With the onset of the Kansas party caucuses and Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s endorsement of Donald Trump for President, the Trump phenomenon, after hovering like an apparition for months, has finally landed in the Land of Oz.
Political professionals and electoral scholars alike have been befuddled by the astonishing rise of The Donald, who seems primed to win the Republican nomination for president. There is little question that Trump has struck a chord with millions of Americans who have fallen behind economically, who completely distrust elites and the “establishment,” and who frequently blame Washington’s immigration policies for their financial woes.
Trump’s stock-in-trade has been to make incredible, factually challenged, and often crude statements, as he gleefully takes on all comers – whether his primary opponents, journalists, or hecklers at his rallies. Moreover, the blunt and snarky nature of social media encourages the kind of rough-and-tumble exchanges that he glories in and excels at.
So, we should be surprised by Trump’s rise and his ability to brush aside other politicians’ counter-arguments, hundreds of fact checks, and dozens of reasoned analyses that poke countless holes in his broad-brush assertions and half-baked proposals? To an extent, it is surprising, but if we look a more closely at our own political conversations in Kansas, we can see lots of evidence that presaged Trump’s bluster.
Indeed, Kansas has experienced a “Trumpification” of politics over the past few years. Basically, various politicians and policy-makers have made outrageous, silly, and mean-spirited statements that have degraded discourse within the state.
While it’s impossible to locate an exact starting point on the decline discourse, I suggest that Rep. Virgil Peck’s (R- Montgomery County) 2011 statement, “It looks like to me if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works — maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal immigration problem,” is an appropriate marker. Although this caused a flurry of outrage, Rep. Peck’s career went unaffected.
Then there was Senator Mitch Holmes’ (R- St. John’s) dress code for women testifying before his committee. “For ladies, low-cut necklines and mini-skirts are inappropriate,” although the good senator did admit that low-cut was “one of those things that’s hard to define.” To his credit, Senator Holmes did not suggest hunting down female lobbyists, but he certainly felt comfortable targeting them.
The Senate Judiciary Committee got into the act with a bill filed to limit the power of the state’s Supreme Court – you know, the body that determines whether a law is constitutional or not. Unhappy with the Court’s rulings, the committee proposed as grounds for judicial impeachment: “attempting to usurp the power of the legislative or executive branch of government.” Of course, in ruling on a law’s constitutionality that is precisely what the court does. Mercifully, this bill was withdrawn, but with nary a reasonable explanation. Very Trumpian.
The continuing babble from the Brownback Administration on the success (sic) of its tax cuts and economic programs constitute a whole other chapter of Trump-like blather in the face of reality, but who cares? In February, a $53 shortfall and there’s nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders and another delusional denial that tax policies were responsible. As Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan put it, “This has got us a little bit baffled.”
Finally, before he endorsed Trump, Kris Kobach publicly labeled both the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters as “communist” groups. The absurdity of these charges is matched only by Kobach’s ego-driven desire to play to the farthest right, most paranoid Republican factions.
So, before and after Trump’s rise to political prominence, Kansas has proved a fertile ground for absurd, airy, and scary remarks, issued with little thought and indicating a set of politicians who care almost nothing about what they say. Sigh.
Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.