So Does That 'R' Stand For Republicans -- Or Russians?
Gene Lyons
July 24, 2018 10:55 pm
How long do you suppose, before the initial “R” signifying “Republican” is also understood to mean “Russian?”
Let’s assume that special counsel Robert Mueller produces strong evidence that shady GOP campaign officials such as, say, Paul Manafort, conspired with Russian operatives. What would it take for your Trump-loving brother-in-law to transition from “witch hunt!” to “thank God Putin saved us from Hillary Clinton?”
Three days? A week?
And what if FBI counterintelligence investigators probing the National Rifle Association end up proving that it laundered millions in illegal cash from a Russian oligarch and diverted it to Trump’s campaign? Would NRA members abandon the organization or take up the manly tradition of Cossack dancing?
Third question: should the Trump cult seize complete control of the Republican Party, is that good for the GOP, or not?
Writing in The Atlantic last January, former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum put it this way: “Maybe you do not much care about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
The way I see it, many Republicans already have. A substantial number of Trump supporters have taken on many of the characteristics of an authoritarian political cult. You could see it in their reactions to their hero’s incoherent performance at the Helsinki summit—first cowering in the face of Vladimir Putin’s arrogant denials of Kremlin dirty work during the 2016 election, next reading a painfully unconvincing staff-written walk-back of his own remarks, and then walking back the walk-back while crying “witch hunt!”
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http://www.nationalmemo.com/republicans-or-russians/
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