Comments on: One more horrible consequence if Trump wins… https://habitablezone.com/2016/07/15/one-more-horrible-consequence-if-trump-wins/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/07/15/one-more-horrible-consequence-if-trump-wins/#comment-37002 ER Sat, 16 Jul 2016 14:41:15 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=58727#comment-37002 Even if Trump is soundly defeated, his style of politics will be remembered for its success at reaching his followers. The constituency he represents will be emboldened, and no matter what Hillary accomplishes in the next 4 years, they will only interpret it as a catastrophe for their tribe. Trumpism and its practitioners will be back with an I-told-you-so ferocity, regardless of how well or how bad the Clinton years go. And to be fair, even the discredited remnants of Trumpian politics will be seen as just another tool in the kit to help politicians of all parties to reach out to the great unwashed. There are still Nazis in Germany, and Stalinists in Russia, and they still fly the battle flag in Dixie. There may be fewer and fewer of them every year, but they seem to be getting meaner and meaner. Even if the Old Republican party should vanish after this election, I fear the New Republican politics are here to stay. Even if Trump is soundly defeated, his style of politics will be remembered for its success at reaching his followers. The constituency he represents will be emboldened, and no matter what Hillary accomplishes in the next 4 years, they will only interpret it as a catastrophe for their tribe. Trumpism and its practitioners will be back with an I-told-you-so ferocity, regardless of how well or how bad the Clinton years go.

And to be fair, even the discredited remnants of Trumpian politics will be seen as just another tool in the kit to help politicians of all parties to reach out to the great unwashed. There are still Nazis in Germany, and Stalinists in Russia, and they still fly the battle flag in Dixie. There may be fewer and fewer of them every year, but they seem to be getting meaner and meaner.

Even if the Old Republican party should vanish after this election, I fear the New Republican politics are here to stay.

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