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

[MT15]

This election nonsense by Trump may end up splitting up the Republican Party. I just don’t see how the one third (?) who are principled conservatives can stay in the same party with Trump sycophants who are willing to sign onto the TX Supreme Court case.

We also saw the alt right types chanting “destroy the GOP” in Washington today because they didn’t keep Trump in power. I think the Q types will also hold the same ill will toward the traditional Republican Party. In fact its quite possible that all the voters who are really in a Trump personality cult will also blame the GOP for his loss. It’s only a matter of time IMO before Trump himself gets around to blaming the GOP.

There is some discussion of this on Twitter. What do you all think?

 

[brandon]

Uh oh, dead girl or live boy alert:

I’m no Cawthorn fan, but dollars to donuts those Venmo descriptions are just jokes.

 

[MT15]

Indeed. We are still a long enough way out where anything can happen (as we have seen time and time again, can and will happen).

The true canary in the coal mine will be if the Dems move forward with Student Loan Forgiveness. Joe wasn’t a fan of it a short while ago, and there really wouldn’t be any other reason to push it forward unless it was needed to secure some votes.

If Biden Cancels Student Loans, It Likely Happens Before November

Here's when to expect any student loan cancellation.

www.forbes.com

So, I’m pretty sure Biden ran on a promise of forgiving $10,000 of student debt. I don’t think I dreamt that. It’s working on a campaign promise.

 

[MT15]

I’m no Cawthorn fan, but dollars to donuts those Venmo descriptions are just jokes.

But really, really stupid jokes. Seriously, though, the financial transactions are an ethical problem for him, as I read they break ethics rules for the chamber.

 

[el caliente]

So, I’m pretty sure Biden ran on a promise of forgiving $10,000 of student debt. I don’t think I dreamt that. It’s working on a campaign promise.

Yes, he campaigned on $10k, and now there is mounting pressure for him to raise it by nearly 5x that amount (which he says he isn’t going to to).

From the start it sounded like a pie in the sky idea, which he had little plans of getting off the ground. Now as we get closer to election time he appears to be debating canceling more than $10k. If he moves for more than $10k, just know this is a panic move.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/26/biden-cancel-student-loans/

Biden says he's considering forgiving student loan debt, but not $50,000 per borrower

"I'm in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness," the president said.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[coldseat]

I’m no Cawthorn fan, but dollars to donuts those Venmo descriptions are just jokes.

If it's true, speaking on behalf of all gays, we reject Cawthorn's application to be part of "The Gays". "The Straights" can keep him.

 

[MT15]

Yes, he campaigned on $10k, and now there is mounting pressure for him to raise it by nearly 5x that amount (which he says he isn’t going to to).

From the start it sounded like a pie in the sky idea, which he had little plans of getting off the ground. Now as we get closer to election time he appears to be debating canceling more than $10k. If he moves for more than $10k, just know this is a panic move.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/26/biden-cancel-student-loans/

Biden says he's considering forgiving student loan debt, but not $50,000 per borrower

"I'm in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness," the president said.

www.cbsnews.com

Panic move is just, like, your opinion, man.

 

[el caliente]

If it's true, speaking on behalf of all gays, we reject Cawthorn's application to be part of "The Gays". "The Straights" can keep him.

That guy is about to be a man without a country, as if he is gay will the white suprematists want him?

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Indeed. We are still a long enough way out where anything can happen (as we have seen time and time again, can and will happen).

The true canary in the coal mine will be if the Dems move forward with Student Loan Forgiveness. Joe wasn’t a fan of it a short while ago, and there really wouldn’t be any other reason to push it forward unless it was needed to secure some votes.

If Biden Cancels Student Loans, It Likely Happens Before November

Here's when to expect any student loan cancellation.

www.forbes.com

I'm not sure this will make much of a difference. Granted, mid-term elections tend to see lower voter turnout so perhaps a swell of the younger Democratic base will help? I don't see the student debt thing as relevant issue to most independents and/or blue collar people that are largely apolitical. Stuff like gas prices, food prices, and inflation will be more dispositive.

 

[DaveXA]

I'm not sure this will make much of a difference. Granted, mid-term elections tend to see lower voter turnout so perhaps a swell of the younger Democratic base will help? I don't see the student debt thing as relevant issue to most independents and/or blue collar people that are largely apolitical. Stuff like gas prices, food prices, and inflation will be more dispositive.

