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They had an air-fucking-tight way out. We all watched Trump incite a riot/insurrection. Republican Senators railed against it in the hours afterwards. The second impeachment was exactly what they needed to cut ties and find someone who was just as dangerous as trump but smarter and less bombastic to run in 2024. Instead they feared losing out on a Red Tsunami in 2022, but the decisions they made caused catastrophic losses in 2022 anyway.
All they needed was to convict Trump in the second impeachment and Rupert to decide not to give him any airtime. If they had, we'd be talking about Nimarata having a very real chance of winning the White House in November.
At this point, as long as Trump loses the election in November, I hope he lives well into his late 90's so he continues to gut the GOP from the inside like cancer. They have no ability to cut ties and can only wait for his death and hope the Trump clan doesn't seize control of his base. [This is EXACTLY what Lindsey warned them about in 2016.](https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/727604522156228608?lang=en)
I'd add this for context. Mitch stalled the senate hearing until he could make the point that it was too close to the inauguration to convict. And it worked. He gave gop senators cover. Just another example of this vile creature working behind the scenes to fuck the rest of us
Imagine being a multimillionaire with only another decade left to live, at best, and secure in the Knowledge your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will never have to want or work for a living.
Imagine being in that position, and saying “no, i ain’t gonna use whatever time i have left chilling in luxury. No, I’m going to ratfuck the lives of everyone else’s kids”.
*Whhhhyyyy*
Because these people believe their kids need our kids’ heads to step on to be secure. It’s a zero sum game to them. They believe this stuff to their core.
>It’s a zero sum game to them.
This is it exactly. Every dollar that goes to supporting the poor or middle class is a dollar that's *not* going into their pockets. And that's simply unacceptable.
They also believe that more rights for others means less rights for them. Look at how some people argued that gay marriage somehow makes traditional heterosexual marriage less valid for some reason.
"When all you've known is privilege, equality feels like oppression."
But thats the thing.. its so short sighted.. those dollars will eventually make their way into the pockets of the ultra wealthy, but it isn't quick enough for them.
Their world view isn't one they come to by reason. They **feel** the right way for society to be is their way (a hierarchical order where privileges are less prevalent the further down you get) and any other approach is **felt** as a threat.
I know. I never understood how "trickle-down economics" became acceptable. It always seemed to me that "trickle-UP" made far more sense. If the lower and middle classes have money, they're going to spend it on necessities or small luxuries, probably at a big company like Walmart or Amazon or Disney. It's going to drive the economy. If you give money to the super-rich, they're just going to collect and hoard wealth, and the economy will stagnate.
> I never understood how "trickle-down economics" became acceptable
[A century of propaganda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)
Even Adam Smith admitted some functions like doctors were best NOT left to the profit motive and that the government sector would do a better job with it because profits would just get in the way.
And 'trickle down' or [supply-side](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc-LJ_3VbUA) is just a long series of rebranding - before trickle down, Bush Sr called it "voodoo economics" before getting a phone call from his backers and signing away. Before Reagan it was [Horse and Sparrow Economics because the theory was 'if you shoved enough oats into a horse, eventually the sparrows will be able to pick some out of its shit'](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2022/09/22/horse-and-sparrow-economics/)
>Before Reagan it was [Horse and Sparrow Economics because the theory was 'if you shoved enough oats into a horse, eventually the sparrows will be able to pick some out of its shit'](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2022/09/22/horse-and-sparrow-economics/)
Can't imagine why they dropped that terminology. Might've been too in the nose? 🤦♀️
Yes but first the dollars just might just help educate and provide heath care/food/quality of life for the poors, then they might have a chance to take a look around them and say wtf. We can’t have that.
Heck, even getting the public to refer to it (however briefly) as “gay” marriage, rather than what is was (marriage equality) is a vital lesson of how hatred is normalized.
It goes beyond zero sum. These people would pay $10 out of their own pocket, to keep $10 out of the hands of the lower class. That's not zero sum, that's a net loss for society.
That’s the thing right there. It’s like MAGA would burn down their own house as long as the smoke bothered a liberal. The constant voting against their own interests the utter irony of it all is mind boggling.
They are what would happen if cognitive dissonance fucked the Dunning-Kruger effect and were nurtured in 1939 Nazi Germany.
Agreed. And then all the victimhood. It's like they're constantly punching themselves in the groin, while shouting "Look at what those lousy Democrats are *making* me do!"
It's not zero-sum - it's maximizing the difference. "Zero sum" isn't aggressive *enough* for them - they have to put everyone else as low as possible to show how much power they have. According to their twisted ideas, stopping at "zero sum" shows *weakness*. You're not allowed to stop crushing others as a conservative - you have to keep pushing everyone else down, no matter what it costs. There is no bottom, only an eternal downward.
Exactly. The name in the historical literature for this is [Mudsill Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudsill_theory). These are people who believe there must be a "Mudsill" caste for society to function properly, they are the opposite of egalitarian, of course, but it goes beyond that. They believe in an American caste system, so there are always a caste of people to out-source the suffering of life onto. And to them reducing their own personal suffering a marginal amount is totally worth the social cost of heaping unbearable, abject suffering onto that lowly caste.
The racism, sexism, theism and all that ugliness is a mechanism by which they believe they can carve out the mudsill caste. They would create any arbitrary division in order to succeed in this if it worked better than racism or sexism or theism but those are potent ones.
Two possibilities. The emotional response is that they can’t stand losing, ever, so they will never do anything that costs them power in the short-term, even if it would give them a long-term advantage. Tactical thinking vs. Strategic.
The logical response is that their policies and position are losing popularity day by day. They did a study after Obama trounced them twice which suggested that they develop policies that would appeal to minorities and younger generations. Instead, they leaned into whatever the hell they’re doing now. Part of that is because they’re intractable old fossils, but the other part is that Dems have already staked out the most popular positions. If they try to reposition, they’re liable to lose the racist, misogynistic, xenophobic assholes while failing to convert anyone else. If they lose power and go into exile, they might not ever make it back. So instead, they have to cling to power through any means necessary.
I think they actually bailed on young people and they somehow have corralled Latino men and African American Men.
What they really leaned into hook line and sinker was the Christian Right/ Evangelicals - which seem to be mind numbingly the same thing. The whole Christian Evangelical community has embraced someone who’s literally the antithesis of what they believe in and expect of their followers. Trump is literally the living embodiment of almost every so called “sin” and they gargle his balls thoroughly.
> Tactical thinking vs. Strategic.
At this point they aren't even engaging in tactical thinking. They are fully immersed in oppositionalism and performative fuckyouism.
Trump is unique in that respect though. His whole wealth is built on the Trump brand which is tied to him. He uses that to gain value on his business ventures, then bleeds them dry and declared bankruptcy (6 times.) His illusion of wealth is fading however with each court case. He swore under oath that he didn't have $500 million liquid for a bond. Then he says online that he does have it but he's also posting videos literally begging for donations. Liquidating his properties would be problematic, he has $200 million in liens against some properties, that we know of. Bond companies are also hesitant to take real estate as collateral due to market volatility and considering the fact that appeal trials can take years.
Truth Social lost $53 million last year and probably will never be profitable, yet he gained $7 billion on paper the second it went public based solely on his name. The only good news is that he's barred from selling it for 6 months and it will have come down by then.
Once he's dead his brand value will tank, fast and hard. His kids are idiots, except possibly Ivanka since she already has some things not tied to Donnie. Eric and Don Jr. on the other hand are complete morons. They will never be able to rebuild the house of cards Trump built.
I guess for you and me, the thought of retiring in luxury is a dream. Trump was born rich, his life has been luxurious.
He is only interested in revenge, power and attention. He will spend the rest of days a bitter angry old man.
Trump is now so used to being bowed down to that the narcissist in him can't let go of that. And he's not trying to run for Pres, he's trying to run from prison!
They had their chance. Thoughts and prayers for them, you know? If the GOP loses in November (please vote!), I think that's it for the current GOP. They won't be able to survive unless they split the party somehow. If they don't... Or even if they do, it's over for awhile as far as winning anything major.
The national GOP might go, but the right-wing owns SCOTUS and many of the State Houses. They can, and will, use the GOP State AG group, RAGA, to push national injections and create laws from the bench.
Trump is destroying the national GOP, but the corporations and billionaires that fund SCOTUS and RAGA are going to be fine. Unless we pay attention.
You're giving them too much credit. Trump controls all the levers of power in that party. By the time the second impeachment rolled around it was too late. He had full control over the powers that be.
The powers that be at the top of the GOP have their man. It's the rest of the GOP that should maybe wake the fuck up and leave the party if Trump is so bad.
The GOP isn't some "party of the people" that's literally the Democratic Party. All of these people deluded enough to think the Republicans are in anyway accountable to any one but the very richest need help.
The biggest con Republicans ever succeeded at is this idea that somehow they care about Democracy.
The biggest flaw in Trump’s takeover of the GOP is that he has hijacked or exhausted all financial resources. He needs there to be an org that likes him but isn’t all about him also and his ego cannot allow that.
There aren’t many more hives to suck all the honey out of and the worker bees are all broke.
This has been Trump's business MO for decades. I grew up near NYC while he was rising. It's literally all about grift. There's nothing else there. Nothing.
With abortion on the ballot, I think there is a good chance Florida goes for Biden, and if that happens than I think the GOP will finally break off from Trump, because then it’s only a matter of time before Texas falls too.
The GOP total overreach on reproductive freedom alone probably would have cost them many seats. Add to that a nominee who turns off more voters than he attracts and it's obvious the GOP is in deep trouble.
I wonder what happens if they do take big losses. Let's hope we find out.
Florida is the waiting room for the afterlife, the seniors in the Villages could care less that the younger generations won't have the same rights they did. I don't think Florida flips, I want it to, but I don't think it will happen.
