Air Date 11/17/2020

Today we take a look at the Republican Party and that which is hath wrought. The deeply racist and conspiratorial constituency has been part of the party for decades but it wasn't always the dominant strain. Today it clearly is and in an age of hyper-polarization and with enthusiastic stoking from Trump, that branch of the party is perfectly primed to splinter from shared reality completely in a spectacular, violent way.

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SHOW NOTES

Ch. 1: A devastating indictment of the Republican Party - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 10-10-20

The problem, Stuart Stevens believes, is not that the GOP became something it wasn’t; it’s that many of those within it — including him — failed to see what it actually was.

Ch. 2: Is Trumpism the New Conservatism? - The Atlantic - Air Date 7-20-17

Goldwater's conservative movement ended up dominating Republican politics for 50 years. Trump·s takeover of the Republican party looks a lot like Goldwater's, so could an ideological movement resembling Trumpism dominate the next 50 years?

Ch. 3: The crisis isn’t Trump. It’s the Republican Party Part 1 - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 11-12-20

Anne Applebaum, staff writer for the Atlantic, discusses why the GOP ultimately took the path of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, not John McCain and Mitt Romney and why what separates Never Trumpers from Trump enablers is a steadfast commitment to democracy

Ch. 4: The Good Germans - Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and Sarah Kendzior - Air Date 9-8-20

The phrase “Good Germans” refers to the Germans living in the Third Reich who enabled Hitler and his Nazi regime yet remained in denial that they were doing so. Or they did know, but they put on a show of respectability. They were “just following orders.”

Ch. 5: Don't You Dare Call It Trumpism - The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal - Air Date 11-13-20

We discuss why the beltway wants to call it Trumpism and why we must never do so. And the difference between a coastal D+20 district and a Midwest R+5 district reminds us that all politics is local.

Ch. 6: The crisis isn’t Trump. It’s the Republican Party Part 2 - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 11-11-20

If the past week — and past four years — have proven anything, it’s that we are not as different as we believed. No longer is the question, "Can it happen here?" It’s happening already.

Ch. 7: WHOA: 86% of Trumpists Think Biden Didn't Really Win - The David Pakman Show - Air Date 11-13-20

86% of Trumpists believe that Joe Biden didn't really win the election, stealing it from Donald Trump through fraud of some kind.

Ch. 8: Trump Tries A Suplex On The American People - The Muckrake Political Podcast - Air Date 11-13-20

As Donald Trump and his enablers, the Republicans continue this farcical half-serious coup, Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss how the complicated grift that is professional wrestling explains this slow-moving disaster.

Ch. 9: The crisis isn’t Trump. It’s the Republican Party Part 3 - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 11-11-20

If the past week — and past four years — have proven anything, it’s that we are not as different as we believed. No longer is the question, "Can it happen here?" It’s happening already.

Ch. 10: The crisis isn’t Trump. It’s the Republican Party Part 4 - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 11-11-20

If the past week — and past four years — have proven anything, it’s that we are not as different as we believed. No longer is the question, "Can it happen here?" It’s happening already.

VOICEMAILS

Ch. 11: More nuance about legitimacy - Dave from Olympia, WA

FINAL COMMENTS

Ch. 12: Final comments on the high likelihood of violence and death between now and Biden's inauguration

MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):

• Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr 
• Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
• Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard
• Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent

 

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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