Infrastructure ‘Deal’ Shows a GOP Still Playing to Lose

 

The Republican Party is in a position to take both houses of Congress in the 2022 elections as well as make real inroads at state and local levels. This is due largely to the disaster that the first few months of the Biden administration have become. The reversal of Trump-era policies has had an immediate and biting effect. It is the contrast between the open and rapid implementation of the leftist vision that is one of the most powerful marketing tools the GOP has.

The surest way to dampen this opportunity is for the Republican establishment of old to raise its head as the image of the party. Back to business as usual for the politically comfortable will be a clear signal to that wide, dissatisfied swath of common critters known as the American voters that their interests are still secondary to those sitting in the upper chambers of the GOP. It will show that they not only are content with the unproductive past but are short-sighted as hell.

In case the daily news from the Senate was lost amid the latest COVID panic, or the mundane results from the most woke Olympics in history, or the high drama of a tearful show trial, it seems there is at long last a bipartisan agreement on a trillion and whatever dollar infrastructure bill.

Instead of seizing the chance to stake a principled position in the middle of the most obscene spending spree in anybody’s history, the GOP Senate leadership is gladly slipping back into their old ways. As we saw earlier in the month those senators making up the core of this cave are the usual suspects. But don’t leave out the “leadership.” McConnell has never been a friend to the conservative ideal. To party power perhaps, certainly his own power and position, but hardly the vision of the Founders/Framers. He and his ilk are all too ready to return to a more easy wheeling, dealing pre-Trump atmosphere of comfortable sell-outs.

Of course, the bill will still have to make it through the House where there is a speaker ready to alter it dramatically. Once again valuable ground will be lost. It is there where we may be saved if the bill has to come back to the Senate.

It is a clear statement about the philosophical dependability of the establishment wing of the Senate that our real hope for stopping a disaster of a reconciliation bill lays not with the strength of the GOP but on two Democrat senators. It is being reported now that 17 GOP senators have lined up to be a part of this sham.

I can only hope that enough citizens contact their senators and turn some of those votes and hopefully stiffen some backbones for when it comes back from the House. But this clearly tells us that the push needs to begin now for new leadership in the GOP, especially at the Senate level. There are a few dependable fighters who see the long-range picture. But not nearly enough.

My sense is that the Dems are pushing so hard on all fronts because they can feel the tide turning against them among the general population. The ones who are missing the mood shift in the country are the GOP establishment types. They still are acting like this whole deal was about Trump and not them!

Only a few months ago we had a tighter border than we had had in decades. Regulations had been cut on business substantially. Actual peace was breaking out in the Middle East. A genuine tax cut was in place. In a three-year period, all the things that GOP regulars had been preaching about but failing to do were being done and creating a pragmatic model for the benefits they bring with them.

There is a whole sea of “regular” people who are more than willing to embrace that model. It is not necessarily Trump that they want. It is that governance, the one that the GOP establishment promised and promised and was never serious about. Well, now they have seen it done seriously if not quietly. And those are the results they now know are possible.

Yes, IF the Republican old guard can manage not to blow it. And if there are fairly secure elections, the control of the entire Congress can fall back to the GOP in 2022. The sure way for them to lose that chance is to a return to the undependable past. Because we have to believe that if given the Congress they will actually do something with it!

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  1. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    The upcoming fight over the debt ceiling might be interesting.  Or, it could be another capitulation by the GOP.   There is an infinite supply of Paul Ryan’s out there.

    • #1
  2. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    > Because we have to believe that if given the Congress they will actually do something with it!

    They had it and they proved they won’t do anything with it. No point in giving it to them again. 

    • #2
  3. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):

    > Because we have to believe that if given the Congress they will actually do something with it!

    They had it and they proved they won’t do anything with it. No point in giving it to them again.

    Not the same ones, no.  But part of the goal for 2022 is to get some better representation.

    • #3
  4. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    > Because we have to believe that if given the Congress they will actually do something with it!

    They had it and they proved they won’t do anything with it. No point in giving it to them again.

    Not the same ones, no. But part of the goal for 2022 is to get some better representation.

    I agree that is necessary, but fear that the old guard will fight every step of the way. The Turtle won’t give up power easily. In another thread someone remarked that a former McConnell staffer said that McConnell thinks there were no lessons to learn from 2020. 

    • #4
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    > Because we have to believe that if given the Congress they will actually do something with it!

    They had it and they proved they won’t do anything with it. No point in giving it to them again.

