Mediaboss Marketing

FARGO Democrats are going to get wiped out this fall, according to the polls. Republicans are likely to take control of Congress and strengthen themselves in state legislatures. America continues its political whipsaw, throwing the bums out every couple of years no matter the tribe to which the bums belong. We are an angry, scared nation.

Despite the sense that we are careening toward the cliff of losing our democracy and nobody quite knows what to do about it, if they even care (Republicans think the end of attaining power is worth the means), the parties swapping power is normal. If gas and hamburger prices seem too high, the party in power gets blamed. Tale as old as time.

But one recent poll included a number that was double-take worthy, even if it wasn't completely surprising after further review.

59%.

That, according to a Harvard University/Harris poll, is the number of Republican voters who would support Donald Trump in a GOP primary for president.

Specific wording of the poll question: "If the Republican presidential primary for the 2024 election was held today, who would you vote for?"

Trump got 59%. His closest competitor was former Vice President Mike Pence, who received 11%. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got 10%. The rest of the field received low single-digits.

Six of 10 Republicans support the former president, who clearly helped instigate (if not orchestrate) the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol and continues to praise and favor Vladimir Putin above the current United States president.

What do you think that number would be among North Dakota Republicans? It would certainly be more than 59%, perhaps as high as 90%.

That's why when "moderate" Republicans or media pundits say it's time for the party to move on from Trump, or that Trumpism reflects only a shrinking sliver of the GOP, it is beyond laughable. The Former Guy is The Current Guy for Republicans.

He is the face, the voice, the conscience of the Republican Party.

Trumpism and all it entails is the bedrock of the GOP. There's no separating the two. North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a longtime fanboy, recently dismissed the former president playing footsie with Putin as "Trump being Trump," as if that somehow excuses him.

That's the line Republicans have tried to walk with Trump, that his seditionist, pro-Russian tendencies are annoying glitches while his policies are the real substance. It allows GOPers to justify Trump's stench while supporting him.

As has been scribbled in this space before, multiple times: Trump is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is Trump. Period. There's no space between the two. The cult of personality is real.

And as we inch closer to 2024 and "moderate" Republicans and pundits who've been saying Trump no longer holds sway over the masses begin to realize he will win the GOP nomination for president, they'll change their tune.

Leading an insurrection? Big deal. Being besties with Putin? Meh. Trying to extort Ukraine? Yawn.

Trump remains the Republican Party. It can't quit him, nor does it want to.

See the original post here:
McFeely: To repeat, Trump is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is Trump - INFORUM