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The death sentence, put in a brief statement of facts
“If you want to spend all your time going on Fox and be[ing] an asshole, there’s never been a better time to serve,” said Republican strategist Corry Bliss, a longtime adviser to Portman. “But if you want to spend all your time being thoughtful and getting shit done, there’s never been a worse time to serve.”
GOP has no longer an identity, and it has only itself to blame.
From opposing conviction in his impeachment trial to a surprise Senate Republican retirement, the GOP establishment anticipates a Trumpian future.
Much of this column’s analysis since the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 has anticipated there will be an explicit break within the Republican Party between the pragmatic institutionalists and the Trump-aligned kraken wing. The coalition of convenience between the two sides, held together by the former president’s power in office, looked untenable without the benefits that the alliance provided.
But over the ensuing weeks, an alternate reality has emerged, one where Republican leaders simply do nothing as they fear a grassroots backlash against showing any kind of principle. Call it a strategy of benign neglect—what conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson calls a case of “collective amnesia” towards the growing extremism within the GOP’s ranks.
Senate Republicans are now finding reasons not to convict Trump in next month’s Senate impeachment trial (all but five voted Tuesday to dismiss it as unconstitutional), as they absorb polling showing Republican voters still sticking with the former president. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has gone wishy-washy in his support of leadership partner Liz Cheney, one of the 10 House Republicans to vote for impeachment. Most of those 10 lawmakers who stood up for democratic values are facing the likelihood of tough primaries next year. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a likely 2024 presidential contender, is a telling bellwether for this political moment. The day after the attack, she said Trump would be “judged harshly by history.” As the political winds shifted, she went on Fox News to rail against Trump’s impeachment, calling on Democrats “to give the man a break.”
Sen. Rob Portman’s surprising retirement announcement Monday, despite previously indicating plans to run for reelection, put the capstone on the GOP’s acquiescence to Trumpism. While Portman cited partisan gridlock as driving his decision, the reality is that his bipartisan instincts and genial tone were increasingly out of step in a party defined by grievance. Even though Portman was favored to win a third term, he would have faced political pressure to toe the party line in the runup to next year’s primary. Portman’s decision now creates a wide-open Senate race in a Trump-friendly battleground that will speak volumes about the direction of the Republican Party.
And thus, I got and answer to my previous question: if the Democrats want to do something, bipartisanship does not matter, the bottom line results will. The Republicans made it not matter anymore, they became a fractured party, without an coherent ideology.
It's not the first time it happened to them. Last time it was the "Tea Party" pseudo-party, which had no idea of what they wanted, just what they didn't want (actually what David and Charles Koch didn't want). When money that created the "movement" dried out, GOP shed out all the ideas and the candidates from the Tea Party.
Except that now the opportunistic GOP splinter is much larger. And they aren't supported by some dry ideology that needs to be pushed by money to stay present in the mind of the voters, there's an incarnation of the identity in Trump's person. As vacuous as that may be, that presence doesn't go away.
I bet if nothing happens to make his voting base turn off him (like making him disgusting as a human being in their eyes) he will sell rallies for the 2022 primaries. And he'll ask both money and allegiance.
GOP has had two big occasions the keep their identity: the week immediate after the election and the Jan 6. This assuming they had an identity to begin with, but I suspect that was and is their problem - were they to have had one, they wouldn't need Trump.
---
So were does this leaves the Democrats? Well, to be successful, they need to do things. Shouldn't be even too hard: getting control on Covid by Sept 2021 and growing the economy afterwards for 2-3 quarters.
Maybe just publicly showing that there's no "China Joe" and they are not "the corporatist establishment" but side with Joe Average.
Shouldn't be a hard thing to do, if they will keep focus on doing the job. Go through the moves, but let the "bipartisanship" aside, those don't matter bottom-line for getting the job done. Don't waste time with things that aren't on the critical path, like antagonizing the corpse that GOP has become - it will only create noise and detract the focus (both their focus on the job and the public's focus from the reality).
If they succeed, the 2028 Trump will be 82 years old, in a much worse health condition than Joe Biden is. Probably the Dems will start to splinter themselves along the way, after 2024, and create a leftier left, bringing the US political spectrum closer to the rest of the world. If they try before that, the things will get really unpredictable and chaotic.