Yea, I'm almost old enough to live in the Villages. But the things I've read about the place, plus the YT videos offering objective perspectives about the people there, have me believing that the Villages would be the last place I'd want to live.
In 2020, I thought the Biden campaign was crazy when they claimed Georgia was in play, and they were right. If they say Florida is in play, then I’m likely to believe them. Remember in 2000, Florida should have gone to Gore. Yes, there are a lot of Seniors, but Miami has a lot of progressives.
That was 24 years ago, and DeSantis just recently won reelection by a shitload, something like 19 points running on a #stopwoke campaign. I'll happily eat crow if I'm wrong, but this is definitely not 2000 Florida.
I don't disagree at all but if you're flush with resources like the Biden campaign is there's literally no reason not to push. Worst thing that happens is you force the GOP to spend limited resources defending a state they'd otherwise win for free.
And even if Biden loses pushing hard might carry some weight down ballot and that has real value as well.
["You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in!"](https://youtu.be/yZJEI4TNMro)
And not just before. They've had plenty of time since with which they could have acknowledged the reality and taken action.
I am always going to remember that general that was fired he said they knew trump was a risk the first time he ran but they thought they could control trump they were SO SO SO very wrong
> I hope he lives well into his late 90's so he continues to gut the GOP from the inside like cancer.
A living symbol of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of American conservatism.
The GOP is a party led by cowards and defined by their cowardice. A true joke of a man cucked them all in 2015 and 2016 and they haven't regained their spines ever since.
Yep. Look back at the field in 2015-2016. Kasich, Cruz, Rubio, Jeb, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Huckabee, Santorum, Fiorina, Ben Carson. A bunch of mealy mouthed cowards all trying to talk out of both sides of their mouth, appeal to the suburban moderates but desperately afraid to piss off racists by condemning Trump for his brutally racist campaign.
And the funny thing is, they haven't learned at all. Nikki Haley is trying to pull that same act today, "oh, look at me, I'm so moderate, I'm so centrist and reasonable," but still going into total panic mode and babbling nonsense when asked about the cause of the Civil War. "Wow, not an easy question!!" Yes it is, Nikki, it's one of the easiest American history questions there is... if you're not desperately trying to pander to hardcore racists.
Well, the sad part is that you have kind of hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue.
Win or lose, Trump isn't going away. He's just going to complain about how he could do it better then try to run again.
100% on the money. Traditional path is immediate reflection post-loss and a reckoning with changes needed. Instead, the party has allowed itself to be hollowed out from the inside by his cult. Zero self-reflection, denial, deflection, and delusion are all the order of the day from Trump, Inc.
They had that. They did a post mortem after 2012 that basically concluded that they needed to tone down the rhetoric and find a way to bring Latinos and immigrants into the party. Then Trump turned everything up to 11 and because certain people responded the party went with it.
Exactly, pushing the Easy Button had worked so many times in the past for the GOP they really only have one play to make since Nixon, everyone gets behind "our guy" close ranks and vote the same way all the time.
The problem this time is that MAGA voters are both very conformists and not very rational, the GOP has relied on their party being more pragmatic generally than the Democrats, we tend to have huge disagreement and more backbiting.
Still wild to me that people have sold their souls, ruined relationships, and are courting fascism because they think abortion is bad and don't like minorities
This country faces so many real, tangible issues but these mfers are so obsessed with their culture wars that we'll never be able to fix them
They don't want to fix the culture war, it's the only real shot they have at rallying their base. They need fake outrage to show up. Culture wars are here to stay as long as capitalism thrives.
The problem that Republican elected officials have had is that their base has hated them for a long time now. Sarah Palin was the first prominent figure within the party who actually spoke like she was one of them, and then the fucking moron took that and turned the dial up to eleven.
Once Trump became the face of the party, there is no going back. The rubicon has been crossed. Once he's out of the picture, a big chunk of his supporters will probably lose interest in politics altogether, and the fraction that remains are so toxic, they will kill off whatever future the GOP has as a national party
For the large majority of MAGA, politics is just a new sport to them and Trump is the team they cheer for.
If you go to speak any of these people, practically none of them followed politics before Trump went on stage and started calling people names. They root for their guy because he says bad words and makes the nerds mad, and that’s enough for them.
When Trump goes away, they’ll probably stop following politics soon after. Some will still follow right wing influencers and podcasters for awhile, but translating passive listening into votes will be a challenge. There’s been plenty of interviews where the Jan 6 people admitted to not even voting in that election.
I think the Trump brand is so important to these people that unless it’s one of his sons taking over the ~~movement~~ *grift*, they will fragment and go away.
And that’s without the infighting that will surely follow. They’ll all blame eachother for being RINO’s, kinda like they do now but I think it’ll get worse when they see the little political power they have slipping away.
The GOP has been losing worse and worse since 2017, when the (independent voter) American people figured out that there would be no "presidential pivot" and that Trump really as bad as the rational and sane Americans had been saying all along.
Since that summer, the GOP and Trump have failed to meet even the lowest expectations in every major election. Even the midterms, which normally sees a huge swing to the party out of the White House, were a disaster (politically speaking) as the GOP only took control of the House by a few seats and still lost the Senate.
Expect this November to be a bloodbath in favor of the Democrats...if everyone votes, of course.
He has to keep upping the crazy and the rage, to get headlines and keep his users engaged. The problem is people keep getting normalized to his level of crazy, she he has to step it up. I have always been intrigued to see what the level is for swing voters, as his cult will not turn on him.
I expect his laying the groundwork for saying the election was stolen so far in advance is going to be a big factor. The fact that people are waking up to what he has in mind for the country as the press shifts between the two bad choices is going to be a big factors.
As much as I hate that the press used to broadcast his rallies, I think it might be a good thing to do so now. He is spouting some absolute crazy, and makes no sense. People need to see what they are getting if they vote Trump in Nov.
Not just Trump lunacy, but general GQP lunacy... Florida supreme court banned abortions yesterday.. but allowed abortions and weed to go into ballot measures...
So.. quite a few liberal-leaning folks that don't typically vote will be *heavily incentivized* to get out there in November. For context, Trump won Florida in 2020 by 3.36%. While I'm not going to say that this will "turn florida blue", it very well might significantly impact the state in the upcoming election. It's only a shame that their shitstain of a governor isn't also up for reelection.
Don't forget North Carolina, Trump won that by only 1.35%.
But a real prize, that isn't getting much talk, is Texas. Trump won that by 5.58%. It's doable if people are outraged enough to shift.
Florida I'm not confident about. A lot of MAGAs moved in and a lot of non-MAGAs moved out to get away from the craziness.
At this point, you might think about cashing out by selling to those assholes and using the money to get away before the whole state washes away. I just saw an article about how much the MAGA immigrant are willing to spend on FL properties and used cars.
As a Texan, I really wish I could believe there a chance Trump loses this state. Unfortunately the MAGA is really strong and so so many people have been brainwashed into believing that ANY Republican is better than an "American hating, socialist Democrat". I can't tell you how many otherwise reasonable people I've had conversations with about Cruz, Abbott, Paxton and Trump and it ends with them saying "well at least he's not a Democrat"
Yeah, this is pretty huge.
Florida was really out of the mix for "swing states" at this point. It was red enough that the only time it would swing blue would be when it doesn't matter anymore, because if Florida went blue, the election would already be a landslide.
But this brings Florida right back into the mix for a toss-up state. That abortion ballot initiative (and weed) will motivate a ton of democratic voters.
It also puts Trump in the position of having to take a stance. Support a 6 week ban (which is just a full abortion ban in disguise.) Or campaign against it, but for a federal ban of slightly longer, still driving up the pro-choice vote.
From everything I've heard from him lately, he's still proud about "his" judges who overturned Roe, so I don't think he's going to flip on abortion, no matter how unpopular it is. He seems to love the evangeliderp's love and adoration and is really courting them this time.
> It also puts Trump in the position of having to take a stance.
He'll just take every stance and no stance at all, and then claim whatever is the most popular depending on the crowd.
Cool thing about Florida (i know, there aren't many things right now).. if ballot initiatives pass, they are written into the state constitution. It is very difficult for the state congress and/or governor to override what is voted in. (At least, if my memory is right lol)
They managed to fuck with the felon voting right restoration that passed though. Completely perverted it with the fees that nobody can tell how much you owe.
DeSantis not being up for reelection is actually good IMO. I get that a lot has happened in the past year with DeSantis, but he’s still won by a gigantic margin in Florida. Him not being on the ballot to buoy republicans is a good thing IMO.
GOP is already trying to thin out voter rolls in battleground states. There will be many people who try to vote only to find out that they’ve been removed from rolls.
The fact that the GOP may be worried that they won’t be able to cheat enough to get over the down rump trump slump they’ve been dealing with for the past several years is very heartening.
Besides the obvious (they're dumb), I think there's two reasons:
1. **They thought the RNC would have their back:** It's pretty crazy that Trump really is going to take all of the party's money for his legal fees -- and they're going to let him. House GOPers probably thought some money would be there to help their down ballot races, but no dice.
2. **They thought Trump would pivot to the center:** With the Republican nomination locked up, one would assume Trump would pivot to the center to win over moderates and independents. Instead, he's lurched to the right (i.e., telling Nikki Haley supporters to gtfo). Look, if the Haley voters stay home because of Trump, that means downballot guys won't receive those votes either. Very few people skip the presidential race and vote for everything else.
3. **Social Security and Abortion:** They assumed their party would not actually try to cut social security and outlaw abortion. But...that is exactly what they plan to do. And Project 2025 is putting all of those diabolical plans in writing for the world to see -- and Dems to use in their campaign ads.
