In J.D. Vance's primary, nonstop Trump-worship shows the perils of populism

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

EJ Dionne
@EJDionne
“In GOP primaries, declaring unshakable fealty to the mythology that the 2020 election was stolen” from Trump is “a bedrock condition of political survival” & “hardly newsworthy anymore—which only risks normalizing it further.”
V-good @ThePlumLineGS

washingtonpost.com
Opinion | In J.D. Vance’s primary, nonstop Trump-worship shows the perils of populism
How J.D. Vance's conversion to Trumpism is playing out in a race-to-the-bottom campaign.
9:56 AM · Jan 28, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/28/jd-vance-ohio-primary-trump-worship/

No paywall
https://archive.fo/lr6ZU

Here’s an unsettling thought: In GOP primaries, declaring unshakable fealty to the mythology that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump is becoming a bedrock condition of political survival. This is becoming so routine that it’s hardly newsworthy anymore — which only risks normalizing it further.

That’s the takeaway from the latest news out of the Senate primary in Ohio, where J.D. Vance is facing former state treasurer Josh Mandel and several other candidates. The race has featured a kind of loyalty competition, in which displays of fealty to Trump’s 2020 lies, pushed relentlessly by Mandel, have kept escalating to comic levels of groveling.

This escalation also highlights unpleasant truths about Vance’s evolution. The “Hillbilly Elegy” author has reinvented himself as a take-no-prisoners conservative populist and culture warrior, and his efforts to keep pace with Mandel illustrate how effortlessly those populist tendencies feed into the very worst forms of gutter Trumpism.

On Thursday night, Mandel upped the ante on the Trump-worship again. At a candidate forum, Mandel declared: “I believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald J. Trump.” Mandel infused the word “stolen" (as well as Trump’s middle initial) with grandly inflated umbrage, suggesting he has carefully rehearsed this display.

*snip*

[kimbutgar]

1. He has such a punchable face.

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. That's a Mama's boy whose mama doesn't like him.

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. I propose a kiss-off. Let tfg's butt decide who's the better kisser. nt

[DeeNice]

4. so...repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.

That seems to be the strategy they're sticking with.