I’ve found this to be the most strange aspect of Trump’s first few weeks in office, but I guess it shouldn’t surprise any of us. The psychology of reveling in your political opponents misery (at the behest of sounding the alarm at the inevitable misery you are about to experience when Trump runs your movement through a buzz saw) is not too dissimilar from reveling in the misery of the fans for a rival sports team.
The blind allegiance we pledge to our favorite sports teams is sadly on par with the unwavering fidelity most modern partisans give to their chosen political party. Equally as disconcerting is that the vast majority of people are socialized to adopt a political party the same way they are to adopt a sports team; geography and their parents.
I’m with you, this kind of fanatic tribalism isn’t healthy for democracy. Three-pointers matter significantly less in the real world than public policy and the humans we put in the Oval Office.
The Federalist has been drawing some interesting parallels between sports culture and political culture ( although it seems The Federalist has been basking in liberal tears and cheerleading Trump far more since he won — I don’t know, chasing clicks maybe — I’m happy to be wrong on that because I hope they succeed):
I genuinely recognize the difficult position thoughtful conservative leaders in Congress find themselves in. But I also find it sad that they are probably making a pretty accurate political calculation: Plausible deniability that Trump is a liability to their desired long term objectives and the health of their political careers. When the time comes (I’m batting about .035 on political predictions in the Trump era but I believe the time will inevitably come) that virtually all conservative leaders and policy makers are compelled to divorce themselves from Trump/Bannon’s maniacal behavior, white nationalism, and cancerous ideology for the sake of their political ambitions and the conservative movement, they will probably be able to do so without much damage to their personal ambitions.
Hyper-partisanship is a helluva drug.
I certainly hope Trump’s empire crumbles, or rather implodes, in a terrible display of American political carnage and for the craven fence sitters and cowards who enabled him or looked the other way go down in flames with it . I’m gonna do my best not to revel in the misery of the good people who are affected by that and sell conservative tears mugs.
I’d also like the #NeverTrump contingency to be vindicated and anointed leaders of the a new conservative movement that offers an important check on progressivism. I’m not convinced it’s gonna happen. But at least we’ll have a clear conscience we stood on the right side of history.
