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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.

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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.

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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"?

Republicans urge Biden to change course on stimulus

When a bipartisan Senate coalition helped clinch a coronavirus relief bill last year after months of gridlock, it was supposed to be a model for governing in the Biden era. But now Democrats’ surprise takeover of the Senate threatens to leave the group behind.

Democrats are vowing to move forward on a new stimulus package as soon as next week, with or without Republicans. Though Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have not officially said they plan to pursue a party-line approach through budget reconciliation, many Democrats now believe that’s the only way forward.

Republicans in the bipartisan coalition are crying out for President Joe Biden to change course and embrace his long-standing bipartisan inclinations. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said a message from Biden to put the brakes on reconciliation “would be very helpful. And I think it’s what he believes.”
...
Of course, Republicans sidelined Democrats twice with reconciliation in 2017 after winning control of Washington under former President Donald Trump. And many have panned Biden’s $1.9 trillion legislation as too big and too stuffed with progressive proposals like increasing the minimum wage and expanding sick leave.

That chilly attitude from Republicans has informed Democrats’ thinking. They don’t want to get bogged down in endless negotiations in Biden’s first 100 days, particularly after seeing the last coronavirus relief bill take eight months to pass. While a bipartisan compromise would be preferable, Democrats say, they won't let that supersede the needs of the country.
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Democratic leaders aren’t hiding their plans. The House and Senate are expected to pass budgets next week, which will unlock reconciliation procedures and allow passage of legislation with 50 Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie breaking vote.
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“We just saw the biggest economic contraction in 100 years,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “It’s unlikely we will see another big relief package after this one and so we have to deliver.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that Republicans could support a reconciliation bill too if they so choose and that Biden isn’t giving up hope that it could be a bipartisan package: “There’s no blood oath anybody signs."
...
Republicans see things differently.

“I don’t think there’s a single Republican who would vote for the $1.9 trillion bill,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a member of the bipartisan coalition. “There may be some appetite for Covid relief legislation that encompasses parts of that… but as a total bill, it’s not likely to get Republican support.”

Though the White House considers its proposal a targeted one, Psaki said, Biden is open to having conversations with lawmakers about adjusting any component. Some senators have pushed for limiting whether high-income people qualify for a $1,400 stimulus payment.

Senate Democrats also insist they would prefer GOP support. But if it means waiting much longer with no progress, they’re ready to move forward, citing the need for immediate relief.

Personally, given how long it took to deliver the latest relief package and how "phenomenal" the Obamacare was "replaced" after 4 years, I'd be highly tempted towards 'If you drag your feet today, fuck off, no bi- this time, we have work to do'. But then again, I'm not a politician and I'm not sure that would be the best course.

What would you, fellow soylentils, prefer: to bipartisan or not to bipartisan the $1.9T covid package?

The transcript of Biden inauguration speech with the selection I find relevant

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbours. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury, no progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. And unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I guarantee we will not failed. We have never, ever, ever, ever failed in America when we've acted together.

Let's see if his administration will be able to follow or if they'll get sidetracked into unconsensual fucking the opposite tribe.

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If you still disagree, so be it. That's democracy. That's America. The right to dissent peacefully. And the guardrail of our democracy is perhaps our nation's greatest strength. If you hear me clearly, disagreement must not lead to disunion. And I pledge this to you. I will be a President for all Americans, all Americans. And I promise you I will fight for those who did not support me as for those who did.

(imma sorta tired to hear again about fighting, many idiots will chose to take the term literally. Aren't any other metaphors available in the English language?)

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Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens as Americans and especially as leaders. Leaders who are pledged to honour our Constitution to protect our nation. To defend the truth and defeat the lies.

And the lies that are not told for power and for profit are what exactly? Alt-truths? Alt-lies?

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We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.

So you're aware about the rural/urban divide as a problem, heh? Ok, let's see what you gonna do about it.
You'll probably have to deal with covid as the first priority, but that will end at some point.

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Look folks, all my colleagues I serve with in the House and the Senate up here, we all understand the world is watching. Watching all of us today. So here's my message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it.

_{(as a matter of personal opinion, I doubt America is stronger today than before. But if you say so, who am I to say the opposite?)}

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Folks, it's a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy, and on truth, a raging virus, a stinging inequity, systemic racism, a climate in crisis, America's role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways. But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with one of the greatest responsibilities we've had. Now we're going to be tested. Are we going to step up?

