Trump is Uniquely Dangerous? Hardly
by tristero
Josh Marshall yesterday:
But if you're choosing this venue to boo when we're in the middle of a battle simply to make sure a dangerous - uniquely dangerous - figure like Donald Trump doesn't become president...
As if Cruz would be any better? Or Christie? Or Carson? Or Ryan? Or Rubio? Or Santorum? Or - God help us - the spineless, hot-headed J. Bush? Have we all forgotten already how really bad these candidates were?
Nope. Trump is nothing unique. This delusion that he is is one that Cruz and the rest of the Whole Sick Crew have a vested interest in propagating - in the hopes that they look sensible by comparison. (Spoiler alert: they're not.)
Don't get me wrong: Trump is extremely dangerous, but characterizing him as uniquely dangerous minimizes the ongoing threat from the far right. Things do not go back to normal if Trump is defeated. Unless and until a new crop of actually sane Republicans emerge, American political discourse will remain alarmingly broken.
Of course, I agree with Josh that "The damage that this man has done simply through his campaign is far more than I think we understand. What would come after his election is unthinkable." But the problem is, in fact, not beyond Democrats and Republicans. It is a systemic problem within the Republican party. The damage that a Cruz, Ryan, Rubio, or Christie candidacy could inflict would be different from Trump's only in kind, not in catastrophic quality. And let's not forget: Cruz and Co. are going nowhere.
To provide Trump the narcissistic thrill he so clearly craves, to call him uniquely dangerous in his odious-ity , is to play a game the right wing wants us to play. It's a game where Trump is perceived as some kind of bizarre visitation on an otherwise sober-minded Republican party.
And in both the short and long term, it's a game we'll lose.