Is GOP populism a person or a movement? – by Paul Mirengoff

Former GOP congressman Thaddeus McCotter, writing in American Greatness, tackles the question of whether Republican populism is a person or a movement. He contends it s a movement.

McCotter hopes so, anyway. He warns:

If. . .the primary consideration becomes one of personalities rather than principles in sum, being concerned more about a person than the movement Republican populist principles will last only as long as the nominee s political viability and ultimately will be tied in the electorate s mind with a man rather than a movement.

Republican populist principles will be tainted by the real or imagined political foibles of the nominee, especially if their political viability ends disastrously and the movement s bloody carcass will be preyed upon by its enemies on the Left and in the GOP establishment.

Should this prove the case in 2024, the Left will win and their regressive march toward autocratic collectivization will proceed unimpeded, as the Republican populist movement will be crushed beneath the weight of a defeated nominee.

McCotter isn t writing in the abstract. He points out that the Left has taken it upon itself to change the political rules and norms [by arguing that] not only is Donald Trump a racist, fascist, homophobic, domestic terrorist wannabe, etc., so are his supporters i.e., the GOP. It is imperative, he adds, for Republican populists not to take their bait by equally conflating a person for our party.

via ringsideatthereckoning.substack.com

So you have former President Trump on one side with all his liabilities and charms versus the (racial and sexual) Left on the other side, which pretty much represents Evil Incarnate. As that of an old fashioned Classical Liberal for want of a better term living in California, my vote doesn’t count, so I’m pretty much watching this as a slow motion train wreck.