So with all the talk of recounts and who’s going to be Speaker of the House when Democrats take control in January and just exactly who is responsible for the — great for Democrats, lousy for Republicans — results of the midterm elections, one publication thinks they may have the answer to that last question and get ready, because it’s going to blow your mind.
American Greatness is an online journal that seeks to legitimize the philosophy of “Trumpism” — a political near-theology that even the President himself has never neatly articulated but which legions of MAGA-ites across the nation adhere to. Founded by a man named Julius Krein, its origins lie in the surprise victory of the 45th President, having wanted to commemorate the ideals Trump had championed on the campaign trail, then finding out that it would be a journal of current events.
That might confuse the average reader: How does an ostensibly intellectual publication delving into the political philosophy of a man who has none try to honor the things that Donald Trump said while campaigning for President? After all, nearly all of it was absolutely horrible, from “shut down Muslims entering the country until we figure this out” all the way to “blood coming out of her wherever.”
Nevertheless, American Greatness has remained dedicated to the stunted view of economics, nationalistic tendency toward isolationism, and implausibly overt racism that has defined the Trump presidency, publishing offensive article after offensive article as recently as the day of the election — one by “Prager U” founder Dennis Prager immediately following the worst massacre of Jewish worshipers in American history titled “Left-Wing Jews: a Jewish and American Tragedy” that I promise you is as bad as it sounds.
Until last Tuesday.
Republicans took a pretty severe beating that day, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Democrats not only won enough seats to reclaim control of the House of Representatives, but they did it by actually taking seats in traditionally Republican districts — “flipping” them from red to blue.
Now American Greatness says that Trump himself is to blame. Writer Henry Olsen used the example of the long-shot victory for incoming Senator Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona, where a Democrat had not been elected to federal office in decades:
McSally’s defeat shows just how tenuous the Trump coalition’s hold on power is. Trump won the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by over two percent of the vote, something that had not been done in nearly 150 years. Trump has not added to that coalition in his first two years as president, and that cost his party control of the House while also preventing them from gaining more than two Senate seats on a highly favorable map.
It’s possible he could gain a narrow re-election without gaining support if the Democrats nominate someone as unacceptable to moderate voters as Hillary Clinton. But he cannot change the direction of the country without secure and substantial majorities in Congress, and that will not be forthcoming without a change in course.”
That’s a Republican who writes for essentially the official magazine of Donald J. Trump telling his readers that Trump screwed this whole thing up by being, well — too Trumpy.
We couldn’t agree more, Henry.
Featured image via screen capture
