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Trump, the GOP, and the Definition of Insanity

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 5, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 5, 2023 |


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Donald Trump did not win the popular vote in 2016. He lost by 3 million votes, but he won a sliver of a majority in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The Republican party subsequently lost the 2018 election, the 2020 election, and basically the 2022 election. In the meantime, Democrats have taken control of Pennsylvania — they have more Congressional reps, both Senators and the Governor’s house, and have essentially run the table in Michigan. In Wisconsin, Tony Evers continues to win as Governor in a race that can’t be gerrymandered, and last night, the liberals took control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years, which will not only mean that the state is likely to lift abortion restrictions but those gerrymandered Republican seats in the Wisconson state house will be in danger, too.

Democrats have firm control of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where I suspect the Dems there never want to see a repeat of 2016 again. Ever. And yet, the Republicans look as though they are increasingly poised to run the same candidate who has lost elections for Republicans in the last three election cycles. What is it they say about the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result? We divorced that asshole over two years ago and tried to get a restraining order against him. Do you think we’re itching to get back in bed with him after another four years of brain worms? No thank you.

That’s the modern GOP for you, which looked for a moment like it thought about maybe perhaps switching allegiances to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But DeSantis, it turns out, is a very bad candidate nationally. He’s not very well-spoken, he’s an idiot, and he’s hellbent on winning the MAGA voters by making his candidacy exclusively about culture wars to peel away MAGA voters that have no interest in peeling away from Trump while also alienating the moderate Republicans with whom DeSantis might have had a chance. His poll numbers peaked about a month ago. They’ve been declining ever since. I’m sorry, Florida, but I think you’re stuck with him.

In light of Donald Trump’s indictment and arrest, it looks like the GOP is solidifying once again around a 2024 Presidential candidate that the country has consistently rejected. He’s not gotten more popular, and while the arrest may have energized the MAGA base, it sure as hell didn’t help him with moderate Republicans and Independents.

Will Trump ever spend a day inside a prison cell? Almost certainly not! A conviction won’t be easy (at least on these charges; they might have better luck in Georgia). Will the trial help? Yes, with the Republican party! It might make the primary a cakewalk for him. But pictures of “the defendant” sitting grimly in a courtroom fearing that he might spend time in prison is not going to help his case in the general. Sixty-one percent of Americans do not want him to be President again. A protracted trial involving hush money payments to a (charming, sympathetic) porn star isn’t going to help.

How do we know? Because on the day that Donald Trump was arrested — the day that the GOP was most likely to rally behind their standard bearer — a liberal judge in Wisconsin defeated a judge that was endorsed by Trump in 2020. That judge lost in 2020, and he lost again in 2023, in part because Judge Protasiewicz successfully painted him as an election denier. It wasn’t even close. Turnout in Wisconsin broke a record for a spring election. Those same voters are not going to vote for an election denier as President next year.

So go ahead, Republicans: Put this guy up again. Keep pushing your culture wars. The only people who care about your anti-woke bullshit are Fox News, your fellow GOP politicians, and a few school-board Karens whom all the other parents hate. Good luck in 2024, and Chag Pesach Sameach!