the grand unified theory of donnie and the modern republican party.

[unblock]

it's all about enforcing the privilege and the hierarchical social order.

men over women, white over black, rich over poor, straight over gay, christian over any other religion or non-religion, etc.

this is not just an observation that he does that a lot. my theory is that this runs through *everything* he does.

the grifting is milking his privilege
the insults and bullying is to remind people of the social hierarchy he insists on
tax policy is all about preserving privilege for those who already have it (tax cuts for the rich? come on!)
his media policy, even when he complains about foxnews, is all about trying to get good coverage for himself.
law and order? hah! laws are to be enforced against democrats and women and minorities. lock her up, but it's ok for donnie to be a crook.

*everything* seems to be about enforcing the hierarchical social order and milking privilege.

is there anything he does that can't be tied back to this?

[drmeow]

1. I think that's true of the GOP rank and file

but not of Trump. With Trump it is about Trump and only Trump. He happens to be white, male, rich, and straight so it fits with most of the hierarchies. He's used religion because he's an extremely savvy con artist who recognizes that he can use the existing hierarchy of christian over others to his advantage. If he was in a Muslim country, he'd use Islam the same way. GOP women enforce the male over female hierarchy - if Trump was female it would still be about him before everyone else including all other women and all men. He would find a way to do it within the existing hierarchy but it would still be about Trump over everyone and every thing else. Trump is basically one giant cruel sadistic Id - me, me, me, me, me, hurt others, me, me, me, me me, hurt others, ad nauseum.

[unblock]

2. I don't know if those things can really be separated.

the view of a social hierarchy where certain types of people are "over" others exists so that they can take a disproportionate share of resources and status.

One of the reasons I reject that hierarchy is because I'd like to think my greatest achievement in life isn't my white skin or my maleness. While aware of my privilege, I'd like to think instead that I earned what I have through work, values, character, etc.

Donnie, on the other hand, would be nothing if he weren't white, male, and born into a very wealthy family.

It *is* his greatest achievement and he leans on it heavily to extract wealth and status.

[drmeow]

4. Your post seemed to be talking about motivation and true belief

I do think that the GOP rank and file is motivated by maintaining the hierarchies - even the women (for various reasons which are not worth getting into now). I do not think Trump is. I think the GOP is fine with democracy as long as women and minorities didn't have a voice in it. Trump considers a democracy as something which stands in his way.

I agree that Trump is where he is today because of the hierarchies - he would not have won had he been anything but a white, rich, male. But while for much of the GOP, the hierarchies are the "natural" order of things, for the Trumps they are a circumstance to manipulate to their own ends. If you picked up one of the GOP rank and file and dropped them in the middle of Indonesia, they would freak out and utterly fail. If you did that with one of the Trumps they would take some time to learn the local hierarchies and then proceed to screw over the Indonesians using their hierarchies.

[empedocles]

3. The Bush family pols were all dedicated to reducing taxes on the wealthy, and

reducing taxes on the wealthy.