"New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu urged his fellow GOPers to “stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November.”"
if I recall correctly, Sununu endorsed Bolduc for Senate in the NH race... he could have kept his mouth shut but endorsed the crazy. Hypocrites, the lot of them!
The funny thing is, Republicans didn't give a shit that Trump was trying to destroy democracy. But now that he's destroying their party, and costing them elections, they're finally getting sick of him.
Today's GOP: We reject the crazy, unless the only Republican on the ballot is crazy, then we support them, no matter what principles we have to abandon, and no matter how much we have to twist ourselves to campaign for them. Because bottom line, we'd rather win in an undemocratic system than to lose in a democratic one.
Keep your eyes on the Moore v Harper case in SCOTUS next month, people. That's what it will all come down to.
"Look, I get the political dynamic here. The best hope for convincing GOP voters to finally take the off-ramp from Trump is by emphasizing that the former president is a stone cold loser.
That may be necessary, but without any real substance, it’s not sufficient, is it?"
That would be a resounding NO from me, but I have zero faith in the GOP, including the "normals" that they will come to the same conclusion. It's ALL about winning elections, no matter the cost.
"A Chandler Republican recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives says that she will not cast her vote on any bill unless the 2022 election is redone."
And so MAGA now plays its new trump (pun intended) card of withholding services to taxpayers if they do not like the outcome of elections or feel that minor inconveniences equate to major scandals in attempts to get results it wants rather than those they earn. And at a time when those typical citizen taxpayers are struggling to afford basic commodities and often must work more for less. It will be interesting to see how this plays with those on the right who are not full-blown conspiracy theorists, think that government already is too bloated and inefficient, and that their representatives have become more interested in serving themselves than their constituents. Meanwhile the advertising copy on the left writes itself, full of references to pouty, whiny children, a teenage inability to handle the truth, and an adult-level unwillingness to perform the very job they were hired to do.
For the GOP it is the textbook definition of an unforced error -- yet another one as they pursue the goal of making themselves as unattractive as possible to all but their most devoted members. All in all, another brick in the wall of what increasingly has become a stale movement that is reaching beyond its expiration date. Election denying may be the hill they are willing to die on, but for the rest of us it is confirmation that the MAGA acronym is being redefined in real time to mean "Make Acceptance Go Away."
"A Chandler Republican recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives says that she will not cast her vote on any bill unless the 2022 election is redone."
I guess threatening to hold her breath until she died and swearing not to be anyone's friend anymore didn't work out as well as she hoped.
Here's a suggestion: how about resigning in protest and never ever ever ever ever running for stupid office again cross your heart and swear to die. That'll show 'em.
<b>Unless these Republican critics also make the moral and constitutional case that Donald Trump is unfit for office — that he is a disgrace and a danger who should never be entrusted with power again— we’re likely to see a replay of 2016</b>
I love that brave and bold Chris Christie who was told by Trump what to eat can occasionally take a stance against his master. And Paul Ryan should always be introduced as Fox Executive Paul Ryan. And Pence has less chance of becoming president than I do. Why is he relevant?
If, and hopefully when, Jack Smith comes out with an indictment every Republican is going to have to choose whether they stand with the poor put upon victim of the Deep State Donald Trump or with the witch hunters. That’s going to be Trump’s rallying point.
The Republican Party may think they’re going to shake him. Deals with the devil aren’t that easily broken.
I know we're supposed to welcome all newcomers to the Never Trump caucus, but this new crop is not really ready to join us, and they'll all fall back into his embrace in time. Sure, they're tired of Trump the man, but they're not tired of the authoritarianism, the revanchism or the illiberalism that he embodied. They're not tired of "hurting the right people" as a guiding philosophy. And that's why they'll all fall right back into his embrace if and when he should win the Republican nomination again. If your only criticism of Trump is his lack of electability then you've learned absolutely nothing.
The Republican party as it exists now is full of addicts. They're addicted to grievance and victimhood and rage and hate. Trading Trump for Desantis is trading cigarettes for a vape pen. They tell themselves it's better but that's just the lie that allows the addiction to continue. He has all the same instincts as Trump, just wrapped in a dour package instead of a wild and unpredictable one. But introspection is in short supply these days, and they'll keep at their addiction until they truly hit rock bottom and reality finally breaks through, whatever form that takes. I only hope they don't take the entire country with them.
Nothing, but nothing is going to change the basic gene pool of today's GOP. In one form or another they are the party of undemocratic, exclusionary, racist policies. Their focus is to restrict/limit the vote by whatever means they can. When they lose elections, aver [loudly] they have lost because of vote[r] corruption, etc. Their party platform is fomenting culture wars. No policy other than tax cuts for billionaires. Support our allies (Ukraine)? Nah! Let's go with Putin. Free press - only if it is Fox News. The list goes on and on. My bottom line is never, ever, under any condition or circumstance vote for a Republican.
