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1. Almost exactly a year ago Joe Biden said, "With Donald Trump out of the White House—not a joke—you will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends.” But in fact GOP continues to Trumpify: Trump critics are defenestrated & party rallying behind voter suppression
2. Stepping back, it's crucial to see how unusual it is that a defeated president continue to be a dominant figure in party who sets agenda & can punish foes: was that true of (in recent memory) Ford, Carter or Bush Sr.
3. Even successful presidents normally in modern times step background, only rarely commenting on public events & exercising authority in background. That's not Trump, who continues to set GOP agenda & have pols come to kiss his ring.
4. To understand Trump's continued dominance of GOP, you have to go back more than a century to figures like Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt (popular enough to break GOP in half when he led 3rd party in 1912.)
5. The Andrew Jackson precedent is particularly striking because Jackson was an untutored, vulgar, bullying, ideologically incoherent racist authoritarian whose cult of personality reshaped his party & re-aligned American politics.
6. The future of Trumpism after Trump remains an open question. Many remain skeptical that the worldview can outlive the outsized personality. But the Andrew Jackson precedent is worth thinking about. More here: https://jeetheer.substack.com/p/never-trump-or-forever-trump?r=bh54&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=twitter