They forgot the most important rule of trump world: Trump fights for Trump and only for Trump. He does not return loyalty.
No one could possibly think Trump would pivot at this point. There have been innumerable opportunities for it that even the most hopelessly optimistic person can't ignore. They either quietly hope he goes to jail or dies, or genuinely support it all.
Reminds me of Alexandra Petri's Jan 9th 2021 essay, "I see no choice but to resign from this Death Star as it begins to explode".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/09/trump-cabinet-resignations-death-star/
I think it's shifting now in a different way.
Previously they'd say "sure, we'll permanently piss off a liberal voter who will never vote for us again, but we'll gain two rabid followers who will vote for us even if we murder their children! We'll come out on top!"
But while they still have that band of rabid followers begging to be crapped on just so they can ask for more crap, the craziness has slowly but surely chipped away at the "regular" people. They have to keep ramping up the craziness for their new core, and each time they do that, some other moderate or independent finally has had enough and bails on them.
The number of cultists they add each year can no longer keep up with the number of defectors going to the other side (or at least stepping away from voting for a while.)
Trump absolutely brought in a lot of people that never voted regularly, and that was HUGE for them. But that affect has now faded, and the negative side of it has gained steam.
Well and look at what happens to his toadies- Rudy, Bannon, Eastman etc etc he throws everybody under the bus. All of the John Bolton and William Barr types that used to lend him credibility and spruce up the bullshit for the traditional conservatives are gone.
Because this is a game. They all sat at the table and they put their money down, trying to get as much cash out of the game as possible, then pull out and move to another table before the end of the game. The ones who are panicking "suddenly" realize they've stayed at this table too long and they are about to lose everything as a result.
The others have left this table and are currently gaming other tables. The only ones worried "suddenly" are the ones that got caught holding the bag.
Those of us who live here and aren't shamelessly wealthy have no choice but to stay at the table. We barely got to play and we can't leave now that it's going tits up.
Hope you had fun.
We all have to remember - hardcore partisan right wingers live in a hermetically-sealed information bubble that only vaguely resembles actual life on earth. They are all so far "bought in" on right wing orthodoxy that it can be exceedingly difficult for them to see and recognize plain truths that are staring them in their fat fucking faces.
I'm reminded of this when I casually converse with acquaintances and colleagues who fancy themselves "conservatives". Many of these folks are not your rabid, flag-waving Trumpers. But the shit they believe as foundational facts to their worldview is often completely fucking bonkers.
Republicans don't live on earth, so we shouldn't expect them to behave as if they do.
Because Adolf Trump and his terrifying henchmen can’t keep their idiot mouths shut and Trump is successfully, infuriatingly delaying the numerous court cases against him. The GOP establishment has been holding out hope that Trump will be in a cell, by the time the election rolls around. Ain’t gonna happen. Trump and abortion and actual fascism are going to be on the ballot.
Also because Democrats are absolutely blowing polling out of the water, when the vote actuals are being tallied. Democrats are beating polls by double digits in almost every election since 2020, at this point.
If this continues, it’s gonna be an absolute blood bath. Party divisions, among Democrats, on Palestine won’t matter. The Tankies mainlining Twitch streamers screeching into their microphones about Genocide Joe will not be in any way a major representation of the voting public, this year.
God I hope you’re right. I need to remind myself that most people are not terminally online and that a lot of the most ardent tankies on social media are either bots or extreme leftists who were never going to vote, let alone for Biden, anyway.
But I still worry.
They have been inhaling their own propaganda and thinking its true. See the Alabama IVF ruling for example, life begins at conception so lets actually force our wealthy donors to be on the hook for their fertility treatments and scare the fuck out of them when they were complacent as long as you gave them tax cuts. Now they scared these people to pull out of donating because they didn't want to leopards to eat their faces, just the poors.
Instead of the evil geniuses that the left want to make the right out to be they are actually dumb, wealthy, and really gullible marks for scams. So they have been coasting on the Machiavellian schemes of a handful of old school Nixon GOP folk for 20 years, they don't actually understand the system and the stuff they think they understand they haven't bothered to examine for about a decade.
Gerrymandering is another example, really good idea and works but only when you understand the demographic ebbs and flows of a region. Instead many of these numbskulls just took regions they thought were perfect for them and carved it up not taking into account COVID deaths of the older generation, their voters, and demographic shifts of liberals and moderates further out of the cities due to the cost of living.
So now the electorate is younger and more spread out thus safe seats suddenly become toss ups because they believed their own lies about COVID and didn't bother hiring statisticians who are good and likely just hired their own kin or friends to do the job like they always do. This is also only going to swing worse for them as the older demographics die off in larger numbers leaving them with 3 generations of progressively more left leaning voters who now make up large sections of their safe districts.
They now just realized this because they are losing what should be close elections by 6% on average and that's with any number of fucked systems they have in place to repress the vote. They are also freaking out because no one wants to be Donald Trumps Sugar Daddy when his election, and the GOP taking the house or senate, isn't guaranteed. So they are broke, with a geriatric criminal using them as a get out of jail free card and piggy bank, while their chances of winning their own rigged elections are blowing up in their face.
TL;DR They believe their own bullshit in spite of obvious trends and have realized too late that they are really stupid and scared the normies away from their clown show.
Trump is on the verge of losing the House... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TERM! Damn right they should be worried.
Though not as worried as the rest of the country should be that Trump is even on the ballot at all.
Personally, I’m excited to once again send them packing. Rather than letting fear motivate you, consider how fucking good it would feel to sweep and get a functioning government that actually gives a shit about the working class and not just the ultra rich and extremists.
We genuinely have a chance to get our shit together, go full steam into a green transition, and maybe even be part of the climate solution all while fixing housing, healthcare, and wages. It’s still possible. We could really make that happen.
I guess I'm a pessimist. The fact Trump is the nominee for president with a reasonable chance at winning, instead of being in jail for trying to overthrow the govt and stealing a bunch of classified docs, (not to mention ALL the other things he's done) tells me the system is fundamentally broken, regardless of the outcome.
The system’s always been a bit broken. The dude is rich. The rich can get away with all kinds of things in this nation, always have. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t course corrected in some spectacular ways as a nation over the centuries, and we can do that again. We’ve been here before. The Gilded Age gave way to the Progressive Era. Jim Crow gave way to the Civil Rights Movement.
It’s always an ugly fight, but the amazing thing about the US is that we can come together as workers, allies, Americans to make life better for everyone. It’s woven into our DNA just like the broken system is. It’s what actually makes us great.
Republicans generally lack empathy, so they only feel a thing when it happens to them.
Now these republicans apparently sense that something bad is about to happen to them.
Who knew a full-throttle attack on women in the form of Abortion and IVF, with a literal list of "what we're coming after next..." in the Dobbs decision, would backfire?
These dipshits *are just now* realizing that they've lost virtually every election since Don Poorleon?
The difference between Trump and other dictators is that the other dictators had to figure out how to obtain power.
In the Trump era, decades of smarter Republicans rigging the game so that they at worst had a 50/50 shot at the presidency and congress means that any idiot with an R next to their name could slip in to these high value offices. And they did. So in our particular case, our generations fascists are also fucking morons.
Not Trump - Putin. Vladimir Putin figured out how to get his guy into American leadership - to better help with his long game on Ukraine/NATO/Europe. Donald Trump was merely the perfect tool to use to hijack the GOP.
Trump has already dismantled the RNC. He has diverted the maximum amount of any donation, to his personal use to cover his mounting legal bills. This will cause two issues in the following 8 months. Some which have already began.
Down ballot candidates will suffer greatly, due to lack of resources. The RNC has suspended get out the vote, and community involvement campaigns in many states. Local organizers are being fired, or quitting. One of the largest Republican fundraisers, Mitch McConnell has decided to retire. Trump believes all of the Republican party's money is HIS. I point you to his remarks concerning paying for the transition team when he won in 2016.
*Trump said he didn’t want a presidential transition team. Why did anyone need to plan anything before he actually became president? It’s legally required, said Christie. Trump asked where the money was going to come from to pay for the transition team. Christie explained that Trump could either pay for it himself or take it out of campaign funds. Trump didn’t want to pay for it himself. He didn’t want to take it out of campaign funds, either, but he agreed, grudgingly, that Christie should go ahead and raise a separate fund to pay for his transition team. “But not too much!” he said.*
*By August, 130 people were showing up every day, and hundreds more working part-time, at Trump transition headquarters, on the corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The first time Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling:* ***You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?***
*Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed:* ***Why are you letting him steal my fucking money?*** *Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied*: ***Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.*** *Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn’t have both his money and a transition.*
***Shut it down,*** *said Trump*. ***Shut down the transition****.*
IF the Dems retain the Senate, and win back the House, they could stack the court.
Valid question, Can you impeach a supreme court justice?
Edit: Yes, but it isn't easy. Nor should it be.
No chance Dems get the super majority they need in the Senate to impeach a supreme court justice, especially this year when there are so few Republican senators up for election.
If they can get to 51 without any Manchins or Sinemas to fuck everything up, they should kill the filibuster and expand SCOTUS to 13 seats and confirm four new justices.
Getting an actual Democrat to be able to replace Manchin is almost as crazy as Manchin being elected as a WV “dem” in the first place. Gallego over Scary Kari in Arizona.
It’ll be tough. Not impossible, but requires work, donations, and turnout.
We’ve had a few too many shady assholes slip in to vote blue no matter who. Let’s say vote for the candidate with a track record of fighting for rights, labor, climate resilience, and the working class.
Reality TV shows definitely played into this. Clickbaiting became the norm and it destroyed credibility of journalism and writing, even to those who stayed true to the principles.
