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The GOP Have Lost Their Minds: Blame It on the Moon
It must be a perpetual full moon these days because the GOP has lost its ever lovin’ mind. First some facts.
Polling conducted January 4-5, 2021 before the January 6 House and Senate electoral vote count indicated fairly broad support for challenging the election. (Among more recognized polling names, Rasmussen did better with the 2020 election than many other pollsters.)
One of my favorite journalists, Mollie Hemingway, within the last 24 hours noted on social media that “Congressional approval at 15% according to Gallup. 60% in another poll say impeachment is a waste of money and time. In the same poll, 77% wish Congress were working on Coronavirus mitigation, not impeachment. And 80% of GOP voters in battleground states say they’d be less likely to vote GOP who support impeachment.”
Misthiocracy posted an article in The Link Library questioning how it was logistically possible for Trump speech attendees to reach the Capitol Building in time to participate in the riot. If the ones attending his speech were not the ones rioting, then it follows the speech was not the cause of the riot. Also interesting is Pelosi and McConnell’s high-level security people deflecting the Sergeant at Arms’ call for additional Guard help before January 6 because of bad “optics”.
The GOP at the state level is a mixed bag with the Arizona GOP chair moving to censure Gov Ducey for his lockdown policy (understandable to a point) and Cindy McCain and Jeff Flake for, among other things, opposing President Trump and in Flake’s case publicly coming out for Biden. DeSantis and company over in FL are much sharper tacks: their move to divest state funds from Apple/Facebook/Amazon/Google/Twitter will likely garner them great support among independent, center and right-leaning voters. They could grow the voter base beyond what Trump achieved with moves like that.
Now we arrive at the are-they-crazy national GOP moves: Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell are moving (whipping?) House and Senate Republicans to join in impeaching a President whose term ends in 7 days, and House Minority Leader McCarthy is open to censure.
This is how Liam Donovan citing the New York Times on social media put it: “As stunning as Rs moving against Trump would be, the alternative is that he sticks around and makes their lives/careers hell for the next four years (at least.) If that’s going to happen anyway, a clean break looks pretty attractive. Now or never.”
Also from NYT’s Jonathan Martin:
“Biden called McConnell yesterday and asked if Senate could dual track impeachment trial and cabinet confirmations. Far from telling Biden he would not discuss the impeachment, McConnell said he would check with the parliamentarian and get back to Biden.
McConnell not only told Biden he’d be for Merrick Garland for AG, he reminded him he urged Trump to name Garland to succeed Comey at FBI.”
This is not just “how the sausage is made.” This is a craven ruling class unmoored from its citizenry. With a few exceptions, the GOP never acted as decisively to defend or assist the heartbeat of America – its working-class and small business citizens – as they are showing us they could have if they’d wanted to. Had these same Republicans thrown their weight behind demanding a swift, forensic examination of the election in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia in particular led by someone Americans could trust (hard call these days, I know) with results made public, I doubt we would have seen protesters in great numbers outside the Capitol building.
Now for some commentary after the facts. The Rasmussen polling reference at the beginning of the post included quotes from an excellent Tucker Carlson editorial. At different points in the clip, he spoke important words to two groups.
To all Americans:
“You may have nothing in common with people on the other side of the country…but you’re stuck with them. The idea that groups of Americans will somehow break off into separate, peaceful nations of like minded citizens…that’s a fantasy…. There is no such thing as a peaceful separation…. The two separate hemispheres of this country are inseparably intertwined; neither can leave without killing the other.”
To US leaders:
“When thousands of your countrymen storm the Capitol building…if you don’t bother to pause and learn a single thing from it, then you’re a fool. You lack wisdom and self-awareness. You have no place running a country.”
It could not be clearer that the GOP is as focused on purging Donald Trump as the Democrats. They’ll say it’s for what he has done, but it’s really for what they are afraid he will do to influence US voters in the future. This means it’s not really Donald Trump that’s the problem to them, it’s tens of millions of US voters. So they will try to purge him for their own good, and the democratic republic known as the United States of America can fend for itself. If more Americans become too troublesome, just pass some laws making MAGA gatherings domestic terrorism and arrest and fine them. Put them on Schumer’s no-fly lists, kick them off planes for having private conversations about Trump, make them understand they are to be silent or they will become unemployable. No need to wait for a Biden term to officially start; these are all current or in the works.
Smart, capable leaders could have built on what the Trump presidency accomplished and put whatever personal aspects they didn’t like in the rearview mirror at little cost to themselves.
Borrowing from Tucker: these people have no place running a country. Too many of them have too little imagination, and would rather perpetuate their own careers than act to alleviate or even defend the election integrity concerns of so many millions of Americans. Shortsighted of them, I must say. I cannot think of one time that I’ve gone back for another bite after someone tried to make me swallow something I didn’t like ‘for my own good’.
Published in Elections
Well such a split would cause the Dems to certainly dominate for a generation.
Two-faced.
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Like I just did with Ronna Romney Mcdaniel: She is so thrilled to have been re-elected as RNC Chairwoman.
Where is Jack Ma, the owner of Alibaba?
I don’t watch any TV News, but that was a great editorial by Carlson. It seems that the GOP has decided that they will learn something from Jan 6th, I’m just not sure its the right thing. They certainly haven’t even wondered why people are upset. Then again, they didn’t know in 2016 either.
