Posted on 04/20/2021 3:43:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
PITTSBURGH -- They're still there, planted in front of stately homes in wealthy suburban neighborhoods, on flagpoles in middle-class communities, and along the front stoops of inner-city row houses.
Whether they say "Trump 2020" or simply "Trump," there are plenty of people who have left their sentiments planted on their own personal hill.
It is not just here in Pennsylvania. The signs are not hard to spot as you travel to the Great Lakes, the Midwest, and Appalachia.
The reason is complex. People who come from a variety of socioeconomic, religious, and political experiences formed a conservative populist coalition long before Donald Trump descended Trump Tower's escalator in June 2015 in New York City.
Political analysts, who often have little cultural connection to Republican voters, tend to say "Trump the man" is why his supporters voted for him. So, using that same line of thinking, if they came here and saw the Trump signs, they likely would proclaim these people were Trump cultists and end their curiosity.
They are wrong in two ways.
First, "Trump the man" did not form this coalition. Rather, he was the result of it. This was evident during the 2006 midterm elections when Republicans lost power. Analysts ignored the fact that Main Street Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters were voting against the Republican establishment because they were unhappy with the establishment ignoring their needs, not because they loved Democrats.
The pendulum swung further away from Republicans again in 2008 and then toward them again. By 2016, the voters who were to become Trump's base already knew who they were. Trump was the only one of 17 Republicans and five Democrats who stood out to this group of politically homeless voters. He knew how to tap the aspirations they were looking for from a presidential candidate.
Second, many people who have left their support for Trump visible to others have not left those flags or signs up because they think the election was stolen. It's not a testament to their undying support for one man; they've left them up because it is their only way to show the political class that they are not going away.
This conservative populist coalition ushered in more Republican elected officials down the ballot in November than any pollster or analyst predicted in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and Arizona. These voters are reminding themselves and others that they are still part of something big.
All you have to do is listen to them. The questions hurled at them, regardless of the subject matter, usually attempt to tie them to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or begin with, "Isn't it racist ... "
Cultural curators in the media, corporations, and the so-called social justice warriors just can't dislodge themselves from their narrow idea that if you voted for Trump or any other Republican, you are part of this thing that needs to become extinct.
These voters are telling you through their signs that that is not going to happen.
Even among the conservatives who found themselves voting for Joe Biden, they might not have Trump signs in their yard, but they certainly voted Republican down-ballot.
Just ask the newly sworn-in Republicans representing the Pennsylvania suburbs of Mount Lebanon, McCandless, or in Oakmont state House and Senate districts, who won seats in the suburbs Trump lost.
Democrats are going to struggle to win these voters back for U.S. House and Senate seats if they decide to pack the courts, make D.C. a state in order to gain partisan power in the Senate, encourage corporations to boycott states, and downplay the crisis on the border.
These voters did not succumb to the pressures of 2020 woke-ism. They are unlikely to bend in less than two years.
The next time you see a Trump sign in someone's yard, try to suppress your conditioned impulse and consider that it might be something more nuanced, more complex than the lazy stereotypical hot take anyone can post on social media.
The Tea Party was there before Trump. We conservatives were here before Trump. Trump completely blew it when he refused to fight the coup, in the streets if necessary. Now Trump is a non entity. Trump was so ineffective at defending freedom before he fled the field, our movement has been destroyed. Thanks to Trump listening to Uniparty (R) operatives and trying to stay IN the GOP, we conservatives are now all outlawed DVEs and the constitution lies in ruins. For losing the right to protest the left and losing the right to vote in honest elections we have only the memory of Trump’s accomplishments, all of which have been or will shortly be rolled back.
There are still many “Trump/Pence” signs around where I live. Some really large ones.
Those large ones ALL have “Pence” painted over.
Trump was so ineffective at defending freedom before he fled the field, our movement has been destroyed.
Your movement was ineffective, and destroyed itself.
I always considered a Trump more of a Populist than a conservative.
Say, how are things going with those staunch Tea Party Conservatives? You know, Micro Rubio, Sasse, Mia Love, Paul Ryan....?
Have you seen the new Biden tax package? Name one accomplishment, one left standing from Trump. His court appointees, they did a helluva job defending the constitution during the coup. How about the coming additional four justices? Who declined to fight the coup after 1/7? And that constitution thing my grandchildren will never know, who stood aside while that was ripped away. You can’t help being a stooge, can you?
Can't help being a troll, ,can you?
bump
You don’t have a clue. I’m talking about the grass roots tea party movement. If you had participated, you would surely know what I mean. A card caring GOP stooge, such as yourself, remembers the Uniparty (R) Judases who tried to compromise the movement, as they did with Trump, eventually leading to the movement’s destruction.
Ouch!
LOL! I quit the Republican Party when the GOP folded after Jan 6th. MAGA all the way.
But I'll bet you're still registered as a Republican, aren't ya. Aren't ya?
The headline is correct. Trump is not a cause, he is an indicator.
Agreed. I helped start a Tea Party chapter, we had hundreds of members..... but most were politically naïve, we were suckered into supporting a bunch of slick liars like those you list. Pat Toomey springs to mind! A Trump was what we lacked. He has the originalist mindset, but also the ability to get things done. You have to admit, for the most part, he was lousy at picking winners, too.
Yup. Way too trusting. That's a problem with honorable men. They have a tendency to think other people will act honorably as well. Hopefully he's learned his lesson. We can't do another 4 years of backstabbing underlings.
“Even among the conservatives who found themselves voting for Joe Biden...”
More like some conservatives found their ballots changed to vote for Joe Biden.
Sadly I know a few who did vote for Biden, idiots.
Nah, you know some former conservatives who voted for Biden.
The spark that ignited the movement was Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican convention.
For the first time since Ronald Reagan flew off into retirement, a national political figure was talking about things that the silent majority cared about. The crowds that followed her terrified the Establishment and they set about working to crush her.
The tactics they used were just a warmup for the big game as it turned out. Once the Donald arrived on the scene they dispensed with any subtlety and went balls-to-the-wall to thwart his every move.
And now we’ve arrived at a situation where the federal government is actively conspiring against nearly half its population. With a Chief Executive that closes down before supper time.
We truly live in interesting times
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