And the Pendulum Swings…
Yesterday, the goofy and well-armed Qanon crowd woke up that they’ve been played for chumps for the last 5 years. When the power grid didn’t fail, the military didn’t turn on Biden, and Trump actually fled Washington, they suddenly realized that the jig was up and they were the losers. The Q bullshit not only drove a national insanity, it actually got people killed in the failed attack on the US Capitol 2 weeks ago. Trump did not declare martial law; the military didn’t take over; Trump is no longer President. Oops.
On top of the Q crowd getting disillusioned, the hard right social conservatives are not happy with their current lot. During Trump’s term, he lost the House, then the Senate, and now the White House. The religious right is now soul searching about how they betrayed their own faith to follow a fornicating, lying, corrupt, spray painted television game show host. Oops.
Mainstream conservatives are also assessing the damage wrought by Trump. One, Kevin D. Williamson, posted a scathing rebuke of those who followed Trump in the National Review today titled Witless Ape Rides Helicopter, Goodbye to Donald J. Trump, the man who wanted to be Conrad Hilton but turned out to be Paris Hilton. It is a must read piece. A few choice tidbits:
“They pissed that away like they were midnight drunks karaoke-warbling that old Chumbawumba song: In 2021, they control approximately squat.”
“You Trumpish Republicans sneered that Joe Biden was too corrupt and too senescent to win a presidential campaign, that he was one part mafioso and one part turnip. That turnip just kicked your dumb asses from Delaware to DC. So you rioted. Real smart move, Cletus.”
“‘Trust the plan,’ the QAnon cultists say. Is this what you were planning? I know you are stupid, but you are not that stupid.”
This piece speaks for a lot of conservatives who may not yet be willing to admit Trump’s folly, but you know are thinking it. Such are the smoldering ruins of the Rein of Trump; with any luck, he’ll get banned from holding office again. If that fails, certainly his civil and criminal liability will keep him too busy (or incarcerated) to keep him from running again.
And the pendulum swings.
Note: For those who may have trouble reading the Williamson piece on NR, here it is on Yahoo News.
Another paywall.
1@ AK – I’m not hitting a paywall, but just posted the Yahoo News link.
2El Jefe, how does one aptly explain the sheer stupidity of a Quack-a-Non cultist? They leap off a 57 story building and wake up just long enough to think maybe the landing will hurt, then go splat. Maybe it’s our native NV instincts gone cynical, but the notion a clown who actually managed to bankrupt casinos should be entrusted with anything; holy soap.
Not just the Quack-a-Nons. How about those evangelicals who thought a serial adulterer and rapist would be a spiritual leader? Name that category of tRump supporter is a game of could they have selected anyone as far from their objective in life as tRump. Biggest losers, the conservatives who thought they could make Donnie their useful idiot. Donnie has been called many things, but useful was never one of them.
We could grin and say “I told you so.” Nah. Not yet. It’s more fun watching the aforementioned lick their wounds and cry “what happened?” Comedy gold. Ms. JJ’s 1/22 edition of Friday toons will be delicious.
3I don’t know why the Q folk remind me of the Hale-Bopp comet cult from a couple of decades ago. They seem to have similar mindless dedication to bizarre fixations. Magic thinking!
4As someone pointed out, they seem to believe that the Lord of the Rings was a documentary.
This may be an unpopular take, but I don’t see how anyone can be surprised at the gullibility of Q’s cultists. For literally thousands of years people have been willingly following and even worshipping invisible sky daddies who supposedly have a plan. Whoever invented Q is just following the let’s-start-a-religion cookbook and is either laughing all the way to the bank or surprised at how successful it all was, or both.
5BillR @4 not so much “surprised” by the gullibility of Quack-a-Non or any cultist. More like frustrated with the conservatives in Congress who can be shot in the ass literally, yet continue to balk at legislation to take guns out of the hands of those so stupid that there are mandated warnings not to bath with a blow dryer.
6Thanks, El Jefe. I went back to it, and I saw that I was wrong. My apologies.
7… the Rein of Trump…
Perfect El Jefe!
8BillR. I was tempted to say something like that. Back when Moonies were an issue at airports I used to ask which of their beliefs was more objectionable and ridiculous than the things that you heard at any Episcopal or Presbyterian pulpit on any Sunday.
Just because nutty ideas are familiar does not make them any less nutty.
PS. What’s Dorsia?
9Saw a guy online, Q-type, arguing about vaccine safety—he “knew” there were more scientists saying it wasn’t safe, but they’d been silenced, so he was going with the silent (couldn’t of course name any because they’d been silenced according to him) as more reliable than the actual scientists/doctors who were for the vaccine.
Q-types always have an explanation they’d rather believe than the ones others believe. C.S. Lewis pointed out long ago that a desire to be an insider, to have the secret, is very common and drives a lot of politics. A leader with the right lure can get these folks anywhere he wants them.
10Marjorie Taylor Greene has moved on to a new conspiracy theory that the mass murder at Stoneman Douglas HS was a “false flag planned shooting.” Do you suppose she has given up on Q already?
Also, she promised to introduce articles of impeachment against President Biden today. I haven’t seen anything on the news yet.
11“The religious right is now soul searching about how they betrayed their own faith …”
Objection, your honor! Arguing facts not in evidence. The religous right have no souls, and none of the hordes that crammed into the Oval Office and laid hands on the Hideous One have questioned anything he’s done. The only question they’ve ever asked is from the Trumpian Motto: what’s in it for me?
12Harry Eagar @9: Dorsia is a supposedly highly exclusive Italian restaurant in NYC. The best quote about it comes via the Urban Dictionary:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dorsia
And if you haven’t run across the UD before, beware that it is most used for obscene and NSFW definitions. [Also, if I’ve pointed an old ex-journalist to a new source, it’s a small piece of payback for one who helped me out immensely in the 1970s.]
13I knew about Urban Dictionary but had not thought to use it for a proper name like that.
I don’t use it much because 1) usually there are competing and opposite definitions and 2) since it is not based on historical principles there is no easy way to figure out which one to prefer
14OH, the woe of the true believer! Now where di d I put that book by Eric Hoffer?
15If you run into any paywall, left-click on the link and right-click on “Open link in InPrivate window” (Edge, not sure of the exact procedure in other browsers.
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