Wayward Republican Voters (Reading List for 1-29)

Potemkin Ideologies

What we’re seeing on the Republican side is that almost nobody except a handful of pundits and think-tank hired guns cares at all about the official party ideology...What’s really going on is (justified) fear over the erosion of white patriarchy. (That’s what the attack on Planned Parenthood is really about too.) That is, it’s about authority, not virtue. - Paul Krugman

Donald Trump is wrecking the conservative movement: How the billionaire is exposing its most toxic secret

Perhaps the most puzzled by what they’re seeing is the conservative movement old guard who spent decades creating the organizations that in recent years have risen up to challenge the Republican elites for supremacy of the party. They have made great strides, primarying apostates, defeating RINOs and even taking out good conservatives just to show they could. They showed the entire country that they are willing to destroy the government itself if that’s what it takes to demonstrate their commitment to their principles. They take no prisoners, give no quarter. And finally, after decades of hard work and strategizing, they are on the verge of total dominance.
Or they were until Trump came along and proved that many of the people they had been counting on to be the foot soldiers in this conservative revolution weren’t paying attention...
...They thought their years of carefully growing and indoctrinating the right wing of the Republican Party had resulted in a common belief in a certain conservative ideology, strategic vision and commitment to a specific agenda.  It turns out that a good number of the people they thought had signed on to their program just wanted someone to stick it to ethnic and racial minorities and make sure America is the biggest bad ass on the planet — authoritarian, white nationalism. If you’ve got a man who will deliver that you don’t need ideology. And he doesn’t need democracy. - Heather Digby Parton

David Brooks is freaking out: Why the voice of the conservative establishment is finally panicking

Then, by last week, Brooks was in a panic. His January 19 column, “Time for a Republican Conspiracy!” excoriates his party for failing to stand up to the Trump-Cruz juggernauts. He finally recognizes what has been obvious to others for years: That GOP voters are not really as anti-government as they appear. He misses the ever-present corollary, which is that conservative voters favor government when its benefits go to them, not to those lazy welfare moochers that every GOP candidate for over 40 years has brandished to scare people into voting Republican.
Do something! Do anything! Brooks pleads with the party. But don’t give up and cede the nomination to the vile hucksters who combine to attract over 50 percent of your voters! - Gary Legum