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I Suppose That I Missed the Gloating
Reports are that Trump-backed candidates were 15-0 in the Senate. Now not all of them were the right sort of people, but we assume that a Trump-backed reprobate may be less ruined than a Trump-opposed and soon-to-be tarred and feathered reprobate. Welllll, it’s a process, not a moment.
Red Wave inbound! (May be slow to load — stick with it)
I was looking for some more numbers I saw earlier today on the phone, and, well — we did well. In particular, Trump-backed candidates performed well. So much for round three of “Trump is the kiss of death”. Yeah, he can’t win, he should stay away, he’s poll-box-office poison… heard it before. As I said a while back, the utilitarian Trump-Nopers with their “Trump is simply *bad* for the party’s prospects!” may be misjudging the American mood once again.
I’ll take a moment from my victory lap here to admit that I am not sanguine, but I think I’ve been keeping my doom pill under wraps pretty well these days, as the future is wide open, and we never know whether’s tomorrow’s harvest is more fertility or more fertilizer. We do have excellent prospects, yet the GOP hosers are more than capable of hosing this up. Maybe even by accident, although not necessarily. Prophecy, prediction, warning, threat — there’s a spectrum. Watch for the usual suspects (no, not people here on-site) to begin proving with geometric logic how this just means worse performance in the mid-terms, because now the cat is out of the bag or something. My my my, the Democrats might wake. We should hurry up and lose all of our elections so that never happens!
There may not be many reasons to be giddy, but we deserve a Mimosa to start the day this morning, and By Gum, two on Saturday morning. Sunday? Kari bar the door.
Oh, these are just primaries, or minor elections. Yeah? Where you at, NeverTrump? Thought you were going to put us down once and for all, especially after the walls closed in on Trump what with the bombshell show trials, produced by real show people and everything.
I have a bottle of champagne which has gone unused since its purchase in November of 2020. Might bust that out this weekend. So now after the news has broken, but before the stunned Trump-Nopers regain their mathematical faculties (such as they are), I’m just savoring the sound of a pin dropping. Tinnnng!
Thanks, Trump!
Published in General
You have to suspect at least two-thirds of Republicans running as hard-a^^ conservatives are actually undercover moderates. It will hurt less when they betray you.
That’s fine. I laughed about it. I suppose some people think he’s always playing 4-D Chess. I think he’s just having the time of his life.
I assume that at least two-thirds of Republicans in the House and Senate are actually undercover Dems.
What really galls people is that when an establishment drone is nominated over an upstart conservative, the party leadership puts the pressure on. “He may not have been your first choice, but for the good of the party and to defeat the Democrat menace, you must put your feelings aside and support him. After all, someone who will vote with you 50% of the time is still better than someone who will vote against you 100% of the time. Also, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan.”
It’s entirely the opposite when the party establishment doesn’t get its way and the upstart conservative gets nominated. “This candidate is unacceptable and will drive voters away from the party. Please join our new ‘Republicans Against the Upstart Conservative’ group. Also, consider voting for the independent who is running as a spoiler.”
That’s exactly how I saw it. Trump has moments when he is a cheeky fellow. People who are inclined to see everything as a political calculation discount the possibility that sometimes a politician will say things just for the hell of it.
Yes. It kind of reveals the backstabbing nature of the GOPe, doesn’t it?
And then think of the 2016 GOP primary, when every non-Trump candidate promised to support whoever got the nomination. And when Trump got the nomination, how many of them kept that promise? One?
TERF is Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist. BRG is new to me.
I’m sticking with British Racing Green.
Or, ballistic rail gun. That would work.
Just remember that every politician will disappoint you in some way, sooner or later. I didn’t agree with every single decision or policy of Reagan or Trump, but the ratio was a lot higher with those two than other presidents in my adult lifetime.
I just got my first disappointment with Sen. Scott, who I had heretofore considered very solid. Lisa Murkowski? What was he thinking? If he didn’t think he could endorse against her, then better to stay out of it.
And send us your paystubs with your next check, freeloader.
Franco, you were en fuego!
You have only looked at the Primary elections, and not the General Elections, which are the important elections.
Trump nominated candidates get a 10+% boost in the primaries, and usually are winning primaries. However will they win general elections where the “Mark of Trump” is seen by some as akin to the “Mark of the Beast” by that significant portion of the electorate which is Republican but refuses to vote or anything Trump? That group of voters flipped Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while leaving Republican legislatures in those states.
