March 20, 2006
The Circle of Mistrust
Bruce Bartlett talks to Andrew Sullivan:
I have never understood why so many people — both inside and outside the administration — continue to give Bush so much loyalty. I can only conclude that it is borne more from fear than agreement with his policies. I think there is genuine fear of crossing the president, although I have never been able to uncover the precise mechanism through which it is communicated — even in my own case.[...]
There is a CRYING NEED for an investigative reporter to plumb the depths of how this works and why so many people submit to it — even when Bush has poll ratings so low as to barely show a pulse. Even behind closed doors, with guarantees of confidentiality, I cannot get FORMER administration people to say a bad word about the guy even when they have been badly treated by him in some way. The climate of fear is pervasive.
Andrew thinks this is due to the overtly religious turn the Republican Party has taken - he sees Bush as a quasi-cult leader. I wouldn't go that far, because I don't think you need a cult to explain this. I've seen the same dynamic in abusive relationships or "cool kid" cliques in high school. For his followers, Bush is "their guy" and their fortunes rise and fall with him. No matter how bad he gets, they fear his downfall more than they fear him at any one moment. Even when they've been cast by the wayside, it's better to have been denied by a demigod than an Faulknerian idiot man-child.
Posted by ben at March 20, 2006 07:16 AM