What infuriates me is that almost all of those "brave" Rs out there that are now going around saying Trump is a threat, he's a danger, he's crazy, he's unfit - Every single one of them REFUSE to say they will not vote for him! COWARDS every single one of them. If they cave to someone like Trump, they will bow before Putin and Kim and every other person/nation that threatens US.
On one end of the Republican Party we have Liz Cheney doing her job with skill and conviction, the most important single element of which for some time now has been to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and thereby protect and defend our democratic nation and the ideals it was founded upon. On the other end we have Liz Harris refusing to do her job in any way unless those ideals are chucked in the toilet and summarily flushed. In between we have Chris Christie and his ilk running a con job on Republican voters by saying the reason to no longer support Donald Trump is simply because he's now become a *loser* rather than a *winner* with no mention of the actual and very real *reasons* he's apparently garnered that (temporary?) status in their most learned opinions.
Elephants have poor vision and long memories. The GOP has run true to form on the first of these attributes for the past six (and, actually, many more) years. But now some in the herd are ready to forget Donald Trump. Well, good for them, I guess. Progress is progress, I suppose.
But there are other creatures around who have good vision and long memories to go with it, and who are not (and have never been) part of the herd on either side of the aisle. The R's don't have much use for us until it comes to an election of the 'general' variety. Then, of course, we're of at least some interest to them and are mightily encouraged to become a part of their herd. Or at least toss them some peanuts. Well.
I can't and won't pretend to speak for others of my kind, since we are by nature independent thinkers as opposed to those with a herd mentality, and don't often agree on a whole lot among ourselves. But after all that's happened since 2015 and that continues to happen today, if the R's think I'll ever even consider throwing any peanuts their way, much less actually reach into the bag and toss them, while their party looks and sounds like Liz Harris rather than Liz Cheney, and gaslights their voters on the real reason to forget their former (and present) herd leader like Chris Christie, Paul Ryan et al, they have effin' peanuts for brains.
I was a Never Trumper (sans the R connotation associated with the term) long before that term was even coined. But that shouldn't be - and I'm sure isn't - of any concern to the R's. What should perhaps concern those peanut brains is the fact that their mindless stampede to the fringe has caused me (and, I hope, a good number like me) to adopt a bit different appellation...
Re losing Trump-endorsed MAGA candidates this past election: most ran on culture war lies. But here’s the thing. Voters aren’t stupid. Their kids come home from school everyday not having been groomed or having had LGBTQ books “shoved down their throats,” or having been urged by teachers to transition to trans, or having been taught CRT. They’ve been trained in active shooter drills, though.
Yes, the parade of GOP hopefuls plays right into Trump's hands, where he can once again win the primaries, if they hold any, by being the outlier while the rest of his opponents fight over the same pool of voters who have moved past Trump. If there are primaries, they need to have one alternative to Trump and one only, and I don't think that's going to happen.
Paul Ryan, as ever, is a disgrace. He still feels the need to pay homage to the Trump presidency by ignoring how he tried to destroy the country, while praising him for all the things he did that could have just as easily been done by any other replacement-level Republican. Anyone in the Oval Office with an R by their name would have gotten the judges, which owed more to McConnell than Trump, or the tax cut, which owed more to Republican control of Congress than to Trump. He didn't accomplish anything difficult; no wall, no repeal of ObamaCare. But he did incite an attempted coup.
I suppose criticizing Trump still carries with it the risk of some Cesar Sayoc coming after you. Really, though, Trump has built loyalty through his stabbed in the back narrative, stoking the grievance and resentment against elites of Republican voters who have been primed for Trump's demagoguery by 35 years of reckless and irresponsible, mendacious conservative media. Any GOP presidential hopeful who apostasizes from the Trump cult by criticizing their guru will incur that grievance and resentment Trump has so diligently cultivated over the last seven years. They'll become the elites with the targets on their backs.
I love this notion that a bunch of narcissistic, egomaniacs are going to clear the field so that God’s new chosen one, Ron DeSantis, can go mano a mano with former savior Trump. Sure.
"SCOTUS will decide whether power politics and partisanship will trump history, tradition, logic, and the text of the Constitution."
This is very scary stuff and is going to tell us a lot about both the current SCOTUS and today's GOP throughout the country. Don't ever forget that they want to win elections at any cost, at any time.
