Republican/Trump Voters Reject McConnell-Haley Narrative

 

Bill of Rights and TrumpSenate Minority Leader (again) Mitch McConnell and Nikki Haley badly miscalculated the American electorate, unless they are willing servants of Xi and the Thirty American Tyrants, furthering what Time proudly celebrated as a grand and good conspiracy against real, legitimate voters in their several states producing the wrong result again. To the extent the McConnell-Haley contingent succeed in clinging to control of the Republican Party, while the left asserts full control over the Democratic Party and the instruments of national power, they will hasten the end of the Republican Party, like the Whigs before them. President Trump and the portion of the real electorate that does not want a socialist America is signaling clearly that they intend to transform the Republican Party, rather than creating a new party from scratch. We are living in very interesting times.

Trump 2020 voters speak clearly:

Suffolk University, in collaboration with USA TODAY, conducts regular polling at the state and national level, along with special topic surveys. The first special topic poll for 2021 has already generated a series of articles and bold headlines. It is well worth your while to read the seven page questionnaire with answers. This is not dense print. It is a few easily read short questions and polling worker instructions, combined with tabulated responses. The instructions indicate that the survey should take six minutes to answer over the phone.

The population being sampled was just those people who indicated last fall that they intended to vote for President Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Given that virtually everyone who actually voted chose Trump or Biden, this population will make or break any candidate running as a Republican in a primary or general election. The survey was conducted after the conclusion of the second Senate impeachment trial, February 15-20, with a sample size of 1,000.

Having already staked out positions in stark opposition to President Trump, the McConnell-Haley contingent, who will not be at this year’s CPAC, have a very hard row to hoe. They have likely terribly miscalculated from the Contract with America* and Tea Party** defeats by the party of big business. Connecting the dots of 1995-1998, 2011-2012, and 2016-2020, a creature of the establishment might conclude that their class always triumphs in the middle to long term, even without special fiddling of elections, as Lisa Murkowski’s gang has just done in Alaska.***

By this view, Reagan was the longest disruption, with the Tea Party and Gingrich Speakership each mere speed bumps. Trump’s influence, in this context, would seem to fit somewhere in the middle, but not a qualitatively or quantitatively more serious threat to the self-selected ruling elite. It ain’t necessarily so. Politicians and pundits would do well to listen carefully to what Trump 2020 voters are now saying.

The Suffolk University poll, after verifying demographic information, asks a standard right direction-wrong track question and a favorable-unfavorable question, before validating the self-identified Trump supporter actually voted for Trump in 2020. 90% were willing to say they voted for President Trump, with 3% saying they voted for Joe Biden and another 5% avoiding admitting they voted for any particular candidate. So, we can be highly confident that this sample accurately represents those who supported the reelection of President Trump.

In this context, consider the opinions expressed. The Republican Party is less favorably viewed than President Trump: 57% to 82% favorable. Flip to unfavorable and the GOP gets 28% to Trump’s 12%. 89% believe the country is on the wrong track. 90% view Joe Biden unfavorably and 87% disapprove of the job Joe Biden has done as president. Nor are they in any mood to join hands and sing kumbaya.

President Biden says he wants to pursue bipartisanship and reduce the nation’s polarization. Which comes closer to your view? {ROTATE} [This tells the poll taker to rotate which answer is offered first from one call to the next, to minimize any effect of the answer order.]

Congressional Republicans should do their best to work with Biden on major policies, even if it means making compromises —————————————- 262 / 26.20%

Congressional Republicans should do their best to stand up to Biden on major policies, even if it means little gets passed ———————————— 622/ 62.20%

Undecided——————————————————— 116/ 11.60%

After all the concerted efforts, what Time proudly styled a “conspiracy,” to stop us reelecting President Trump and then to enforce the preferred outcome in January, how have all the “conservative” editors, networks, and politicians done in beating their narrative into our brains? Very poorly.

Do you believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected president – yes or no?

Yes (17.30%) / No (73.10%)/ Undecided (9.60%)

Of the following words, which do you believe best describes the events at the Capitol on January 6th? Would you say it was … {RANDOMIZE .1-.5} [Randomize answer order from one call to the next, to minimize any effect of the answer order.]