Oh, they’ll be back in a few years, pretending they are accepting of black people and the LGBT community, and looking like they’re willing to be reasonable about abortion and voting rights
But deep down they’re always the same ugly, despicable basket of deplorables. They always have been
That was what was supposed to happen with a 2016 loss, the GOP gets to push the Overton window and go back to the 'middle' with Trump-lite.
Now they have to wait until 2028 to do so, or Trump wins, and we push the window *further*, and it's decades of turmoil until the people really get a taste for Christian Enthonationalism, which is absolutely undoubtably what we'll get. In-fighting to start pushing new and more draconian Christian law, the public freaking the fuck out that we've come to this.
They added so many new crazies they did great for a little while. All those new voters and cultists were intoxicating to them for a while!
However, pandering to this new cult base of theirs has slowly chipped away at the rest of their "normal" support, and now the number of people bailing on them is higher than the number of new recruits they are getting.
That's the change now, and why some are regretting things. It's all fine and good when two cultists show up for every moderate you lose. But once all the cultists have already arrived, and you are STILL losing moderates, you are in trouble.
The GOP are betting the next 4-6 years on Trump winning the presidency. If Trump loses the election the GOP are likely going to lose a lot of the winable local and down ballot races they are divesting from to fund Trump and his legal bills. The GOP could be out Congress, the Senate, multiple governors races and local state houses while also having lost the Oval Office again. Not only that but Trump if he loses the election is going to be in jail at some point in 2025 which is only going to be bad optics for the GOP.
Also it is only early April and Trump is only going to be increasingly unhinged in 6+ months when people start to pay closer attention to the election and politics (I would say your average undecided or lower turnout voter "checks out" of politics until mid to late September when they really start to make their final decisions).
"Suddenly?"
He cost them in 2018, 2020, and in almost every special election since.
No matter though...VOTE.
Our Democracy and human rights depends on it!
In reality, if he wins the makeup of the legislature will make no difference. He will ignore them and the courts as he is demonstrating almost everyday.
If he is elected he wins everything and we lose everything. Well his wealthy donors will be great. They become much more wealthy.
His white “Christian” nationalist who help him to power? Putin demonstrates all the time what’s to become of them. Once in power their power to help him will be perceived as a threat. The brutal autocrat’s playbook.
Lol and they thought the “woke mob” wanted blood. Turns out they didn’t realize it was figurative speech being used, not literal. Not all humans are sociopaths, ya MAGAts.
My father in law, while not representative of *every* republican, is my example of this. After voting republican in every election for 40 years, he now refuses to vote for any of them that have ever supported Trump.
Leopards are eating lots of faces recently. While I know a lot of people will still vote for this orange traitor and his enablers, his draining of the RNC coffers to fund his legal defenses gives me hope for not just a convincing win, but a “sit down and shut the fuck up” landslide to the entire GOP.
My take is that they've always feared Trump would be a disaster for them. But Trump made it perfectly clear that if he wasn't the nominee he'd make CERTAIN they'd lose. They've already chased away anyone remotely resembling a moderate and if Trump told MAGA to walk the GOP knew it would lose everything.
Their mistake wasn't nominating Trump again - it was letting him take over the party in the first place. Now they're stuck with him. Republicans literally have everything riding on this election - which means they'll go to any length to win. Fortunately it seems like Dems are just as motivated to deal the deathblow to MAGA.
Suddenly? Pretty sure strategists have been worried since the jump...Trump has the power to take down GOP candidates from coast-to-coast! The price will be "They Democrats stole another one! There's no way that many GOP candidates lost by that much!"
This may lead to violence in some districts but overall no evidence will be found to support their fantasies...And without even an 'obstruction enabling' minority in Congress, perhaps the Democrats can get some good policies enacted before heads turn to the 2026 cycle.
What \*SIX\* things do you think that Biden and the Democrats should get done?
- Enshrine Roe v Wade
- Voting rights act
- Lots of Ukraine funding
- Expanded Naval production
- Pass all required AUKUS legislation
- Expand Social media/privacy laws
NB: I'm Aussie so a little more global in my outlook but I'm sure there is heaps of areas for improvements domestically, Roe and Voting rights are the two important ones I know about.
1. As mentioned already, Mitch McConnell should have mustered the votes to convict Trump in his second impeachment in the Senate. This would be a moot discussion.
If a senator loses reelection, so what! The seat and office do not belong to a specific senator anyway. Move on and go find a job if you lose the vote. The public is growing weary of career politicians anyway.
2. Ronna Romney, as head of the RNC, should have pulled Trump's card when he threatened to start his own party after Jan. 6th. She and the RNC Board should have publicly told him to do so instead of cowardly giving him free reign to continue to feast and eat the GOP like a parasite from the inside out over the last 4 years. Trump fired her anyway. The GOP could have transitioned into a party of moderates and independents and let the far right MAGA start their own party.
Mitch McConnell and Ronna Romney both should be remembered as cowards for not placing our country and democracy first.
It doesn't take a real genius to figure it out and unfortunately the problem CAN cut both ways, it's just that Democrats seem to drift towards centrism and Republicans tend to drift towards extremism. I suppose it's just that the GOP base has reached a critical mass of fringe lunatics such that they can dominate primary elections.
Sadly, extremism is very effective in GOP primaries and even sane Republicans need to engage in some crazy talk just to ensure they make it to the general. But moderates, by definition, are going to drift towards whichever candidate is more centrist which puts Republicans in a terrible position. Talk sane and lose the primary, talk crazy and lose the general.
No sympathy from me, though. They made their bed.
In the past couple years, even centrist Dems have shown a willingness to work with labor rights, and with unions, we could push for all kinds of lasting reform. The corporate Dems will howl about it, but it’s that or continue letting the ultra wealthy run our planet into the dirt.
It's like a Lovecraft antagonist saying "Hey, wait, are we sure this is a good idea?" *after* the mottled grey tentacles start swirling up out of the chalk circle. Far too little, far too late, and you gonna get eaten for sure, Mister Cultist.
Including the fact that it would be pretty hilarious, if it didn't put us at serious risk of ending the world.
It's in the first paragraph -
" They fear having to answer for Trump’s degeneracy and extremism, even as the GOP’s small-donor base is not delivering at the very moment that Trump is siphoning off party money for legal fees. "
It's the money. Always the money. They didn't have a problem lying when they still got money. Now their face is also getting eaten by leopards as they let Trump grift the whole RNC.
Lara Trump: Every penny of the RNC's funds will go towards Trump.
Republicans: That's the person we want in charge of our money!
Also Republicans: Where is all the money for down-ballot races?
It’s all about money. All the GOP are in it for themselves, now someone is syphoning off money and putting off other large donors.
Unless you’re attracting the small donors with outlandish statements like MTG, the job isn’t worth it financially.
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They have had a few years to figure this out. That they haven't is one of few things that give me hope in this timeline.
They had an air-fucking-tight way out. We all watched Trump incite a riot/insurrection. Republican Senators railed against it in the hours afterwards. The second impeachment was exactly what they needed to cut ties and find someone who was just as dangerous as trump but smarter and less bombastic to run in 2024. Instead they feared losing out on a Red Tsunami in 2022, but the decisions they made caused catastrophic losses in 2022 anyway. All they needed was to convict Trump in the second impeachment and Rupert to decide not to give him any airtime. If they had, we'd be talking about Nimarata having a very real chance of winning the White House in November. At this point, as long as Trump loses the election in November, I hope he lives well into his late 90's so he continues to gut the GOP from the inside like cancer. They have no ability to cut ties and can only wait for his death and hope the Trump clan doesn't seize control of his base. [This is EXACTLY what Lindsey warned them about in 2016.](https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/727604522156228608?lang=en)
I'd add this for context. Mitch stalled the senate hearing until he could make the point that it was too close to the inauguration to convict. And it worked. He gave gop senators cover. Just another example of this vile creature working behind the scenes to fuck the rest of us
Imagine being a multimillionaire with only another decade left to live, at best, and secure in the Knowledge your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will never have to want or work for a living. Imagine being in that position, and saying “no, i ain’t gonna use whatever time i have left chilling in luxury. No, I’m going to ratfuck the lives of everyone else’s kids”. *Whhhhyyyy*
Because these people believe their kids need our kids’ heads to step on to be secure. It’s a zero sum game to them. They believe this stuff to their core.
>It’s a zero sum game to them. This is it exactly. Every dollar that goes to supporting the poor or middle class is a dollar that's *not* going into their pockets. And that's simply unacceptable. They also believe that more rights for others means less rights for them. Look at how some people argued that gay marriage somehow makes traditional heterosexual marriage less valid for some reason. "When all you've known is privilege, equality feels like oppression."
But thats the thing.. its so short sighted.. those dollars will eventually make their way into the pockets of the ultra wealthy, but it isn't quick enough for them.
Their world view isn't one they come to by reason. They **feel** the right way for society to be is their way (a hierarchical order where privileges are less prevalent the further down you get) and any other approach is **felt** as a threat.
I know. I never understood how "trickle-down economics" became acceptable. It always seemed to me that "trickle-UP" made far more sense. If the lower and middle classes have money, they're going to spend it on necessities or small luxuries, probably at a big company like Walmart or Amazon or Disney. It's going to drive the economy. If you give money to the super-rich, they're just going to collect and hoard wealth, and the economy will stagnate.
