According to Politico, Trump is planning to attend the Daytona 500 in an effort to bond with his “God-fearing, country-loving” base. To what extent does he embody these qualities?
You already know the answer to that question, but I’ll put it in writing:
- “God-fearing”: Trump is completely oblivious to Christian values, as he showed most recently at the National Prayer Breakfast. He recognizes no higher authority than himself.
- “Country-loving”: You mean Cadet Bone Spurs? The man who attempted to extort Ukraine for his own political interest? The man who is rotting our institutions every day?
One might add that Trump likes golf and classic rock, not NASCAR and country music, and that he believes so strongly in the sanctity of family, he has three of them. He’s a former casino owner from New York City who paid off a porn star just before the 2016 election. He has nothing in common with his base, for whom he apparently expresses contempt in private.
They do agree on one thing–their enemies. They both hate, and feel victimized by, blue America. Trump reminds red America that he may not be one of them, but he’s on their side, on Twitter every day. The base is fully aware of his shortcomings, but supports him because they think he is an indispensable ally against the blue enemy. That is the basis for Trump’s success.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren appear to believe that the culture wars don’t matter, and that the real division in America is between greedy billionaires and the rest of the country. They’re wrong about that. The Democrats won’t really hold power in this country in the foreseeable future, barring a disaster similar in scope to the Great Recession or massive changes to our political system, until they come to grips with the fact that they cannot win the support of red Americans just by taking money from the wealthy and spending it on them.