There were two clearly negative choices: a riot (30.50%)/ an insurrection (5.40%). There were three positive or neutral choices, plus Undecided (9.60%): a protest (34.30%), a demonstration (14.30%), a gathering (5.90%). Notice that negative terms got 35.90% versus neutral or positive getting 54.50% from Trump 2020 supporters. This then suggests that the rest of the narrative was not selling so well, as responses to the next three questions quantified.

16. Which of the following best describes what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6?

An attempted coup inspired by President Trump: 35/ 3.50%

A rally of Trump supporters, some of whom attacked the Capitol: 278/ 27.80%

Mostly an Antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few Trump supporters: 581/ 58.10%

Undecided: 106/ 10.60%

17. Would the people who stormed the Capitol have done so without President Trump’s prompting – yes or no?

Yes ( 77.50%), No (13.20%), Undecided (9.30%).

18. Do you believe Donald Trump was guilty of inciting an insurrection, as the Article of Impeachment charged – yes or no?

Yes (5.10%), No (93.40%), Undecided (1.50%). Notice how small the undecided percentage is. The opinion here is overwhelmingly favorable to President Trump. Trump 2020 reelection supporters firmly rejected the narrative pushed on every major media platform, all of social media, and by the GOP old guard leadership.

After the Russia hoax and the Ukraine sham, we should hardly be surprised by these voters’ assessment of the January show trial.

As you may know, the Senate acquitted former President Trump in his second impeachment trial which just ended last week. Which of the following three statements comes closest to your view? {RANDOMIZE .1-.3}

Trump should never have been impeached by the House (88.90%)

The House did the right thing in impeaching Trump, and the Senate did the right thing in acquitting him (5.10%)

The House did the right thing in impeaching Trump, and the Senate should have voted to convict him (5.20%)

Undecided (0.80%)

There is no indecision here, no unwillingness to express a clear opinion. Overwhelmingly, the voters who every Republican office seeker must attract reject the entire proceedings, as well as strongly rejecting the supposed premises behind the impeachment. The question prompts respondents to consider that President Trump is twice impeached before they consider what should have been done. This did not have the desired effect. If anything, these voters were reminded of all the preceding wrongs done by the political class in Washington to their man, their choice, their President Trump.

Indeed, the Senate trial made 42% more supportive of Donald Trump, while 54% were unchanged in their support. At the same time, these voters had a very negative response to the Republican senators who voted for conviction. 80% said these senators did so out of political calculation, while only 11% credited the senators’ claims of being motivated by their consciences. 80% of Trump 2020 supporters are less likely to vote for a generic Republican candidate who supported Trump’s impeachment.

So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

The Trump 2020 voters feel more loyalty to Donald J. Trump (54%) than to the Republican Party (34%). Indeed, 46% would support a “Trump Party” over the GOP (27%), while 27% are undecided on this possible development. Trump understands this and is clearly moving to push a much broader slate of MAGA candidates to tear control of the Republican Party out of the hands of McConnell and his fellow globalists. Only 14% think the GOP is headed in the right direction, while 50% believe the GOP “needs to become more loyal to Trump, even at the cost of losing more establishment Republicans. Only 19% believe the reverse, which seems to be the position staked out by McConnell and Haley.

Trump and the Future of the Republican Party:

Nikki Haley took the position, just before the sham impeachment, that President Trump and his son, Don Jr., were responsible for what happened and that what happened was as characterized by Pelosi and McConnell. She did so in a concluding interview in a series of post-election interviews with a Politico reporter/leftist propagandist, so she knew how her words would be used. I am sorry to see her fall in this way, as I had greatly admired her heretofore (see my three posts praising her over the past several years****).

She took a breath. “Fast forward, I’m watching the television the morning of the 6th and I see Don Junior get up there,” she said, reciting the president’s son’s calls to action against Republican leaders, closing her eyes as if reimagining the scene. “And then I hear the president get up there and go off on Pence. I literally was so triggered, I had to turn it off. I mean, Jon [Lerner] texted me something and I said, ‘I can’t. I can’t watch it. I can’t watch it,’ because I felt the same thing. Somebody is going to hear that, and bad things will happen.”

I asked Haley whether she has spoken to Trump since January 6. She shook her head.

“When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement,” Haley hissed, leaning forward as she spoke. “Mike has been nothing but loyal to that man. He’s been nothing but a good friend of that man. … I am so disappointed in the fact that [despite] the loyalty and friendship he had with Mike Pence, that he would do that to him. Like, I’m disgusted by it.”