It's time for boldness for there is so much to do. And this is certain, I promise you. We will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. We will rise to the occasion. Will we master this rare and difficult hour? Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world to our children? I believe we must and I'm sure you do as well.

Ok, big guy, I see ya know what yer talking about.
Time to walk yer walk.
Otherwise you and the Americans are fucked. Proper fucked, before "Zee Germans" get there.

Some among America's military allies believe Trump deliberately attempted a coup and may have had help from federal law-enforcement officials

... a French police official responsible for public security in a key section of central Paris, and two intelligence officials from NATO countries who directly work in counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations... said the circumstantial evidence available pointed to what would be openly called a coup attempt in any other nation.

...

One NATO source set the stage, using terms more commonly used to describe unrest in developing countries.

“The defeated president gives a speech to a group of supporters where he tells them he was robbed of the election, denounces his own administration’s members and party as traitors, and tells his supporters to storm the building where the voting is being held,” the NATO intelligence official said.

“The supporters, many dressed in military attire and waving revolutionary-style flags, then storm the building where the federal law-enforcement agencies controlled by the current president do not establish a security cordon, and the protesters quickly overwhelm the last line of police.

“The president then makes a public statement to the supporters attacking the Capitol that he loves them but doesn’t really tell them to stop,” the official said. “Today I am briefing my government that we believe with a reasonable level of certainty that Donald Trump attempted a coup that failed when the system did not buckle.

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The French police official said they believed that an investigation would find that someone interfered with the deployment of additional federal law-enforcement officials on the perimeter of the Capitol complex; the official has direct knowledge of the proper procedures for security of the facility.
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It is routine for the Capitol Police to coordinate with the federal Secret Service and the Park Police and local police in Washington, DC, before large demonstrations. The National Guard, commanded by the Department of Defence, is often on standby too.

On Wednesday, however, that coordination was late or absent.

“You cannot tell me I don’t know what they should have done. I can fly to Washington tomorrow and do that job, just as any police official in Washington can fly to Paris and do mine,” the official said. The official directs public security in a central Paris police district filled with government buildings and tourist sites.

“These are not subtle principles” for managing demonstrations, “and they transfer to every situation,” the official said. “This is why we train alongside the US federal law enforcement to handle these very matters, and it’s obvious that large parts of any successful plan were just ignored.”

...

The third official, who works in counterintelligence for a NATO member, agreed that the situation could only be seen as a coup attempt, no matter how poorly considered and likely to fail, and said its implications might be too huge to immediately fathom.

“Thank God it didn’t work, because I can’t imagine how hard it would be to sanction the US financial system,” the official said. By sanctions, he means the imposition of the diplomatic, military, and trade blockages that democratic nations usually reserve for dictatorships.

“The broader damage around the world will be extensive in terms of reputation, and that’s why Putin doesn’t mind at all that Trump lost. He’s got to be happy to take his chips and count his winnings, which from the Trump era will be a shockingly quick decline in American prestige and moral high ground.

“Every moment the Americans spend on their own self-inflicted chaos helps China, it helps Putin, and, to a lesser extent, it helps the mini-dictators like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, who breathe cynicism about politics, human rights, and democracy as their air,” the official said. “They won’t miss Trump; they will be glad to see his drama leave so they can enjoy the poisoned political climate.”

It is done. From Jan 20, Dems have all they need to start fixing America, Parliament Congress and Executive all together.
Crumbling infrastructure, unemployment, raising inequality index, covid and vaccines distribution, there's lots to fix at the survival level.

Don't try to fuck them just because libtards hurr durr. But, if they fail to address any of the above, feel free to bite them.
Just don't start with "China Biden" and "Russia Mitch" and "heavy Trump legacy" and "but Obama/Trump whataboutism", those are ghafla, stupid things that de-focus you from having you asking, expecting or doing better. It also distract you with irrelevant details, like diverting your mind in inventing reasons (or CTes) for which they fuck you; when actually you'd better focus on stop being fucked.

I wish if I ever hear about Trump again on this site, that reference better be in a snooker context (I really hate his hair style) or anything not related to Donald J Trump, may his name forever be forgotten.

