The irony.
Neither does he.
1 Like
…And the hits just keep on coming.
Maine? Seems like they took the long way.
1 Like
This is an example of “just let them keep talking”. There just has to be a large cohort of republicans that can only have reality stretched so far before they say “enough is enough”.
I feel like that’s happening: initially they were skeptical of the results of the election, but after literally every credible source from both sides says “No evidence of widespread fraud”, and their own team says “Look at our credible witness Mellisa Carone, look at our lawyers in a parking lot claiming a multi-state fraud!, China!, Venezuala!, Soros!, FBI!, Georgia republicans!, dead people!” I mean, how can any sane person think these accusations are reality-based?
The chances are the many or most of the rank and file Republicans in congress know that:
A. The President’s legal challenge to the election results are bs. And, I’m use the term legal loosely in the previous sentence.
B. Trump is bad for the Republican party.
Right now Republicans in congress are in a tight spot. If they tell the truth, they risk alienating the Trump supporters in their base and there is no doubt that there are looney tunes Trumpublican candidates who would take up the mantle of being true to Trump and run against them in the mid-terms. I’ve been critical of them for the last few weeks but after further thought it might be better for most of them to stay silent because the next candidate in line is more likely to be a true Trump believer.
You’ll see this type of purity test come up in the next election cycle for sure. Far right wackos running against sitting Republican’s yelling about how they did nothing to help Trump hold onto the Presidency, and, people will buy it.
You do see some established people backing slowly away from Trump like Barr and Pence.
1 Like
Real question for any that wish to expound. I personally will not argue to any response, as l am curious, rather than wishing to ‘debate’.
What policy positions do you think Trump has changed the typical or concensus desire of the GOP? Not asking if we agree with his rantings, texting, saying nonsensical things, but how he has somehow fundamentally changed GOP mindsets.
2 Likes
For one, Trump has ballooned the deficit each year he has been in office (not even considering COVID’s impact). Not in line with being fiscally conservative at all
I mean… What?? How do they keep a straight face? And how do people believe this shit??
I think the obvious answer is spending. He inherited an economy that wasn’t in need of major stimulus or anything or facing some type of crisis. And he ran on the deficit not mattering because if we defaulted he could deal or that it didn’t matter because we print our own money.
Now the GOP to me historically has largely been lip service about low spending and in reality just been that when in power but i would think most people in the height of the tea party times wouldn’t have guessed they would run someone who wouldn’t even pretend it mattered.
I would say even if it wasn’t a policy position shift because nothing happened the mere idea of running on universal healthcare is also something that would have been unheard of in say 2010.
Foreign policy is certainly different (and in some areas not all bad) than Republicans were in again the Obama area. Certainly in terms of talking to people like Putin/Kim Jong etc. The right was horrified that Obama might speak to them and then happy or ok when he did. I would say the same about tariffs I don’t think tariffs were typically a GOP position at least not in the modern era.
2010 GOP would have been against direct payments to farmers and maybe the size of the coronavirus stimulus package. But again personally I think the GOP is typically fine with those things when they are in power.
Not sure about the consensus but it’s clearly shown that personal behavior/responsibility is by no means a deal breaker for the conservatives. Again I’m not sure a 2010 Republican when thinking of the candidate for them to support in 2016 would be thrice divorced paying off porn stars and talking about grabbing women by the pussy.
I think the biggest question perhaps is what actually sticks out of all of this. To me he was fundamentally different in many areas than the GOP was during the Obama years. While I fully expect the GOP to quickly move back to “we can’t afford this” what they actually run on doing in 2022/2024 who knows. I at least wish they would try move back to a party with some concrete ideas on how to tackle big problems. We’ve heard about repeal and replace Obamacare for 9 years and they had all three branches of power to do it.
I’m just hoping that in 2024 they run someone who will at least try to spell out how they want to do certain things or god forbid show a plan.
Anyways that’s how I would answer that.
1 Like
Too many dimensions bro. You only get to pick 3, max.
2 Likes
It’s a great question - I think he changed, or really exposed, something larger: that the GOP really doesn’t have principles.
Not four years ago, we had the usual GOP boilerplate locked in: talk of freedom, extinguishing government overreach (and especially executive overreach), balanced budgets, family values, lionizing the BOR, etc. When Trump assaulted each one of these principles (which he has), where was the GOP counterpunch to protect its party values?
There was none. Everything became subservient to the man.
Had Trump won the election and immediately declared he was nationalizing the banks in 2021, the GOP and the vast majority of the party members would suddenly support bank nationalization.
We have no idea what policies and principles the GOP stand for because, well, they don’t stand for them.
4 Likes
Although this isn’t really policy per se, one big change is the move towards authoritarianism. An argument could be made that the GOP has been moving in this direction for a while, but traditionally the GOP has been for smaller, more limited government. That can’t be squared with an authoritarian at the top who sees no limit as to what his powers are. I was watching a press conference last Spring in which Trump stated: “The President’s authority is total.”
2 Likes
I’m sure this is going to end well…
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/04/politics/trump-nominee-pentagon-martial-law/index.html
President Donald Trump’s nominee to become a senior Pentagon official spread debunked conspiracies on Twitter that called Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden a “coup” attempt and shared tweets that suggest Trump should declare martial law.
Scott O’Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in “landslide fashion” and that millions of votes were stolen from the President.
On November 25, O’Grady retweeted a tweet that said, “Trump won & Biden & his Comrades will now attempt a coup,” next to a photoshopped image of Biden beside Xi Jinping, the President of China.
On December 2, he retweeted an account that shared an article that said former national security adviser Michael Flynn had shared a petition that called for martial law. He then retweeted the same account which suggested that Trump should declare martial law.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this,” the account said, “But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now.”
Serious question.
Anyone have any idea what these people mean by “limited” martial law?
Sounds like something out of an Arrested Development episode. “Light treason”. “Limited martial law”
3 Likes
Has there even been a suggestion about exactly how this occurred?
1 Like
North Korean boats stuffed with fake ballots docking into a harbor in Maine?
Not familiar with this term/phrase, @thunderbolt23…
What’s its meaning?
They would certainly go unnoticed in Maine.