08-24-2023, 08:48 PM
Quote:Last night’s debate also underscored that what sells in the GOP these days is a dark view of America. That has certainly been a hallmark of Trump’s rhetoric, including his “American carnage” inaugural address, which over the years has only grown more cataclysmic. But he’s not alone. The No. 2 and 3 candidates in the polls, DeSantis and Ramaswamy, share Trump’s grim view of the United States, portraying it as under siege from all sidesTrump Is a Party of One
In an exchange with Pence, who was trying to strike a Reaganesque tone of optimism, Ramaswamy said, “Some others like you on this stage may have a ‘It’s morning in America’ speech. It’s not morning in America. We live in a dark moment, and we have to confront the fact that we’re in an internal sort of cold cultural civil war.” According to Ramaswamy, this is a time when “family, faith, patriotism, hard work have all disappeared.”
This outlook has resonance in the GOP. It’s why, if one cites positive empirical trends in America—improvements in some areas of the economy; a steep drop in violent crime and murder so far this year, according to preliminary data (in Trump’s final year in office, the homicide rate increased by nearly 30 percent); a decades-long drop in the number of abortions (which increased during the Trump presidency)—the reaction from many on the right is agitation. They have a psychological investment in a dark narrative, the view that we’re in an existential struggle, which helps justify their militancy.