Trump and Political Power: Waning or Waxing?

Some people believe that the Big Lie is in the process of evaporating and normalcy is returning to Republican politics.  Those folks received a shock, however, when they saw what happened at the recent Iowa Trump rally.  Sure there was the usual throng of fools, but along with them were top Republican elected officials.

From the article here: This one was attended by longtime Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, and other mainstream Republican officials. Some of these very same people, who just nine months ago were slamming Trump for his role in the Capitol riots, were now only too happy to be seen supporting him. This is politics at its worst — and at its most dangerous for our democracy.

Someone observed the other day: “Perhaps the reason we’re not seeing Trump indicted is that the Justice Department doesn’t want to start a civil war.  Yet if that’s the case, we have to admit that we already had a civil war, and we lost it.”

Having said all this, the Trump base that accepts the Big Lie as truth is in the minority in the United States.  Sure, Republicans are working hard at gerrymandering and voter suppression, so as to address the fact that they’re wildly unpopular, but it’s hard to believe that our precious democracy is going to be put asunder by this putrid mix of ignorance and dishonesty.  Also, keep in mind that this is Iowa–farm country, where Trump won by almost 10% (see map above).

It’s true that the whole Trump phenomenon, starting with the man’s rise to power, has been unlikely in the extreme, but again, there has to be a wall that all this stupidity is going to hit, and hit it hard.