The last time a major political party imploded, it was 8 years from them holding the White House until the party that replaced them held it. The Dems won the elections of 1852 and 1856, and the GOP in 1860. So, a generation might be too long. Of course the rules that the two parties have put in place to make them preeminent make it much harder for a third party today.
Maybe it is time to update the old Will Rogers saying: I don’t belong to an organized party. I’m a Republican.
“Dumb” might have worked as well. It fits Hanlon’s Razor.
Ayup!
Daily Kos:
Breitbart:
I’m thinking we reintroduce the word quisling.
Break up of the USSR. The British Empire for the most part allow self rule. You could argue most state as much if not more power than many a USSR puppet state and British Colonial had. So that fact we are federalist makes it more likely, I hope.
Singapore is ethnically pretty homogeneous. Czechoslovakia broke up largely on ethnic lines. To a significant extent so did the USSR.
Yeah, I’m getting the sinking feeling that Ryan-ism is alive and well in the Republican party.
I’m with you on the new party… but can we please find someone other than Donald Trump to lead it? Is that the best we’ve got? I was willing to vote for the guy twice because of the alternatives, but I’ve had enough.
I’m reminded of what British General Alexander said to Eisenhower after the incompetent American commander Lloyd Fredendall got his ass kicked by the Germans at Kasserine Pass: “I’m sure that you have better men than that.”
Tend to agree. I voted twice for Trump but his idiotic behavior during the Georgia Senatorial fiasco was my breaking point. I can still thank him for defeating the miserable Hillary Clinton but that was yesterday. To coin an old phrase, “What Have You Done for me Lately?”
If Trump really wants to hose the GOP, he should form that third party, but step aside as its frontman and through his support behind someone who doesn’t carry all the toxic baggage he does (and maybe has a little more self-discipline). But that’s the problem right there. Trump’s ego likely won’t allow him to do such a thing. He’s got to be the center of attention.
Both-the two are not mutually exclusive. All the woke people came up through the schools recently, where they have been taught that America is the enemy. Also, if “white capitalists” are the villains, what about all those White Capitalist Investment Banks who funded all of their campaigns? When will they turn on those whose money they solicit and receive?
8 years ago? 2012? Yes your last sentence is quite true. Ross Perot was the only one who had some meaningful third party effort and he did cause Bill Clinton to get elected.
It’s not so much finding someone, but for someone to step up. Who picked Trump? The voters did because he stepped up and got their attention. So who’s the next charismatic person to step up? Cruz? Someone else?
The last time a major political party imploded was 1852 when the Whig candidate Winfield Scott got beaten 254-42 carrying only 4 states and was the last time that the Whigs won any electoral college votes.
It may be helpful for the party to develop a platform, some set of principles by which successors would be evaluated. I doubt that building a party based on the charisma of a key politician is a recipe for longevity.
The same thought occurred to me. I imagine there were people watching/listening, but they should not be confused with Trump supporters. Trump supporters were listening to him speak, and President Trump is repeatedly being accused of inciting his supporters to riot and doing nothing to send out the Guard in aid.
EDIT: An article posted in our Link Library by Misthiocracy illustrates the importance of distinguishing between rioters and Trump supporters. Buffalo horns guy, arguably the face most often used to make Trump supporters synonymous with Capitol rioters, was photographed/quoted at Arizona climate change strike marches in 2019. Media such as CNN of course left that detail out of their coverage of him. You can take your pick between reasons why he was at Capitol riots, but climate change support and Donald Trump support are near irreconcilable.
I was confused by your 8 years. I thought you meant 8 years ago.
Given the way the GOPe and the Demo-rats attacked and are still attempting to destroy Trump and his family, who would want to step up?
Very true. Its also going to be difficult to form a party when much of it is the same ideology as the GOP.
But there are two big voting blocks that are ripe for such an action. One is the social conservatives, especially the Evangelical Christians, and the second are the working class voters that actually won the election for Trump in 2016. Both parties have spurned them paying them some lip service, but not actually working towards the policies that they like/want/need. Both groups have some natural alignments and don’t have the difficult baggage that the GOP suffers from in some policy areas.
Yet another Ricochet piece i wish I could recommend several times. Thank you.
That would be a truism of the Dems had not cheated their way to many of the Dem victories over the past 20 years. Even here in Calif, none of my Republican friends believe that John Cox lost to Gavin Newson in the governor’s race by the margin of 38% to 60%. Some Dems I know don’t believe it either.
If Trump takes on the electoral processes, and the people he has working on the issue make a great bit of hay out of how a computer system, such as the Dominion systems vote counting machinery, can only be caught flipping votes in real time, we may still have chance to get our country back on track. it is also going to be necessary to get us out of situation, such as we have in California, where you vote without showing ID. (I voted in the election in person. Although I had my ID out of my purse, ready to hand over, I was told that they weren’t requiring ID any more.)
The new crop of young and dynamic Gavin Newsom resistors are one likely source.
My money is on Kevin Kiley, for one. He is a state legislator who has brought a court suit against Newsom for issuing decrees about lockdowns and masking without having the state legislature rule on them. There is talk of him running for governor.
Right now, there is also a lot of new blood inside the Walkaway movement as well. Candace Owen has stated she likes her spot as spokesperson for the movement. But others see her as a natural to run for a serious political office.