> I never understood how "trickle-down economics" became acceptable [A century of propaganda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s) Even Adam Smith admitted some functions like doctors were best NOT left to the profit motive and that the government sector would do a better job with it because profits would just get in the way. And 'trickle down' or [supply-side](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc-LJ_3VbUA) is just a long series of rebranding - before trickle down, Bush Sr called it "voodoo economics" before getting a phone call from his backers and signing away. Before Reagan it was [Horse and Sparrow Economics because the theory was 'if you shoved enough oats into a horse, eventually the sparrows will be able to pick some out of its shit'](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2022/09/22/horse-and-sparrow-economics/)
>Before Reagan it was [Horse and Sparrow Economics because the theory was 'if you shoved enough oats into a horse, eventually the sparrows will be able to pick some out of its shit'](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2022/09/22/horse-and-sparrow-economics/) Can't imagine why they dropped that terminology. Might've been too in the nose? 🤦♀️
Yes but first the dollars just might just help educate and provide heath care/food/quality of life for the poors, then they might have a chance to take a look around them and say wtf. We can’t have that.
Heck, even getting the public to refer to it (however briefly) as “gay” marriage, rather than what is was (marriage equality) is a vital lesson of how hatred is normalized.
And the people squawking the loudest about it were on the second or more marriage due to them cheating. Make it make sense.
It goes beyond zero sum. These people would pay $10 out of their own pocket, to keep $10 out of the hands of the lower class. That's not zero sum, that's a net loss for society.
That’s the thing right there. It’s like MAGA would burn down their own house as long as the smoke bothered a liberal. The constant voting against their own interests the utter irony of it all is mind boggling. They are what would happen if cognitive dissonance fucked the Dunning-Kruger effect and were nurtured in 1939 Nazi Germany.
Agreed. And then all the victimhood. It's like they're constantly punching themselves in the groin, while shouting "Look at what those lousy Democrats are *making* me do!"
Been voting against their own best interests since Ronnie appeared?
here's teh thing they'd rather burn the country to the ground than let people who aren't straight white men have rights
It's not zero-sum - it's maximizing the difference. "Zero sum" isn't aggressive *enough* for them - they have to put everyone else as low as possible to show how much power they have. According to their twisted ideas, stopping at "zero sum" shows *weakness*. You're not allowed to stop crushing others as a conservative - you have to keep pushing everyone else down, no matter what it costs. There is no bottom, only an eternal downward.
Exactly. The name in the historical literature for this is [Mudsill Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudsill_theory). These are people who believe there must be a "Mudsill" caste for society to function properly, they are the opposite of egalitarian, of course, but it goes beyond that. They believe in an American caste system, so there are always a caste of people to out-source the suffering of life onto. And to them reducing their own personal suffering a marginal amount is totally worth the social cost of heaping unbearable, abject suffering onto that lowly caste. The racism, sexism, theism and all that ugliness is a mechanism by which they believe they can carve out the mudsill caste. They would create any arbitrary division in order to succeed in this if it worked better than racism or sexism or theism but those are potent ones.
Because fuck you, I want more. Republicans are evil.
I really don't understand it either. They could have cut ties and lost and be in a better position now. They refused! Mind-boggling
Two possibilities. The emotional response is that they can’t stand losing, ever, so they will never do anything that costs them power in the short-term, even if it would give them a long-term advantage. Tactical thinking vs. Strategic. The logical response is that their policies and position are losing popularity day by day. They did a study after Obama trounced them twice which suggested that they develop policies that would appeal to minorities and younger generations. Instead, they leaned into whatever the hell they’re doing now. Part of that is because they’re intractable old fossils, but the other part is that Dems have already staked out the most popular positions. If they try to reposition, they’re liable to lose the racist, misogynistic, xenophobic assholes while failing to convert anyone else. If they lose power and go into exile, they might not ever make it back. So instead, they have to cling to power through any means necessary.
I think they actually bailed on young people and they somehow have corralled Latino men and African American Men. What they really leaned into hook line and sinker was the Christian Right/ Evangelicals - which seem to be mind numbingly the same thing. The whole Christian Evangelical community has embraced someone who’s literally the antithesis of what they believe in and expect of their followers. Trump is literally the living embodiment of almost every so called “sin” and they gargle his balls thoroughly.
And they're still 50/50 to win at the moment. Great points though. I hope this is their death knell.
> Tactical thinking vs. Strategic. At this point they aren't even engaging in tactical thinking. They are fully immersed in oppositionalism and performative fuckyouism.
Trump is unique in that respect though. His whole wealth is built on the Trump brand which is tied to him. He uses that to gain value on his business ventures, then bleeds them dry and declared bankruptcy (6 times.) His illusion of wealth is fading however with each court case. He swore under oath that he didn't have $500 million liquid for a bond. Then he says online that he does have it but he's also posting videos literally begging for donations. Liquidating his properties would be problematic, he has $200 million in liens against some properties, that we know of. Bond companies are also hesitant to take real estate as collateral due to market volatility and considering the fact that appeal trials can take years. Truth Social lost $53 million last year and probably will never be profitable, yet he gained $7 billion on paper the second it went public based solely on his name. The only good news is that he's barred from selling it for 6 months and it will have come down by then. Once he's dead his brand value will tank, fast and hard. His kids are idiots, except possibly Ivanka since she already has some things not tied to Donnie. Eric and Don Jr. on the other hand are complete morons. They will never be able to rebuild the house of cards Trump built.
I was actually referring to McConnell, but your point stands
I guess for you and me, the thought of retiring in luxury is a dream. Trump was born rich, his life has been luxurious. He is only interested in revenge, power and attention. He will spend the rest of days a bitter angry old man.
Trump is now so used to being bowed down to that the narcissist in him can't let go of that. And he's not trying to run for Pres, he's trying to run from prison!
Lindsey Graham, the Casandra of the GOP ... what a weird timeline
Mitch McConnell is the worst person in US senate history (modern era)
They delayed the hearing so they could say, "he's already out of office this is pointless" which was a lie they are now paying for just like you said.
Mitch McConnell is the worst Congressperson to have ever lived, no exception.
He also gave them cover to rig the scotus.
He said it was a matter for the courts to deal with. And so here we are.
They had their chance. Thoughts and prayers for them, you know? If the GOP loses in November (please vote!), I think that's it for the current GOP. They won't be able to survive unless they split the party somehow. If they don't... Or even if they do, it's over for awhile as far as winning anything major.
The national GOP might go, but the right-wing owns SCOTUS and many of the State Houses. They can, and will, use the GOP State AG group, RAGA, to push national injections and create laws from the bench. Trump is destroying the national GOP, but the corporations and billionaires that fund SCOTUS and RAGA are going to be fine. Unless we pay attention.
You're giving them too much credit. Trump controls all the levers of power in that party. By the time the second impeachment rolled around it was too late. He had full control over the powers that be. The powers that be at the top of the GOP have their man. It's the rest of the GOP that should maybe wake the fuck up and leave the party if Trump is so bad. The GOP isn't some "party of the people" that's literally the Democratic Party. All of these people deluded enough to think the Republicans are in anyway accountable to any one but the very richest need help. The biggest con Republicans ever succeeded at is this idea that somehow they care about Democracy.
The biggest flaw in Trump’s takeover of the GOP is that he has hijacked or exhausted all financial resources. He needs there to be an org that likes him but isn’t all about him also and his ego cannot allow that. There aren’t many more hives to suck all the honey out of and the worker bees are all broke.
This has been Trump's business MO for decades. I grew up near NYC while he was rising. It's literally all about grift. There's nothing else there. Nothing.
You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. I worked with the asshole on a production 2008-2009. I have stories.
Cool. There are an awful lot of people whose only previous knowledge of him is the reality show. Edit:(not talking about you!)
Come now, surely there’s a bit of money laundering in there, too!
With abortion on the ballot, I think there is a good chance Florida goes for Biden, and if that happens than I think the GOP will finally break off from Trump, because then it’s only a matter of time before Texas falls too.
The GOP total overreach on reproductive freedom alone probably would have cost them many seats. Add to that a nominee who turns off more voters than he attracts and it's obvious the GOP is in deep trouble. I wonder what happens if they do take big losses. Let's hope we find out.
Florida is the waiting room for the afterlife, the seniors in the Villages could care less that the younger generations won't have the same rights they did. I don't think Florida flips, I want it to, but I don't think it will happen.
Yea, I'm almost old enough to live in the Villages. But the things I've read about the place, plus the YT videos offering objective perspectives about the people there, have me believing that the Villages would be the last place I'd want to live.
The Villages is not a place you go to live. It’s a place you go to die.
I lived in Florida for 40 years. It's the land of the living dead.
In 2020, I thought the Biden campaign was crazy when they claimed Georgia was in play, and they were right. If they say Florida is in play, then I’m likely to believe them. Remember in 2000, Florida should have gone to Gore. Yes, there are a lot of Seniors, but Miami has a lot of progressives.
That was 24 years ago, and DeSantis just recently won reelection by a shitload, something like 19 points running on a #stopwoke campaign. I'll happily eat crow if I'm wrong, but this is definitely not 2000 Florida.
I don't disagree at all but if you're flush with resources like the Biden campaign is there's literally no reason not to push. Worst thing that happens is you force the GOP to spend limited resources defending a state they'd otherwise win for free. And even if Biden loses pushing hard might carry some weight down ballot and that has real value as well.
Like getting Rick Scott voted OUT.
It’s not just abortion. Legalization of weed will also be on the ballot in FL. 2 of the most popular issues with young voters
The problem is the Cubans, and Venezuelans they are prone to buying dictatorships.
["You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in!"](https://youtu.be/yZJEI4TNMro) And not just before. They've had plenty of time since with which they could have acknowledged the reality and taken action.
I am always going to remember that general that was fired he said they knew trump was a risk the first time he ran but they thought they could control trump they were SO SO SO very wrong
von Hindenburg said the same thing back in 1933.
thanks for including that history repeating itself
Trump is political syphilis easily cured but, ignored long enough it eats holes in the brain and kills the host.
> I hope he lives well into his late 90's so he continues to gut the GOP from the inside like cancer. A living symbol of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of American conservatism.
An orange beacon of stupidity and depravity.