"New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu urged his fellow GOPers to “stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November.”"
if I recall correctly, Sununu endorsed Bolduc for Senate in the NH race... he could have kept his mouth shut but endorsed the crazy. Hypocrites, the lot of them!
The funny thing is, Republicans didn't give a shit that Trump was trying to destroy democracy. But now that he's destroying their party, and costing them elections, they're finally getting sick of him.
The GOP's new: "It's not the Crazy we don't like, it's the losing that comes with the Crazy" is breathtaking in its cynicism. Even for them.
Today's GOP: We reject the crazy, unless the only Republican on the ballot is crazy, then we support them, no matter what principles we have to abandon, and no matter how much we have to twist ourselves to campaign for them. Because bottom line, we'd rather win in an undemocratic system than to lose in a democratic one.
Keep your eyes on the Moore v Harper case in SCOTUS next month, people. That's what it will all come down to.
"Look, I get the political dynamic here. The best hope for convincing GOP voters to finally take the off-ramp from Trump is by emphasizing that the former president is a stone cold loser.
That may be necessary, but without any real substance, it’s not sufficient, is it?"
That would be a resounding NO from me, but I have zero faith in the GOP, including the "normals" that they will come to the same conclusion. It's ALL about winning elections, no matter the cost.
"A Chandler Republican recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives says that she will not cast her vote on any bill unless the 2022 election is redone."
And so MAGA now plays its new trump (pun intended) card of withholding services to taxpayers if they do not like the outcome of elections or feel that minor inconveniences equate to major scandals in attempts to get results it wants rather than those they earn. And at a time when those typical citizen taxpayers are struggling to afford basic commodities and often must work more for less. It will be interesting to see how this plays with those on the right who are not full-blown conspiracy theorists, think that government already is too bloated and inefficient, and that their representatives have become more interested in serving themselves than their constituents. Meanwhile the advertising copy on the left writes itself, full of references to pouty, whiny children, a teenage inability to handle the truth, and an adult-level unwillingness to perform the very job they were hired to do.
For the GOP it is the textbook definition of an unforced error -- yet another one as they pursue the goal of making themselves as unattractive as possible to all but their most devoted members. All in all, another brick in the wall of what increasingly has become a stale movement that is reaching beyond its expiration date. Election denying may be the hill they are willing to die on, but for the rest of us it is confirmation that the MAGA acronym is being redefined in real time to mean "Make Acceptance Go Away."
"A Chandler Republican recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives says that she will not cast her vote on any bill unless the 2022 election is redone."
I guess threatening to hold her breath until she died and swearing not to be anyone's friend anymore didn't work out as well as she hoped.
Here's a suggestion: how about resigning in protest and never ever ever ever ever running for stupid office again cross your heart and swear to die. That'll show 'em.
<b>Unless these Republican critics also make the moral and constitutional case that Donald Trump is unfit for office — that he is a disgrace and a danger who should never be entrusted with power again— we’re likely to see a replay of 2016</b>
I love that brave and bold Chris Christie who was told by Trump what to eat can occasionally take a stance against his master. And Paul Ryan should always be introduced as Fox Executive Paul Ryan. And Pence has less chance of becoming president than I do. Why is he relevant?
If, and hopefully when, Jack Smith comes out with an indictment every Republican is going to have to choose whether they stand with the poor put upon victim of the Deep State Donald Trump or with the witch hunters. That’s going to be Trump’s rallying point.
The Republican Party may think they’re going to shake him. Deals with the devil aren’t that easily broken.
I know we're supposed to welcome all newcomers to the Never Trump caucus, but this new crop is not really ready to join us, and they'll all fall back into his embrace in time. Sure, they're tired of Trump the man, but they're not tired of the authoritarianism, the revanchism or the illiberalism that he embodied. They're not tired of "hurting the right people" as a guiding philosophy. And that's why they'll all fall right back into his embrace if and when he should win the Republican nomination again. If your only criticism of Trump is his lack of electability then you've learned absolutely nothing.
The Republican party as it exists now is full of addicts. They're addicted to grievance and victimhood and rage and hate. Trading Trump for Desantis is trading cigarettes for a vape pen. They tell themselves it's better but that's just the lie that allows the addiction to continue. He has all the same instincts as Trump, just wrapped in a dour package instead of a wild and unpredictable one. But introspection is in short supply these days, and they'll keep at their addiction until they truly hit rock bottom and reality finally breaks through, whatever form that takes. I only hope they don't take the entire country with them.