    Not the same ones, no. But part of the goal for 2022 is to get some better representation.

    I agree that is necessary, but fear that the old guard will fight every step of the way. The Turtle won’t give up power easily. In another thread someone remarked that a former McConnell staffer said that McConnell thinks there were no lessons to learn from 2020.

    Well I don’t think he gets to be leader just by seniority.  So the next step may have to be getting enough votes to replace him.  (Not as senator, but just as leader.  Although he’s getting old enough to retire soon, and might do so as soon as he was replaced as leader.)

    • #5
  6. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    It should be noted that Trump lost by 3 million and then 7 million votes in 2016 and 2020.

    The last time that the Republican nominee won the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004 who won by 3 million votes.  George H.W. Bush won in 1988 by 7 million votes.  Reagan won his races by 17 and 8 million votes in 1984 and 1980.  The “Republican establishment of old” did know how to win elections.

    There is something to be said for going back to the old winning formula. In 2024, Trump would lose by 10-15 million votes due to “Never Again Trumpers” (“NAT”) who have an issue with Trump’s 1/6 Capitol riot, and his insistence at his Phoenix speech that the most important issue facing the public is not the economy or foreign affairs, but that Trump feels that he was “personally cheated,” despite any evidence to that effect. Trump can win a Republican primary, he cannot and will not win a general election, nor can he win any swing states; in 2024, he would also lose North Carolina and Florida and maybe Texas. People want Republican principles, they do not want to ever listen again to Donald John Trump’s voice, and Trump cannot understand how Republicans would vote against him, but then vote for Republicans down ballot.

    I suggest trips to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, the George W. Bush Library at SMU in Dallas and the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M in College Station.  Those are the last three Republicans to win a majority of voters.  You know, we can win presidential elections again.

    • #6
  7. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should be noted that Trump lost by 3 million and then 7 million votes in 2016 and 2020.

    The last time that the Republican nominee won the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004 who won by 3 million votes. George H.W. Bush won in 1988 by 7 million votes. Reagan won his races by 17 and 8 million votes in 1984 and 1980. The “Republican establishment of old” did know how to win elections.

    There is something to be said for going back to the old winning formula. In 2024, Trump would lose by 10-15 million votes due to “Never Again Trumpers” (“NAT”) who have an issue with Trump’s 1/6 Capitol riot, and his insistence at his Phoenix speech that the most important issue facing the public is not the economy or foreign affairs, but that Trump feels that he was “personally cheated,” despite any evidence to that effect. Trump can win a Republican primary, he cannot and will not win a general election, nor can he win any swing states; in 2024, he would also lose North Carolina and Florida and maybe Texas. People want Republican principles, they do not want to ever listen again to Donald John Trump’s voice, and Trump cannot understand how Republicans would vote against him, but then vote for Republicans down ballot.

    I suggest trips to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, the George W. Bush Library at SMU in Dallas and the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M in College Station. Those are the last three Republicans to win a majority of voters. You know, we can win presidential elections again.

    If your crystal ball is that good, tell us what the stock market will do in the future, complete with the schedule for ups and downs. I don’t need that info myself, but I’m sure there are many who do. 

    As far as Trump is concerned, if all you have as an alternative is the Hogans and Mittens of the GOPe, then let’s just flush the country down the toilet and get it over with. Let the Demo-rats have their way. I will not vote for any candidate that people such as you support. The CoC prevents me from saying more, and now I have to rotate my shoe trees and unfollow the thread you have besmirched. 

    • #7
  8. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    The JEB! candidacy showed us just how tone-deaf the old guard is. We will be watching to see if something like that happens again.

    • #8
  9. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    The Democrats will have little to run on in 2022 and probably even less in 2024. They do have one arrow left in their depleted quiver, though: make the GOP the Party of Trump. Every left-leaning moderator of every debate and town hall meeting from now until election day 2024 will ask every Republican candidate “Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?”  Whatever answer said candidate will have prepared themselves to give is sure to alienate some sector of GOP voters.   

    • #9
  10. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    The Republican Party is in a position to take both houses of Congress in the 2022 elections.

    Enh…. not necessarily. The open senate seat in Pennsylvania is probably gone and it’s difficult to see Republicans picking off any of the Democrat senators up for re-election. And the Democrats seem bound and determined to continue using the Publisher’s Clearinghouse approach to mail-in ballots, which should protect their majority in the House. Not to mention, the few million “New Americans” that will slip in over the border between now and November 2022, carefully being airdropped into purple districts around the country. 