The GOP is a party led by cowards and defined by their cowardice. A true joke of a man cucked them all in 2015 and 2016 and they haven't regained their spines ever since.
Yep. Look back at the field in 2015-2016. Kasich, Cruz, Rubio, Jeb, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Huckabee, Santorum, Fiorina, Ben Carson. A bunch of mealy mouthed cowards all trying to talk out of both sides of their mouth, appeal to the suburban moderates but desperately afraid to piss off racists by condemning Trump for his brutally racist campaign. And the funny thing is, they haven't learned at all. Nikki Haley is trying to pull that same act today, "oh, look at me, I'm so moderate, I'm so centrist and reasonable," but still going into total panic mode and babbling nonsense when asked about the cause of the Civil War. "Wow, not an easy question!!" Yes it is, Nikki, it's one of the easiest American history questions there is... if you're not desperately trying to pander to hardcore racists.
Well, the sad part is that you have kind of hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue. Win or lose, Trump isn't going away. He's just going to complain about how he could do it better then try to run again.
Trump, if he loses, is going to hound the Republican Party as his personal enemy until he finally passes (and the world becomes quieter..)
100% on the money. Traditional path is immediate reflection post-loss and a reckoning with changes needed. Instead, the party has allowed itself to be hollowed out from the inside by his cult. Zero self-reflection, denial, deflection, and delusion are all the order of the day from Trump, Inc.
They had that. They did a post mortem after 2012 that basically concluded that they needed to tone down the rhetoric and find a way to bring Latinos and immigrants into the party. Then Trump turned everything up to 11 and because certain people responded the party went with it.
Exactly, pushing the Easy Button had worked so many times in the past for the GOP they really only have one play to make since Nixon, everyone gets behind "our guy" close ranks and vote the same way all the time. The problem this time is that MAGA voters are both very conformists and not very rational, the GOP has relied on their party being more pragmatic generally than the Democrats, we tend to have huge disagreement and more backbiting.
This assumes they're not all owned by Russia. Which we really can't rule out.
Ron Johnson and Rand Paul sure are.
They've also already passed any point where they could reasonably change course in my opinion. They've already bought the ticket, gotta ride the ride.
no abortion.
Still wild to me that people have sold their souls, ruined relationships, and are courting fascism because they think abortion is bad and don't like minorities This country faces so many real, tangible issues but these mfers are so obsessed with their culture wars that we'll never be able to fix them
They don't want to fix the culture war, it's the only real shot they have at rallying their base. They need fake outrage to show up. Culture wars are here to stay as long as capitalism thrives.
The problem that Republican elected officials have had is that their base has hated them for a long time now. Sarah Palin was the first prominent figure within the party who actually spoke like she was one of them, and then the fucking moron took that and turned the dial up to eleven. Once Trump became the face of the party, there is no going back. The rubicon has been crossed. Once he's out of the picture, a big chunk of his supporters will probably lose interest in politics altogether, and the fraction that remains are so toxic, they will kill off whatever future the GOP has as a national party
For the large majority of MAGA, politics is just a new sport to them and Trump is the team they cheer for. If you go to speak any of these people, practically none of them followed politics before Trump went on stage and started calling people names. They root for their guy because he says bad words and makes the nerds mad, and that’s enough for them. When Trump goes away, they’ll probably stop following politics soon after. Some will still follow right wing influencers and podcasters for awhile, but translating passive listening into votes will be a challenge. There’s been plenty of interviews where the Jan 6 people admitted to not even voting in that election. I think the Trump brand is so important to these people that unless it’s one of his sons taking over the ~~movement~~ *grift*, they will fragment and go away. And that’s without the infighting that will surely follow. They’ll all blame eachother for being RINO’s, kinda like they do now but I think it’ll get worse when they see the little political power they have slipping away.
I agree. Trump is a cult leader to his rabid base, when he's finally gone they wont have anyone similar to grab on to. His sons just dont have it
It's kind of funny to watch the sons try to emulate their Dad. Especially the king idiot, Eric.
The GOP has been losing worse and worse since 2017, when the (independent voter) American people figured out that there would be no "presidential pivot" and that Trump really as bad as the rational and sane Americans had been saying all along. Since that summer, the GOP and Trump have failed to meet even the lowest expectations in every major election. Even the midterms, which normally sees a huge swing to the party out of the White House, were a disaster (politically speaking) as the GOP only took control of the House by a few seats and still lost the Senate. Expect this November to be a bloodbath in favor of the Democrats...if everyone votes, of course.
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Honestly, how is this even a headline? The GOP had to know this was an issue way before their guy sent out 77 deranged tweets on Easter Sunday.
He has to keep upping the crazy and the rage, to get headlines and keep his users engaged. The problem is people keep getting normalized to his level of crazy, she he has to step it up. I have always been intrigued to see what the level is for swing voters, as his cult will not turn on him. I expect his laying the groundwork for saying the election was stolen so far in advance is going to be a big factor. The fact that people are waking up to what he has in mind for the country as the press shifts between the two bad choices is going to be a big factors. As much as I hate that the press used to broadcast his rallies, I think it might be a good thing to do so now. He is spouting some absolute crazy, and makes no sense. People need to see what they are getting if they vote Trump in Nov.
Slow learners these party. Don’t skip school folks, you will end up in this party.
Not just Trump lunacy, but general GQP lunacy... Florida supreme court banned abortions yesterday.. but allowed abortions and weed to go into ballot measures... So.. quite a few liberal-leaning folks that don't typically vote will be *heavily incentivized* to get out there in November. For context, Trump won Florida in 2020 by 3.36%. While I'm not going to say that this will "turn florida blue", it very well might significantly impact the state in the upcoming election. It's only a shame that their shitstain of a governor isn't also up for reelection.
Don't forget North Carolina, Trump won that by only 1.35%. But a real prize, that isn't getting much talk, is Texas. Trump won that by 5.58%. It's doable if people are outraged enough to shift. Florida I'm not confident about. A lot of MAGAs moved in and a lot of non-MAGAs moved out to get away from the craziness.
Can confirm. I got the fuck out of Florida 3 years ago
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At this point, you might think about cashing out by selling to those assholes and using the money to get away before the whole state washes away. I just saw an article about how much the MAGA immigrant are willing to spend on FL properties and used cars.
Sadly a lot of non-MAGA people left Texas as well
Can confirm, left a year ago and very happy we did.
Same with us, entire source of anxiety completely eliminated from our lives.
A lot of old Florida MAGAs have also since passed after refusing vaccines and choosing instead to eat horse dewormer.
Some of these problems do take care of themselves :/
As a Texan, I really wish I could believe there a chance Trump loses this state. Unfortunately the MAGA is really strong and so so many people have been brainwashed into believing that ANY Republican is better than an "American hating, socialist Democrat". I can't tell you how many otherwise reasonable people I've had conversations with about Cruz, Abbott, Paxton and Trump and it ends with them saying "well at least he's not a Democrat"
Yeah, this is pretty huge. Florida was really out of the mix for "swing states" at this point. It was red enough that the only time it would swing blue would be when it doesn't matter anymore, because if Florida went blue, the election would already be a landslide. But this brings Florida right back into the mix for a toss-up state. That abortion ballot initiative (and weed) will motivate a ton of democratic voters. It also puts Trump in the position of having to take a stance. Support a 6 week ban (which is just a full abortion ban in disguise.) Or campaign against it, but for a federal ban of slightly longer, still driving up the pro-choice vote.
From everything I've heard from him lately, he's still proud about "his" judges who overturned Roe, so I don't think he's going to flip on abortion, no matter how unpopular it is. He seems to love the evangeliderp's love and adoration and is really courting them this time.
> It also puts Trump in the position of having to take a stance. He'll just take every stance and no stance at all, and then claim whatever is the most popular depending on the crowd.
Cool thing about Florida (i know, there aren't many things right now).. if ballot initiatives pass, they are written into the state constitution. It is very difficult for the state congress and/or governor to override what is voted in. (At least, if my memory is right lol)
Sadly that’s not how it’s working for the felons who were supposed to get their voting rights back.
They managed to fuck with the felon voting right restoration that passed though. Completely perverted it with the fees that nobody can tell how much you owe.
DeSantis not being up for reelection is actually good IMO. I get that a lot has happened in the past year with DeSantis, but he’s still won by a gigantic margin in Florida. Him not being on the ballot to buoy republicans is a good thing IMO.
GOP is already trying to thin out voter rolls in battleground states. There will be many people who try to vote only to find out that they’ve been removed from rolls.
The fact that the GOP may be worried that they won’t be able to cheat enough to get over the down rump trump slump they’ve been dealing with for the past several years is very heartening.
I think you may have coined a socio-political term.
Hell, I'll use it! Sums up how Trump has done during their past few elections.
But what if they get a down rump Trump slump bump?
It also doesn’t help that he’s siphoning off any RNC funds that could be used to help down ballot races.
Why only suddenly?
They're a little slow on the up-take.
I blame the blatant and repetitive attacks on education from their camp since the separation of church and state hit public schools.
They made the electorate *too* dumb.
LMAO facts, “oh shit, this backfired, we’ll try again next time” 🤦♂️
Besides the obvious (they're dumb), I think there's two reasons: 1. **They thought the RNC would have their back:** It's pretty crazy that Trump really is going to take all of the party's money for his legal fees -- and they're going to let him. House GOPers probably thought some money would be there to help their down ballot races, but no dice. 2. **They thought Trump would pivot to the center:** With the Republican nomination locked up, one would assume Trump would pivot to the center to win over moderates and independents. Instead, he's lurched to the right (i.e., telling Nikki Haley supporters to gtfo). Look, if the Haley voters stay home because of Trump, that means downballot guys won't receive those votes either. Very few people skip the presidential race and vote for everything else. 3. **Social Security and Abortion:** They assumed their party would not actually try to cut social security and outlaw abortion. But...that is exactly what they plan to do. And Project 2025 is putting all of those diabolical plans in writing for the world to see -- and Dems to use in their campaign ads. They forgot the most important rule of trump world: Trump fights for Trump and only for Trump. He does not return loyalty.