[ . . . ]

“I think he’s going to find himself further and further isolated,” Haley said. “I think his business is suffering at this point. I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”

I reminded her that Trump has been left for dead before; that the base always rallied behind him. I also reminded her that the argument for impeachment—and conviction—is that he would be barred from holding federal office again.

“He’s not going to run for federal office again,” Haley said.

But what if he does? Or at least, what if he spends the next four years threatening to? Can the Republican Party heal with Trump in the picture?

“I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.”

This was the most certainty I’d heard from any Republican in the aftermath of January 6. And Haley wasn’t done.

“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”

The globalist mouthpiece Wall Street Journal was quite happy to publish Mitch McConnell’s screed, “Acquittal Vindicated the Constitution, Not Trump.”

Jan. 6 was a shameful day. A mob bloodied law enforcement and besieged the first branch of government. American citizens tried to use terrorism to stop a democratic proceeding they disliked.

There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone. His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended.

It is not just that Republican voters still strongly support President Trump, it is also clear now that most Republican voters strongly reject McConnell and Haley’s assessment and characterization of the election aftermath, especially including January 6. No wonder, then that neither Haley nor McConnell will be at this year’s CPAC. Oh, Minority Leader McConnell was quite happy to appear back in 2013, when he peddled the self-serving lie that Congress would stop Obama if only the American electorate, which had already been conned into giving the Republicans the House without holding them strictly accountable to actually use the power of the purse, would also give him the valuable prize of the Senate majority. See his 2013 and 2014 CPAC appearances. Now, he apparently calculates his crowd does not need conservative activists and voters.

In light of the Suffolk University poll, it is worth watching who is and is not speaking at CPAC. Breitbart reports on some of the big names:

Other notable speakers at the conference include Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Trump’s former press secretary Sarah Sanders, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R).

Vice President Mike Pence, who has distanced himself from Trump ever since the November election, will not be making an appearance at CPAC.

The CPAC 2021 Speakers page shows Senators Cruz, Lee, and Hawley will be there, but not Rubio or McConnell, in contrast to House Minority Leader McCarthy, who will appear because he recognizes on which side his political bread is buttered. Among those who will NOT be there: Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio, and Mitch McConnell.

We are in a very tough time, with an electoral deck more stacked than at any time before in the history of our republic. And yet, we have people willing to contend for our constitutional republic, state-by-state and office-by-office. It ain’t over until it’s over. The left’s supposed arc of history is ultimately a fiction. We may yet have another political springtime in America.


* The Contract with America:

The Contract with America

Beyond the Contract

As one senior aide to an up-and-coming freshman lawmaker told me: “The contract is a political document for 1996. It was never meant to be a governing document. We don’t care if the Senate passes any of the items in the contract. It would be preferable, but it’s not necessary. If the freshmen do everything the contract says, they’ll be in excellent shape for 1996, and we can add to our majority in Congress. But if we compromise the contract in order to pass laws, we lose support.”

Time for a New Contract with America

But in the 62 years since 1932, the Republicans had controlled both houses of Congress for only two terms, 1947-49 and 1953-55. Ronald Reagan’s coattails had produced a Republican Senate in 1980, but that majority slipped away in the 1986 midterm. By 1994 the Democrats had controlled the House of Representatives for 40 straight years and many thought that would become a permanent condition.

Instead, the election that year was an epic slaughter of the majority party in Congress. The Democrats lost 54 House seats and nine Senate seats. And that was the least of it. The Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, was defeated for re-election, the first time a sitting speaker had lost his seat since 1862. Also defeated for re-election were the chairmen of the Intelligence, Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Appropriations committees, all of whom had served in the House for decades.

[ . . . ]

The main reason was surely the Contract with America, devised by House Minority Leader Newt Gingrich and Republican whip Dick Armey. Pooh-poohed by the Washington political establishment — overwhelmingly liberal and overwhelmingly intellectually insulated from the country at large — it turned out to be a brilliant political ploy. The contract tuned in to the American electorate’s deep yearning for reform in Washington, a yearning that had expressed itself in the elections of both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

** Tea Party

https://www.newsmax.com/scottrasmussen/rick-santelli-tea-party-launch-cnbc/2019/02/19/id/903394/

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/about_us/public_relations/press_room/press_releases/mad_as_hell_how_the_tea_party_movement_is_fundamentally_remaking_our_two_party_system

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/01/11/conservative-groups-targeted-in-lois-lerners-irs-scandal-receive-settlement-checks/

*** Alaska now permanently rigged for Murkowski and the Democrats:

https://www.adn.com/politics/2021/02/17/local-alaska-republicans-censure-alaska-sen-lisa-murkowski-citing-impeachment-vote-and-other-issues/

Murkowski no longer has to pass through a Republican primary election like the one she lost in 2010. (A nearly unprecedented write-in campaign saw her reelected in November that year.)

