The betrayal of Democratic voters: Many ‘liberals’ need Trump to win

After surveying the wreckage of the Iowa caucus clown car, scattered in pieces by the side of the road to defeat, a liberal friend of mine asked, “This has to be on purpose, right? Nobody is this incompetent. Do they want Trump to win again?”

The answer to that pained rhetorical question is yes.

For a number of liberal authors, editors, speakers, professors, celebrities, organizations, unions, political action committees, newspapers and cable networks, hating President Trump has become a cash cow on steroids. They can’t rake in the money fast enough before the next pile crashes in front of them.   

With regard to the embarrassing meltdown in Iowa, the companies tied to the fiasco — Acronym and the Shadow app — seem to be doing quite well for themselves, if not for Democratic voters, since Trump’s election.      

That’s exactly the point: Many liberal operatives have never made this much money, and, for that reason, some need if not want Trump to be reelected. The “We Hate Trump” gravy train must not be allowed to derail. 

Will they ever acknowledge that to the desperate base of the Democratic Party, the supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), dubbed the “Bernie Bros,” or the progressives who have pledged allegiance to The Squad? Of course not.    

Those entrenched elite liberals purposely manufacturing, manipulating and exploiting the hatred and rage directed at President Trump, for personal gain or that of their organizations, will continue to utter pejoratives against Trump and publicly wish him ill will. But privately? They’re probably thanking their lucky stars that the most unorthodox, boastful political outsider in the history of the presidency came their way.     

It is a relationship forged by King Midas.

If you are one of the millions of Americans liberals have conditioned to hate President Trump — regardless of his positions or any verifiable successes he’s had that may positively affect your life — you need to remember the golden rule of politics: Follow the money.    

Instead of parroting the rumors about “collusion with Russia,” the need for his impeachment or how the president is a “national embarrassment,” take a long, hard look at those who profess to have your back. 

Liberal authors are getting six- and seven-figure book advances for hating Trump. Their liberal publishers make millions off those books. The liberal political action committees have enjoyed record-setting fundraising for the past three years. Marginal celebrities tweet self-serving hateful comments. Liberal speakers command thousands of dollars in fees. And the liberal cable TV hosts and their networks are realizing millions of dollars in profits from attacking Trump. 

Do you honestly believe they want the riches — money, career advancement, personal recognition — to stop? Do you think any of them would sacrifice that gain to rectify the pain and suffering that might be plaguing downtrodden Americans?   

Beyond that, look at the politicians who swear they are advocating on your behalf — chief among them House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Their public profiles and power bases grew exponentially with Trump’s election and their constant vilification of the president. 

Imagine where they would be now had Hillary Clinton won in 2016. They would be but a shadow of their manufactured selves.     

Make no mistake: This same formula existed when former President Obama was in office and scores of conservatives and Republicans got rich by attacking and demeaning him. During the Obama years, the Republican Congress and elite GOP establishment did next to nothing for their base. We can only imagine how many of them secretly prayed for Obama’s reelection in 2012.     

As the Disney song tells us in “Beauty and the Beast,” “it’s a tale as old as time.”  

And precisely because of that sort of fairy tale, Trump was elected president. Across the country, millions of Americans realized that both political parties and their respective power brokers have played them for chumps for years for their own gain. They decided to cast the elites aside and vote for Trump.

It’s likely to happen again in November — maybe even in greater numbers. And you can bet that some liberal Democrats who stand to profit from Trump’s reelection will secretly root for that to happen.  

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.