I dunno, I've got like $20k loan for my oldest son that is currently in a suspended status. I'll probably have to start repaying it soon since I no longer qualify for disability payments due to my work. Would be great if we could get that cleared out with the student loan forgiveness. I don't know how it would affect my vote though. Depends on who's running and what their platform looks like.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Good read
===========

It is often said that the US is the world’s oldest democracy. While that is not necessarily incorrect, depending on the definition of “democracy,” it tends to obscure more than it illuminates about the reality of American life.

If we start from the assumption that America has been a stable, consolidated democracy for two and a half centuries, the current political conflict seems utterly baffling: where is the anti-democratic radicalization of the Republican party – and so many million Americans – coming from all of a sudden?

Is it really plausible to assume that the people who remain united behind Donald Trump and are now openly embracing authoritarianism were fully on board with liberal democracy until recently, before they were driven rightward by the presidency of a moderately liberal politician whose sole “radicalism” consisted of being Black?

That the election of a religious elderly white man who has always been a proud centrist pushed them to finally abandon their supposedly “consolidated” democratic convictions?

And how can we explain that even those Republican officials who openly stand against Trump seem unwilling to support the necessary steps to strengthen democracy?

Earlier this month, Liz Cheney described Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a “reminder that democracy is fragile” and talked about her obligation “to defend our democracy” – yet she doesn’t seem overly concerned with her party’s escalating voter suppression or gerrymandering efforts.

Similarly, Mitt Romney warned his audience at a private fundraiser in mid-March that “preserving liberal democracy is an extraordinary challenge” – yet he helped block legislation in the Senate that would have introduced much-needed national standards for voting rights.

In general, the few Republican lawmakers in Washington who are opposing the worst excesses of Trumpian authoritarianism have been strikingly unwilling to oppose the ongoing Republican attempts to subvert democracy on the state level……..

Conservatives don’t want true democracy, and ‘nice’ Republicans are no exception | Thomas Zimmer

Even the few Republicans in Washington who opposed the worst excesses of Trumpism have been unwilling to fight attempts to subvert democracy at the state level

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

Never, ever trust a man who cannot laugh at himself. Just look at his response. A cabal? Really?

 

[coldseat]

There's no money or amount of power that is worth becoming what McCarthy is.

But McCarthy has become something quite different — a bright and shining symbol of democratic debasement. His indifference toward truth has made it easier for rank-and-file Republicans to inhabit a dream world in which losing any election is the evidence of an opponent’s fraud. Carried to its natural conclusion, this is the essence of authoritarianism. Because the stakes of politics are so high, because your rivals are out to destroy you, because your opponents are “groomers” and pedophiles, because the other side has done far worse than your worst, any useful deception, any convenient deviance from the democratic rules, can be morally justified.

In a political world that has abandoned truth, people such as McCarthy provide permission but not leadership. The movers and shakers are the most spectacular liars. In a caucus where duplicity, calumny and cruelty are rewarded, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is queen. She often now sets the tone and issues the demands for House Republicans as a whole. Poor McCarthy, after a career of kowtowing, has more than met his match in a deluded and divisive freshman.

Will Trump banish McCarthy for new evidence of past heresy or honor his current subservience? The outcome seems predictable. Certainly, Trump values unquestioning loyalty. But he seems to enjoy it more when heretics come back in cringing supplication. His most exquisite delight is when the wayward remove their own backbones in his presence. Wouldn’t Trump (assuming the fulfillment of both his and McCarthy’s highest ambitions) want to work with a speaker who is well-practiced in self-abasement and embarrassed by his previous defense of democratic norms?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/02/kevin-mccarthy-likely-speaker-lies-hypocrisy-democratic-decay/

 

[el caliente]

How does this Supreme Court Roe v Wade reversal impact the Republicans come midterms?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Guess this can go here
==================
In an invaluable Brookings Institution paper last year, Norm Eisen, counsel to various people and groups litigating on behalf of democracy (and to the Trump impeachment managers), helped compile a list of the “fixes” needed to repair the Trump era’s systemic damage.

Now, Eisen and contributing authors have turned the report into a more comprehensive analysis: “Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, the Rule of Law, and Democracy.”


I recently interviewed Eisen about the new book, which provides an exhaustive to-do list of institutional guardrails, including ethics reform, bolstered congressional oversight and depoliticization of the Justice Department.

This transcript has been edited lightly for length, style and clarity.


Jennifer Rubin: What’s “Trumpery,” and why is this different than corruption we’ve seen in the past?

Norm Eisen: The book is the first to analyze Trump’s lying and corrupt style in office as a philosophy of governing: Trumpery. It has seven features, the seven deadly sins of Trumpery.

That’s different from anything we’ve seen in U.S. history — even with the most corrupt presidents — because Trumpery rejects the core principles that make us a democratic republic and instead moves us towards autocracy.


