It really is. It’s incredible that we went from fringe anti-vaxxers touting their “University of Google” education that everyone KNEW was fringe to Qanon gaining serious traction despite being magnitudes greater shite than the anti-vax nonsense.
Opinions are not equal. They never have been and never will be.
You have a right to VOICE an opinion, but the consequences for doing so are yours to deal with. Stupid is stupid. One of the worst mistakes we ever made was humoring stupid shit because “everyone has a right to their opinion”.
I tend to agree. I’m not sure whether the “movement” will die out by 2022 or not, but it was certainly stronger than the Tea Party (which I initially supported on grounds it was Grass Roots, before it became apparent that it was in no way grass roots driven).
I worry that this will fester in the dark holes of 4chan and other pits of resentment. However, I do believe that most people will move on. As H said, given enough time people tend to move on regardless. The militia types will always be there, just changing logos.
Yeah the loons on both sides will always be there. I also tend to think the GOP will be fine even if a lot of people want to say differently. For the most part the vast majority of people if they voted for Trump and voted for Romney/McCain they are going to vote for whoever the next person is. Like I said the best way to “heal” a party is just to talk about how awful the other
I am of the opinion that qanon is some scientology type muck from 4chan type site.
I live in Gohmert’s district and have never heard of a bunch of what it is supposed to represent, being vocalized.
Do people think there was plenty of underhanded voting action - yes.
But l see Trump as an oppotunist that grabbed onto an anti globalist, tired of ‘progressives’, limousine liberals dictating morals, and just looking to earn a living without the introduction of a yearly 1mm new residents causing wage stagnation.
He didnt create those desires, just championed them. If anyone had done what he did (without the theatrics), the same 75 mm would be interested. Say Pence type demeanor with the same Trump ‘platform’ - Trump could still be a boss on tv and no one would care who he fired.
I think this group of people will split off or drive the rinos over to the dems eventually.
Who knows however - Pelosi is proof it’s hard to drive people off when in power.
Personally I think there is more to his appeal than simply his ever changing IMO “platform.” I don’t believe it will be easily duplicated by either side. I’m no Trump fan but as someone interested in national politics he fascinates me as a “case study.”
Ultimately Trump’s persona sold a lot of absolute piles of horseshit during the GOP primary. Just actual impossible things that his sheer conviction of that will just happen will just happen. I can’t imagine another GOP politician in 08/12/16 being able to say the impossible things he said and not be laughed out of the room or have his colleagues nail him about how. Ultimately it’s part of his personality that helped him get elected. You or I probably couldn’t just repeat a lie over and over again. Even if we call other politicians liars that level and honestly just not being remotely bothered by answering things is hard to pull off. Can you imagine Mike Pence being asked about healthcare and saying we will repeal and replace Obamacare and everyone will be covered for cheaper and selling that with no words on how? Can you imagine Rubio? Cruz?
While I definitely agree that many ideas have a ton of appeal and even bipartisan appeal I think chasing that success will be hard to replicate because a lot of it was charisma/personality, whatever you want to call it. To me it was obvious he was phony on a lot, but you really can’t tell that to some huge Trump fans. I wouldn’t put you in that category at all. I’d say you’re definitely right leaning and would vote for him over a liberal any day of the week. But I digress, this is a billionaire with a long history of screwing the common man telling everyone he’s a champion of the common man. It’s a thrice divorced pussy grabbing porn star paying off guy who is signing Bible for evangelicals some who might view him as close to Jesus.
I might scoff at a lot of the things said but man I gotta admit he could sell a lot because I think he believed a lot. I think when he said believe me I know more about (insert a million things here) he thought that was true and said it in a way that stuck for some.
This is getting long but I think the interesting thing will be where the GOP goes as depending on the lens one looks through. Do you look at the win in 16 plus all three chambers as the lesson to avoid some of the Tea Party type ideas and be on board with some of the admittedly very popular stuff he said like alluding to some type of universal coverage, essentially ignoring the national debt and having high spending levels. Maybe the “liberal” type ideas that are popular mixed with less government in other areas? Or do they look at two popular vote losses and giving back all three chambers and think they need to revert back to more of the previous ideals.
Either way I think the GOP will be fine. Might lose some enthusiasm/energy, but also important to realize that worked both ways. Ultimately energized the opposition as well.
