The Friday Brief

June 14, 2024

The Big Picture

The Hannibal Lecter of the GOP

Donald Trump is a man only in the loosest of terms. Ponder his soft, coddled life, his dedication to makeup, haircare, and decadent luxury, to say nothing of his lack of any of the traditional manly virtues of integrity, honesty, honor, strength, or courage.

He loves to display a ferocious, grotesquely exaggerated form of dominance in one area of life: humiliating the people he holds in thrall.

Yesterday, Trump visited Capitol Hill — yes, the same Capitol Hill that three years ago was under attack by his yokel army — to demand the public fealty of every Republican with a sense of self-preservation. It went about as well as you might imagine.

“Like talking to your drunk uncle at the family reunion” was one of the more generous assessments of Diaper Donnie’s visit. Like a serial killer holding his captives in a dank basement in a decaying mansion, Trump, the Hannibal Lecter to the James Gumbs of the GOP, demanded they kiss his ass with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Between 75-100 of the GOP caucus are genuine Trumphadis, true believers in election denial, and who would readily send their teenage daughters to serve in Trump’s Mar-A-Lago sex dungeon if he asked. (“Is there a sex dungeon at Mar-a-Lago?” you ask. Well, there is now.)

The rest are Trump-centric, absolute opportunists or terrified mice. But they all bend the knee, even Mitch McConnell, who hates Trump with a fiery passion. None of them has the moral courage to stand in the caucus and tell him what they believe.