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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 19, 2022

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The alt-right, with its emphasis on race and replacement, is fringe and represents a small fraction of Republicans.

The anti-Trump "moderate" Republicans poll poorly in primaries, and Trump's approval rating remains sky high among Republicans.

What do the above two assertions say?

They say two things.

  1. Trump is not alt-right, never was.

  2. There is a massive swath of Trump-loving voters who are off the radar of the media by being neither fashy-racist nor anti-Trump "moderates".

[Jerry Seinfeld voice] Who are these people?

I'll tell you who they are. They are the Rush Limbaugh crowd. Or wherever they are now. I grew up with them, they are my people. I listened to Rush in his final year, and listened to his callers, and the vibe of his following (which was massive) was the same as I remember it. On median: They are hardcore Trump supporters. Yet they find the emphasis on race of both the left and the fringe right distasteful. In fact they itch for national unity and an end to civil strife and they saw in Trump the best hope for unity. The whole idea of Trump being divisive they saw as media propaganda, e.g. to them Trump's stance against illegal immigration is in fact about illegal immigration and not secretly about "brown people". In their eyes Trump had the back of anybody with a Social Security card. They think Hitler was, in fact, evil af and love to relate their parents' or grandparents' stories about kicking his ass.

They have an essentially Reaganite attitude toward American politics. They see taxation as fundamentally a seizure of the productive elements of society and while they see it necessary they think it should always be done with great solemnity and respect for the taxed, whose sweat fuels all government projects. They saw Trump as the obvious candidate for anybody into Reaganite politics and are beyond infuriated that the left's propaganda painted them as Hitlerian for wanting the obvious best candidate for policy positions that had nothing to do with race.

Etc etc.

I don't know where this crowd is at now. But if anybody deserves to be called "silent majority" (if only among Republicans) it's them. Not that they were silent on Rush's show, "ignored" may be a better term for them, ignored by media and its focus on the battle between crazy fascist racists and the nice wholesome Cheney family.

I really think there's a massive, massive amount of these people and yet I don't hear these particular opinions being expressed basically anywhere.

to them Trump's stance against illegal immigration is in fact about illegal immigration and not secretly about "brown people".

I think there are plenty of people who are worried about brown people who are not alt-right. There are plenty of racists who are not fascist, just as there are "Eat the rich, man!" people who are not socialist in any narrow sense (nationalisation of industry, state planning, or even egalitarian outside of putting some limits against huge inequality).