Trump is the Virus, but the GOP is the Host -- Thom Hartmann

[erronis]

https://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-is-the-virus-but-the-gop-is-fe8

A virus needs its host: The Republican Party has provided the platform, the protection, and the power that allowed Trump’s assault on democracy to flourish...

We’ve spent years watching Donald Trump attack our democratic institutions, inflame divisions, and corrupt the public discourse.

But focusing solely on Trump misses the larger, more disturbing reality: Trump isn’t acting alone. He’s a dangerous pathogen that found the perfect host in today’s Republican Party, an organism already compromised and eager to be infected.

. . .

To fully comprehend the gravity of our situation, we must recognize that Trump is both a symptom and a disease. Like any opportunistic virus, he didn’t invent the weakness — he exploited it. The Republican Party, drifting toward authoritarianism since Nixon, became the perfect host.

From the backlash to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, to Nixon's Southern Strategy, to the Tea Party’s billionaire-funded anti-government rage against our first Black president, the GOP built a party on grievance and fear. It corroded democratic norms for decades. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, union busting, judicial stacking, demonizing immigrants and queer people, rightwing propaganda media — all laid the groundwork.

. . .

[tanyev]

1. Yes, and a host that was eagerly waiting for such a virus to emerge.