If the Dems fail, then the Americans will need to get used to not being exceptional anymore.
---
Aaaand... the Dems start to take aim at their foot.
House Dems move to yoke GOP to QAnon
WTF? Aren't they able to defined themselves other than "We're not QAnon/GOP"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:11AM (33 children)
Major political parties in a two party system have never had identities, they are just groups of people that fight for their own interests. If one party collapses, new parties will form, and the next non-incumbent presidential election will cause coalescence around whichever party is perceived as being the strongest. If both parties collapse, we're probably in a close to 48+-way civil war and already too fucked for that to matter.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:20AM (21 children)
As annoying as it may be, some of them politiheads stick to principles.
Principles that are recurring in the political presence of the party, even when not expressed by the same persons - as feeble a presence as it may be, they do define the identity of the party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:43AM (19 children)
Dude, their only principle is "I like money and power". So, I guess you're understating it if anything.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @12:49PM (6 children)
Dude, where was "I like money and power" in Raffensperger's
?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:44AM (5 children)
Words are almost as cheap as they are meaningless to politicians.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @03:36AM (4 children)
Somehow, I don't think those words will come cheap for Raffensperger.
And, well, for politicians in general, "Live by words, die by them"; I'm afraid your assertion doesn't hold true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:33PM (3 children)
By all means, keep on being non-skeptical of politicians when they say things you like. It's the quickest way to learn how much of an idiot you sound like right now.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @04:44PM (2 children)
That's a strawman, TMB, and you know it.
What happens to Raffensperger is inconsequential to me, no skin on the game, nothing to like or dislike.
Up to you to argue that the words of Raffensperger are less sincere than those of, say, your founding fathers.
Both underline the importance of truth for democracy and the responsibilities one need to internalize to make the democracy work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @01:45PM (1 child)
Bitch, please. You are like the third or fourth biggest cheerleader of America's insane left on this site. Whether it's any of your business or not is irrelevant.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 05 2021, @01:57PM
Well, fuck off too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 03 2021, @07:19PM (4 children)
Now what does that say about the people that reelect them over and over? Somebody sure does like bacon, even just the promise of bacon. Everybody looking for a cut. It's nature's way...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:41PM
This is why the TMB don't vote, not even for the "power and money" candidate, Kanye.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:05PM (2 children)
It is not like there is much choice. In the "first-past-the-post" voting system we use here, the very election scheme is setup to favor two large sides fighting it out for who wins this next election.
Yes, there are always third partys running, but they see so little support, and votes, overall that most people feel there is no value in voting for them, as they simply won't win anyway (further reinforcing the "two big parties fighting over the election").
With those two feedback loops in operation, there's little choice for any given individual to go "third party" and see anything other than 0.5% returns, and never seeing any chance of those candidates ever winning. Which adds a third feedback loop reinforcing the two party system.
If we really want a robust multi-party system, then we will have to also switch the elections to something more like proportional representation, so the third party candidates can get elected. Otherwise, we will be stuck with two parties, whatever their names are at the moment.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:09PM
Just gotta work the primaries better
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2021, @05:51PM
Multiparty systems (example: UK) still end up with 2 dominant parties. The small parties have to make an alliance with one of the two dominant parties to have any power. In an American system, a particular interest group must become a constituency of one of the two dominant parties. There may be some difference, but practically, I am not seeing much.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @09:07PM (6 children)
Stupid shit like reducing all politicians to "I like money and power" is not helpful in any way shape or form. That belongs in some teenage message board where young humans are busy having realizations we adults take for granted. That mindset actually makes you much easier to manipulate because it gives you an easy mental excuse to disregard someone, yet when a pol matches your preferred policies suddenly the fact that they just "like money and power" goes out the window.