    And majorities only really matter to Team Red Partisans, who just want bragging rights. The Republican Establishment’s return to “You’ll Get Nothing and Like It” Bush-Republicanism all but guarantees it doesn’t matter. None of Biden’s leftist policies will be overturned, the leftward acceleration will continue, the export of working class prosperity to China will continue.  The Never-Trump/Bush-Republicans care more about scolding and tone policing those to the right of them then countering the destruction wrought by the left. 

    To quote another prescient Bill Murray film, “It just doesn’t matter.” 

     

    • #10
  11. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    Only a few months ago we had a tighter border than we had had in decades. Regulations had been cut on business substantially. Actual peace was breaking out in the Middle East. A genuine tax cut was in place. In a three year period all the things that GOP regulars had been preaching about but failing to do were being done and creating a pragmatic model for the benefits they bring with them.

    But his tweeeeeeeeeeets!

    • #11
  12. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    GK Chesterton:

    The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution. (Illustrated London News, 1924)

    • #12
  13. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    The upcoming fight over the debt ceiling might be interesting. Or, it could be another capitulation by the GOP. There is an infinite supply of Paul Ryan’s out there.

    More Failure Theater coming up…

    • #13
  14. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    the popular vote

    No such thing.

    • #14
  15. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    Stad (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    the popular vote

    No such thing.

    Another way of looking at it is Republicans losing the popular vote in every election but one since the Motor-Voter law loosened up voting rules.  

    • #15
  16. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should be noted that Trump lost by 3 million and then 7 million votes in 2016 and 2020.

    The last time that the Republican nominee won the popular vote was George W. Bush in 2004 who won by 3 million votes. George H.W. Bush won in 1988 by 7 million votes. Reagan won his races by 17 and 8 million votes in 1984 and 1980. The “Republican establishment of old” did know how to win elections.

    There is something to be said for going back to the old winning formula. In 2024, Trump would lose by 10-15 million votes due to “Never Again Trumpers” (“NAT”) who have an issue with Trump’s 1/6 Capitol riot, and his insistence at his Phoenix speech that the most important issue facing the public is not the economy or foreign affairs, but that Trump feels that he was “personally cheated,” despite any evidence to that effect. Trump can win a Republican primary, he cannot and will not win a general election, nor can he win any swing states; in 2024, he would also lose North Carolina and Florida and maybe Texas. People want Republican principles, they do not want to ever listen again to Donald John Trump’s voice, and Trump cannot understand how Republicans would vote against him, but then vote for Republicans down ballot.

    I suggest trips to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, the George W. Bush Library at SMU in Dallas and the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M in College Station. Those are the last three Republicans to win a majority of voters. You know, we can win presidential elections again.

    Um.. ok. I did not take this post to be about Trump at all but about Republicans making gains in Congress and local elections in 2022. The only mention of Trump was to say that people may not have really liked him but liked the policies/outcomes.  A screed about Trump’s past elections seems out of place when discussing House Races in 2022. 

    Mid-terms are historically a reflection on the current President and how he is doing in office.  Biden’s record to date is a loser. In order for the GOP to capitalize on Biden’s failures they only have to offer a realistic alternative. If they role over on things like more and more multi-trillion dollar spending, the GOP is not providing a realistic alternative and they will lose. 

    • #16
  17. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Jager (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should …

    Um.. ok. I did not take this post to be about Trump at all but about Republicans making gains in Congress and local elections in 2022. The only mention of Trump was to say that people may not have really liked him but liked the policies/outcomes. A screed about Trump’s past elections seems out of place when discussing House Races in 2022.

    Mid-terms are historically a reflection on the current President and how he is doing in office. Biden’s record to date is a loser. In order for the GOP to capitalize on Biden’s failures they only have to offer a realistic alternative. If they role over on things like more and more multi-trillion dollar spending, the GOP is not providing a realistic alternative and they will lose.

    All I see from the GOPe is requests for money with scare tactics as their attempt at extracting it, the usual brain-dead statements about how terrible the Demo-rats are and how the GOPe needs my money to stop them from ruining the country. A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today. 

    It’s interesting that all the requests are via snail-mail. The last phone solicitation began with a promise that if I gave a substantial contribution, I would not be called again. I replied that they’d never get another [redacted] nickel anyway, so if they had a do-not-call list they should add my name. That would give them more time to play the suckers out there. That was two months ago and I haven’t been called since. 