I haven’t decided who to vote for in the Arizona Senate General Election, as I don’t want to empower either Trump or Schumer.
But in the state election races, where Trump endorsed candidates for Secretary of State and Attorney General (and likely Governor) won, the answer is simple. I would rather have a Democrat win the general election than a Trump Republican. After 4 years of a Democrat, Republican Primary voters will be less likely to nominate a Trump endorsed candidate over a Reagan Republican. As I have said already, I will vote for any Republican (other than a Trump Endorsed Republican) over any Democrat over any Trump Endorsed Republican. For example, I am voting for Republican Kimberly Yee for State Treasurer, as she was not endorsed by Trump.
I will be contacting the Democrats for “Republicans for Hobbs for Governor” signs if Kari Lake wins the Republican Primary, but I will be posting “Karrin Taylor Robson for Governor” signs if she wins the Republican Primary. You can huff and puff all you want, but these damn ticket-splitters may well throw elections to Democrats due to their antipathy to the Trump Insurrectionists. (The Republican Candidate for Secretary of State was literally at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. No way will I vote for him, ever.)
You mean like “Republicans for Katie Hobbs for Governor” in Arizona if Kari Lake wins? ;) We flipped Arizona in the 2020 election by voting against Trump, we will do it again for a Trump clone.
Candidates may have promised that. I didn’t.
Agreed to a degree. However when you endorse a candidate that has been a pox to the base forever. Well , it’s time to kick Scott to the curb. His priorities are as_ backwards.
As I said in another post, Gary: be honest with yourself if you won’t be honest with us. You were always going to vote Democrat. You just need an excuse to justify it. And you’ll work hard to find one.
You hold candidates to a standard of honor that you yourself eschew?
Noted.
Nope. I had committed to vote for any Republican (except Trump Endorsed Republicans) over any Democrat.
I will be voting for Republican Kimberly Yee for State Treasurer, as she was not endorsed by Trump.
I would have happily voted for Karrin Taylor Robson for Governor over Democrat Katie Hobbs. But if Kari Lake pulls out the win, I am voting for Katie Hobbs over Trump-endorsed Kari Lake, and I will be joining “Republicans for Katie Hobbs.”
Thanks. I never would have guessed that. And now I remember why I don’t remember it.
BRG, as far as I’ve been able to determine, is like “Let’s go, Brandon!” Someone did a tee shirt or got a tattoo or something in honor of RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsberg) but misspelled it as BRG. It stuck as a joke. I guess maybe only with the genocide crowd, but I haven’t invested my time in reading all the reddit comments which use the initials.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face, Gary.
Nobody with any sense believes this. Yours is a solid D vote. Yesterday, today and forever.
Which face?
Ridding the party of the malign influence of Trump is primary. No Democrats sparked an Insurrection in 2020. Trump did. And our Secretary of State Candidate even went to the Capitol on January 6th. He must lose.
Because electing Joe Biden has worked out so very well for the United States.
“But Trump protested the outcome of the election! Therefore I had to vote against him two months before that happened!” But if Trump had won, January 6th never would have happened, the country would be better off, and Liz Cheney would be cruising to re-election.
The country would be in a much better place if Trump had won. Even Never-Trump would be better off because the politicians they stan for (Meijer, Cheney) would still be in Congress.
So, objectively speaking, people who spite-voted against Trump were putting their spite over their country.
So, keep holding that scalpel to your nose, Never-Trump-And-Also-Never-Anybody-Who-Doesn’t-Hate-Trumpers.
Even if it kills us all? Your track record of accomplishment is not so great, Gary. The Afghanistan pull out? The Ukraine-Russia War. Inflation. Falling real wages. It’s all on you. Every death in Ukraine is on your soul. That would not have happened if not for NT votes. Look in the eyes of the surviving relatives of the dead and be proud. When the war starts with China, you can be proud of that, too. When the dollar is no longer the reserve currency, stand up and say, “I did that!” Elections matter. Votes have consequences.
The Bulwark has turned on Pete Meijer. (“You weren’t anti-Trump enough and your Democrat friends were right to run ads supporting your pro-Trump opponent!”)
I have to make some popcorn.
At least here on Ricochet, we need some “I Did That!” stickers with Gary’s face, not Biden’s.
Insufficiently cynical.😬
No. I confess. We need a
snoozeblock button.