Unless you are striving to change the US two party system by removing money from the equation, getting off the first-past-the-post method, and encouraging a wide variety of political parties then: you are a hypocrticial douche.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:13PM (2 children)
TMB only grows old, doesn't actually mature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:28AM
Wait, wasn't that Peter Pan? Did he reincarnate as our very own TMB?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @07:34PM
My God! Somebody mod this up to +5, Insightful!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:46AM (2 children)
The hell it's not. It leads to things like the founders trying to create a government as limited as possible. It didn't work for very long but at least attempting something is a hell of a lot better than believing someone's words when their actions put a lie to everything that comes out of their mouth.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 04 2021, @07:07PM (1 child)
Says the guy who spent the last four years defending Trump...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @01:47PM
Nope, I spent it mocking you idiots when you completely lost your shit over unsupportable positions or trivial issues. There is a big damned difference but you're too blinded by religious zealotry to see it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday February 04 2021, @04:39AM
Not enough to form an identifiable party.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday February 03 2021, @05:28PM (10 children)
Maybe fights for their own beliefs. Even of those beliefs are actually contrary to their own interests.
I remember when Republicans believed in lower taxes, smaller government, and a few other sane things.
(I want to pay lower taxes, and I don't want government any bigger than *necessary*.)
Some things that could be argued would be in everyone's interest, and in the interests of Republicans.
Now we have Republicans (and some Democrats) who latch onto sound bite catch phrases. Believe conspiracy theories. And seem to be actively anti science.
Not to deify science, but it seems to have done a lot of good for our civilization. Bad things people would blame on "progress" are really due to bad policy, and thus politicians who make bad policy.
Here we are in 2021 where people believe conspiracy theories. Outlandishly crazy things. And they stick to it and defend it! They heard it in their news bubble, or OMG, on social media! So it MUST be true!
We no longer argue about public policy. We now argue about delusionally insane ideas not even grounded in reality. And there is a large fraction of the voters who are anchored in this. It is splitting the Republican party.
Two questions:
0. Where do these crazy ideas get started? Some individual had to invent each and every one of those. Baby eating Satan worshiping liberals was invented in the mind of some individual person. So was Hillary's secret abortions in the basement of a D.C. Pizza shop (that has no basement!) Leading to . . .
1. How do these crazy ideas spread?
2. Why do people accept these ideas?
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 03 2021, @06:46PM (6 children)
I would like to issue a correction.
I erroneously wrote:
FACT: the actual nutcase conspiracy theory was that Hillary Clinton ran a human trafficking ring out of a D.C. pizza parlor basement.
I deeply regret this misstatement and apologize to anyone who was misinformed by my mistake.
Other conspiracy theories:
* Barack Obama is a Muslim
* Birther Movement (invented out of thin air by Trump!)
* the attack on the Capitol was a product of the Black Lives Matter movement
* the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. (if that were true, then explain Jan 6, 2021?)
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:29AM (5 children)
Hillary Clinton is actually associated with human trafficking. People closely tied to her got arrested taking children out of Haiti. Her campaign manager's leaked emails are full of weird codewords that are commonly associated with pedophiles. In his emails he negotiated renting a specific number of slices of pizza for a few hours. WTF, he didn't really rent slices of pizza. The number of slices is thought to mean an age of a kid. Hillary set up Huma with Anthony Weiner, who was arrested for child porn and for showing his genitals to a 15-year-old girl. Hillary's husband is credibly accused of rape, with supporting evidence from the time period. He was also a regular at the Epstein properties, including both the island and the New Mexico ranch.
The actual pizza place probably doesn't have a basement, though you'd need an excavation to truly prove that it didn't have an unpermitted one at one point. Probably the pizza place is an inside joke, perhaps because it is physically near an Epstein property. It may have been a meeting place.
Focusing on the actual physical pizza place, and on the current physical presence of a basement, is misdirection. Hillary really is associated with a surprising number of people who are into illegal sex activities. Maybe she just likes people she can blackmail.
Barack Obama pretends to be Christian, is most likely an atheist, and definitely has strong sympathies toward Muslims. That last bit is problematic enough. He dad and stepdad were both Muslim. He got his childhood schooling in Indonesia, a Muslim nation. Given the dad/stepdad and schooling, it is all but certain that Obama has at some point made the Muslim statement of faith. You can't undo that in the Muslim belief system, making him forever Muslim, but realistically it is highly doubtful that he is a practicing Muslim. Picture it the other way: somebody baptized and confirmed Catholic, who never attends church, wants to run a Muslim country. That wouldn't happen.
