    But, one thing’s for sure, at least for now, the GOP won’t help him set that up, like they would if some other candidate was in the lead.

    Trump feels like he’s made of Teflon. But, like with a Teflon pan, eventually, stuff starts to stick to it.

    Now, Trump’s further pissed-off FOX by calling Kelly “a bimbo.”
    http://www.metro.us/news/fox-news-czar-roger-ailes-demands-trump-apology-for-megyn-kelly-tirade/zsJohz—c8kp7Q5eJBFLg/

    When it comes to Billionaires, Rupert “Murderoch” can buy and sell Trump probably dozens of times, so we’ll see how this goes!

    So, GOP, how’s that outreach to women and Latino’s going?

  13. Trump’s dominance in the polls remind me of an interesting statistic from about 40 years ago: According to The Newlywed Game America’s favorite Italian restaurant is Pizza Hut.

  14. Good points, gulag. I wonder what this world is coming to when I find myself rooting for Fox News.

    May craziness seek you out and overtake you?

  15. So, Dr. Frankenstein, outside of the dead little girl, and the villagers marching towards your castle with torches and pitchforks, how do you think your experiment went?

    Well, Frank Luntz, ya still love the base?
    LOL!

  16. grannyeagle,
    Are you sure after that messy childbirth, what’s popping out isn’t “Rosemary”s Baby?”

    *shivers*

  17. On the subject of ‘electability’ Reagan had a carefully cultivated common touch. Dubya, likewise, was billed as a regular guy. In both cases, they were able to appeal to independent voters in the general. This is a crucial piece of successful GOP victories – and I don’t think Trump can pull it off.

    IMO, Trump is making a lot of enemies in the ranks of the GOP by vicious attacks on other candidates. There’s a price to be paid for scorched earth tactics when you want the support of the supporters of rival candidates who drop out. There’s going to be too many hurt feelings. IMO, Trump will suffer enormously from poor turnout. In the most likely scenario (this week) a significant portion of republican voters who won’t vote for Clinton and don’t like Trump… just won’t vote at all.

  19. Gulag: I’m not sure of anything. Just a crabby old lady with an active fantasy life. Anyway, what I wrote is what other people have been saying, even some scientists. The cosmos is very mysterious and we puny humans cannot comprehend the vastness or how it works. But it’s fun to ponder.

  20. Agree with paradoctor way upstream. Trump bears a frightening resemblance to Hitler in terms of who he appeals to, and the way he appeals to them. Hopefully the Latino vote will be enough to block him.

  21. We have many months to go. Anything can happen, as the mobsters say, “Accidents happen. Badda bing badda boom.”

  22. “This is real. I’m having trouble processing it. Like, my legs are shaking.”

    All that effort put into grooming easy marks, and a slicker conman came along and exploited them instead. So sad for Frank Luntz.

  23. Every other candidate on the GOP dais is at least as radical and dangerous as Trump. Huckabee, Christy, Carson, Walker, Fiorina and Bush are probably more dangerous than Trump. Just turn off the volume and read their words, study their records. Trump is not the scariest one out there to me. Not by a long shot.

  24. zoomar,
    I agree.
    If we have to have a GOP Preznit – which is what I think the MSM wants – I’ll take Trump, and not one of the true Christian conservative believers!

    And our MSM will be hell on Hillary, because… Well, they just do!
    They will do anything possible to undermine her efforts to be President.

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