Is there anything in the world that inspires more cringe than the unquenchable yet futile political ambitions of @tedcruz? He has utterly debased himself, shed all principle, become a Trumpist clown, & in the end it'll be for nothing. washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
I know I'm not saying anything new, but one of the most remarkable aspects of the Trump Era has been seeing conservative dude after conservative dude just *aggressively* humiliating themselves. Cruz, Christie, on down the line. Aggressively, willfully, gladly. It's so creepy.
When we talk about the authoritarian personality common on the RW, we tend to focus on the cruelty it delights in visiting on people lower on the hierarchy. But the flip side of that is the creepy acceptance, even *welcoming*, of humiliations visited on them from those higher.
You saw it play out in real time in the 2016 GOP primary. Trump skipped all pretense of policy & just viciously insulted his opponents, in the most personal terms, and their response was to whine a little & then submit. Roll over & show their bellies. Authoritarians are cowards.
You also see this in the RW base. At this point, Trump & his flunkies have been busted *repeatedly* scamming their followers. (Someone should compile them all into a post.) But the base's attitude has basically been, "well, he's top dog, that's his due."
Final point on this: all the little mini-authoritarians on the right who have refused to get vaccinated would respond *better* to being forced to vaccinate than they are to endless attempts at persuasion. "If you were worthy of respect/leadership, you'd just make me."
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