Trump picked up the Birther Movement from none other than Hillary. She used it in the 2008 primary.
If it is OK for BLM to riot, one time even taking over the capital (yes they did), then I think that sets an example.
The real cancer is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. You're having a hard time with January 6 because you don't accept that it was an attempt to preserve democracy. Putting aside the particulars here, where you enjoy stomping your enemy, what exactly is wrong with trying to prevent an illegitimately elected person from taking office?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:18AM (4 children)
How did this catalog of conspiracy theories get modded insightful?
Is this copypasta/meme?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:27AM
Batshit-crazy Rightwing-nutjob QAnon Conspiracy Theory stuff. 180 proof.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @10:27AM (2 children)
DannyB listed some things he considers to be conspiracy theories. All were shown to not be quite the insanity he thought they were.
It's maddening that "conspiracy theory" has come to imply "false". No, conspiracies exist. Some people, the less-well connected, even go to prison for conspiracies.
A funny thing about DannyB's list is that some items are clearly not conspiracies, no matter if true or false. You need more than one person for a conspiracy. Obama being a Muslim, or not, can't possibly be a conspiracy! This makes it really clear that DannyB uses "conspiracy theory" without thought. To him, it's just in insult to be thrown at political opponents. If he'd put some thought into the matter, he'd have noticed that Obama can't have a conspiracy all by himself. A multiple personality disorder doesn't count.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 04 2021, @05:16PM (1 child)
Once convicted of conspiracy by a jury of your peers it's a conspiracy FACT, not a conspiracy THEORY. The key difference between the two is that evidence is required for only one of them.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @01:49PM
Tell that to all the folks later exonerated for crimes they were wrongly convicted of. Verdicts don't make fact, they're just a step up from baseless accusations.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:03PM (2 children)
That never existed. Having a smaller government is completely incompatible with the drug war, the surveillance state, a lack of bodily autonomy, giving thug officers endless power, giving endless amounts of money to the military, etc. Republican politicians were never for smaller government, and the overwhelming majority of Republicans in general weren't either.
The lower taxes were mostly for the rich, with some crumbs for those below them. Trickle-down economics is, was, and always will be a complete scam.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:37PM (1 child)
The 80s called, they want their characterization of Republicans back.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2021, @03:31AM
Correct, no more attempt at reasonable, FULL NAZI HOOOOOOOOO!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 03 2021, @02:11PM (38 children)
Let's make it clear: Establishment Joe is one and the same as China Joe, and the globalists don't give a flying fuck about Joe Average. The United States is the mark and Democrats, Rinos, half of the real Republicans, and all globalists are the scam artists.
Joe will sell the US to China, and if he fails, Kamala will complete the transaction.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @03:20PM (11 children)
I took note of the verb tense you used. We may end by revisiting this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @03:55PM (1 child)
Revisit this [twitter.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:36PM
Why? Who cares?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:41PM (8 children)
Meh, whatever. The west has been sending its manufacturing to China for the best part of 30 years now, but weirdly people like Runaway only care when there's a Democrat in the White House.
Wait for the concern about the deficit, that'll be a huge worry very soon now.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday February 03 2021, @09:06PM
Pretty sure the guy with the secret Chinese bank account [vanityfair.com] should get the "China" addition to his name.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:07PM
Meh, hypocrites will hypocrite [npr.org] - this is an article from Dec 2019.
How did the TCJA affect the federal budget outlook? [taxpolicycenter.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 04 2021, @03:19AM (5 children)
Reading comprehension, much?
I haven't forgotten cretins such as Mitt Romney. There are many who have made personal fortunes by exporting American jobs to China, and they are not all Democrats.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:21AM
The Runaway's real problem with Mitt Romney is that Mitt agrees that #BlackLivesMatter.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 04 2021, @08:58PM (3 children)
Nobody cares what you think you remember.
Sending jobs to low-wage countries is a basic capitalist strategy and always has been.
