Thread by @tzimmer_history

Republicans are mostly closing ranks behind Trump. Are they choosing “partisanship over country”? This framing actually underestimates how deep the rift is that defines the political conflict: Rightwingers have decided that they *are* the country, everyone else is an enemy. 1/

A lot of people on the Right consider themselves the sole proponents of “real” (read: conservative white Christian patriarchal) America, and they are convinced to be waging a noble war against insidious forces that are threatening the country. 2/

Conversely, they have been painting the Democratic Party as not just a political opponent, but an “Un-American” enemy – a fundamentally illegitimate political faction captured by the radical forces of leftism, liberalism, wokeism, and multiculturalism. 3/

The Right doesn’t see the struggle between Republicans and Democrats as a competition between political opponents – but as an existential conflict over whether or not the only version of the country they are willing to accept as “America” will survive and endure. 4/

By portraying themselves as the sole defenders of “real” America and the enemy as an acute threat to the survival of the nation, they are constantly giving themselves permission to unite behind Trump and to tolerate / promote the extremists in their midst. 5/

We are in deeply dangerous territory because so many on the Right are no longer separating between party and country, have convinced themselves they are fighting a noble war against unpatriotic, godless forces – and therefore see no lines they are not justified to cross. 6/

Do Republicans *really* believe this – or is this all just a cynical game? How much of this is “sincere,” how much is opportunism? The answer is never either/or: It’s both, ideology and opportunism reinforcing each other in specific, dangerous ways. 7/

Yes, of course, there is a good measure of opportunism involved. Republican elites understand they can’t win without the base, and the base remains committed to Trumpism. But there is more to consider than just opportunism. 8/

Purely from a psychological standpoint, it’s unlikely for people to conceptualize their own behavior in such negative terms as pure opportunism / grift. While it’s cliché, it’s also plausible to assume that everyone is a hero in their own story. 9/

It feels a lot better to tell yourself in the mirror that you are engaged in a noble fight to defend America (by defending Trump against the onslaught from “Un-American” forces of leftism) than that you are simply making an opportunistic calculation of what the base wants. 10/

Finally, a lot of people on the Right truly believe – maybe not in Trump per se, but in the political project Trumpism stands for: the white grievance politics that seeks to forever preserve America as a place of traditional hierarchies of race, gender, religion, and wealth. 11/

To the Right, the choice isn’t partisanship or loyalty to the country. To them, the partisan divide maps perfectly onto the struggle between patriots and “Un-American” radicals for the survival of the nation. In that sense, choosing the party *is* choosing the country. /end

One more thought: What about the Republicans – like Bill Barr, for instance – who have acknowledged the severity of Trump’s wrongdoing: Aren’t they choosing country over party? Our default assumption should be that their anti-Leftism / anti-anti-Trumpism will ultimately prevail.

Bill Barr has in many ways provided the starkest example of how a perverted version of choosing patriotic loyalty to America can serve as the justification for falling in line behind Trump: Because “the Left” is seen as the greater evil, and nothing has been able to change that.

Remember: Even though Barr has left no doubt that he believes Trump was willfully pushing treasonous conspiracy theories and/or was completely detached from reality in the run-up to January 6, he is still willing to help put him back in the White House in 2024.

When confronted with how he could possibly still support another Trump presidency during his book promotion tour in 2022, Barr replied: “Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party.”

This is the perfect encapsulation of the permission structure that governs conservative politics: Anything is justified in defense against what they constantly play up as a radically “Un-American,” extremist “Left” that has supposedly taken over the Democratic party.

It’s a permission structure that doesn’t allow for lines that can’t be crossed. It has proven remarkably adaptable, fully capable of handling even the most outlandish transgressions, even crimes. And it has allowed them to present their allegiance to Trump as a patriotic act.