The Pathetic Cautionary Tale of Elise Stefanik

Pity poor Elise Stefanik — or don’t. Stefanik is just the latest to find out that Donald Trump disdains suck-ups and loves winners. He especially loves to humiliate people who kowtow to him — seeing exactly how much he can force them to abase themselves for his ego and amusement.

Trump is fundamentally a sadist. He particularly loves torturing Republicans who once said something nasty about him but have since bent over backwards to ingratiate themselves. Take, for instance, Senator Lindsey Graham, who had once called Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot.” For reasons of political self-preservation, Graham became one of Trump’s most loyal minions once Trump won the White House. But that loyalty was not enough for Trump. At a 2023 Trump rally in Graham’s home county, the crowd booed Graham. Trump took the negativity directed at Graham in, smirked and said, “I know it’s half and half, but when I need some of those liberal votes, he’s always there to help me get them.”

Trump does not particularly care about whether other Republicans win elections either. Yes, he cares about keeping the House of Representatives in Republican hands because he does not want a Democratic majority to launch investigations into his many grifts or block his every unhinged whim. But when it comes to solidly Republican districts, like Marjorie Taylor Greene’s in Georgia, one Republican is as good as another, provided that Republican demonstrates total obeisance.

This is not a bug in Trump-world; it’s a feature. Trump has always delighted in the ritual humiliation of his own loyalists, whether Mike Pence or Jeff Sessions or so many others. Ask any number of former aides whose names we forgot as soon as he did.

https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/the-pathetic-cautionary-tale-of-elise