Some Republicans are suspicious of the measure and believe Murkowski was behind it, citing the involvement of former Murkowski campaign officials and staffers who were deeply involved in the pro-measure effort.

“Everyone I talk to on the Republican side thinks it’s idiomatic — meaning, you know, A follows B, it’s about as proven as it needs to be,” Faulkner said. “I think that if you’re reporting on it, her fingerprints are all over.”

Ballot Measure 2′s principal author, a former Murkowski campaigner, has denied that the measure was intended to benefit her.

https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_and_Campaign_Finance_Laws_Initiative_(2020)

**** My previous posts on Nikki Haley:

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  1. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Jim Beck (View Comment):

    Evening D.A,,

    If we are to learn as a party, we have to address the chronic failure to conserve anything. No one has imagined that there will be a “final victory”; however we have seen that in the past some leaders could succeed at achieving goals, Reagan broke the USSR, broke the back of inflation at the cost of 82 house losses, the “contract with America” showed how legislative efforts can be planned and organized to make head way, and lastly with Trump we had a reduction in regulation, honest efforts to control immigration (a contrasted with years of pretend efforts), and a sea change in the relationship with China, we were no longer sitting idly letting China take our jobs first through currency manipulation, then through ignoring patent laws and stealing intellectual property and counterfeiting products. The contrast between the leaders who followed through to get things done, even when they (Reagan) didn’t have both houses, or Newt even when repubs didn’t have the presidency, and Trump who had almost no allies in govt. and our GOP leaders who seem to have an agenda that is different from their constituencies.

    I have presented you with a thumb nail list of liberal successes and you have not responded with your list of conservative successes. I suggest that you have not addressed the failure of the GOPe to succeed because our failures are so extensve. In “The Revolt Against the Masses”, Fred Siegel presents a history of liberal loathing of America and its population as described by Mencken as “boobus Americanus”. Angelo Codevilla has written for years about the “ruling class” which includes Republican leaders. He notes that the “ruling class” not only feels superior to the citizens they pretend to lead but that they feel more citizens of the “world” and view patriotic feeling as rather provincial. Roger Scruton has suggested that conservatism lost its way when it became more enamored with markets than communities. The most recent long form criticism of the elite was “The Thirty Tyrants” by Lee Smith https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-thirty-tyrants.

    The has been no reflection on the failure of conservatism within the leadership of the Republican Party. Folks who are critical of the GOPe and are fans of Trump are characterized as a modern version of “boobus Americanus”. I would argue that they have seen how the Tea party was treated and noted that the Republican Party seemed only interested in the theater os IRS and FBI abuse of Tea Party organization. The distrust of the GOPe is not because they are not bombastic enough, it is more stark, it is because they have failed to deliver, and more accurately the leadership has shown itself to be indifferent to the life of the average Joe. We have serious threats, a media that is ashamed of America and many of its citizens, even Pravda was not ashamed of its own people, a bureaucracy that, like the teachers union, is out for itself, and an academic world perfecting Marcuse’s “Represive Tolerance” https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-fulltext.html, and a left that has succeeded as degrading the family, driving religion to the side, and made patriotism questionable. It will take someone who sees that Trump was never a threat to the republic, and will address the failure of conservatism and then lead in a way which will take advantage of conservatism’s natural constituencies, the average men and women who make up the biggest slice of the population. We will not get out of this rut until we see how deep we have sunk.

     

    Amen

    • #61
  2. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Thinking about style vs substance some more since yesterday. I’ve never cared about style. When I talk about someone who fights, I don’t mean stylistically (or literally, in general). I mean fighting effectively or at all. Of course part of that is persuasion, compromise, prioritization, sometimes outright antagonism. Of course; I don’t dispute any of that. The problems “the base” has with “the establishment” is twofold: effectiveness and sincerity.