I also really wish there'll be no more "Fuck your feelings" and "Get over it" when "I don't share your feelings" or "Is not about feelings" will absolutely suffice (or absolute indifference)
I'm not that naive to think they'll disappear immediately, but I'll tell you I'll start considering them as insults. Serious offenders (in my eyes) will gain my eternal indifference, no matter what compelling arguments they may make in their comments. Because you aren't a philosopher or a superior IQ before being a human.

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[Edit Jan 8]
Start by cleaning up your own neighborhood or town, it's clearly under your control.

New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim walked amid the mess shortly after voting to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump — and felt the weight of the day wearing on him — when something motivated him to clean up the debris.

“I was just really affected emotionally. I felt this kind of heightened, kind of supercharged kind of patriotism that I just felt take over,” he said in an interview.

It was then he noticed police officers putting pizza boxes in trash bags, so he asked for one, too, and began cleaning up.
...
“When you see something you love that’s broken you want to fix it. I love the Capitol. I‘m honored to be there,” he said. “This building is extraordinary and the rotunda in particular is just awe-inspiring. How many countless generations have been inspired in that room?

“It really broke my heart and I just felt compelled to do something. … What else could I do?”
...
“I think it was 1 in the morning,” said fellow New Jersey Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski. “There were a couple national guardsman and I noticed somebody on his hands and knees leaning under a bench to pick something up and it was Andy all by himself, just quietly removing debris and putting it in a plastic bag. He was clearly not doing it for an audience.

“It was for me the most poignant moment of the long night.”

U.S. cyber agency says SolarWinds hackers are 'impacting' state, local governments

And... the market rewards them

'What's the alternative?' SolarWinds boosts security firms' bottom lines

Cybersecurity providers including FireEye Inc and Microsoft Corp could not prevent a huge network breach disclosed this month by numerous U.S. agencies and companies, yet their shares are soaring for a second straight week.
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Wall Street is betting that governments and businesses - having invested years in moving to digital infrastructure - will only accelerate purchases of the latest IT tools.

“What’s the alternative?” said Venkatesh Shankar, marketing professor at Texas A&M University.

Airbag recalls or Listeria outbreaks tend to affect shares within a narrow supply chain, from restaurants and auto dealers down to parts and ingredients suppliers, he said.

At the time of writing, the SolarWind stock price dropped on YtY from $18.55 a year ago, to $15.75 now. Crazy as it may sound after being hacked, the recommendation is "Buy", because "What's the alternative?"

Can't fuck those lefties? No worries, we'll carve the GOP.

Trump blows a hole in the GOP on his way out

Trump rails against Barr, Kemp, other Republicans over election loss

MAGA Protesters Chant ‘Destroy the GOP’ at Pro-Trump Rally

Where does the Republican Party go after Trump?

Whether Donald Trump continues to remain a powerful presence in Republican politics will be determined in the months to come. But one thing seems certain, both parties need to make sure that middle America - like Ohio - does not feel ignored.

A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon - Playing with reality (20min+ read. A bit lengthy, but it worth)

In brief - apophenia. Just a tad more elaborated - induced/guided aphonenia.

What's fascinating is the buttons of human psyche that are pushed to sink people deep into the rabbit holes:
- Follow The Breadcrumbs - don't tell, just select the dots that are to be connected
- The Eureka Effect - the rush of the Aha! moments and the feeling of being rewarded
- Lamestream Media - passivate against the reality that's not supportive to the agenda
- Community - sense of belonging, behavior reinforcement; a population large and motivated enough to adopt an evolutionary strategy in selecting the best CT-es

All the above are exemplified - and these examples is how I got to get WTF Beyoncé has to do with QAnon.

So, if all it's an Alternate Reality Game, there's no harm, right? Not so fast, the US Military Academy ran the The QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making? article in its "Combating Terrorism Center" journal, stating

QAnon represents a public security threat with the potential in the future to become a more impactful domestic terror threat. This is true especially given that conspiracy theories have a track record of propelling terrorist violence elsewhere in the West as well as QAnon’s more recent influence on mainstream political discourse.

One day I'll have time for these.
All of them require no screws, nails or glue.

_{(in the loving memory of Runaway1956, who succumbed after a long battle to gatewaypundits. May his brain rest in peace, squeaky clean and smoothed over)}

because "Doing your own research" is far easier nowadays than building the habit of thinking critically.
Add COVID-anxiety, a chaotic narcissistic Orange clown and compound with the lack of survival problems to solve for the everyday life in a westernized society and (where appropriate) a good dose of American exceptionalism.