By Hal Brown
The Ford Motor Company wanted to develop Edsel as a fourth brand to compete with Chrysler and GM. The attempt failed dismally for a number of reasons in addition to the fact that many people thought the grill design was ugly. A popular joke at the time, Edsels "resembled an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon".
Those of use who remember the car recall the front grill. However, the rear was ugly too:
You can read all of the reasons on Wikipedia for the failure here.
Wikipedia's explains:
The name "Edsel" became synonymous with the real-life commercial failure of the predicted "perfect" product or product idea.
I noted the use of the word "perfect" since this is one of Trump's favorite words to describe himself and everything he does.
Wiki notes that "similar ill-fated products have often been colloquially referred to as "Edsels".
Flash forward from the late 1950's to the early 2020's and into the world of American politics. MAGA is the brand name for the Republican Party and people who identify with the brand are called MAGA's.
Anyone who believes in small D democracy views the MAGA product as ugly on the inside, and sometimes on the outside. I won't inflict photos of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene screaming on you since these images are already easily imagined.
I will, however share a video of an run-of-the-mill MAGA cultist:
The woman also mispronounces ignoramus three times in a row.
I would have worried every time this racist woman reached into her purse for fear she had a pistol there. Perhaps she did.Update: Since I posted the blog an hour ago the number of views of this video increased to 1.8 million.This is probably because it was the subject of this Raw Story article. I am sure that almost all of those who watched it were appalled by this woman's behavior since Raw Story is a progressive website.
She is why the GOP MAGA faction now in control of the party is doomed to become Edsels. These people are their base. The woman here doesn't seem to be mentally ill. She seems to be in total control of her faculties. Her beliefs are baked in. She represents the base that MAGA politicians appeal to.
While there are millions of people like her, there aren't enough to swing all but select House elections in deeply red districts, and perhaps a few Senate elections and state governor and legislature elections. She and her brethren are doomed to become Edsels.
This is currently the numb er one trending article on Raw Story.
Addendum: The person who posted this video has a book which made The Washington Post list of recommended books to read in 2023: I Still Believe: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy by Sgt. Aquilino Gonell with Susan Shapiro