While former President George W Bush’s advisor Karl Rove can be blamed for the hyper-partisan political climate of the 2000’s, President Donald Trump’s advisor Steve Bannon for the absolutely absurd political climate we have to deal with now.
Rove carried Bush to a pair of national election victories by not appeal to the political “middle” but rather by playing strictly to the Republican party base–defining the opposition as “extremely liberal”–and forcing those in the middle to choose between two polar opposites. The era of political compromise was dead–as working with someone on the other side of the aisle would be seen as “weakness” and “capitulating to the enemy”. It was a political strategy good at winning elections in battleground states–but left much to be desired when it came to actual governance.
The new political climate created by Steve Bannon is taking voters–especially those on the Republican side–to places they never could have imagined they would have to go. As little as five years ago would you have seriously considered if neo-Nazis had “some good points” about their stances on social issues? Just two years ago, would you have willingly argued in favor of thirty-year old men having sexual contact with 14-year old girls as justification for voting for a candidate? If you are old enough to remember, would you have applauded Ronald Reagan if he was seeking help from Soviet spies to win his 1980 presidential election?
What was considered absurd for the past 100-years is suddenly becoming the political norm thanks to candidates backed by Bannon. How often have you ever rooted for a member of your own party to lose an election just so the power behind him is finally thwarted? I’m not calling for Roy Moore to drop out of the race. So-called “Republicans” voted him as their nominee in Alabama, and they should be made to now sink with him on the ticket next month. No “do-overs”. No “well I didn’t know” as an excuse. The second those voters saw Steve Bannon or one of his political action committees back Roy Moore, they should have immediately backed his primary opponent.
GOP voters need to take the stance of “guilt by association” when selecting their own candidates–because the rest of the country certainly is going to do in the general elections. Unless your willing to die on the mountains of racism, treason and pedophila.
