Max Boot is confused. Noting that nothing Donald Trump says or does, not even pissing on those who die for their country, has any effect on the president’s “base”, he wonders
Why do Trump supporters even go through the motions of trying to discredit the latest allegations? Their support hasn’t been shaken by all of the other things the president has done. … He has erased every red line, and none of it seems to matter to his base.
That’s because the president’s base wants him to “erase every red line.” They want him to be shameless because they want to be shameless, and Trump allows them to do so, allows them to give full vent to the overwhelming load of hatred and fear that oppress and define their souls. Donald Trump is the amoral monster the Republican Party has been dreaming of ever since the rise of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh. As I have said a dozen times, Donald Trump is simply Rush Limbaugh with a bad weave. Conservatives like, well, Max Boot closed their eyes for decades to Republican “excesses” like the hysterical Clinton baiting of Boot’s mentor, Wall Street Journal editor Robert L. Bartley, who poured forth an endless stream of vitriolic yet carefully lawyered editorials on “Whitewater” that implied endless wickedness on the Clintons’ part but made no substantial charges at all. Said Max, “These editorials could be seen as contributing to the growing tendency in American life not just to disagree with one’s opponents but also to try to annihilate them.” Yeah, they could, Max, and Donald Trump could also be seen as the end result of that trend, because Donald Trump governs with the same regard for truth as Bob Bartley wrote editorials.
Meanwhile, Ross Douthat goes above and beyond the call of duty to “prove” that Donald Trump isn’t so bad after all! Thanks, Ross! Thanks a lot! You lying sack o’ shit.