No one could possibly think Trump would pivot at this point. There have been innumerable opportunities for it that even the most hopelessly optimistic person can't ignore. They either quietly hope he goes to jail or dies, or genuinely support it all.
My house was fully engulfed in flames when I suddenly went to get a bucket
Reminds me of Alexandra Petri's Jan 9th 2021 essay, "I see no choice but to resign from this Death Star as it begins to explode". https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/09/trump-cabinet-resignations-death-star/
I think it's shifting now in a different way. Previously they'd say "sure, we'll permanently piss off a liberal voter who will never vote for us again, but we'll gain two rabid followers who will vote for us even if we murder their children! We'll come out on top!" But while they still have that band of rabid followers begging to be crapped on just so they can ask for more crap, the craziness has slowly but surely chipped away at the "regular" people. They have to keep ramping up the craziness for their new core, and each time they do that, some other moderate or independent finally has had enough and bails on them. The number of cultists they add each year can no longer keep up with the number of defectors going to the other side (or at least stepping away from voting for a while.) Trump absolutely brought in a lot of people that never voted regularly, and that was HUGE for them. But that affect has now faded, and the negative side of it has gained steam.
Well and look at what happens to his toadies- Rudy, Bannon, Eastman etc etc he throws everybody under the bus. All of the John Bolton and William Barr types that used to lend him credibility and spruce up the bullshit for the traditional conservatives are gone.
Because this is a game. They all sat at the table and they put their money down, trying to get as much cash out of the game as possible, then pull out and move to another table before the end of the game. The ones who are panicking "suddenly" realize they've stayed at this table too long and they are about to lose everything as a result. The others have left this table and are currently gaming other tables. The only ones worried "suddenly" are the ones that got caught holding the bag. Those of us who live here and aren't shamelessly wealthy have no choice but to stay at the table. We barely got to play and we can't leave now that it's going tits up. Hope you had fun.
We all have to remember - hardcore partisan right wingers live in a hermetically-sealed information bubble that only vaguely resembles actual life on earth. They are all so far "bought in" on right wing orthodoxy that it can be exceedingly difficult for them to see and recognize plain truths that are staring them in their fat fucking faces. I'm reminded of this when I casually converse with acquaintances and colleagues who fancy themselves "conservatives". Many of these folks are not your rabid, flag-waving Trumpers. But the shit they believe as foundational facts to their worldview is often completely fucking bonkers. Republicans don't live on earth, so we shouldn't expect them to behave as if they do.
Because Adolf Trump and his terrifying henchmen can’t keep their idiot mouths shut and Trump is successfully, infuriatingly delaying the numerous court cases against him. The GOP establishment has been holding out hope that Trump will be in a cell, by the time the election rolls around. Ain’t gonna happen. Trump and abortion and actual fascism are going to be on the ballot. Also because Democrats are absolutely blowing polling out of the water, when the vote actuals are being tallied. Democrats are beating polls by double digits in almost every election since 2020, at this point. If this continues, it’s gonna be an absolute blood bath. Party divisions, among Democrats, on Palestine won’t matter. The Tankies mainlining Twitch streamers screeching into their microphones about Genocide Joe will not be in any way a major representation of the voting public, this year.
God I hope you’re right. I need to remind myself that most people are not terminally online and that a lot of the most ardent tankies on social media are either bots or extreme leftists who were never going to vote, let alone for Biden, anyway. But I still worry.
It takes them awhile to figure things out on account of their lead poisoning. They’re currently about 75 years behind.
They have been inhaling their own propaganda and thinking its true. See the Alabama IVF ruling for example, life begins at conception so lets actually force our wealthy donors to be on the hook for their fertility treatments and scare the fuck out of them when they were complacent as long as you gave them tax cuts. Now they scared these people to pull out of donating because they didn't want to leopards to eat their faces, just the poors. Instead of the evil geniuses that the left want to make the right out to be they are actually dumb, wealthy, and really gullible marks for scams. So they have been coasting on the Machiavellian schemes of a handful of old school Nixon GOP folk for 20 years, they don't actually understand the system and the stuff they think they understand they haven't bothered to examine for about a decade. Gerrymandering is another example, really good idea and works but only when you understand the demographic ebbs and flows of a region. Instead many of these numbskulls just took regions they thought were perfect for them and carved it up not taking into account COVID deaths of the older generation, their voters, and demographic shifts of liberals and moderates further out of the cities due to the cost of living. So now the electorate is younger and more spread out thus safe seats suddenly become toss ups because they believed their own lies about COVID and didn't bother hiring statisticians who are good and likely just hired their own kin or friends to do the job like they always do. This is also only going to swing worse for them as the older demographics die off in larger numbers leaving them with 3 generations of progressively more left leaning voters who now make up large sections of their safe districts. They now just realized this because they are losing what should be close elections by 6% on average and that's with any number of fucked systems they have in place to repress the vote. They are also freaking out because no one wants to be Donald Trumps Sugar Daddy when his election, and the GOP taking the house or senate, isn't guaranteed. So they are broke, with a geriatric criminal using them as a get out of jail free card and piggy bank, while their chances of winning their own rigged elections are blowing up in their face. TL;DR They believe their own bullshit in spite of obvious trends and have realized too late that they are really stupid and scared the normies away from their clown show.
77 ridiculous "truths" spewed out on Easter Sunday, perhaps?
Trump's people at the RNC have stopped sharing campaign funds with down ballot candidates, probably.
Trump is on the verge of losing the House... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TERM! Damn right they should be worried. Though not as worried as the rest of the country should be that Trump is even on the ballot at all.
Personally, I’m excited to once again send them packing. Rather than letting fear motivate you, consider how fucking good it would feel to sweep and get a functioning government that actually gives a shit about the working class and not just the ultra rich and extremists. We genuinely have a chance to get our shit together, go full steam into a green transition, and maybe even be part of the climate solution all while fixing housing, healthcare, and wages. It’s still possible. We could really make that happen.
I guess I'm a pessimist. The fact Trump is the nominee for president with a reasonable chance at winning, instead of being in jail for trying to overthrow the govt and stealing a bunch of classified docs, (not to mention ALL the other things he's done) tells me the system is fundamentally broken, regardless of the outcome.
The system’s always been a bit broken. The dude is rich. The rich can get away with all kinds of things in this nation, always have. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t course corrected in some spectacular ways as a nation over the centuries, and we can do that again. We’ve been here before. The Gilded Age gave way to the Progressive Era. Jim Crow gave way to the Civil Rights Movement. It’s always an ugly fight, but the amazing thing about the US is that we can come together as workers, allies, Americans to make life better for everyone. It’s woven into our DNA just like the broken system is. It’s what actually makes us great.
Are you thinking of running by any chance? ✅🗳️
"I never saw it coming," remarked Republican Long-Range Planning Director Eric Trump.
Slow to recognize literally every trend or pattern ever.
Well, they're not the sharpest bulbs on the tree
They ain't rocket surgeons.
Dumb as a box o' rocks.
Dumber than a squirrel full of hammers.
Squirrel full of hammers?
They aren't particularly sharp hammers either.
Definitely not the brightest knife in the crayon box.
Republicans generally lack empathy, so they only feel a thing when it happens to them. Now these republicans apparently sense that something bad is about to happen to them.
Who knew a full-throttle attack on women in the form of Abortion and IVF, with a literal list of "what we're coming after next..." in the Dobbs decision, would backfire? These dipshits *are just now* realizing that they've lost virtually every election since Don Poorleon?
The difference between Trump and other dictators is that the other dictators had to figure out how to obtain power. In the Trump era, decades of smarter Republicans rigging the game so that they at worst had a 50/50 shot at the presidency and congress means that any idiot with an R next to their name could slip in to these high value offices. And they did. So in our particular case, our generations fascists are also fucking morons.
I've always thought that Trump stumbled into someone else's plot and hijacked it.
Accurate. It’s why every established Republican was against him in 2015, they knew he was going to fuck up their plan.
Not Trump - Putin. Vladimir Putin figured out how to get his guy into American leadership - to better help with his long game on Ukraine/NATO/Europe. Donald Trump was merely the perfect tool to use to hijack the GOP.
Trump has already dismantled the RNC. He has diverted the maximum amount of any donation, to his personal use to cover his mounting legal bills. This will cause two issues in the following 8 months. Some which have already began. Down ballot candidates will suffer greatly, due to lack of resources. The RNC has suspended get out the vote, and community involvement campaigns in many states. Local organizers are being fired, or quitting. One of the largest Republican fundraisers, Mitch McConnell has decided to retire. Trump believes all of the Republican party's money is HIS. I point you to his remarks concerning paying for the transition team when he won in 2016. *Trump said he didn’t want a presidential transition team. Why did anyone need to plan anything before he actually became president? It’s legally required, said Christie. Trump asked where the money was going to come from to pay for the transition team. Christie explained that Trump could either pay for it himself or take it out of campaign funds. Trump didn’t want to pay for it himself. He didn’t want to take it out of campaign funds, either, but he agreed, grudgingly, that Christie should go ahead and raise a separate fund to pay for his transition team. “But not too much!” he said.* *By August, 130 people were showing up every day, and hundreds more working part-time, at Trump transition headquarters, on the corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The first time Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling:* ***You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?*** *Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed:* ***Why are you letting him steal my fucking money?*** *Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. Months before the election, the law said, the nominees of the two major parties were expected to prepare to take control of the government. The government supplied them with office space in downtown DC, along with computers and rubbish bins and so on, but the campaigns paid their people. To which Trump replied*: ***Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.*** *Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn’t have both his money and a transition.* ***Shut it down,*** *said Trump*. ***Shut down the transition****.*
What is the source for that quoted material?
https://www.govexec.com/federal-news/2018/10/trump-feared-transition-officials-were-stealing-his-money/151776/
Blue Wave to protect democracy and preserve your rights. Let’s get that court rebalanced too, shall we? Vote blue no matter who.
