What happens to the Republican Party now? (5 Viewers)

brandon said:

Cite sources. Multiple sources.

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would it matter though?

Optimus Prime said:

would it matter though?

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It may not (probably wont matter) to the politician making the claim, but you have to believe there are people listening who will be enlightened.

They know their voters are so inundated with daily crime updates on Chicago, LA and New York, that they will never believe it.

They think big cities are like war zones, and anyone trying to say otherwise is pro crime.

wonder why they think that
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Despite countless investigations, judicial hearings and forensic audits rejecting claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, just one in three Americans believe the 2022 midterms will be largely free of fraud, according to a new national poll from LX News and YouGov.

Forty-nine percent of all Americans — including a majority of Republicans and half of all self-described independents — believe there will either be "a lot" or "some" fraud this fall, an indication of how pervasive disinformation about the 2020 election has spread and how much trust in democracy has eroded in just two years.

The poll also found:

• Democrats have more confidence in the integrity of the election than independents or Republicans, but one in three still believe there will be "a lot" or "some" fraud in the midterms
• Fifty percent of Democrats responded they believe there will be "barely any" or "none"
• Seniors were the most likely generation to trust the integrity of the vote. Concerns about fraud were particularly common among middle-aged Americans
• A quarter of all Americans who believe there will be fraud say it will be significant enough this fall to change the balance of power in Congress. That included 36% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats

Even as scrutiny of election systems has grown in recent years, arrests for fraud have not. A study published by a Columbia University professor found most accusations of fraud were "false claims by the loser of a close race, mischief and administrative, or voter error."

The conservative Heritage Foundation, which tracks election fraud cases, found only about 1,000 instances of fraud in last 25 years — a rate that equates to less than one case per million votes cast during that time.

What's Driving Voter Fraud Concerns​

Americans' concerns regarding voter fraud aren’t limited to a single theory on cheating.

The LX News/YouGov poll found similar levels of concern among Americans for the following activities:

• 58% — people voting more than once
• 55% — people lying about their citizenship
• 54% — people using fake names
• 51% — people casting ballots for family members
• 50% — people voting in a place they do not live

While election officials acknowledge it’s impossible to catch every attempt to cheat, instances are exceedingly rare, thanks to numerous systems designed to catch anomalies. The federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency described the 2020 election as America’s safest and most secure ever........

People need to stop worrying so much about the economy when they vote, Michael Steele argued this week on MSNBC.

Appearing on The 11th Hour, Steele claimed democracy is up for grabs in the upcoming midterm elections, so what you pay at the pump or the grocery store should be taking a backseat to this supposed fight to preserve the nation.

After host Stephanie Ruhle pointed out that the economy is the number one issue for many voters, Steele laid into the “anti-democratic insurrectionist Republican Party” and claimed President Joe Biden should have been linking the economy to the supposedly-in-jeopardy democracy far ahead of this November’s elections.........

Optimus Prime said:

People need to stop worrying so much about the economy when they vote, Michael Steele argued this week on MSNBC.

Appearing on The 11th Hour, Steele claimed democracy is up for grabs in the upcoming midterm elections, so what you pay at the pump or the grocery store should be taking a backseat to this supposed fight to preserve the nation.

After host Stephanie Ruhle pointed out that the economy is the number one issue for many voters, Steele laid into the “anti-democratic insurrectionist Republican Party” and claimed President Joe Biden should have been linking the economy to the supposedly-in-jeopardy democracy far ahead of this November’s elections.........

MSN

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Steele recently spoke at a conference of healthcare centers I attended. Dude totally ripped the GOP as a former party chair, then urged those in attendance to whip congressional Democrats into shape to fight back or the new Republican majority would look to cut funding to CHC first.

Trump has made him no nonsense.

The midterms are still three weeks away, but former President Donald Trump is already boosting wild conspiracies about ballot-stuffing. And election deniers are on board and making fraudulent claims.

Earlier this week, a picture was posted on Reddit by a user who claimed it showed that “ballot stuffing has already begun in Arizona.” The post included an image of someone at an early voting drop box, and the evidence provided for “ballot stuffing” was the fact that the car’s license plate was supposedly obscured.

The photo, it turns out, was taken by a volunteer working with Clean Elections USA, a right-wing grassroots group dedicated to monitoring dropboxes around the clock and catching so-called ”ballot mules.”

“My dedicated dropbox watching team caught this and sent it up the chain. What do you see in the picture?” Melody Jennings, the founder of the group, asked in a post on Truth Social that was shared by Trump to his 3.1 million followers.

Clean Elections USA is one of dozens of so-called grassroots groups that have appeared out of nowhere in the wake of the widely-debunked 2000 Mules election conspiracy film produced by far-right star Dinesh D’Souza.

The group is determined to prove that Democrats are trying to steal the 2022 midterm elections by stuffing voting drop boxes full of fraudulent ballots. And three weeks out from the election, they’re already inciting fear and anger among Trump’s supporters..............

I did not read the article. Getting ready to go to work.
I just saw the title and thought it would be of interest to some of you.
Gotta go...
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About British politics, for what’s it’s worth
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People who cheat on their partners are also more likely to vote for the Conservative party, a poll has found.

According to a survey of 2,000 confessed cheaters, 65 per cent would vote for the Tories while only 17 per cent would choose Labour.

Only 9 per cent of cheaters would vote for the Liberal Democrats, while 5 per cent of adulterers said they would support the Green Party…….

They do put out great ads
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…….Founded by GOP operatives in late 2019 to battle Mr Trump, the Lincoln Project moved lightning-quick to the centre of the political conversation.