    The NTs and NATs have revealed themselves to be people who’d rather have Biden/Harris in charge and let the swamp go undrained than associate with Trump supporters. Thanks to them I guess it’s all over but the funeral. 

    • #17
  18. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    The Democrats will have little to run on in 2022 and probably even less in 2024. They do have one arrow left in their depleted quiver, though: make the GOP the Party of Trump. Every left-leaning moderator of every debate and town hall meeting from now until election day 2024 will ask every Republican candidate “Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?” Whatever answer said candidate will have prepared themselves to give is sure to alienate some sector of GOP voters.

    I think that Chris Christie can answer it best, when he says that he supported Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but that there is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was stolen.  As the so-called “audit” in Arizona comes up empty, and the Michigan investigation shows that that election was not stolen, increasing numbers of sober Republicans will shake their heads and say that the 2020 election was not stolen.  For the Michigan investigation by a 3-1 Republican State Senate Committee see: https://ricochet.com/992230/case-closed-biden-won-michigan-fair-and-square/.

    • #18
  19. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    The Democrats will have little to run on in 2022 and probably even less in 2024. They do have one arrow left in their depleted quiver, though: make the GOP the Party of Trump. Every left-leaning moderator of every debate and town hall meeting from now until election day 2024 will ask every Republican candidate “Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?” Whatever answer said candidate will have prepared themselves to give is sure to alienate some sector of GOP voters.

    I think that Chris Christie can answer it best, when he says that he supported Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but that there is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. As the so-called “audit” in Arizona comes up empty, and the Michigan investigation shows that that election was not stolen, increasing numbers of sober Republicans will shake their heads and say that the 2020 election was not stolen. For the Michigan investigation by a 3-1 Republican State Senate Committee see: https://ricochet.com/992230/case-closed-biden-won-michigan-fair-and-square/.

    The ballot controls in some of those states was bad enough that theoretically the results should’ve been thrown out. 

    The problem was the Democrat law fair, which all of those GOP legislators were warned about and they didn’t do anything, and Zuckerberg. Almost everything Zuckerberg did was legal, and 100% of it is going to be outlawed for the next time.

    • #19
  20. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Django (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should …

    Um.. ok. I did not take this post to be about Trump at all but about Republicans making gains in Congress and local elections in 2022. The only mention of Trump was to say that people may not have really liked him but liked the policies/outcomes. A screed about Trump’s past elections seems out of place when discussing House Races in 2022.

    Mid-terms are historically a reflection on the current President and how he is doing in office. Biden’s record to date is a loser. In order for the GOP to capitalize on Biden’s failures they only have to offer a realistic alternative. If they role over on things like more and more multi-trillion dollar spending, the GOP is not providing a realistic alternative and they will lose.

    All I see from the GOPe is requests for money with scare tactics as their attempt at extracting it, the usual brain-dead statements about how terrible the Demo-rats are and how the GOPe needs my money to stop them from ruining the country. A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    It’s interesting that all the requests are via snail-mail. The last phone solicitation began with a promise that if I gave a substantial contribution, I would not be called again. I replied that they’d never get another [redacted] nickel anyway, so if they had a do-not-call list they should add my name. That would give them more time to play the suckers out there. That was two months ago and I haven’t been called since.

    The NTs and NATs have revealed themselves to be people who’d rather have Biden/Harris in charge and let the swamp go undrained than associate with Trump supporters. Thanks to them I guess it’s all over but the funeral.

    First, the NAT’s, by definition, voted for Trump in 2020.  They turned against him only after he started his “Stop the Steal” campaign and lost 60+ lawsuits before 90+ judges, and then was involved in the 1/6 Capitol riot.

    Second, as an NT, I have no issue with the vast majority of Trump supporters, including my sainted mother and my physician brother.  I have an issue with Trump himself and the rioters of 1/6.  But 95% of Trump supporters are good and great people who we used to call “the salt of the earth” and who I admire and respect.  I need and want them.   I just don’t want Donald John Trump.  Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

     

    • #20
  21. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    Django (View Comment):
    A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today. 

    There’s an awful lot of people nostalgically pining for Reagan who think nothing has changed in forty years. This lazy nostalgia is a big part of why Republicans lose.  

    • #21
  22. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should …

    Um.. ok. I did not take this post to be about Trump at all but about Republicans making gains in Congress and local elections in 2022. The only mention of Trump was to say that people may not have really liked him but liked the policies/outcomes. A screed about Trump’s past elections seems out of place when discussing House Races in 2022.