    So when people talk about appealing to suburban white women – what do they mean exactly? I think they mean style mostly, but for many the lines are blurred and sometimes intentionally between style and substance. Don’t be so extreme often overlaps significantly with policy slides. I lived this in Illinois from the 90’s to present. So much anguish over not appearing too extreme, draconian, or zealous, mostly over taxes, spending, and abortion. Fast forward and now we’re legislating CRT into the curriculum (even in those otherwise “conservative” suburban strongholds) and spending and borrowing like the mobbed up restaurant in Goodfellas before they just burn it out.

    Why is both substantive and stylistic radicalism only ever a one way liability? Why is it that we’re still talking about that when objectively the left is gone off the deep end over the last five years and especially 2020? I think there are many answers to that, but two that are relevant to this discussion: 1) nonstop propaganda and censorship grossly distorting public perceptions , and 2) an internal failure to offer clear and important positions and to be assertive in pursuit of those positions.

    Whoever steps up next needs to address both of these vigorously. President Trump did both. Of course Trump’s ways and means are not the only ways and means. I’m not tied to any particular style. However, I require effectiveness; I require at least an attempt.

    • #62
  3. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016.  After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again.  There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters.  However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.  

    • #63
  4. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    So at least we know whom to blame for what’s coming. 

    • #64
  5. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    1/6 wasn’t insurrection, and those loss margins are probably explained better by election irregularity. Although I agree that NT certainly played their parts in ensuring that the radical left took office instead of the mainstream Trump admin. 

    Good work Gary!

    • #65
  6. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    • #66
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    And they seem to act like NT/NAT is about the same size as the “passionate core” of Trump supporters which is nonsense.

    • #67
  8. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    Not sure this means exactly what you hope. Maybe Republicans cannot beat Democrats without the support of the NeverTrump part of the party. NeverTrump cannot beat the Libertarian or Green party with out the rest of the Republican Party. 

    Be passionately NeverTrump, it no longer matters a lick, there is no Trump. That said, be for enforcing immigration laws, reducing regulations, not sending troops to new countries, the 2nd amendment and religious freedom. One’s position on Trump does not matter. Trump does not matter, it was always, for the vast percent of the Republican voters, about the policy not the man. 

    This poll, several before it, and the election results show what the Republicans party voters largely want. It it not Trump necessarily but someone who will do what Trump did, they can do it without being in your face, or without twitter or in the most ridiculously polite fashion possible, just do it. 

    There was never a “cult of personality” around Trump. There was a “cult of action” about Trump. Find a better person to do the same things Trump was doing and the Republicans will follow them. We don’t need Trump, we need to believe our elected officials will actually do what they say. That they will work toward our goals and defend us against stupid attacks from the left. 

     

    • #68
  9. CTChapin Member
    CTChapin
    @CTChapin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    @ cdor, I agree with much of what you’ve said, but I had a couple of questions. Did Lindsey Graham join in on the Russian Hoax? And in what way did Pence lack loyalty to Trump? Thanks for clarifying.

    cdor (View Comment):
    It wasn’t Trump, but Pense who lacked loyalty in the final analysis. I don’t hold it against Mike Pence, but I sure don’t feel sorry for him either.

    cdor (View Comment):
    Mitch McConnell is another story altogether, along with Richard Burr, Lyndsey Graham, and a number of others who were from the beginning encouraging the Russia Hoax against Trump.

    Lindsey Graham in on the Russian Hoax?  WTF?  I sent the guy $ precisely because the whole Russian collusion fraud made Graham (and me) really angry. 

    • #69
  10. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    Can’t fix stupid, but it can be challenged in a primary:

    • #70
  11. CTChapin Member
    CTChapin
    @CTChapin

    cdor (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    @ cdor, I agree with much of what you’ve said, but I had a couple of questions. Did Lindsey Graham join in on the Russian Hoax? And in what way did Pence lack loyalty to Trump? Thanks for clarifying.

    cdor (View Comment):
    It wasn’t Trump, but Pense who lacked loyalty in the final analysis. I don’t hold it against Mike Pence, but I sure don’t feel sorry for him either.

    cdor (View Comment):
    Mitch McConnell is another story altogether, along with Richard Burr, Lyndsey Graham, and a number of others who were from the beginning encouraging the Russia Hoax against Trump.

    Trump was attempting, it appeared, to raise objections to the electors from certain States. While Pence was in a tough position, no doubt, he didn’t seem to support Trump in those objections. Lyndsey Graham is a windsurfer. Whichever way the wind blows, that’s the way Lyndsey Graham goes. In the beginning, he did nothing to stop the Mueller investigation.

