Tired of losing
At first it was anti-Muslim and anti-Hispanic hate speech. Then (in no particular order) it was disabled-reporter bashing, Russia-colluding, pussy-grabbing, family business destroying, income tax concealing, Bannon-appointing, Muslim travel banning, inauguration crowd size exaggerating, war hero attacking, Gold Star family disparaging, Paris climate agreement withdrawing, Obama spying accusing, one-percenter tax cutting, longest-shutdown-in-history causing, pipeline building, Christine Blasey Ford mocking, woman raping, Ukraine blackmailing, Covid quack cure promoting, pandemic ignoring, Georgia election official threatening, insurrection provoking, election denying, science denying, reality denying, money laundering, income tax cheating, white supremacy promoting (and dining), lying, cheating, misogynist, racist, treasonous, murderous, and insufferable scumbaggery. That didn’t get Republican leaders and Trump lickspittles and MAGA loonies to stop promoting Donald Trump.
What finally did it is they are finally tired of losing. Donald Trump really finally did prove that he could shoot some guy on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote, and it wasn’t just metaphorical either. But what he couldn’t do, what he cannot do, what they won’t stand for him doing, is being a loser. And Donald Trump is a loser and they’re finally getting tired of losing. They are finally tired of Donald Trump.
But they’re still afraid to say his name out loud because they’re still afraid of Trump. To be sure, Mitch McConnell will come out and proclaim that dining with white supremacists and anti-semites is not the Republican Way and no one who does is ever likely to be president, but he won’t say Donald Trump’s name out loud. He’s still afraid of Trump because if Mitch McConnell has proven anything over the years he’s he’s proven that he’s a coward.
In fact they are all cowards. Nobody wants to be the first to stand up and say his name out loud and tell Donald Trump to stay home, that he’s no longer of value to the Republican Party. Well that’s hardly surprising. But the most amazing part is, they may be turning their collective backs on him now (however slowly), but they’re doing it because he can no longer help them keep their (in the words of Mel Brooks) phoney baloney jobs. Trump is no longer a source of power.
It’s not because he’s the worst president in history or because he’s one of the most horrible human beings that ever lived, it’s because he can’t be used to win elections. That’s why they don’t want him, and that’s the only reason. Because deep down they know they’re just as horrible as he is.
It’s as if they had their own personal Hitler, and they repudiated him not because of the Holocaust, not because of the jingoistic nationalism and brutality, not because of the them-and-us hatred he promoted, but because he could no longer win battles. Otherwise they were just fine with him. Until that moment they loved him.
That is today’s Republican Party. The party of right and wrong, the party of personal responsibility, the party of family values, that party no longer has principles or morals or values. For a brief moment in history they had a horrible man who helped them gain power. But that man is no longer useful to them so they’re discarding him. Slowly, to be sure, because they are snivelling cowards and don’t want to be too hasty. But they don’t care that he is evil, they never cared that he was evil, they only care now because he is no longer useful.
That is why I can’t forgive the Republican Party. They get no points from me for turning on Trump. It’s too late for that. Trump may have finally demonstrated to them that he’s no longer fit to get re-elected as president, but they have demonstrated to me beyond any doubt that they are no longer fit to be anything. Republicans may be tired of losing, but I am tired of them. It’s now time for Republicans to go. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.