    Mid-terms are historically a reflection on the current President and how he is doing in office. Biden’s record to date is a loser. In order for the GOP to capitalize on Biden’s failures they only have to offer a realistic alternative. If they role over on things like more and more multi-trillion dollar spending, the GOP is not providing a realistic alternative and they will lose.

    All I see from the GOPe is requests for money with scare tactics as their attempt at extracting it, the usual brain-dead statements about how terrible the Demo-rats are and how the GOPe needs my money to stop them from ruining the country. A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    It’s interesting that all the requests are via snail-mail. The last phone solicitation began with a promise that if I gave a substantial contribution, I would not be called again. I replied that they’d never get another [redacted] nickel anyway, so if they had a do-not-call list they should add my name. That would give them more time to play the suckers out there. That was two months ago and I haven’t been called since.

    The NTs and NATs have revealed themselves to be people who’d rather have Biden/Harris in charge and let the swamp go undrained than associate with Trump supporters. Thanks to them I guess it’s all over but the funeral.

    First, the NAT’s, by definition, voted for Trump in 2020. They turned against him only after he started his “Stop the Steal” campaign and lost 60+ lawsuits before 90+ judges, and then was involved in the 1/6 Capitol riot.

    Second, as an NT, I have no issue with the vast majority of Trump supporters, including my sainted mother and my physician brother. I have an issue with Trump himself and the rioters of 1/6. But 95% of Trump supporters are good and great people who we used to call “the salt of the earth” and who I admire and respect. I need and want them. I just don’t want Donald John Trump. Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

     

    You’d rather have Biden and Harris than Trump. That says it all. Forget being united. You drew the line in the sand, so stay on your side of it. 

    • #22
  23. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

    I wouldn’t say that the whole GOP is thrilled with MAGA policy. I think Ron Desantis can form this collation and make a good direction.

    • #23
  24. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    There’s an awful lot of people nostalgically pining for Reagan who think nothing has changed in forty years. This lazy nostalgia is a big part of why Republicans lose.

    The problem today is that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. I think Chris Buckley said that, but in any case, you are 100% correct. 

    But seriously, what I miss is reasonable Democrats,  the ones who didn’t hate America. 

    • #24
  25. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Django (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    There’s an awful lot of people nostalgically pining for Reagan who think nothing has changed in forty years. This lazy nostalgia is a big part of why Republicans lose.

    The problem today is that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. I think Chris Buckley said that, but in any case, you are 100% correct.

    But seriously, what I miss is reasonable Democrats, the ones who didn’t hate America.

    There are no Scoop Jackson or Zell Miller’s anymore. For practical purposes, there never will be again.

    The structure of the economy and society has changed for too much for nostalgia. The last chance was around 2004. 

    • #25
  26. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    The Democrats will have little to run on in 2022 and probably even less in 2024. They do have one arrow left in their depleted quiver, though: make the GOP the Party of Trump. Every left-leaning moderator of every debate and town hall meeting from now until election day 2024 will ask every Republican candidate “Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?” Whatever answer said candidate will have prepared themselves to give is sure to alienate some sector of GOP voters.

    I think that Chris Christie can answer it best, when he says that he supported Trump in both 2016 and 2020, but that there is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. As the so-called “audit” in Arizona comes up empty, and the Michigan investigation shows that that election was not stolen, increasing numbers of sober Republicans will shake their heads and say that the 2020 election was not stolen. For the Michigan investigation by a 3-1 Republican State Senate Committee see: https://ricochet.com/992230/case-closed-biden-won-michigan-fair-and-square/.

    An other answer might be: It does not matter what I think, 25% of the American people do not trust that the outcome of this election was fair. Congressional Democrats like VP Harris in 2018, Amy Klobashar(sp) Ron Wyden had all called into question our election machines and voting methods.  Vote integrity is a problem identified by both Republicans and Democrats and we should take steps to restore the full faith of the people in our elections. 

    • #26
  27. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    It should …

    Um.. ok. I did not take this post to be about Trump at all but about Republicans making gains in Congress and local elections in 2022. The only mention of Trump was to say that people may not have really liked him but liked the policies/outcomes. A screed about Trump’s past elections seems out of place when discussing House Races in 2022.

    Mid-terms are historically a reflection on the current President and how he is doing in office. Biden’s record to date is a loser. In order for the GOP to capitalize on Biden’s failures they only have to offer a realistic alternative. If they role over on things like more and more multi-trillion dollar spending, the GOP is not providing a realistic alternative and they will lose.