     

    • #71
  12. CTChapin Member
    CTChapin
    @CTChapin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I admired Nikki Haley, too. Now, I’m disappointed in her. But I can understand her response to Trump, too; he acted like a jerk toward Mike Pence. I tolerated four years of Trump because he did great work. He also said and did many foolish, immature and unwise things. I know this is probably selfish on my part, but I would dread four more years of him. I’d love to see DeSantis run, although we would miss him in FL.

    Edit: I’m not saying I wouldn’t vote for him again. I’m just sayin’ I hope I don’t have to.

    I agree Susan.  He did great work but the “foolish, immature and unwise things” caught up with him along with that relentless leftward push from most of the “establishment”, the press, and other usual suspects.  He’s also simply too old to be running again.  His “filter” for removing wild and crazy (and often entertaining, I admit) streams of thought would be even less functional.  No way does he win if he runs.  The goal here first and foremost, is to stop and then reverse what the “Progressives”  are doing ASAP.  As a longtime Ricocheter , though understandable,  I’m seeing too much energy being spent on rancor.  

    • #72
  13. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    So at least we know whom to blame for what’s coming.

    You know, I know, everybody knows who was to blame.

    It was someone else.

    • #73
  14. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    So at least we know whom to blame for what’s coming.

    You know, I know, everybody knows who was to blame.

    It was someone else.

    I am willing to accept blame for a few things, but not for Joe Biden being in office.

    • #74
  15. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    1/6 wasn’t insurrection, and those loss margins are probably explained better by election irregularity. Although I agree that NT certainly played their parts in ensuring that the radical left took office instead of the mainstream Trump admin.

    Good work Gary!

    “Mainstream Trump Administration”. Really?

    • #75
  16. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Django (View Comment):

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    Can’t fix stupid, but it can be challenged in a primary:

    She can knock herself out.  As time goes on Adam Kinzinger’s vote looks more and more prescient, along with the rest of the rest of the House 10, and the Senate 7.

    • #76
  17. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    1/6 wasn’t insurrection, and those loss margins are probably explained better by election irregularity. Although I agree that NT certainly played their parts in ensuring that the radical left took office instead of the mainstream Trump admin.

    Good work Gary!

    “Mainstream Trump Administration”. Really?

    Yes really. He’s supported by most of his party and received at least 74 million votes (46%). Why in the world would you claim otherwise? 

    • #77
  18. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    Can’t fix stupid, but it can be challenged in a primary:

    She can knock herself out. As time goes on Adam Kinzinger’s vote looks more and more prescient, along with the rest of the rest of the House 10, and the Senate 7.

    Associated Press had a story that his own family has “disowned him” over the vote. I will allow for the tendency of the press to sensationalize things, but in the photo they showed of him, he looked like a sad kid who has just been told not only that there is no Santa Claus, but here goes the Easter Bunny as well.

    • #78
  19. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):
    Associated Press had a story that his own family has “disowned him” over the vote. I will allow for the tendency of the press to sensationalize things, but in the photo they showed of him, he looked like a sad kid who has just been told not only that there is no Santa Claus, but here goes the Easter Bunny as well.

    And The Great Pumpkin too!

    • #79
  20. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Django (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown: So what about the future? 59% want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2024, 76% would support him for the Republican nomination, and if Trump won the Republican nomination for president in 2024, 85% of those who supported him in 2020 now say they would vote for him in the next presidential election. The voters come to this from a view that his first term marks him as a great (45%) or good (25%) president. 13% consider the last four years to be a failed presidency, but this might well reflect an assessment that the Swamp defeated their hopes.

    Consider this sequence of decisions a bit further. If Trump voters were a “cult of personality,” you would expect a very strong desire for him to vindicate them by running again in 2024. Instead we see Trump 2020 voters at 59% desiring him to definitely run. Pushed to think about a generic field of primary candidates, we then see support rise to 76%, showing that no one has made a compelling case or created an equally attractive image. Finally, when pressed to think about the 2024 general election, we see support rise to 85%, possibly desiring a rematch.

    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016. After the 1/6 insurrection, there is a growing NAT (Never Again Trump) cadre who voted for Trump beforehand but never will do so again. There is a passionate core of Pro-Trump voters. However the NeverTrump folks are as passionate, if not more so.

