The Strong Man and the Weak Party

by Ross Douthat

Feb. 4, 2016

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/the-strong-man-and-the-weak-party/?comments#permid=17788014

For some (perhaps obvious - they are part of the "establishment") reason, the Conservative pundits cannot face the reality, that the current splintering of the GOP is of their (the GOP's) own making, going back to Reagan and before. The GOP has used any and all measures to sow and reenforce discontent in their irresponsible grasp, by all and any means, for power, starting with the Southern Strategy, via Reagan's "the government is the problem", all the way to allowing the Tea Party to hijack and paralyze them. They have played to the most mean, greedy and uninformed tendencies to mobilize the most uninformed and ignorant to their cause. The outcome of this decades long effort to appeal to the lowest emotions, meanness and ignorance has now come to full bloom, as graphically and disgustingly demonstrated in last night's "debate".

It is ridiculous to try and blame the implosion of the Conservative Movement and some fictitious lack of leadership - their leadership is who encouraged and engineered this disaster, unwittingly, of course.

The GOP "base" has finally realized that "the government", which is supposedly the cause of all evil, according the the GOP deity (Reagan), are, at least half the time, the GOP establishment itself, as evidenced by the dismal antics of the GOP in both houses of Congress. And now this awakened GOP base is ready the "throw the bastards out".