How Many Times Can The GOP Double Down on Trump?
They bought a bad stock and kept thinking it would come back with each new level of support as they doubled down, but it just kept going down and now they are stuck.
There is a stock term called Doubling Down.
In effect, buying on the way down can be a sound strategy if and only if the expectation is that the stock will rebound. Assessing market conditions and the underlying fundamentals of the stock is crucial in this strategy in the belief that the downturn is only temporary and not based on fundamentals. In other words, it’s a good stock that simply got unfairly beat up.
The Initial Bet On Trump
Early on, most in the GOP establishment and the right wing media were against Trump. He was a bad bet. He was brash, rude, a known womanizer with multiple bankruptcies. He was not worth backing, but he continued to vanquish his opponents and came out on top by the spring of 2016, forcing the hand of the GOP leaders in the House and Senate.
A majority got behind their party’s candidate even though he was not their first choice. The people picked Trump through the primary process. It was a case of either back Trump or have Hillary Clinton as the next president. Only a few in the GOP were voicing strong warnings against a Trump presidency as the “Never Trumper” movement began. Many saw Trump as a blowhard, but never imagined how much damage he could do. They went along, held their noses and voted for Trump.
Lindsey Graham is perhaps the best barometer for all things Trump as he was honest and truthful at first about the man, but when Trump ended up as the GOP nominee in the Summer of 2016, Graham started to make the turn in support of his party’s candidate. Most in the GOP and Fox News, followed suit with some exceptions, thinking Trump would have a good team in place to keep him from his worst tendencies. This was a sound strategy and would have worked with any run of the mill candidate, but as it turned out, and as we all now know, Trump was not that candidate.
As Trump’s first term began to come off the rails with one failed policy, court challenged Executive Order and one lie after another, many GOP Senators and Congressman found themselves with a choice, especially with the 2018 elections nearing. Do they double down, that is, continue their support for Trump’s increasingly abhorrent behavior and vitriolic language, or do they make a fast break for the exits? The GOP lost the House in 2018 losing 40 seats to the democrats. This might have been the first sign to run, but it’s not unusual for midterms, after all, the GOP gained 63 seats in the 2010 midterms. They went along for his debt busting tax cut and the economy was surging coming off the Obama Administration.
Only a few Republicans openly fought with Trump during his first term, namely John McCain, who prevented the repeal of Obamacare with his famous Thumbs Down vote.
Doubling Down During COVID
Then came COVID that was a defining moment for Trump and his supporters. His daily briefings were a one man cheerleader squad for himself with an occasional cheer from VP Pence, mentioning Trump’s name 20 times during COVID briefings. Trump turned COVID into a circus with unscientific proclamations about false cures, misleading data and hairbrained ideas about injecting hand sanitizer and light into the body to cure the virus.
GOP leaders, once again, were forced to make a choice, either support their president despite his mishandling of the pandemic and his crazy hydroxychloroquine theories or speak out. Fearing his private ventilator squad headed by Jared Kushner, they praised their dear leader and Doubled Down.
Most members of the GOP stuck with Trump going into the 2020 elections even though there were other warning signs with his unhinged and unscientific politically driven mishandling of the COVID Pandemic and the economic downturn that ensued. They could see he was simply not right in the head, but what could they do?
Tripling Down On Election Fraud
Trump openly stated that if he lost in 2020 it would be due to fraud and a rigged election. The COVID changes and massive mail in balloting did not help the job of election officials as the vote count dragged on with an initial red surge and then an overnight blue surge as the mail in ballots were counted in some of the swing states. Trump went to bed claiming victory only to see his reelection slipping away.
He screamed and yelled FRAUD, despite evidence to the contrary from his own officials and state election boards. Every official in his cabinet told him the election results were solid, but he had a different team in place, as Pence called them, “The crackpot lawyers”.
He and his sycophants challenged the election result right up until certification, where in the House, 121 GOP members voted to sustain the objection to Arizona’s count and challenge the election results. They were defeated 303 to 121 with 83 GOP members and 220 Democrats voting to certify. Despite absolutely no evidence of election malfeasance and only the word of a bitter Donald Trump, they, the 121, DOUBLED DOWN. They bought back into a losing stock, maybe out of fear or maybe in the hopes of something else. Their ambition outweighed the facts.
Former Senator Jeff Flake, a fellow Arizonan colleague of McCain came out strongly against Trump for not accepting the 2020 results.