It engaged millions with its sharp-elbowed content, became a prominent thorn in Donald Trump’s side, raised nearly $90m from donors, and, as the group argues, helped tip the 2020 election to Joe Biden, saving democracy itself in the process.

Along the way, however, as is clear in the new Showtime docu-series The Lincoln Project, from directors Karim Amer and Fisher Stevens, the group exhibited many of the same behaviours it sought to battle in Trumpism: a propensity for secrecy and scandal; a willingness to use hardball tactics and viciously attack opponents; and an addiction to media outrage and the financial and political gain it can yield………

The cultural impact of its work was obvious. Its projects, be they new Facebook ads or a stinging billboard in Times Square calling out the Trump administration’s Covid policies, were greeted in the political media like new Beyoncé tracks, the objects of fascination, analysis, and a barely contained glee.

They also clearly got under the skin of Donald Trump himself, who spared no opportunity to attack the group he branded as the “Losers Project” and Republicans in Name Only, or “Rinos.”

But how did that translate to the polls?

Post-election analyses suggest that Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in part by peeling off independents and suburban voters in key states who had previously voted Republican or not voted at all, just the kind of persuadable people the Lincoln Project was targeting.

One study of Lincoln Project ads on Twitter, from Priorities USA, a top Democratic super PAC, found that the Lincoln Project’s ads were best at firing people up who already supported Joe Biden, and actually tended to get less persuasive with battleground state voters the more viral they went……..

SteveSBrickNJ said:

I did not read the article. Getting ready to go to work.
I just saw the title and thought it would be of interest to some of you.
Gotta go...
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Jeb Bush: GOP will be ‘yearning for new leadership’ in 2024

Former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said he expects that the Republican Party will be “yearning for a new generation of leaders” in the 2024 presidential election. Bush told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview on Thursday that he believes room will exist in the...

news.yahoo.com

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Jeb had me at...

He said he expects the party will want candidates who are “focused on the future” and not the “grievances of the past.”

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...then lost me at the next paragraph where he praised Ron Desantis who does nothing but capitalize on grievance politics/anti-wokeness.

GOP needs someone like Dan Crenshaw who, while still a bit gruff in the anti-wokeness department, is far better at focusing on the future and emphasizing positive aspects and actually selling on why people should vote GOP instead of just 'ermagerd derrr librulz eatz babies.'

A small group of Democrats has begun a new push to get the party to eliminate the prospect of future GOP blackmail.

The thinking: Republicans are already threatening to use a potential default on the nation’s debt limit as a weapon in fiscal negotiations, so if the GOP wins the House, protecting the country from this looming disaster before the next Congress begins is imperative.


Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine that someone left a box on your doorstep. In it lay a pistol and a note, which said, “In the near future, I will come back, retrieve this gun, point it at your loved ones, and blackmail you for all you’re worth.”

You’d remove the gun and call the cops, right?

Something a bit like this is happening right now. It’s absolutely within Congress’s power to put an end to these debt ceiling threats. Not taking this step before it’s too late would be absolutely nuts.


House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made it plain this week: A GOP-controlled House would use the debt ceiling to force draconian spending cuts.

McCarthy, who is likely the next speaker, declared that unless Democrats “eliminate some waste,” Republicans will not “keep lifting your credit card limit.”


For good measure, McCarthy would not rule out using the debt limit to leverage cuts in Social Security and Medicare.


In response, a group of House Democrats has written a letter to the party’s congressional leadership, urging them to “permanently end the threat that the federal debt limit poses.”


“It is no secret that Republicans will weaponize the debt limit the first chance they get,” says the letter, which is signed by more than a dozen Democrats and several liberal advocacy groups……

Wore it in public again yesterday. The file is too large to upload

She probably has no idea what it is... That said, the symbol predates the Nazis and is still used to some extent in the modern German armed forces. THAT SAID... why would you even wear jewelry incorporating German military insignias.

Eeyore said:

Wore it in public again yesterday. The file is too large to upload

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The Iron Cross isn't really a Nazi symbol. It long predates the Nazis in Germany/Prussia.

But it is weird.

brandon said:

The Iron Cross isn't really a Nazi symbol. It long predates the Nazis in Germany/Prussia.

But it is weird.

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So is she, though. Weird and oblivious.

…….The stripping of abortion rights is one clear indicator of America’s rising authoritarianism.

And Americans know that we’re in trouble. Voters – especially Democratic and independent voters – are aware that democracy is under threat, and perhaps even that trust in free and fair elections, women’s rights, and America’s democratic institutions are on the ballot this November.

While a whopping 71% of voters said that American democracy is at risk, however, just 7% named it as the most important issue in this election.

And that’s perhaps understandable. “Democracy” can feel like a big and nebulous thing, while a more expensive grocery bill is a tangible and immediate concern.

And Democrats have been telling voters (correctly) that democracy has been at risk since Donald Trump began undermining it.

They weren’t wrong to sound the alarm. But eventually even the loudest siren begins to sound like background noise.

There is also the simple fact that threats to American democracy will not be solved in 2022 alone.

What America is experiencing is a pervasive problem with rising authoritarianism all over the world. Often, autocrats use democratic means to rise to power, and their takeover is a slow one, not an overnight coup.

And once authoritarianism is entrenched, average citizens carry on – there may be an initial shock, but then life, for many people, evolves into a new normal.

We’re seeing this dynamic in real time when it comes to abortion. Over the next few years, we may see it on an even larger scale, and with democracy itself…….