When someone comes along and tells you they're bringing those jobs back, they're lying to you. In exactly the same way they're lying when they say they're walking down to the Capitol with you to "stop the steal", or when they say they need you to send them money so that they can go to court to overturn the election result.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @01:51PM (2 children)
It's also an absolute inevitability of globalism. Care to rethink your position on one of those issues now or would you like to keep your cognitive dissonance as a pet?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday February 07 2021, @06:56AM (1 child)
And last year it was capitalism, but now there's a democrat in the White House suddenly it's globalism you disingenuous bastard.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday February 07 2021, @03:14PM
They're not mutually exclusive in any way. You have to have both for shipping jobs overseas to be possible and worthwhile. Drop capitalism and you're just completely fucked. Drop globalism and you're more or less okay if you're one of the biggest, richest markets in the world; foreign trade will not be as cheap though. Or you can let both happen and watch your nation's economy collapse to the point that building things locally is a viable alternative. Those are your only alternatives.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday February 03 2021, @05:08PM (6 children)
Getting a grip on reality is good. But we should not pump on it too hard as to cause injury.
False premise: there is no Establishment Joe nor China Joe. Those are merely slurs invented by right wing news to make their base feel good. Ra! Ra! Go Team! Yea!! Pep rally! Example: "Obamacare" was a slur invented by Fox News to describe the ACA. Once Trump was in office, Republicans kept saying they want to keep the ACA, it is Obamacare they don't like. Yet, Obamacare IS the ACA, just a pejorative slur for it.
False assertion: If there are "globalists" why do you think they don't care about Joe Average? Should the US isolate itself from the other 96 % of the world population? Even our allies? There are other countries outside the US. (yes, really!) And it is in our economic and security interests to work with (some of) them.
Conspiracy Theory: If the US is "the mark" this implies some kind of con or rip off, as you say, done by:
* Democrats
* Rinos
* half of "real" Republicans (no true scottsman)
* and all globalists.
All are scam artists. Wow. A conspiracy theory. Even a conspiracy between Democrats and "real" Republicans. A pretty vast conspiracy. They hate us all and Joe Average! Everyone needs to know that they are out to get us -- somehow!
Is there any real argument other than name calling (Trump style) intended to evoke an emotional response? What are these globalists doing? And how is it in concert with Republicans, Democrats and Rinos?
As for Rinos, can we even define Republicans now? It seems the party is about to fracture into two. True conservatives (smaller government, lower taxes, etc) and Trumpers (whatever Trump says I'll believe it till the day I die and follow wherever he may lead!). Is the Lincoln Project some Rinos?
No need. China will simply call all of our loans. They will buy us up. No sales pitch needed.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 03 2021, @07:08PM (5 children)
I'm afraid there is. He's a 44 year incumbent. You don't keep the job this long without serving the "establishment", you certainly don't enjoy the upward mobility he has.
What may happen is that the "moderate" rebels will flip over to the democrats, and we'll have our center right faction and a crazy right faction (which can still win, as we have seen). Bourgeois "liberals" will remained corralled with their false hopes. Real liberals (including libertarians), well, we just don't hear from them much, do we?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 03 2021, @07:12PM
You make a good point.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:26PM (3 children)
"Past performance is not a guarantee of future results"
This being said, keep an eye on him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:44AM (1 child)
Yeah, what is he up to [mintpressnews.com]?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 05 2021, @10:39PM
Surely he's not giving pointers on manipulating Dominion voting machines! That should be Utlra-Super-Secret state information!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:08PM
He's already taken hundreds of millions in corporate bribes ("lobbying"), had people from Goldman Sachs (who practiced fraud as a business model and crashed the economy) in his transition team, and appointed corrupt corporatists and warmongers into his administration. But they're diverse corporatists and warmongers, so it's fine.
By the way, the fact that he hasn't already pardoned Snowden, something he could easily do unilaterally, does not bode well for the future.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @05:41PM (6 children)
Don't worry! Any minute now, Trump is going to return to power and have Biden, Harris, Democrats in Congress, Hollywood celebrities, and all the rest of that pedophile ring rounded up and publicly executed! At that point he will usher in a new dawn of orange awesomeness for the entire world! QAnon said so, so it must be true! Remember, you saw it here first! Covefefe!</sarcasm>
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 03 2021, @06:01PM (5 children)
You're still suffering from TDS, I see.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:44PM
Runaway is just pawn, in game of Trump! Like Mongo, right?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @09:11PM (2 children)
Says the guy who just labeled everyone that isn't a trump supporting Qultist as part of a vast conspiracy.
