If there’s one quote that captures what the 2016 election is really all about, at least on the Republican side of things, it’s what one Trump supporter in Texas said about why the Donald has won him over.
Flagged down while watching a Ted Cruz rally, a voter identified as
Mr. Voor said that he “just kind of want[s] to watch the establishment burn.” He then added, “What’s the point of being conservative anymore? It’s a failing ideology.”
Now, for people who’ve spent the past few decades gobbling up the media’s red state-blue state/conservative-liberal dichotomy, it’s probably pretty shocking to hear a supporter of the Republican front-runner all but give up on the conservative movement.
But for anyone who’s actually paid attention to what’s been going on this election cycle, it should make total sense.
Donald Trump is now the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination not because he’s the purest conservative around -- he’s obviously not -- but because he’s sticking it to the man: the big economic and political interests who control the Republican Party.
You see, for years now, the Republican Party has been running a scam on its mostly white racist base.
By giving lip-service to old-timey racism anti-immigrant xenophobia, it’s tricked that base into supporting candidates who really care about just one thing: pushing through economic policies that help out the billionaires and corporations that fund the Republican Party scam.
At the same time, Republicans have also used dog-whistle racism to make their billionaire-friendly economic policies more attractive to white bigots.
Reagan advisor Lee Atwater
described this process in pretty blunt language back in the 1980s.
This strategy of suckering poor white people into voting for Republican politicians by appealing to their bigotry and fear was successful for a long, long time.
It helped put Reagan and both Bushes in the White House, and it’s one of the reasons why the GOP controls both houses of Congress.
But running this scam always came with some big risks.
