COURTING THE BASE – OR GROOMING IT

by Ruth A. Sheets

It is nearly impossible to go a few days without hearing from someone that some appalling act or statement done/made by Republicans is to cater to our court “the base.”  This is not new.  It has been going on for at least a couple of decades now and I can’t help but wonder about this “base.”

- Back in the 1990s, Newt Gingrich, a hypocrite par excellence made outrageous claims about the Clinton health care proposal because he said that was what his base wanted.  He also was in the thick of the Clinton impeachment for doing pretty much what he himself was doing, and, for the base.

- A congressman called out during the State of the Union Address that Obama had lied.  Obama hadn’t, but Congressman Wilson’s base donated a lot of money to him because of the unprecedented rude outburst.

- The “Birther” movement got a lot of traction for their lies to rile up the base and one rarely heard that it really didn’t matter where Obama was born since his mother was an American citizen, and John McCain and Ted Cruz were also not born in America.  Knowing that would have disturbed “the base.”

- Marjorie Taylor Greene spews lies, conspiracy theories, and other nonsense “for the base.”

- On January 6^th, an insurrection was perpetrated by some members of the base because the president told them to, while lying to them about the 2020 election.

- This month, the entire Republican contingent in Congress refused to approve of a COVID rescue package because their “base” wouldn’t like it even though 70% of the American people wanted the help. 

It goes on and on and on.

One can’t help but wonder about this “base.”  What kind of people are among “the base.”  What can be said about this base that constantly needs to be placated by acts of injustice and pain toward other people?  Well,

- they are mostly white with some resources.

- They are often rural, but not exclusively. 

- They are people who believe they have not been treated by life, the government, their community, or other people as well as they deserve. 

- They have grievance upon grievance.

- They want/need excitement to help distract them from how hard their life is.

- They want to be part of something big while not really wanting the change they say they want. 

- They are often afraid of people who are not like them, particularly people they have never met in person and they never want to meet those people in person.

- They resent those same people  whom they feel don’t work as hard as they do (of course without actual evidence).  They see those people as society’s takers.  They of course, are the givers, (again, without evidence).

- From the many many interviews by the media in the past decade or so, they are people who desperately need to blame someone for their problems.  They watch a lot of TV and scan a lot of social media to see that other people have more than they do and resent it that they don’t have it.

- They can’t explain any of their feelings or positions on current issues, except, perhaps, to say “He believes what I believe” or “He has the right ideas to take care of those people.”

- The members truly believe that if someone is loud, obnoxious, and bullying, they must be good leadership material and must be speaking the truth (ala Fox “News” et al).

The thing that makes this base dangerous in general, but sad to contemplate is just how vulnerable they are to those loud-mouthed bullies who win their loyalty by lying about, insulting, and degrading others.  This language against others takes away some of the base’s loneliness, fear, and worry that somehow they will be left behind.  It feeds their hatred and anger to such a degree that they forget any positive personal values they might once have held, like “The Golden Rule.”

This is certainly not a new phenomenon.  Racists in the American South during Jim Crow lynched innocent Black people in front of huge crowds with not only approval, but celebration.  The Germans used this vulnerability to wreak havoc in their country and throughout the world in the 1930s and 1940s.  Leaders in China, Russia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and so many other places have taken advantage of their people’s vulnerability and have done and gotten them to do horrific things to others, actions that without the hateful, pointed rhetoric they probably would never have done.      

Yes, the base is to blame for their support of terrible measures like separating children from their parents at the border and putting them in cages.  Yes, they are responsible for gluing their eyeballs and ears to the Fox “news” lineup of Hanity, Ingram, Carlson, and the late Rush Limbaugh.  To suck in the milk of hatred and fear is a choice even though in their vulnerability, they probably didn’t even realize what was happening to them.  They could have stepped back and asked how what was being claimed could be true, but they didn’t and don’t.

I wondered why until I realized that what happens to vulnerable people is a kind of grooming.  A lot of privileged people have learned just how to get what they want and to keep it coming.  They have practiced the words, emotions, the timing and identifying the targets before they actually strike. 

In some ways, the base is at a major disadvantage.  This is particularly true when their religious and community leaders, people they should trust spout the same lies in their ears.  Who can they turn to?  They are already so boxed in with others who are just like themselves and are feeding on their feelings of superiority to those who don’t see the world as they do, while they are feeling the deep shame of not achieving in life what they had hoped.  In this state, they are totally open to whatever the candidates, talking heads, and other nefarious entities want of them.

Just like a pedophile who grooms innocent young people to become sex objects that the groomer cares nothing for beyond the use he (mostly he) can make of them for his (mostly his) personal gratification, some Republicans and their allies use these tactics toward “the base,” caring nothing for them beyond how they can be used for their party’s gratification.  Then, they do just enough for the base to let them believe the “groomer” actually loves them and will take care of them. 

Teaching and encouraging critical thinking in school and in society in general would possibly break the grooming-using cycle.  The problem, who can the vulnerable members of the base trust?  Then, what kind of chaos will come about for them within their social sphere if they do speak up and report what they know?