{"id":816,"date":"2018-03-26T21:27:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T01:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=816"},"modified":"2018-03-26T21:27:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T01:27:37","slug":"putting-the-ex-con-in-conservatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=816","title":{"rendered":"Putting the Ex-Con in Conservatism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Paul Krugman<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>
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Don Blankenship, second left, was sentenced to prison for conspiring to violate mine safety standards. He appears now to have a real chance in the Republican party\u2019s primary in the West Virginia Senate race.<\/span>Credit<\/span>F. Brian Ferguson\/Gazette-Mail, via Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2010 an explosion at a coal mine operated by Massey Energy killed 29 men. In 2015 Don Blankenship, the company\u2019s former C.E.O., was\u00a0sent to prison<\/a>\u00a0for conspiring to violate mine safety standards. In 2018, Blankenship appears to have a real chance at becoming the Republican candidate for senator from West Virginia.<\/p>\n

Blankenship is one of\u00a0four Republicans with criminal convictions<\/a>\u00a0running for office this year, several of whom may well win their party\u2019s nominations. And there is a much broader list of Republican politicians facing credible accusations of huge ethical lapses who nonetheless emerged victorious in G.O.P. primaries, ranging from Roy Moore to, well, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

To be sure, there have been plenty of crooked Democrats. But usually the revelation of their crookedness ended their political careers. What\u2019s striking about today\u2019s Republican landscape is that people who are obvious crooks, con men or worse continue to attract strong support from the party\u2019s base. Moore narrowly lost in Alabama\u2019s special election, but he received\u00a091 percent of the votes<\/a>\u00a0of self-identified Republicans.<\/p>\n

And Trump, although unprecedentedly unpopular for a president at this stage of his term, continues to receive overwhelming support from the G.O.P. base. Some Republican politicians have\u00a0openly admitted<\/a>\u00a0that this makes the party\u2019s congressional wing unwilling to hold Trump accountable for even the most spectacular malfeasance, up to and including possible collusion with a hostile foreign power.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on here? I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an accident that the modern G.O.P. contains so many crooks and that these crooks seem to thrive in intraparty politics. On the contrary, the success of people like Blankenship \u2014 or Trump \u2014 was an inevitable consequence of the political strategy Republicans have followed for decades. For the simple truth is that ever since Reagan, Republicans have basically played a con game on American voters.<\/p>\n

small minority<\/a>\u00a0of Americans wants to see tax cuts for the wealthy, and an\u00a0even smaller minority<\/a>\u00a0wants cuts to major social programs. Yet Republicans have won elections partly by denying the reality of their policy agenda, but mainly by posing as defenders of traditional social values \u2014 above all, that greatest of American traditions, racism.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And this sustained reliance on the big con has, over time, exerted a strong selection effect both on the party\u2019s leadership and on its base. G.O.P. politicians tend disproportionately to be con men (and in some cases, con women), because playing the party\u2019s political game requires both a willingness to and a talent for saying one thing while doing another. And the party\u2019s base consists disproportionately of the easily conned \u2014 those who are easily fooled by claims that Those People are the problem and don\u2019t notice how much the true Republican agenda hurts them.<\/p>\n

The point is that Trumpism was more or less fated to happen. Trump\u2019s crude racism and blatant dishonesty are only exaggerated versions of what his party has been selling for decades, while his substantive policy agenda \u2014 slashing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, taking health care away from lower-income families \u2014 is utterly orthodox.<\/p>\n

Even his protectionism is less of a departure from Republican norms than people imagine. George W. Bush put tariffs on steel, while Reagan limited imports of Japanese autos. Cutting taxes on the rich is a fundamental G.O.P. principle; free trade isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Once you realize the extent to which Republican politics has been shaped by the big con, three implications follow.<\/p>\n

First, there will be no redemption from within. Principled, ethical politicians won\u2019t reclaim the party from the likes of Trump, because they\u2019re not what the base wants: The modern G.O.P. is no country for honest men. Con artists will continue to rule until or unless the party loses big, repeatedly, and spends years in the political wilderness.<\/p>\n

Second, however, the party is indeed vulnerable, because there\u2019s always the risk that voters will catch on to its con.\u00a0Republican attacks on health care<\/a>, not lurid scandals, seem to have been the biggest factor behind Democratic victories in special elections. And in November this backlash could give Democrats not just one or both houses of Congress, but also control of many state governments.<\/p>\n

But what if it doesn\u2019t? Here\u2019s the third implication, which should scare you: The nature of the modern G.O.P.\u2019s game gives it a bias against democracy. After all, one way to protect yourself against voters who figure out what you\u2019re up to is to stop them from voting. Vote suppression and extreme gerrymandering are already key parts of Republican strategy, but what we\u2019ve seen so far may be just the beginning.<\/p>\n

And if you think that G.O.P. leaders would balk at gross electoral manipulation, you haven\u2019t been paying attention. There used to be Republicans like that, but they\u2019ve been gone for a long time.<\/p>\n