The Republicans have become a troll party
- Kenny Cota
- Aug 17, 2017
- 6 min read
The word troll has had many meanings. Creatures who lie under bridges and caves to be the villains of children’s tales. Apparently it can also mean to sing something happily and to walk in a leisurely way. However the meaning it has recently acquired is posting something online to provoke and offend people deliberately, for no other reason. This used to be a fringe of people on Reddit and 4chan. Now the biggest troll of them all has found his way into the White House.
Many predicted that Trump would become more responsible and presidential as the campaign ended and his tenure in office began. However, sadly this turned out to be the opposite of what happened.
His most effective weapon is harnessing the internet in a digital age, and dominating headlines
The Republicans used to be an American conservative party with some principles, not many but some, even if we on the left and centre would disagree with them. A party with a vision for low taxes, deregulation and traditional social values. While we on the left and centre may have disagreed with these policies, at least we knew that they were broadly sincere in their aims and didn’t announce things just to provoke liberals.
Online trolls are a relatively recent phenomenon. Once, they were a minor nuisance in YouTube comments threads and on some subreddits. Trolling was popularised by self-proclaimed provocateur and ‘virtuous troll’ Milo Yiannopoulous, who was until the pederasty scandal was seen as the leader of the Alt-Right. Brilliant at targeting issues likely to ‘trigger’ liberals, such as feminism, trans rights and Islam.
This tactic then spread online. There are numerous YouTube channels that are Alt-Right trolls, including Milo’s own channel with 640k subscribers and Paul Joseph Watson with now 1 million subscribers. There is a reason that this form of political activism is so popular. It is actually pure sadism. Taking pleasure in another’s misery, causing them to shed ‘liberal tears’.
The solution to this is for liberals to not get provoked by this sort of baiting. Leave the sexually frustrated teenagers to post memes online, and focus on actual issues. Being baited by jokes or offensive tweets is exactly what they want you to do, so do not fall for it.
However, last year, the main trolling wasn’t on Breitbart or /r/AltRight (the latter of which was banned from Reddit six months ago). It was from the nominee of the Republican Party, the biggest troll of them all, Donald J Trump.
Many thought that Trump’s tweeting was a liability in the campaign. In fact, it was a huge asset. However, most assumed it would die down somewhat as he matured into the role of President, held by such individuals as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. In fact, Trump said he would be more Presidential than any President other than Lincoln, stating:
"With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office
So, more presidential than Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Eisenhower."
Let’s give him a few more years and see.
During the campaign, Trump was able to dominate headlines and conversations by being the ‘reality show President’. The media always loves sensationalism, so whenever Trump said something provocative, it would immediately be covered by the media, dominating coverage. As it was once said by Oscar Wilde:
"There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about"
The modern version of this is, especially in the age of mass media, that all publicity is good publicity. By simple forcing people to think about him, and having a message, any message, he made people choose between him and Hillary, pitching himself as the anti-Hillary. By doing this, Trump managed to reach out and appeal to people who hated liberals.
If one was to ask Trump supporters what they most like about him, I’d hazard a guess that they like him most for his bashing of the ‘establishment elites’ (read: intelligent liberals). They don’t really like him as a person or his policies (the latter of which there were remarkably few), but they like that he makes liberals angry.
The sort of video that gets popular amongst the Alt-Right on YouTube. This one has nearly a million views for example.
This helped drive him into the White House, and now is helping him inside the Oval Office.
Whenever Trump has chaos or volatility in his White House, he takes to Twitter and posts something provocative to distract liberals. And liberals make the mistake of taking the bait, time after time.
For example, when there was the recent outrage over the conflict between Scaramucci and Priebus, Trump needed to deflect media attention. So he took to twitter and announced a ban on transgender individuals from the military. This was something that never would possibly have come into force. It was simply a way of changing the terms of debate and probing the most divisive areas in American society, something Trump is brilliant at doing, as the Supreme Troll.
This is a remarkably effective tactic. Trump is smart enough to know that people prefer to debate social issues rather than politics within the White Houses staffers. Thus, by tweeting this ‘announcement’ Trump successfully baited liberals into turning the focus away from his White House drama, which was solved pretty quietly by firing “The Mooch” and Priebus, with less media attention than it deserved.
This is a trend that can easily be observed. Whenever some uncomfortable news about Russia comes up, expect to see some CNN memes on Trump’s twitter feed. Liberals need to stop falling for Trump’s tricks and focus on real issues that will make him nervous, not online memes.
Now, the sole aim of the Republican party seems to be to become a ‘liberal tears’ factory, where making snowflakes cry is more important than passing bills. It is much easier to grab headlines and trigger a response from progressives than it is to actually do the difficult and often unrewarding work of putting a bill together and passing it through Congress.
Take healthcare, for example. Attacking Obamacare was the main criticism the Republicans had of Obama, in many ways. They constantly berated Obama and the Democrats for it and said it was a disaster, failing Americans. The bill was signed into law in 2010. Republicans have had seven whole years to come up with an alternative plan they agree on. However, so far they have failed to repeal and replace Obamacare.
John McCain kills Trumpcare, Roman emperor style
What this shows is that the Republicans don’t care about policy. All they cared about was winning and using anything that would work to attack Obama and liberals. This was their main policy prescription, and now they’ve ended up leaving Obamacare in place.
This is why Obama’s compromising with the Republicans was a mistake. They never wanted to come up with a policy they agreed on. They just wanted to frustrate Obama and stop liberals, rather than even trying to advance their own supposed policies. The Republicans have given up conservatism and embraced trolling. Ben Shapiro, a genuine conservative who opposed Trump, had this to say about him:
And if we don’t say “no” to Donald Trump now, we will continue drifting… diluting conservatism into the vacillating, demagogic absurdity of Trumpism. Conservatism will become the crypto-racist, pseudo-strong, quasi-tyrannical, toxic brew leftists have always accused it of being.
And we will have been complicit in that.
I will not be complicit in that. I stand against the establishment that sowed the seeds of Trumpism. I stand against the Republican Party that insists that victory matters more than principle, because victory without principle isn’t just meaningless, it’s counterproductive to my belief system.
We saw with the riots in Charlottesville that Shapiro’s prediction has more or less become true. Trump’s refusal to initially condemn white supremacism can not have been a simple oversight, as he pointedly refused to answer a question about whether he’d condemn white supremacy in the same press conference.
America has elected a troll. The best way to reduce his success in office is to not take the bait, and for the left wing media to have a policy of ignoring Trumps’s bait, and for ordinary Americans to target Trump on the areas on which he is deeply uncomfortable: Russia, his staff and actual policies.
Pressure him on the promises he looks unlikely to keep, regardless of whether you agree with them or not. Press him on the wall he was so insistent about, the one trillion in infrastructure, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, even prosecuting Hillary.
We as progressives may find these things reprehensible, but this is the way to undermine his support on the right. Trump has forsaken the left, the Democrats have their votes there secured, the best way to win the midterms and eventually the Oval Office is to hit him where it hurts: his wavering support amongst conservatives.
Above all, do not accept the bait. That is what all trolls want, giving in is giving them the victory.
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