IT'S ABOUT THE BASE

by Ruth A. Sheets

The media keep reminding us that when a Republican does or says something most people would call outrageous, unamerican, racist, or sexist, they are doing it to court their base.  For years, we have heard these words or ones like them and wonder who this base is that must be courted with such insults, hateful speech, and disregard for their fellow Americans.  Currently, we are being confronted with hours of this "courting" as it is primary season and the Senate and House of Representatives are on the line. 

I have noticed a big difference in Pennsylvania in the ways Democratic and Republican candidates present themselves as they vie for their respective party's nomination.  Democrats state their case to the voters about where they stand and don't even mention their rivals for the nomination.  Republicans on the other hand, spend their time telling the world just how much they love Donald Trump and if and how much he loves them.  They tell us how much they love guns and how terrible their opponents are. Appalling PACs and SuperPACs for each do their best to malign the others, to the point of telling blatant lies.  For example, the most ultra-conservative candidate for office is portrayed as such an Obama lover she will build a statue of him next to Lincoln or somewhere, I can't remember.  The racism and misogyny are right out there for all to see, but, clearly, they imagine only the base will understand the "symbolism."

So, back to the base.  Who are these folks Republicans so desperately pursue for their votes and financial support?

Listening to TV ads and the constant bombardment of our airwaves since 2015, when Donald Trump entered the presidential race:  noting the language used, the targeted groups blamed for just about anything Trump could think of, the composition of audiences at Trump rallies, the uber-Trumpian media coverage, and more, there are a few things that make the Republican base stand out for me.

1. They are nearly all white folks.

2. They are mostly middle-aged and older.

3. They claim a "deep" attachment to conservative Christianity (Catholics and Evangelicals).

4. They HATE abortion, except when their daughter won't survive without one, then they call it something else.

5. They don't care much for women in general even though a significant portion of the base is female.

6. The men LOVE guns and the women of the base tolerate the male obsession with guns.

7. Many of the men like to wear camouflage, carry guns,  and to intimidate women and people of color, when they can, as long as there's no risk to themselves.

8. They believe Muslims are all terrorists who are trying to install Sharia Law even though they have absolutely no clue what it is.

9. They despise immigrants even though their grandparents came from . . ., but they came in the "right" way, not like the ones at the southern border. 

10. They have an idealized view of the past (nostalgia) that makes them long for "the good old days."

11. They tend to like conspiracy theories because those impossible explanations let them think they are part of a special club of brilliant people who know important secrets that will save themselves and everyone else from those awful people at the center of those conspiracies.  They seem to be attached to the term "pedophilia," too.

12. They are certain Republicans are the ones who gave them everything they have and will do it again when they get back into power.  They can't actually name any of the things Republicans have done for them, however, beyond giving them Donald Trump.

13. They let a few white women and non-white men hold a bit of power in their world as long as it's not too much and they can spout the same stuff their white men do, only louder and with more venom.

14. They NEED their daily fix of Fox News or OANN, or whatever right-wing conspiracy theory-wielding media and social media sources they can submerge themselves in.

15. They see themselves as the "real" Americans, "legacy Americans" as Tucker Carlson calls them in his fear of whites being replaced.

Would members of the base be recognized on the street?  Probably not.  That's unless they are wearing the ubiquitous MAGA hat, button, or even T-shirt, or maybe if they are coming out of a house with a Trump sign in the yard.

One can regularly check them out, though if attending MAGA rallies or visiting a Planned Parenthood.  They are the ones screaming insults at those not sharing their joy in making others uncomfortable.  When interviewed, they will find a way to get in a dig at those people who are causing all their problems.  They are rarely asked by interviewers to explain their "dig."  In fact, people rarely ask the base to explain anything.  There's a reason for that.

I can't help but wonder if the base knows what their favorite Republican candidates actually think of them.  Do they realize they are being used by men and a few women for their own personal power gains?  Do they understand that they are only of use to Donald Trump while they are cheering and clapping for him, repeating his nasty slogans, or screaming for whatever he says.  He believes himself to be a genius while he sees his cult followers as ignorant fools who can be manipulated to serve his will. 

Trumpian candidates like the menagerie running in the Pennsylvania Republican primary have followed Trump's lead while working to shape Trump into the cult leader they want him to be.  They too, have little respect for their base once they have maneuvered them into voting for them.  They target people who are scared their lifestyle may be changing and they might not always be on top.  They look for angry people who believe they have received a slight from someone who is not within their preferred group.  They also target mostly rural people who are generally disgruntled or dissatisfied with their lives. 

Republicans who cater to their base have been honing their skills with slogans, name-calling, and inuendo, promising to fix the world for the base.  They have few ideas and do little to actually help them, but do offer voter suppression, anti-abortion, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws to keep them satisfied and fired-up.  I guess in the yelling and controversy, the base doesn't notice that their representatives have done nothing to make their lives better.  But, Republican leaders are eager to blame Democrats and others to keep the base on edge, so they'll be cocked and ready for the next Republican power grab.

I sure do wish there were a way to let the Republican base see what the rest of the world sees, and know what the rest of us know.  Maybe they'd choose to be free of the role they have been manipulated into playing. 

However, maybe they do know.  Perhaps, as with their enthusiasm for conspiracy theories, they benefit emotionally from belonging to this exclusive club, the Republican base.

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?