Thread by @AGHamilton29

I want to talk about why I disagree with this. Problem w both parties right now is a “cult” issue. Politicians are self-interested weather vanes that pander. Elected R's are trying to pander to a cult of personality while elected D's are trying to pander to a cult of ideology. 1/

Let’s start with Republicans. Elected R’s are trying to pander to a base they view as devoted to Trump. So what is the basis of that devotion? A small portion truly is just committed to him as a person. A MUCH larger portion has what I would describe as a devotion to winning. 2/

Latter group saw 2 R candidates get destroyed in a row (w/ a lot of help from the press), then saw Trump manage to win against HRC while directly taking on that same press. So they view Trump & his style as the answer to the need to win. 3/

Now I'd argue that what that group is missing is those 2 R’s ran against a talented D pol w a country looking for a shift while Trump ran against an unlikable HRC w a country looking to rebalance, but that won’t convince any1. They also view Trump’s personal -'s as built-in. 4/

They want a winner. Trump is so insistent on selling the 2020 massive voter fraud narrative bc fears losing this group. They viewed policy as ok, but like Trump bc they view him as a winner. He needs them 2 buy 2020 was stolen bc they will abandon someone they view as a loser. 5/

That part of base doesn’t have a devotion to extreme ideas. Trump was never ideologically extreme, rarely even consistent. Mostly deferred to others on policy. He argued Romney lost bc he was 2 hard on illegal immigration, then made opposition to immigration his campaign focus.

Bc of that, not difficult 2 shift the Republican direction now. You can adjust a cult of personality by changing the personality at the top. Once R's find a new leader that wins, that person will define the policy direction of that portion of the base. R politicians will follow.

Dems are a different story. Their politicians are pandering to a cult of ideology. There is no dominant personality that dictates party direction. Dem politicians view their base as far-left activists and the media (which includes a lot of far-left activists).

The reason this happened is Dems saw how much Trump alienated non-base voters and thus assumed they only needed buy-in from that portion of the base bc most other voters would come to them purely out of dislike for Trump.

Dem leaders almost all now hold positions that would not even be considered by candidates in 2008. Every Dem leader now supports taxpayer-funded abortion, conflates legal & illegal imm, backs wealth tax, wants to add trillions in entitlements, defends CRT education etc.

An open socialist would not have been able to make a dent in the 2008 Dem primary, but came in second in 2020 and is now in charge of writing the budget. Sinema and Manchin's positions would have been further left than Obama in 2008, not Dem groups don't want to fund them. etc.

Shifting away from CoP just requires a different personality. Inevitable (only ? is the direction after). Shifting from a cult of ideology requires D pols to view it as necessary to pander beyond the far-left. That won’t happen until they accept current direction is a losing one.