Thread by @Gwynnion

Trump is a nihilist who only cares about personal gain and self-aggrandizement.

McConnell is a nihilist who only cares about hoarding power for himself and his party.

Those two were made for each other.

Republicans worried about Trump early on because he's a narcissistic idiot with no self control and they weren't sure he would toe the party line, but Trump only cares about Trump and will do anything to cover his ass. Once that deal was struck, they were joined at the hip.

Like most rich idiots immersed in corruption and criminality, Trump thrives on secrecy and surrounds himself with yes men. Doubly so in his case because he's so fucking stupid and his grip on reality is so tenuous. Jared and Ivanka follow him everywhere for a reason.

Republicans probably still wish Trump would stop screaming the quiet parts at the top of his lungs because even the sycophantic media find it hard to carry water for him sometimes, but I think it's important to recognize the GOP consider Trump their asset, their hostage.

Trump is a figurehead. An extremely dangerous one because he encourages violence and rabid white supremacy from a GOP base which has longed to be openly fascist for years.

But even as much as someone like Bill Barr protects him, Barr works for the GOP, not Trump.

Now, obviously, Trump and Republicans are in bed with many of the same people, including Russian oligarchs and middlemen influence peddlers like Paul Manafort, which no doubt made Trump easier to swallow.

There's probably still some jostling back and forth. I doubt Republicans much cared for his North Korean nuclear "talks." But even someone of Trump's low cunning can understand the GOP holds his life in their hands. Mitch McConnell in particular since they lost the House.

Republicans knew they needed a fixer and so I imagine Trump was told to accept Bill Barr and whatever else Barr might do, in exchange for which he would block everything he could that might endanger him. Which would be an easy sell. It's not like Trump cares about anything else.

Trump doesn't really *do* anything either except hold campaign rallies and make token appearances and suck up to the Saudis and whoever else keeps his businesses afloat. I mean, we've all seen his schedules.

So while it's essential to call out Trump's racism and cruelty and to use his figurehead status against Republicans, it's probably GOP stalwarts like Mitch McConnell not only enabling but running this show behind the scenes, with the media giving them cover at every turn.

All the dysfunction, cruelty, bigotry, and contempt for democracy and the rule of law isn't just Trump or Trumpism, it's the Republicans through and through.

The most powerful person in the White House is undoubtedly Stephen Miller, the only non-family-member to stick it out since the beginning, making him the ultimate Trump whisperer, and only because he's perfectly in tune with Trump and the base's vicious racism.

Unlike Steve Bannon, Miller is a single issue Nazi, which is part of his staying power. He ousted Kirstjen Nielsen for insufficient loyalty and remade the DHS in his own image. Make no mistake, though. His and Trump's vicious white supremacy is warmly received by the entire GOP.