"base motives" is correct and usable in written English.
It is used to describe the reason behind a particular action, usually implying a selfish or dishonorable cause. For example: "He was driven by base motives, seeking only power and wealth."
McLucas questions the "base motives" of "those who are behind" the very public way the drama has played out.
State prosecutor Walter Hemberger formally charged her with having been part of a group that "maliciously killed three people out of base motives".
If he were to have stood trial he would "with high probability have been charged with 342 cases of murder, committed cruelly and on base motives," said prosecutors.
Emily, telling her mother about the incident says "Wouldn't you think anyone as fortunate as the Conteesa...would be above base motives and acts?" "Poor thing.
Though not one to deny the existence of such base motives, I would insist that the crisis has its roots in key policy decisions stretching back over decades.
(How did she manage to sit through all those episodes of The Wire?) Her "good characters have serious flaws, and quite base motives, but none are evil".
Nothing was more likely to provoke his legendary rage than accusations that he was motivated by a base motive.
But it also became clear that besides the public interest the businessman had another more pressing and base motive: money.
Peter Staffel sharpens the point and names a base motive: "Please do what you want, but don't endlessly muse on your prospects in public … pretending to NEED our help, when all you really want is more attention".
Anyone who makes such accusations must be acting out of anti-Christian spite or some similarly base motive: that, strange as it might sound to outsiders, was a common reaction.To put the point simply, if you think your side is too virtuous to sin, it probably will sin, terribly.
Watching the campaign of the Brexiteers descend into racist rants, and seeing how this intimidates the fearful and prejudiced into supporting them, only confirms what I (and a lot of others) sensed from the first: that those who want to leave Europe are motivated most powerfully by the basest motives.