    All I see from the GOPe is requests for money with scare tactics as their attempt at extracting it, the usual brain-dead statements about how terrible the Demo-rats are and how the GOPe needs my money to stop them from ruining the country. A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    It’s interesting that all the requests are via snail-mail. The last phone solicitation began with a promise that if I gave a substantial contribution, I would not be called again. I replied that they’d never get another [redacted] nickel anyway, so if they had a do-not-call list they should add my name. That would give them more time to play the suckers out there. That was two months ago and I haven’t been called since.

    The NTs and NATs have revealed themselves to be people who’d rather have Biden/Harris in charge and let the swamp go undrained than associate with Trump supporters. Thanks to them I guess it’s all over but the funeral.

    First, the NAT’s, by definition, voted for Trump in 2020. They turned against him only after he started his “Stop the Steal” campaign and lost 60+ lawsuits before 90+ judges, and then was involved in the 1/6 Capitol riot.

    Second, as an NT, I have no issue with the vast majority of Trump supporters, including my sainted mother and my physician brother. I have an issue with Trump himself and the rioters of 1/6. But 95% of Trump supporters are good and great people who we used to call “the salt of the earth” and who I admire and respect. I need and want them. I just don’t want Donald John Trump. Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

     

    You’d rather have Biden and Harris than Trump. That says it all. Forget being united. You drew the line in the sand, so stay on your side of it.

    Yes, for the first time since 1972 I voted for a Democrat for President.  Trump’s behavior since the election has confirmed all of my prior suspicions of him.  I voted Country First to rid our country of a strutting, deranged autocrat.  I made the right vote.

    • #27
  28. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

    I wouldn’t say that the whole GOP is thrilled with MAGA policy. I think Ron Desantis can form this collation and make a good direction.

    I agree.  DeSantis is Trumpism without Trump.  While DeSantis is not my first choice, I can live with DeSantis, just as my fellow Republicans had to swallow hard and live with Romney and McCain.

    • #28
  29. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Django (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    There’s an awful lot of people nostalgically pining for Reagan who think nothing has changed in forty years. This lazy nostalgia is a big part of why Republicans lose.

    The problem today is that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. I think Chris Buckley said that, but in any case, you are 100% correct.

    But seriously, what I miss is reasonable Democrats, the ones who didn’t hate America.

    Me too.  But there are some, such as Chris Coons and the other Senators who negotiated the infrastructure bill.

    • #29
  30. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

     

    All I see from the GOPe is requests for money with scare tactics as their attempt at extracting it, the usual brain-dead statements about how terrible the Demo-rats are and how the GOPe needs my money to stop them from ruining the country. A losing formula, IMNSHO, as stupid as thinking that what worked in the country forty years ago is going to work today.

    It’s interesting that all the requests are via snail-mail. The last phone solicitation began with a promise that if I gave a substantial contribution, I would not be called again. I replied that they’d never get another [redacted] nickel anyway, so if they had a do-not-call list they should add my name. That would give them more time to play the suckers out there. That was two months ago and I haven’t been called since.

    The NTs and NATs have revealed themselves to be people who’d rather have Biden/Harris in charge and let the swamp go undrained than associate with Trump supporters. Thanks to them I guess it’s all over but the funeral.

    First, the NAT’s, by definition, voted for Trump in 2020. They turned against him only after he started his “Stop the Steal” campaign and lost 60+ lawsuits before 90+ judges, and then was involved in the 1/6 Capitol riot.

    Second, as an NT, I have no issue with the vast majority of Trump supporters, including my sainted mother and my physician brother. I have an issue with Trump himself and the rioters of 1/6. But 95% of Trump supporters are good and great people who we used to call “the salt of the earth” and who I admire and respect. I need and want them. I just don’t want Donald John Trump. Remove that one person from the equation, and we are united.

     

    You’d rather have Biden and Harris than Trump. That says it all. Forget being united. You drew the line in the sand, so stay on your side of it.

    Yes, for the first time since 1972 I voted for a Democrat for President. Trump’s behavior since the election has confirmed all of my prior suspicions of him. I voted Country First to rid our country of a strutting, deranged autocrat. I made the right vote.

    You refuse to see the consequences of your vote and thereby lose all credibility. Talk to the hand as they say, because the face ain’t listening anymore. 

    • #30
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