    So at least we know whom to blame for what’s coming.

    You know, I know, everybody knows who was to blame.

    It was someone else.

    I am willing to except blame for a few things, but not for Joe Biden being in office.

    Django,

    Exactly!  As I said, “You know, I know, everybody knows who was to blame.  Somebody else.”

    • #80
  21. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again.  Nikki Haley is a phony.  Her turn against Trump did not surprise me at all.  Do not believe for a second she is a true conservative.

    • #81
  22. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump lost Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by .2%, .3%, .6% and 1.2% respectively, which is the margin of the NeverTrump vote who voted for Biden instead of Libertarian or McMullin in 2016

    You elected Xi Biden.  (that and the steal that took place)

    Congratulations.

    You own this pile of cr#p now.

    And we are going to keep reminding  you.

    • #82
  23. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):
    I still don’t understand that mindset. Here is a man, Trump, who is horrible but delivering on 80-90% of what I purport to believe but it hurts my conscience to vote for him. Therefore, I’m going to vote for this man who is just as horrible, if not more so, and will support 0-10% of what I purport to believe. I came to the conclusion that those people really don’t believe what they’d been selling. Trump clarified a lot in five years.

    • #83
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    D.A. Venters (View Comment):
    I guess if I were a candidate on the GOPe side I would simply emphasize the issues (small government, free trade, pro-life, school choice, religious freedom, etc) and try not to get drawn into discussions about Trump and avoid the elite vs. the common man populist narrative.

    Nobody does anything about any of this. When you run an inflationist government and economy trade gets really complicated. Trumpism is the superior philosophy.

    • #84
  25. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    D.A. Venters (View Comment):
    I guess if I were a candidate on the GOPe side I would simply emphasize the issues (small government, free trade, pro-life, school choice, religious freedom, etc) and try not to get drawn into discussions about Trump and avoid the elite vs. the common man populist narrative.

    Nobody does anything about any of this. When you run an inflationist government and economy trade gets really complicated. Trumpism is the superior philosophy.

    With the exception of Fair Trade as opposed to Free Trade, D.A. Venters is a Trumpist…extraordinaire. Well, he did forget about borders being integral to Nationhood.

    • #85
  26. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    CTChapin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    @ cdor, I agree with much of what you’ve said, but I had a couple of questions. Did Lindsey Graham join in on the Russian Hoax? And in what way did Pence lack loyalty to Trump? Thanks for clarifying.

    cdor (View Comment):
    It wasn’t Trump, but Pense who lacked loyalty in the final analysis. I don’t hold it against Mike Pence, but I sure don’t feel sorry for him either.

    cdor (View Comment):
    Mitch McConnell is another story altogether, along with Richard Burr, Lyndsey Graham, and a number of others who were from the beginning encouraging the Russia Hoax against Trump.

    Lindsey Graham in on the Russian Hoax? WTF? I sent the guy $ precisely because the whole Russian collusion fraud made Graham (and me) really angry.

    He was proud of colluding with McCain to push the dirty dossier as serious, rather than the obvious Russian (i.e. Putin) disinformation that it was. AND Graham was adamant that Mueller be given free reign. All of this was to cripple an opponent of the Washington establishment.

    • #86
  27. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    CTChapin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    @ cdor, I agree with much of what you’ve said, but I had a couple of questions. Did Lindsey Graham join in on the Russian Hoax? And in what way did Pence lack loyalty to Trump? Thanks for clarifying.

    cdor (View Comment):
    It wasn’t Trump, but Pense who lacked loyalty in the final analysis. I don’t hold it against Mike Pence, but I sure don’t feel sorry for him either.

    cdor (View Comment):
    Mitch McConnell is another story altogether, along with Richard Burr, Lyndsey Graham, and a number of others who were from the beginning encouraging the Russia Hoax against Trump.

    Lindsey Graham in on the Russian Hoax? WTF? I sent the guy $ precisely because the whole Russian collusion fraud made Graham (and me) really angry.

    He was proud of colluding with McCain to push the dirty dossier as serious, rather than the obvious Russian (i.e. Putin) disinformation that it was. AND Graham was adamant that Mueller be given free reign. All of this was to cripple an opponent of the Washington establishment.

    And then when ol Linsey had a tough reelection campaign he is suddenly backing Trump, until he won reelection.

     He’s a snake.

    • #87
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