It’s possible to expound on tons of points in your post to drive the nail home further, but this one is particularly relevant right now. In his last act in office Trump is going to give Steve Bannon a pardon. Bannon is facing federal charges for defrauding millions of dollars from Trump supporters in a scam project to help build the wall. Trump gets elected in part because he said he’d build the wall and get Mexico to pay for it. That’s scam number 1 or 1 and 2 if you like. Then Trump’s buddy scams his supporters out of more money to support scam number 1. Now Bannon is getting let off the hook by Trump after he took a shit on his own supporters. That’s a real man of the people right there.
I do think the intent was to somewhat throw the Biden administration under the bus to see if they do something about it, reverse or ignore it. Regardless, its about time.
I am not an expert in the field, but I’m pretty damn sure immigration is not the primary or even secondary cause of wage stagnation.
You have shitty laws and shitty corporate culture to blame for the fact that all productivity gains in the last few decades have gone to those who own capital, and barely to those who do the work.
I don’t disagree, but that’s putting a band-aid on a gaping stab wound. It will paper over the issues temporarily but solve nothing.
100%. I just wish it had stayed there. The armpit of the internet.
Well the example of Pelosi is certainly accurate. She has a deep network and tons of money to support her.
I do think the diehards split off eventually actually, just not sure how it looks or exactly on which lines the split occurs.
I would be careful with the Rino talk though - there were a lot of people who would consider themselves solid republicans that couldn’t pull the trigger for Trump, and it wouldn’t be good to split them off as then the party would be left with a much larger proportion of crazy people.
This is actually the first I’ve heard about the decision (obviously not the human rights abuses), so I have no idea how it was arrived at but I agree it’s entirely time.
As I posted above, if it’s an effort to throw Biden under the bus, it’s way late and the bus is in another state by now. See the link above which shows that the Biden campaign labeled the actions of the Chinese government a genocide in August of 2020.
There’s also this tweet from Biden in November:
Finally there was a bipartisan effort last summer in congress to get Pompeo to do something about this dated July 2, 2020.
This is a good thing that’s finally happened. It may be late, but at least it’s happening.
edit to add: There’s also this from Biden’s Sec of State nominee Antonee Blinken:
“Let me just say that I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China,” Blinken said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that’s actually helpful to our foreign policy,” he added.
While l can agree to laws and corporate culture being instruments of moving profits to capital class, a steady influx of worker bees from the 3rd world working for much lower wages has also had a huge influence.
Other factors like paid off legislation, taxation, govt regulations (which l favor), one direction non protection trade, and automation all figure in. But the US has taken in millions of non skilled inhabitants.
This is no problem for the educated classes until stem graduates can’t find work or ‘Ph D’ Indians move here and take tons of the professional jobs for a substanially lowered income than US students saddled with huge education debt.
Instead of our government protecting its own citizen, they have sold them into a soft dependency that will bring the US down when printing money become worthless.
It’s probably a discussion for another thread, but I think the corporatist libertarian wing of the GOP is deader than parachute pants with pockets in the knees.
It’s hard to define a RINO, but I think the ones that are beltway op-Ed columnists could be a useful short hand. Poor sods, they don’t realize that their alliance with the Democrats (exemplified in the Lincoln project court jesters) will result in their defenestration from both parties.
Agreed. Just to be clear I was purely talking in a party coming together sense not in what would be the best thing for Americans or whatever. If we look at 08 we could say Republicans are fractured. Obama easy win, all three branches Dems, Republican brand abysmal with GWB fatigue. You had a lot of the GOP is dead people. But we hate Obama tended to heal a lot of wounds with a “common enemy.”
Same thing with 16 Dems. You lost to a historically unpopular candidate and ran your own. You don’t have control of any branches. A significant part of your party thinks the DNC ripped off a candidate who could have won. But we hate Trump tended to heal a lot of wounds with a “common enemy.”
I guess I’m saying nothing unifies or helps a party more than we need to rally around the idea that these people are horrible.
Solid Republicans that enable millions of immigrants to enter every single year plus chain migration, or write tax laws that offshore jobs, or waffle around when it comes time to call sin - sin, or engage in nation destruction/ rebuilding are not solid Republicans.
They are Democrats that get electing by solid Republicans that are so under duress by the 3 generation stranglehold on media/education that godless intellectuals have plied on a formerly successful nation, and grasp at any promise.
I will be gone all day, so l just wanting to rant a bit.
Will be with ultra Democrat parents as they look for a motor home…