Truly you are losing your mind.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:20PM (1 child)
Hillary told you there is a vast conspiracy, remember? She was just dishonest about it being a right wing conspiracy.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:32AM
Is that supposed to be an argument? An insult?
As I said, you're mind is dwindling at an ever-increasing rate. I blame your Trump Derangement Syndrome and the failed Boogaloo you were salivating over.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @07:46PM
*Poke, poke* Dance, my little runaway! Dance! Dance! Dance some more!
(Score: 4, Informative) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday February 03 2021, @07:08PM (2 children)
Nope. That sale was done a long time ago, and was done by American Big Business.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:21PM (1 child)
The Establishment, currently led by Establishment Joe. Trump came along to interrupt the transfer of titles and deeds, but Establishment Joe will get things back on track.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:21AM
Joe Biden is Dick Nixon's body double then. Wow. I had no idea.
...son? Have yew bin smokin' thuh wackee tuh-bakkee?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:15PM
You sound a lot like a Russiagator.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:17AM
The Biden Derangement Syndrome is strong with you.
I hope you get your BDS treated before it completely destroys your mind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:28AM
You went from never criticizing the 45th POTUS and getting angry when anyone would to now lashing out at Biden for no reason. I imagine family gatherings are just excruciating for anyone in your family left of Hitler!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @05:52AM (2 children)
Don't forget war. Biden's already ramping up like a good little bloodthirsty Democrat of the Obama/HRC heritage.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:31AM
No, this is incorrect. Republican talking point. Wrong, in error. Disinformation. Not right. An out an out lie, from the Factory of Lies that is what remains of the Republican Party. Liar!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @10:42AM
[Citation needed]
Won't hurt in the context of a "grip on reality".
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:29AM
You are stupid, Runaway. Just bone-cold stupid. As dumb as a bag of hammers! And not half as good looking. Time to shut up, old man. Your time is done. You are expired.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:43PM
Not the last word, I'm sure, just keeping you updated [ft.com].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2021, @10:14PM
--nomsg
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @05:01PM (31 children)
In some other countries, parties have an official political role to play. This is not true of the USA, despite the fact that many states have regulations to discourage smaller parties and individuals from throwing their hats into the ring.
A party in the USA is just a social club with political ambition. It can change its mind, change its brochures, or whatever it wants to do in the pursuit of power. This was thrown into stark relief by the revelations of the way that Clinton's machinery suborned the DNC, but has been perfectly obvious to anyone paying attention even to things like Kipling's Notes on America, written a century back and more.
The constituency is the group of people in a given electorally-relevant area, with some kind of collective view or axe to grind. Parties woo constituencies, and if they fail, someone else takes the lead.
Even if the Republican Party dissolves in a cloud of greasy smoke tonight, the constituency will still be there. They'll still be loud, angry, and loudly angry about things like guns, immigration, international trade and taxation. Those votes won't go away, those policy preferences won't go away, and the rising anger that drove their votes won't go away.
It's all very well to declare that the Tea Party dissolved, but it's not functionally true. It was a temporary movement, but it drove a lot of centrists/RINOs (pick your preferred label) out of office, and brought in several who at least gave lip service to the concept of following their policy proposals. In the mean time, the party tried to pull things back to a more centrist mould (consider the candidacies of people like Jeb) but the constituency rejected that pull in favour of Trump.
The triumphalism of progressive destiny types who bang their drums for the death of the ultra-conservative boomers (the generation that gave us hippies, Madonna, George Clooney, Belushi, Bono and Sting), declaring that demography is destiny and that anything other than progressivism is on an extinction watch is simply out of touch with the reality of a lot of younger folks who feel disenfranchised and unheard. Sure, the millenials trend heavily progressive (although that may be overstated) but that particular pendulum shows signs of swinging back with the Zoomers. (Nobody knows what happened to X - presumably aliens took them off to Planet Grunge. The silent generation, what's left of it, usually gets lumped in with the boomers by totally-not-ageist people.)
