The Trumpification of the GOP

The GOP wants the angry, motivated, energetically racist Trump voters – but without Trump. They might get there if Cruz comes through as some at DL have predicted. In Cruz you have a slightly more polished politician with all the same tough guy swagger, and stridently anti-PC bravado.

But where does that leave down-ticket Republicans? If the NRSC has anything to do with it, it leaves them transformed into an army of Junior Trumps, tweeting angry nonsense and rolling up the electoral spoils.

Yesterday, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker reported that the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote a seven page confidential memo that “urges candidates to adopt many of Trump’s tactics, issues and approaches — right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter.”

If you can’t beat him, join him.

The NRSC is obviously right to be concerned about Trump. But most would assume this concern stems from the possibility that his brand of politics could lead to the party being decimated down ticket if he should get the nomination. But this takes a different tack altogether. NRSC Executive Director Ward Baker is telling his Senate candidates that Trump is on to something and they should try to emulate him.

Many people have pointed out that the Republicans created the angry constituency that is now enthralled by Trump with decades of talk radio and Fox TV propaganda. And they were obviously startled by the results. But now they seem to be in the process of accepting and adapting. The problem is that they don’t really understand Trump’s appeal. They think he’s popular because of his “anti-Washington populist agenda” and because “he can’t be bought.” And it’s true that people like that about him. But what his followers love about him is his open, almost cheerful disdain for people they hate and a willingness to win by any means necessary. Without that, he’s just another guy railing against Washington and saying he’ll lower taxes.

Ward seems to think that candidates can cop Trump’s attitude without going for the substance and people will go for it. But that’s pretty condescending. Voters like Trump for what he’s saying even more than the way he’s saying it. They’re not going to be fooled by someone trying to do “Trump-lite.”

Nonetheless, the memo is important for the fact that it admits that the highest levels of the Republican party see a way in which Trump can put together a coalition that could win a general election. It’s hard to believe they’re right, but they do seem to be serious. But even more concerning is the fact that Trumpism is seeping beyond his candidacy and into the Party as whole. They are no longer rejecting him, they are co-opting him. They are becoming him.