Some of the far right MAGA faithful followed Trump’s lead like rats to the Pied Piper, but others, seemingly good and decent men and women, went along, claiming irregularities of state legislatures making changes to voting regulations in response to COVID, but never with specifics of actual voter fraud, only that rules were illegally changed in response to COVID.
Quadrupling Down on Jan 6th
January 6th could have, should have and would have been the time to get out of the losing stock that was Donald Trump. Under any normal circumstances with any “Normal” president, Trump would have not only been impeached, but found guilty in the Senate and barred from ever running again. This was their chance and many, even from the 121 spoke out against Trump strongly and decisively for his actions on that famous day.
Lindsey Graham, the weather vane for all things Trump, spoke out against his golf buddy as did Mitch McConnell and others. Many in the House spoke out also, but then voted against impeachment, leaving only 10 voting to oust their President. Article on what happened to those 10.
Within days of GOP condemnations of Trump for the attack on the Capitol, and after Kevin McCarthy’s pilgrimage to Mar a Lago, most doubled down again in support of Trump even though he was leaving office. They were already fighting and positioning themselves to be in his good graces for his expected 2024 bid.
The House voted to impeach and sent the case to the Senate. During the Senate Trial, McConnell could have swayed the others, but he deferred to the courts. Only 7 GOP Senators voted to convict Trump along with the 50 democrats, falling short of the 60 needed. Had Mitch McConnel voted yes, others would have joined feeling a level of cover for their vote, but that didn’t happen.
Leader McConnell explained himself, deferring to our judicial system for any justice after Trump left office. Considering how the Supreme Court’s decision on Presidential Immunity turned out, McConnell’s deferment to the courts did not work out as he imagined where a president’s immunity has only been strengthened. Almost four years later Trump continues to avoid and evade justice.
Most of the GOP Congressman who voted to impeach Trump for his actions on Jan 6th are gone. The two big players, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, were also on the Jan 6th Committee. They were shunned by the MAGA wing and ultimately thrown out. Kinzinger chose not to run and Cheney was soundly defeated, despite having voted 95 percent with Trump in the past and having a GOP Royalty family name.
Any GOP resistance to Trump in the House was either hidden in a whisper caucus, behind closed doors or on their way out. The purge of anti Trumpers was almost complete. Most of the rest Doubled Down again. Even Lindsey Graham, sick of trying to defend Trump’s comments on this or that, finally said, “I don’t care what Trump says!” Fearing his own Senate seat, he also Doubled Down again becoming Trump’s strongest supporter.
All In for 2024 with Infinite Doubling Down
Despite Trump being out of office, the GOP was in full purge mode, knowing Trump would run again in 2024. The 2022 vaunted “Red Wave” did not happen, but internal party division and a loud far right “Freedom Caucus” ended up purging their speaker, Kevin McCarthy, setting up a nasty public fight with Trump pulling the strings behind the scenes. McCarthy, a loud critic of Trump on Jan 7th had previously turned the page to again double down on Trump even after his ouster.
McCarthy’s crime was daring to work with Democrats and the Whitehouse to pass the budget and keep the government open. This continuing purge and party loyalty tests restricted any thought of bipartisanship, although many members, in swing districts straddled the line and voted to save McCarthy. For his perceived disloyalty, and after 15 votes, McCarthy was gone.
After trying to install a far right MAGA member, Jim Jordan, as Speaker, Mike Johnson, a back bencher, made the grade in a compromise with more moderate members. He soon discovered that the Freedom Caucus was in no mood for a honeymoon and would not compromise on legislation. It’s all or nothing, they told him. Only with some Democrat votes and those same swing district GOP members, was he able to pass a budget in 2023.
The MAGA wing quickly turned on him and continues to call him out as we move into the 2024 election. He could lose his speakership regardless of how the election turns out because the far right will not play ball. Trump would rather have them shut the government down than to give Biden/Harris any success.
The MAGA GOP and the silent members who simply go along with the crowd, are akin to a man with a huge gambling debt who hasn’t told his wife that he can’t pay the mortgage. He continues to dump money into the slot machine, hoping for a big win, but it never comes. He still can’t tell his wife and he’s destined for a reckoning.
