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Хорошая статья Matthew Yglesias -- "Establishment Republicans mystified by their base should look at Ed Gillespie’s campaign".

Статья Иглесиаса -- это реакция на статью в NYT "For Republican Leaders in Congress, the Headaches Keep Mounting", на эту ее часть:

Republicans are increasingly mystified by their own grass roots, an electorate they thought they knew, and distressed that a wave of turnover in their ranks could fundamentally change the character of Congress. They fear that the inchoate populism that Mr. Trump personifies, and which Mr. Bannon is attempting to weaponize against incumbents, is on the march.

Ну, то есть речь идет о том, что избиратели-республиканцы голосуют за таких откровенно ненормальных, как Moore, о котором я писал в "Текущее состояние".

Я процитирую этот отрывок из Иглесиаса:

Establishment Republicans mystified by the party’s grassroots activists and rank-and-file members, in short, should consider taking a look at their own campaigns and policy rhetoric.

Jeb Bush ran for president on the theory that tax cuts would generate 4 percent economic growth. Marco Rubio argued that Barack Obama was deliberately trying to damage the United States. Ed Gillespie claims that sanctuary cities that don’t even exist are responsible for the rise of a violent international criminal organization. The same congressional Republicans who swore for years that growing debt was the biggest threat to the country are lining up behind a budget that will authorize more than $1 trillion in new borrowing to finance tax cuts for the rich.

The difference between these guys and the new crop of kooks — between a respected colleague like Bob Corker and a feared soon-to-be-colleague like Marsha Blackburn — as I understand it, is that the establishment politicians are aware that they are lying. Nobody at Republican Governors Association headquarters, in other words, actually thinks that Gillespie believes a crackdown on Virginia sanctuary cities (which, again, don’t exist) will reduce the risk of MS-13 violence. He’s not an ignorant maniac, in other words; he’s just working with ad guys and conservative media to promote ignorance and mania in the general population.

The problem is the marks grow up.

И дальше Иглесиас правильно говорит, что тот же Gillespie запускает свои ads не для того, чтобы склонить на свою сторону убежденных республиканцев, которые в любом случае за него проголосуют. Он пытается убедить swing voters.

Проблема, однако, в том, что главным образом он убеждает как раз hard core республиканцев, которые позже, наслушавшись этого бреда от республиканского истеблишмента, голосуют за Moore и других опасных клоунов, которые пугают сам республиканский истеблишмент.