An interview with Republican consultant Tim Miller on his book "Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell"
I haven't read the book but will.
Overall, I think his story fits my view of the rise of Trump. Basically, right-wing media built a cult based on rage. Trump was one of the cult members but with a celebrity status that allowed him to get out in front of the cult. Trump took over and the people who built the cult had to follow along.
Some good points from the link.
On the building the rage.
"The incestuous relationship between Republican campaigns, right-wing media sites, Fox news, the emails and texts that get sent to people — there’s just no way to look at it as a news environment. This is not like, “Oh, we’re trying to provide people with news but just from a more conservative vantage point.” That’s the pitch, but that’s not what it is. It is a completely interconnected delivery device of rage juice."
Why Ds don't do it as well as Rs.
" ... there are a variety of reasons why the Democratic base is fundamentally different from the Republican base. There are some other flaws with liberal media, but if you looked at, for example, liberal magazines, they are much more policy focused and much less clickbait-y. There are obviously examples of bad actors, but if you look at Mother Jones and Slate and the New Republic’s Twitter feed compared to Breitbart’s Twitter feed, there are some clear differences.
On 2024
"I actually think it’s worse than what people imagine. For one, it’s impossible to imagine a situation where the loser of that election would accept the result. Joe Biden is a man of decency, and so he would accept the result. But the Democratic base? And in this case, you know, for good reason, right? This man had been impeached twice and tried a coup. And obviously we know the Trump base wouldn’t accept a loss and that Donald Trump himself wouldn’t accept a loss. 2024 is a powder keg."
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