Nothing, but nothing is going to change the basic gene pool of today's GOP. In one form or another they are the party of undemocratic, exclusionary, racist policies. Their focus is to restrict/limit the vote by whatever means they can. When they lose elections, aver [loudly] they have lost because of vote[r] corruption, etc. Their party platform is fomenting culture wars. No policy other than tax cuts for billionaires. Support our allies (Ukraine)? Nah! Let's go with Putin. Free press - only if it is Fox News. The list goes on and on. My bottom line is never, ever, under any condition or circumstance vote for a Republican.
What infuriates me is that almost all of those "brave" Rs out there that are now going around saying Trump is a threat, he's a danger, he's crazy, he's unfit - Every single one of them REFUSE to say they will not vote for him! COWARDS every single one of them. If they cave to someone like Trump, they will bow before Putin and Kim and every other person/nation that threatens US.
On one end of the Republican Party we have Liz Cheney doing her job with skill and conviction, the most important single element of which for some time now has been to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and thereby protect and defend our democratic nation and the ideals it was founded upon. On the other end we have Liz Harris refusing to do her job in any way unless those ideals are chucked in the toilet and summarily flushed. In between we have Chris Christie and his ilk running a con job on Republican voters by saying the reason to no longer support Donald Trump is simply because he's now become a *loser* rather than a *winner* with no mention of the actual and very real *reasons* he's apparently garnered that (temporary?) status in their most learned opinions.
Elephants have poor vision and long memories. The GOP has run true to form on the first of these attributes for the past six (and, actually, many more) years. But now some in the herd are ready to forget Donald Trump. Well, good for them, I guess. Progress is progress, I suppose.
But there are other creatures around who have good vision and long memories to go with it, and who are not (and have never been) part of the herd on either side of the aisle. The R's don't have much use for us until it comes to an election of the 'general' variety. Then, of course, we're of at least some interest to them and are mightily encouraged to become a part of their herd. Or at least toss them some peanuts. Well.
I can't and won't pretend to speak for others of my kind, since we are by nature independent thinkers as opposed to those with a herd mentality, and don't often agree on a whole lot among ourselves. But after all that's happened since 2015 and that continues to happen today, if the R's think I'll ever even consider throwing any peanuts their way, much less actually reach into the bag and toss them, while their party looks and sounds like Liz Harris rather than Liz Cheney, and gaslights their voters on the real reason to forget their former (and present) herd leader like Chris Christie, Paul Ryan et al, they have effin' peanuts for brains.
I was a Never Trumper (sans the R connotation associated with the term) long before that term was even coined. But that shouldn't be - and I'm sure isn't - of any concern to the R's. What should perhaps concern those peanut brains is the fact that their mindless stampede to the fringe has caused me (and, I hope, a good number like me) to adopt a bit different appellation...
Never Republican.
Re losing Trump-endorsed MAGA candidates this past election: most ran on culture war lies. But here’s the thing. Voters aren’t stupid. Their kids come home from school everyday not having been groomed or having had LGBTQ books “shoved down their throats,” or having been urged by teachers to transition to trans, or having been taught CRT. They’ve been trained in active shooter drills, though.
Yes, the parade of GOP hopefuls plays right into Trump's hands, where he can once again win the primaries, if they hold any, by being the outlier while the rest of his opponents fight over the same pool of voters who have moved past Trump. If there are primaries, they need to have one alternative to Trump and one only, and I don't think that's going to happen.
Paul Ryan, as ever, is a disgrace. He still feels the need to pay homage to the Trump presidency by ignoring how he tried to destroy the country, while praising him for all the things he did that could have just as easily been done by any other replacement-level Republican. Anyone in the Oval Office with an R by their name would have gotten the judges, which owed more to McConnell than Trump, or the tax cut, which owed more to Republican control of Congress than to Trump. He didn't accomplish anything difficult; no wall, no repeal of ObamaCare. But he did incite an attempted coup.
I suppose criticizing Trump still carries with it the risk of some Cesar Sayoc coming after you. Really, though, Trump has built loyalty through his stabbed in the back narrative, stoking the grievance and resentment against elites of Republican voters who have been primed for Trump's demagoguery by 35 years of reckless and irresponsible, mendacious conservative media. Any GOP presidential hopeful who apostasizes from the Trump cult by criticizing their guru will incur that grievance and resentment Trump has so diligently cultivated over the last seven years. They'll become the elites with the targets on their backs.
I love this notion that a bunch of narcissistic, egomaniacs are going to clear the field so that God’s new chosen one, Ron DeSantis, can go mano a mano with former savior Trump. Sure.
"SCOTUS will decide whether power politics and partisanship will trump history, tradition, logic, and the text of the Constitution."
This is very scary stuff and is going to tell us a lot about both the current SCOTUS and today's GOP throughout the country. Don't ever forget that they want to win elections at any cost, at any time.