The logical culmination of four years of Trumpery was his attempted coup to stay in power, and instead of backing away from that “big lie”-driven criminal conspiracy, many in the GOP have embraced Trumpery, and many more tolerate it.

Indeed, adherents like Gov. Ron DeSantis [Fla.], Sen. Josh Hawley [R-Mo.] or Congressman Jim Jordan [R-Ohio] are taking it to new depths.

But the good news is Trumpery was defeated once and there are many solutions to defeat it again, which we also lay out. So, there is hope!


Rubin: Democrats cannot get any of your reforms passed without filibuster reform, which they don’t have the votes to pass. What do they do?

Eisen: “Overcoming Trumpery” not only documents the evolution of Trumpery (even I was shocked when I saw it all in one place!). It also offers solutions, many of which are still available.

Yes, we could have been inoculated against Trumpery by the comprehensive democratic reforms that passed the House and should have passed the Senate. And I was, of course, disappointed that we fell two votes shy of the filibuster reform that the book calls for.

But as we explain in the volume, important steps to counter Trumpery are still possible at the federal level and at the state and local levels.


For example, the Senate is considering “Electoral Count Act-plus” reform: changing federal law to definitively reject the bizarre legal theories that Trump advanced to try to effectuate his coup in Congress.

The “plus” consists of other possible federal responses to the “big lie”-driven assaults on elections and election officials that are still going on from coast to coast. We outline what that federal package might look like in the book.

And almost every other democracy, rule-of-law and ethics reform in “Overcoming Trumpery” can also be adapted and adopted at the state and local level. So, there’s a lot!


Rubin: How much of this is the fault of voters? They know what Republicans are and keep voting for them………….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/02/norm-eisen-how-overcome-trumpery-book/

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

I would love to hear a Libertarian on the forum give their take on why they would support one party or the other over their own party.

I do not support one of the duopoly parties. When i vote, I try to vote Libertarian. Just because I may vote Dem or Repub but that doesn't mean i support the party. You have a bad interpitation on that. Most Libertarians want the gov't out of personal lives, but right now, Repubs are trying real hard to take away as many civil liberties as possible, while saying the Dems are the ones doing it, although they do share the blame.
The answer is, just because Libertarians share some views with the R's, doesn't mean we support them. Just because Libertairians share some views with the D's doesn't mean we support them. But Dems will come at Libertarians when they see them suporting a certain aspect of the R's views, and the R's will come at us for supporting certain views of the D's.. You will only see what you want to see...

 

[Optimus Prime]

Came across another crazy candidate that was even worse than this, but can't find the article again
==================================================================

A former Marine who was kicked out of the Corps for sharing white supremacist messages online is running for office in Kentucky.

Thomas Cade Martin is currently running for District 4 constable in Bullitt County, but he was separated from the Marine Corps in September 2020 after posting a meme with the white supremacist slogan "not stolen, conquered" over a map of the U.S. and other white nationalist propaganda, reported Task & Purpose.

“Martin’s premature discharge and rank are indicative of the fact that the character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps’ expectations and standards,” said Marine spokeswoman Yvonne Carlock at the time. “Due to the associated administrative processes, further details are not releasable.”

He had been serving as anti-tank missile gunner with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, California, when he was given a field grade non-judicial punishment and busted down from lance corporal to private first class, and he was later kicked out of the service branch.

Martin claimed in an April 28 post on Facebook that he was a “victim of cancel culture” and insisted that he was honorably discharged and retained all of his earned benefits.

In addition to his white supremacist social media posts, Martin founded an organization called the United States Nationalist Initiative, whose vice president Everett Corley was condemned by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in 2018 for appearing four years earlier on a white nationalist YouTube channel called "The Ethno State."..........

Man booted out of Marines for being an open white supremacist now running for public office

 

[zztop]

more about the disney fiasco:

In a complaint seeking to block the law filed Tuesday in Florida federal court, residents who live near Disney World argue they and other taxpayers will be burdened with at least $1 billion in Disney’s bond debt if the state follows through with its plan to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District. “It is without question that Defendant Governor DeSantis intended to punish Disney for a 1st Amendment protected ground of free speech,” reads the lawsuit. “Defendant’s violation of Disney’s 1st Amendment rights directly resulted in a violation of Plaintiffs’ 14th Amendment rights to due process of law.”

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Never, ever trust a man who cannot laugh at himself. Just look at his response. A cabal? Really?

This guy is the very definition of an "edgelord." Anyway, when he becomes President, I wonder what he'll call his cronies in DC... "cadre?"