When To Admit To A Lost Cause
Defending Trump, with his incendiary language, vicious name calling, cavorting with dictators, his own desire to be a dictator, his inflaming of hatred toward immigrants, his tanking of the bipartisan immigration bill and threats toward opponents and media outlets, is an exercise in futility. Despite all of this, his minions have travelled so far down into his dark hole they can no longer see the light. Having doubled down again and again and again, they can’t admit defeat and will never turn on him. They’d rather lose every last shred of honor and decency than to drop their support.
Many thought that after the assassination attempt, he would be a changed man. For a brief moment, at the RNC convention, they thought he might give the speech of a lifetime and act like the man they longed for, but he fell back into his same old tired rhetoric of anger, hatred, personal grievance, blaming everyone but himself and doubling down on the strategy he used in 2016.
They again, hoped he would talk about policy in the Harris debate, but she baited him into displaying his worst tendencies, culminating in him saying, “They’re eating the dawgs”. Hopes dashed, what choice did the faithful have so close to the election, but to echo and support his disgusting debunked claims as they Doubled Down again.
Most agree that Trump lost the debate with Harris, even senior Fox News Analysts.
But it didn’t last long as Trump claimed he won and everyone fell in line from the right wing media to MAGA faithful. They doubled down on his claim of winning the debate, his claims of media bias and that his 33 lies should not have been fact checked. Claims that the moderators were not fair in their fact checking is garbage when you have one man lying repeatedly about murdering children and his other blatant falsehoods. The media can’t worry about being fair when the Truth is at stake.
The Endgame
At what point in Trump’s plotline and character arc do his minions draw a redline? Is there anything he can say or do that they won’t defend and continue to follow him? To be fair, some GOP luminaries have spoken out against his comments and actions, but most of these voices are out of government. In fact, there are very few GOP party leaders and luminaries that support Trump who are not now in office. It seems ambition is the only rationale for doubling down in support of Trump. The rest bury their heads in the sand, saying nothing, except for those swing district members, but even they don’t want to be labeled as RINOs. It’s a hard balancing act.
Just as those gamblers who continue to purchase a stock as it goes even lower, based on nothing but emotion, in the hope that all will turn out fine, these MAGA loyalists have no hard deck. They will follow Trump lower and lower until he crashes and burns. At that point, they won’t be able to claim ignorance or that they had no choice. They’ll never be able to show their faces again.
The MAGA faithful can see over 200 GOP members voting for Harris, 75 percent of Trump’s cabinet condemning him and voting for Harris, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger voting for Harris, Dick Cheney, the GOP Conservative of GOP Conservatives, voting for Harris and even Trump’s own VP, Mike Pence, refusing to support him. Regardless of this GOP defection, they continue to lash out at non believers and stay onboard the USS Trump as it takes on more water.
These do or die supporters have continued to Doubled Down in their support for Trump, not simply as a blanket endorsement, but by echoing his disgusting false statements about Haitian immigrants eating cats, dogs and geese. This has resulted in the demonization of an entire community and the ensuing bomb threats and threats of violence toward these innocent victims of hate. J.D. Vance, a Senator from Ohio, justifies this hate speech despite a complete debunking of the fraudulent claims, denials from all Springfield, OH officials and one parent of a child who was killed by accident by a man who happened to be Haitian, begging for Trump and Vance to stop using the death of his child for political gain.
He’s even admitted to creating fraudulent stories to highlight the plight of Springfield. He’s their damn Senator for god’s sake! What has he done for them as a government representative of the state? Has he met with local officials to see what funding they need? Has he pushed a bill in Congress to help local communities that have been deluged with a huge influx of immigrants?
The answer is no. He’s only pushed and spread these false narratives in service of Donald Trump’s fear mongering style of politics and it’s going to result in someone getting hurt in the Haitian community where they are keeping their kids off the streets due to J.D. Vance’s incendiary comments. It all started with him.
This video is just over eight minutes, but it’s instructive as to his absolutely deplorable infinite doubling down on Trump’s rhetoric and hate for immigrants who happen to be black or brown. Why hasn’t he said the same thing about the thousands of Afghan or Ukrainian immigrants who’ve come to this country, for the simple reason that they are white and Haitians are black.
I guess the GOP has never heard the song by Kenny Rogers,
“Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em”.
I’ll admit to voting for Trump in 2016, if for no other reason then to try out a new hand of cards, but I threw them all away about midway into his term and never looked back.
As many times as necessary.