re: #408 The Ghost of a Flea
Trump is necessary to appease the populist, paranoid part of the base who donāt actually have policy goals, and need to be constantly stimulated with outrage and trolling.
After cultivating this trend for decades, theyāre now dependent on this group, and Trump is better at manipulating the former than they are. Trump has one card to playāblow up the GOP coalitionābut itās a big one.
Not that theyāre actually winning by maintaining this arrangement. The āsensibleā plutocrat types are being marginalized in favor of more aggressive hucksterism and even the occasional sincere reactionary demagogue.
One wonders how much the GOPās big donors are going to put up with this (I understand the Kochs and a number of Texas high-dollar donors have had enough). They donāt get their tax cuts and business considerations when the GOP constantly focuses on religious and social issues.
I can see them saying āHow bout it Libertarians?ā David Koch ran as a Libertarian VP candidateā¦ .