So what's a party to do? Well, if the democrats are frantically scrubbing their hands and crying at the very thought of some angry white girl wanting a pistol to defend herself because she's white and guns are evil, someone else will pick up the slack. And it probably won't be the greens.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:18PM
We're sitting on the sidelines and watching the world burn.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday February 03 2021, @09:18PM (13 children)
How do you account for the fact that when you register to vote, you register as a Democrat, a Republican, or (weirdly) and independent?
When the political parties control the electoral process from the ground up they're playing an official role.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday February 03 2021, @10:47PM (12 children)
That's not true everywhere... If you don't like how your state runs the elections then you need to work at the state level. Maine implemented Ranked Choice Voting, for example. [apnews.com]
In my opinion that's the most scientifically sound way to get out of the local minima we find ourselves in.
(Score: 3, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday February 03 2021, @11:10PM (11 children)
The fact that it is true anywhere shows that your political parties are not mere social clubs as the A/C claimed.
One state out of 50 is a start, but no-one else seems to want to follow them, do they?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:49AM (9 children)
Yeah, what's up with that?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:33AM (8 children)
It has to be forced with ballot initiatives. Same way as cannabis legalization.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @07:06PM (7 children)
Exactly. The voters are in control. Any failure of the "system" is on them, not the people they reelect.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @07:49PM (6 children)
Psssst, not that loud mate. You'll stop Kathy Boockvar from falling into her sword sooo close to the climax [pennlive.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 04 2021, @08:23PM (5 children)
I thought the voters were in control.
Oh, maybe that's a mirage.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @08:34PM (4 children)
They are. If enough speak up, they will get what they want. They too can use the voter initiative if they take some. Is there any prohibition against a special election? In the above case, legislation can be written in, or even an executive order from the governor can take care of the problem until the ballot is passed, unless specifically prohibited in their constitution. The voters do not have to accept any more delay, but they do have to unite if they want a speedy resolution.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 04 2021, @09:12PM (3 children)
So you keep saying, as if it is simple and uncomplicated.
You should read this. It is very interesting. [princeton.edu]
I'm unsure if I agree with all the conclusions of these guys, but they raise some good points. [uri.edu]
This is a bit piece also raises some interesting points. [theatlantic.com]
The conclusions are that it doesn't really matter that much how many people speak out, they don't often get what they want.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @10:17PM (2 children)
I read that stuff years ago, and that would be the wrong conclusion. The real truth is that people are denial of the part that play in moving the crowd in whatever direction it is moving. The fact is people choose conformity because the bills get paid that way with the least effort (so they believe). They get through the day by sticking with what is familiar, bad or good.
At the risk of being redundant. This is a much more accurate assessment of how people are exploited [archive.org]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 04 2021, @11:51PM (1 child)
And we're back to the argument that there is one cause, and one cause only, and any other possible explanations are wrong.
Of course psychology plays a part, otherwise you would not force your schoolchildren to pledge that creepy "oath of allegiance" every day.
The point is that when you claim the voters have control, you're wrong. They don't.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday February 05 2021, @12:03AM
In that case we are doomed. We'll just have to leave it at that.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:12PM
Alaska also has ranked-choice voting now.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:17AM (15 children)
If the Dems are smart, they'll pour dark money into Trump's so-called "Patriot Party" and help split the current GOP base about 1/3 - 2/3, keeping them fighting amongst each other for the next 50 years or so.
The thing is, the much-vaunted "unity" of the GOP voter base is simple fanaticism. You're right that the constituency won't go away, but the GOP base has now splintered along class lines: roughly, we now have Mammon fanatics and Maaaaayun-Jaybuz fanatics. And the thing about fanatics is, they will never, ever, ever change their mind or compromise.
Bite harder, Ouroboros!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Touché) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:55AM (7 children)
Whoops! You just spilled how they got him the GOP nomination in 2016! They thought they had a ringer. Not like primary meddling is new or anything...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:58PM (6 children)
You don't read so good, do ya boy? This isn't about a "ringer." This is about wedging a crowbar into the very real rift that's developed in the base and giving it one sharp tug, to fracture it into two warring sets of fanatics who will then rip one anothers' throats out. Like I said..."bite harder, Ouroboros!"
