What happens to the Republican Party now? (3 Viewers)

Eeyore said:

I was dumb enough to think that Trump throwing paper towels in Puerto Rico, combined with the lack of aid after the hurricane would be a big enough clue that they should avoid his ilk. I guess that some people really like paper towels.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Optimus Prime said:

Click to expand...

Optimus Prime said:

Click to expand...

BullSheetBuddha said:

While this is from 2018 it identifies, and alerts us to the dangers of, the White Power Movement and the alt-right. Since this radio program, the white power movement has only grown.



Movements such as these often increase in the aftermath of war. The aftermath of Vietnam, the aftermath of the various wars on terror.


"On how the Vietnam War changed the White Power movement

The Vietnam War narrative works first of all to unite people who had previously not been able to be in a room together and to have a shared sense of mission. So, for instance, Klansmen and neo-Nazis after World War II had a very difficult time aligning, because Klansmen tended to see neo-Nazis as enemies ... the people they were confronting in World War II. But after Vietnam they see common cause around their betrayal by the government and around the failed project of the Vietnam War. So that's one function.

Another function of the Vietnam War is to provide a narrative that shapes the violence itself, and this is partly material in that veterans who are trained in Vietnam War boot camps come back and create boot camps to train other White Power activists. People who didn't serve in Vietnam War combat even use U.S. Army training manuals and other kind of paramilitary infrastructure to shape White Power violence and they even choose Vietnam War issue weapons, uniforms and material and even obtain stolen military weapons to foment activism.

On the White Power movement turning on the state

The turn on the state happened in 1983. It happened at the Aryan Nations World Congress, which was a meeting of many different factions of the White Power movement and the thing that's important about this turn on the state is that it's openly anti-state for the first time in the 20th century. Prior Klan mobilizations had really been organized about maintaining the status quo or maintaining what historians would call "systemic power," which is to say, state power and all of the other kinds of power that are bound up in state power.

So if you think about the Klan in the 1920s, which is the example that most people are familiar with, it's very overtly and properly nationalist. ... It was out in the mainstream. It was very social. It was very overt. It was purported to be "for America" and their slogan indeed was "100 percent Americanism."

So fast forward to 1983, and we're looking at something completely different. This is now a coalition of united racist groups that is openly anti-government, that is focused on a transnational white nation and that is using texts and ideologies that call for an apocalyptic confrontation with everybody else."



I think it's obvious now where the change to "turning on the state" has led us.

Click to expand...

Optimus Prime said:

Click to expand...

(CNN)Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday dealt a devastating blow to Democrats' hopes for sweeping legislative action this year, telling Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his staff "unequivocally" that he won't support the climate or tax provisions of a Democratic economic package, two sources familiar with the talks tell CNN.

The two had been negotiating for months, and Schumer, a New York Democrat, had made a number of concessions to pare back the climate provisions to appease Manchin, whose support is critical in an evenly decided Senate.

Manchin is open to letting Medicare negotiate prescription drugs prices and to extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years, one of the sources said, which suggests that's all Democrats are likely to get in the package.

But the moderate West Virginia Democrat, who has cited increased federal spending as a main driver of inflation, would not budge on other Democratic priorities, and he told Schumer that he will not consider raising taxes on the wealthy or corporations.

Click to expand...

Biden vows to use executive action after Manchin torpedoes climate agenda | CNN Politics

President Joe Biden vowed Friday to take “strong executive action” in response to moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin torpedoing his party’s efforts toward writing sweeping climate action and tax legislation.

www.cnn.com

Does Hungary Offer a Glimpse of Our Authoritarian Future?

American conservatives recently hosted their flagship conference in Hungary, a country that experts call an autocracy. Its leader, Viktor Orbán, provides a potential model of what a Trump after Trump might look like.

www.newyorker.com

Experts have described Orbán as a new-school despot, a soft autocrat, an anocrat, and a reactionary populist. Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of international affairs at Princeton, has referred to him as “the ultimate twenty-first-century dictator.” Some prominent American conservatives want nothing to do with him; but more have taken his side, pointing to Hungary as a potential model for America’s future

Click to expand...

coldseat said:

Manchin up to his old tricks again. Didn't get as much media coverage this time because of the "cry wolf" affect, so it's probably not having the same impact for Manchin politically as he'd like since nobody expected any agreement out of him. But same old, same old....

He sure does love to negotiate and talk for months on end to get nowhere.

Biden vows to use executive action after Manchin torpedoes climate agenda | CNN Politics

President Joe Biden vowed Friday to take “strong executive action” in response to moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin torpedoing his party’s efforts toward writing sweeping climate action and tax legislation.

www.cnn.com

Click to expand...

DaveXA said:

Ultimately, if Democrats actually want to get something passed, they have to assume Manchin isn't going to be a reliable vote, so they need to focus on getting at least a small handful of Republicans to vote with them as a firewall to Manchin's no vote. The other option, which I tend to think is more likely is that they're just using this as election season talking points. If it passes, great, if not, then you have a talking point for the November elections.

Click to expand...

DaveXA said:

Ultimately, if Democrats actually want to get something passed, they have to assume Manchin isn't going to be a reliable vote, so they need to focus on getting at least a small handful of Republicans to vote with them as a firewall to Manchin's no vote. The other option, which I tend to think is more likely is that they're just using this as election season talking points. If it passes, great, if not, then you have a talking point for the November elections.

Click to expand...

GrandAdmiral said:

Yup. Unfortunately, as much as I believe Democrats will pick up enough in the Senate in November to nullify Manchin, I don't see how the Dems keep the House. So nothing will get done anyway.

Click to expand...

DaveXA said:

True dat. Which is why they have to find a way to reach across the aisle. They all need to compromise or accept that nothing will get done. The numbers don't support a go it alone approach for either party.

Click to expand...