{"id":3621,"date":"2020-12-04T09:53:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T14:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2020-12-04T09:54:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T14:54:00","slug":"follow-the-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader. ” – Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin \u2013 the French Revolution of 1848<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whispers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You hear the whispers:  maybe the Republican leaders are finally \u201cbacking away\u201d from Donald Trump.  And there is some evidence of that. Attorney General Bill Barr announced the truth: the Department of Justice found no evidence of mass voter fraud.   And a very few Republican Senators acknowledge the obvious, that Joe Biden will be inaugurated President in January.  It\u2019s sad that telling the truth is seen as an act of \u201cpolitical courage\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Democrats and \u201cnever-Trumpers\u201d have a wishful \u201cvision\u201d.  They hope that with the grudging departure of Donald Trump, Republican leaders will \u201cregain\u201d their independence, and return to the Party of John McCain, the \u201cLincoln Project\u201d heroes and the \u201cRockefeller Republicans\u201d of old.  But there are two facts that stand in the way of this \u201crebirth\u201d of the Republicanism of my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first:\u00a0\u00a0Donald J Trump received over 74 million votes in the 2020 election, the second most ever.\u00a0\u00a0Sure Joe Biden won with 81 million, but there is incredible power in that 74 million too.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s like the Olympic 100 meter dash, where the second place sprinter breaks the world record.\u00a0\u00a0He neither gets to enjoy the gold medal, or the record.\u00a0\u00a0But he can\u2019t wait for the rematch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump must be highly motivated by the loss.  He got more votes than Barack Obama, more votes than Ronald Reagan (yes \u2013 I know that the population was smaller then \u2013 does Trump?).  To be so close and fail would motivate almost anyone to want to try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those are 74 million votes that EVERY Republican needs to win their own election.  Sure it\u2019s easy for Bill Barr to \u201cstand up\u201d to Trump, if you call telling the truth \u201cstanding up\u201d.  Barr was retired before he took the Attorney General job, and he\u2019ll be retired when he leaves it.  And Mitt Romney doesn\u2019t get \u201cbrownie points\u201d for \u201cstanding up\u201d either.  He\u2019s from Utah, and while it\u2019s a \u201cRed\u201d state, Trump has never been particularly popular with the Mormon Church.  Sixty-two percent of the state is Mormon, so Romney has a \u201ccushion\u201d.  He can vote for Trump\u2019s removal in the impeachment trial, but also must vote for Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Is Fooled?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And while Democrats and \u201cNever-Trump\u201d Republicans might wish it weren\u2019t so, Donald Trump still wields incredible power over those 74 million.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not just the \u201cTweets” or the \u201ccrazy\u201d Trumpers either.\u00a0\u00a0A substantial number of those who voted for Donald Trump agree with what he did.\u00a0\u00a0They liked the tax cut for the one percent and they liked the border wall. And, \u201cshhhhh\u201d\u2013 don\u2019t tell anybody – but they even secretly liked the child separation policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many, including myself, have quoted Lincoln in regard to Trump supporters:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the \u201cfooling\u201d is on us.  Trump supporters aren\u2019t fooled \u2013 they agree with Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money Talks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Need more evidence?  Here\u2019s the second fact:  Donald Trump has raised more than $200 million SINCE the election.  Sure he\u2019s done it under the \u201cumbrella\u201d of challenging election results, but other than re-counting votes in Madison and Milwaukee he really hasn\u2019t spent much on that.  What Trump is doing is creating a whole new fund for \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d for Trump?  Today, and for the next few months, it might well be consideration of a Presidential run in 2024.  But even if he decides that\u2019s too much effort, the $200 million goes a long way towards funding political action.  And political action for Trump means holding other politicians to the fire of what Trump wants. It\u2019s a quid pro quo:  Trump controls the voters, and the others need the votes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So don\u2019t expect the Congressional fealty to Trump to change.  Look at some of the Republicans up for re-election in the Senate in 2022: Murkowski (AK), Rubio (FL), Young (IN), Kennedy (LA), Blunt (MO), Burr (NC), Scott (SC), and Johnson (WI). They cannot stray far from Trump.  And in the House, the Democratic margin is narrowed.  The 2020 election showed Republicans doing well everywhere but for President.  And if the House becomes Republican in 2022, it will be Trump influence that does it, and McCarthy and Jim Jordan empowered to put Trump\u2019s policies back in effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sad to say that Monday, January 20th<\/sup>, 2021 will not mean the end of Donald Trump.  And it won\u2019t mean the end of his influence over the Republican Party either.  As Ledru-Rollin said, \u201cThere go the people\u2026\u201d and it\u2019s the Republican leadership that must follow them.  And the \u201cpeople\u201d the Republican leaders must follow are the people of Donald Trump.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader. ” – Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin \u2013 the French Revolution of 1848 Whispers You hear the whispers:  maybe the Republican leaders are finally \u201cbacking away\u201d from Donald Trump.  And there is some evidence of that. Attorney General Bill Barr announced the truth: the Department of … Continue reading “Follow the Leader”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFollow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Follow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Follow the Leader\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":898,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/\",\"name\":\"Follow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/04\\\/follow-the-leader\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Follow the Leader\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Follow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","description":"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Follow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Follow the Leader","datePublished":"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/"},"wordCount":898,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/","name":"Follow the Leader : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-04T14:53:49+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-04T14:54:00+00:00","description":"Will leadership in the Republican Party change with the inauguration of Biden? I don't think so - it's still the Party of Donald Trump.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/follow-the-leader\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Follow the Leader"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3622,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}