Speaker Johnson is not a Trump puppet as evidenced by Trump wanting a 'no' vote on the budget deal and Speaker Johnson crossing the aisle to get the budget deal passed.
That may be in the instance in the case of the budget, but not for one second do I believe Johnson is not a puppet for the most evil, anti-American president in our history. Believe whatever you want. Here is what Trump did, and does.
1) Trump understood, as any astute demagogue would, the grievances and anger animating a significant % of the electorate. This has always been part of the genius of an effective demagogue. They have an almost instinctive understanding of what to say to become the leader of disaffected groups in society and the body politic.
2) Trump understood that he could speak to that portion of the electorate in a manner that would cause those people to see him as their spokesman, as their voice. Obviously, that is key, even to the point of creating a cult-like devotion among some followers. Donal Trump became the voice of the disaffected.
3) With that base in hand, Trump made sure to cement his place as a victim. The victim that stood in the way of the government coming for his followers next. Once cemented as victim, any criticism at all is seen as an attack by Trump’s enemies, and not folks trying to tell the truth of the matter to the American people. I think we’ve all seen such a dynamic in action. It too is a form of genius, minor and obvious maybe, but it sure is effective. Makes it hard to break through the brainwashing that is at the heart of “I am the victim, and you are next”. Any Republican that criticisms Trump is on shaky ground. As long as they know that, they must go along with Trump.
4) Once that base is in hand, once victimhood is understood to be a leading role for their leader, the GOP, knowing they keep loosing the popular vote as it is, have no choice but to not anger Trump. The GOP realizes they simply cannot lose a % of that base. Trump’s ploy has resulted in him being able to say a Republican will be banished from MAGA if he or she dares to oppose Donald Trump. This leaves the GOP stuck between a rock and a hard place.
5) Trump owns the GOP at the moment. At this stage, we already know he will claim “election stolen” if he loses in 2024. How long must we put up with this total BS?
When are we going to emerge into the light of reality, into a world where the consensus reality is missing the alternative nonsense of Trump and MAGA? When?!
Are we really going to move forward with two competing interpretations of recent history? How freaking stupid are we? How does that even work?
Not once have I seen one iota of concern from you regarding this clash of competing realities. Despite it being one of the greatest possible inflection points in our modern history! Crickets from people like you! Whereas, I have said from the start that a president sowing deliberate lies about our election integrety is one of the worst “crimes” a president could ever commit to our nation and body politic. And, but for a few, your GOP has no choice but to support his lies and support his damage.
Donald Trump did that, while you look for every reason you can find to diminish his influence. Sorry, but you are so very full of it, frankly, to ignore all these things.