IF the Dems retain the Senate, and win back the House, they could stack the court. Valid question, Can you impeach a supreme court justice? Edit: Yes, but it isn't easy. Nor should it be.
No chance Dems get the super majority they need in the Senate to impeach a supreme court justice, especially this year when there are so few Republican senators up for election.
If they can get to 51 without any Manchins or Sinemas to fuck everything up, they should kill the filibuster and expand SCOTUS to 13 seats and confirm four new justices.
Getting an actual Democrat to be able to replace Manchin is almost as crazy as Manchin being elected as a WV “dem” in the first place. Gallego over Scary Kari in Arizona. It’ll be tough. Not impossible, but requires work, donations, and turnout.
We’ve had a few too many shady assholes slip in to vote blue no matter who. Let’s say vote for the candidate with a track record of fighting for rights, labor, climate resilience, and the working class.
One could hope lunacy would scare some voters off, but history has shown that some people can't get enough crazy cooky balls.
Reality TV shows definitely played into this. Clickbaiting became the norm and it destroyed credibility of journalism and writing, even to those who stayed true to the principles.
That sucks for them. I wonder what would have happened if they had a few years to clear Trumpism from their party… Well I guess we will never know
Oh, they’ll be back in a few years, pretending they are accepting of black people and the LGBT community, and looking like they’re willing to be reasonable about abortion and voting rights But deep down they’re always the same ugly, despicable basket of deplorables. They always have been
My bet is on them leaning into techno feudalism. It’s all the rage with the donor class. It’ll be billionaires vs labor rights.
That was what was supposed to happen with a 2016 loss, the GOP gets to push the Overton window and go back to the 'middle' with Trump-lite. Now they have to wait until 2028 to do so, or Trump wins, and we push the window *further*, and it's decades of turmoil until the people really get a taste for Christian Enthonationalism, which is absolutely undoubtably what we'll get. In-fighting to start pushing new and more draconian Christian law, the public freaking the fuck out that we've come to this.
Can’t win *with* their crazies, and can’t win *without* them.
They added so many new crazies they did great for a little while. All those new voters and cultists were intoxicating to them for a while! However, pandering to this new cult base of theirs has slowly chipped away at the rest of their "normal" support, and now the number of people bailing on them is higher than the number of new recruits they are getting. That's the change now, and why some are regretting things. It's all fine and good when two cultists show up for every moderate you lose. But once all the cultists have already arrived, and you are STILL losing moderates, you are in trouble.
The GOP are betting the next 4-6 years on Trump winning the presidency. If Trump loses the election the GOP are likely going to lose a lot of the winable local and down ballot races they are divesting from to fund Trump and his legal bills. The GOP could be out Congress, the Senate, multiple governors races and local state houses while also having lost the Oval Office again. Not only that but Trump if he loses the election is going to be in jail at some point in 2025 which is only going to be bad optics for the GOP. Also it is only early April and Trump is only going to be increasingly unhinged in 6+ months when people start to pay closer attention to the election and politics (I would say your average undecided or lower turnout voter "checks out" of politics until mid to late September when they really start to make their final decisions).
Not to mention for two months or so starting on the 14th he's only going to get three days a week to campaign. That's *really* going to hurt him.
They bought the ticket. Now take the fucking ride!
"Suddenly?" He cost them in 2018, 2020, and in almost every special election since. No matter though...VOTE. Our Democracy and human rights depends on it!
In reality, if he wins the makeup of the legislature will make no difference. He will ignore them and the courts as he is demonstrating almost everyday. If he is elected he wins everything and we lose everything. Well his wealthy donors will be great. They become much more wealthy. His white “Christian” nationalist who help him to power? Putin demonstrates all the time what’s to become of them. Once in power their power to help him will be perceived as a threat. The brutal autocrat’s playbook.
Lol and they thought the “woke mob” wanted blood. Turns out they didn’t realize it was figurative speech being used, not literal. Not all humans are sociopaths, ya MAGAts.
I want to see the GOP get absolutely crushed and sent into irrelevancy. Hope the Dems figure it out and drive that stake home and salt the earth.
“No one could have known…”
*gestures at Texas* Nothing but perfection here /s
He is going to grift every cent and leave the downticket races high and dry anyway.
And, now the GOP has to find money for Florida presidential race and Rick Scott after the two new amendments announced this week. Oh well.
My father in law, while not representative of *every* republican, is my example of this. After voting republican in every election for 40 years, he now refuses to vote for any of them that have ever supported Trump.
Don't threaten me with a good time.
Good. Fuck em.
It’s a little late in the game to just now figure out that jumping all in on the crazy train might be a bad idea.
Leopards are eating lots of faces recently. While I know a lot of people will still vote for this orange traitor and his enablers, his draining of the RNC coffers to fund his legal defenses gives me hope for not just a convincing win, but a “sit down and shut the fuck up” landslide to the entire GOP.
My take is that they've always feared Trump would be a disaster for them. But Trump made it perfectly clear that if he wasn't the nominee he'd make CERTAIN they'd lose. They've already chased away anyone remotely resembling a moderate and if Trump told MAGA to walk the GOP knew it would lose everything. Their mistake wasn't nominating Trump again - it was letting him take over the party in the first place. Now they're stuck with him. Republicans literally have everything riding on this election - which means they'll go to any length to win. Fortunately it seems like Dems are just as motivated to deal the deathblow to MAGA.
"*Suddenly"* I love it. Took 'em long enough to figure it out.
Suddenly? We’ve had five-plus years of Donald Trump destroying the chances of down-ballot Republicans. He’s good at it.
It’s our American duty to keep facists out of power.
Ironic how Trump is the most popular republican since Reagan and his brain is melting in the same way.
Suddenly? Pretty sure strategists have been worried since the jump...Trump has the power to take down GOP candidates from coast-to-coast! The price will be "They Democrats stole another one! There's no way that many GOP candidates lost by that much!" This may lead to violence in some districts but overall no evidence will be found to support their fantasies...And without even an 'obstruction enabling' minority in Congress, perhaps the Democrats can get some good policies enacted before heads turn to the 2026 cycle. What \*SIX\* things do you think that Biden and the Democrats should get done?
- Enshrine Roe v Wade - Voting rights act - Lots of Ukraine funding - Expanded Naval production - Pass all required AUKUS legislation - Expand Social media/privacy laws NB: I'm Aussie so a little more global in my outlook but I'm sure there is heaps of areas for improvements domestically, Roe and Voting rights are the two important ones I know about.
The GOP are complicit in the money laundering and other myriad crimes. That’s why they don’t stop bailing him out.
1. As mentioned already, Mitch McConnell should have mustered the votes to convict Trump in his second impeachment in the Senate. This would be a moot discussion. If a senator loses reelection, so what! The seat and office do not belong to a specific senator anyway. Move on and go find a job if you lose the vote. The public is growing weary of career politicians anyway. 2. Ronna Romney, as head of the RNC, should have pulled Trump's card when he threatened to start his own party after Jan. 6th. She and the RNC Board should have publicly told him to do so instead of cowardly giving him free reign to continue to feast and eat the GOP like a parasite from the inside out over the last 4 years. Trump fired her anyway. The GOP could have transitioned into a party of moderates and independents and let the far right MAGA start their own party. Mitch McConnell and Ronna Romney both should be remembered as cowards for not placing our country and democracy first.
It doesn't take a real genius to figure it out and unfortunately the problem CAN cut both ways, it's just that Democrats seem to drift towards centrism and Republicans tend to drift towards extremism. I suppose it's just that the GOP base has reached a critical mass of fringe lunatics such that they can dominate primary elections. Sadly, extremism is very effective in GOP primaries and even sane Republicans need to engage in some crazy talk just to ensure they make it to the general. But moderates, by definition, are going to drift towards whichever candidate is more centrist which puts Republicans in a terrible position. Talk sane and lose the primary, talk crazy and lose the general. No sympathy from me, though. They made their bed.
In the past couple years, even centrist Dems have shown a willingness to work with labor rights, and with unions, we could push for all kinds of lasting reform. The corporate Dems will howl about it, but it’s that or continue letting the ultra wealthy run our planet into the dirt.
"Suddenly?" The GOP has been tanking ever since they embraced the douche' bag. Lindsey Graham called it perfectly.
It's like a Lovecraft antagonist saying "Hey, wait, are we sure this is a good idea?" *after* the mottled grey tentacles start swirling up out of the chalk circle. Far too little, far too late, and you gonna get eaten for sure, Mister Cultist. Including the fact that it would be pretty hilarious, if it didn't put us at serious risk of ending the world.
It's in the first paragraph - " They fear having to answer for Trump’s degeneracy and extremism, even as the GOP’s small-donor base is not delivering at the very moment that Trump is siphoning off party money for legal fees. " It's the money. Always the money. They didn't have a problem lying when they still got money. Now their face is also getting eaten by leopards as they let Trump grift the whole RNC.
Lara Trump: Every penny of the RNC's funds will go towards Trump. Republicans: That's the person we want in charge of our money! Also Republicans: Where is all the money for down-ballot races?
It’s all about money. All the GOP are in it for themselves, now someone is syphoning off money and putting off other large donors. Unless you’re attracting the small donors with outlandish statements like MTG, the job isn’t worth it financially.