Thread by @LarryGlickman

This is a terrific piece by @TimAlberta about how the GOP has become the "very definition of a cult of personality." But I think there is more continuity than he allows. A short thread./1 politi.co/3gmEcd5

First, I think it's well past time to stop speaking about "the supposed canons of GOP orthodoxy" such as "fiscal restraint," when, since Reagan, that has only been a "canon" when a Democrat has been in the White House./2

Second, I think Alberta's statement about the Trump era GOP--"It stands for no special ideal. It possesses no organizing principle. It represents no detailed vision for governing"--makes the party seem ideologically promiscuous rather than consistently conservative./3

The Trump-era GOP has pushed tax cuts for the rich, fought hard for repeal of ACA, denied climate change, weakened life-saving regulations, promoted conservative judges, pushed the culture war. We could go on but the point is these are continuous with pre-Trump conservatism./4

So there is a paradox: the Party has aligned itself as a cult of personality around the figure of Trump. But ideologically and in terms of policy there is a great deal of continuity, other than on trade./5

To take one of many, many possible examples. In spite of Trump's supposed "populism," he has embraced the anti-labor stands of previous Republican administrations. And in Eugene Scalia has picked the most anti-worker head of the Department of Labor in its history./6

I also want to pause to refute the claim that Newt Gingrich or Paul Ryan ever proposed "bold ideas." Mostly, they won over the media as innovators and "policy entrepreneurs," while repackaging the war on the New Deal that dates back to the 1930s./7

Finally, it's notable that Alberta describes Tim Scott and Nikki Haley as "serious Republicans who have real substance to offer," without offering a single example of that substance. That's because their views are in total alignment with current right-wing orthodoxy./8

I have no doubt that Trump represents a unique danger to the country and that he has taken the GOP in dangerous new authoritarian directions.(That the Party eschewed a platform in favor of an announcement of fealty is further evidence of this dangerous turn.)/9

But we have to acknowledge the degree to which Trumpism has built on long-term trends, including the kind of disdain for governing that allowed George W. Bush to appoint an unqualified hack to run FEMA./10