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:53PM (5 children)
:-) That's not what they want. It's much easier to finance the primaries in their direction to put up a feeble candidate, as they have a history of doing. Heh, the dems are much better fracturing their own party, trying to keep all that "liberal" money in their coffers while appealing to their own very conservative base. Keeping the congress at 50/50 [gfycat.com] is best for all of them, providing the plausible deniability of "obstruction" and very easy reelection.
See, so what you advocate is already being done, only not just on republicans. Judging by your general demeanor, they got to you too.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 05 2021, @01:29AM (4 children)
Blood is on your head for the last four years. I am beginning to understand why some people accuse you of being a paid shill (and whoever is paying you is not getting their money's worth IMO...).
I speak of the facts on the ground: the GOP is fragmenting along class lines, and the populist base that went for Trump is beginning to notice it's in almost diametric opposition to the wealthy elites who run the rest of the party. Trump, meanwhile, got SO many of the ostensibly "mainstream" GOPers to sell their souls to him while in office that large chunks of the party are now directly beholden to him...and the memetic monster he created, which is now so huge and energized it no longer needs Trump himself to be there egging it along.
This is unprecedented in the history of the modern GOP, and by "modern" I mean "going all the way back to just after the turn of the 20th century." The base is split approximately 35-65 by my estimate, which is plenty large enough to force the issue and generate a viable (if short-lived) third party. The split is acrimonious and fanatical; there is no reconciling the partisans of Mammon with the partisans of Trump.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Touché) by fustakrakich on Friday February 05 2021, @01:47AM (2 children)
:-) You truly are a marvelous spectacle, in such blissful denial of the role you are playing.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2021, @03:33AM (1 child)
You're lame responses just scream "I'm a shill!!!"
Thanks for playing fusty, maybe you can fracture some more of the GOP base before you're done!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday February 05 2021, @04:32AM
:-) You did it, not me
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2021, @04:52PM
Unfortunately, both major parties are big tents, and the democrats are at least as troubled.
We have a relatively moderate neoliberal establishment party in an internal battle with a group of people who collectively seem to want to cherry-pick all the worst failed policies of the last half-century in Europe, and emulate them all.
You could kind of describe it as the military-industrial establishment types versus the insurgent trotskyites.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @01:44AM (6 children)
The Dems are smarter than this, Azuma. They don't need to do anything [theguardian.com], the pugheads are already queuing to the God Emperor door to receive [businessinsider.com.au] his blessings [politico.com].
I suppose Trump will have to pay extra the accountants to avoid taxes on the income he obtains from selling indulgences.
Expect some hefty prices for Trump presence at primaries rallies.
(for those who don't know what an indulgence [wikipedia.org] is))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:58AM
Lock up Trump!
Lock up Trump!
Lock up Trump!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 04 2021, @12:56PM (4 children)
I don't expect hefty prices at all. You saw how completely the GOP turned around and vowed NOT to convict Trump once he was actually out. They have no principles; they will do whatever their base wants, and their base is such a bunch of drooling gasbags they might actually pull off the "unity" act until 2022.
No, it's time to force them to suffer the logical, karmic consequences of the last 40+ years of their strategy. A permanent fanatical rift has appeared in the base, and it's ripe for inflammation and catastrophic rupture, *if* it's taken advantage of right away.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 04 2021, @04:49PM (3 children)
That catastrophic rupture happens anyway as we speak, why would one want to waste time/effort to "take advantage" of it?
Afraid? An inner yearning for a righteous retribution to be paid on purpose rather than letting karma flow its course? What?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 05 2021, @01:25AM (2 children)
No: making absolutely damn sure the rupture "happens anyway." I take nothing, *nothing,* for granted after what's happened over the last few years.
Complacency and a naive belief in the essential rationality of other humans led us into this mess to begin with, and it's done so much damage to our institutions, power, prestige, and economy that even a small shock of a similar nature in the next few years will be fatal. Every second these revanchist assholes are left alone is time they spend regrouping and planning; a coup attempt that's not punished is called a training exercise.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 05 2021, @04:13AM
In this case, I'm actually betting on the irrationality of the pugheads.
More precisely, just letting them make enough rope to hang themselves, one doesn't need to buy extra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 12 2021, @02:01PM
You were sayin'...? [theguardian.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0