What happens to the Republican Party now? (8 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?

 

[Optimus Prime]

And how much does it cost to become a member of the exclusive Trump club?

one time fee? Or a low monthly charge?

and exactly what benefits does one get by being a member?

 

[DaveXA]

No proof readers? OFFICAL?

Lmao, good catch. Fwiw, I tend to think this is something someone with too much time on his hands concocted.

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Card-carrying zealots pledging loyalty to one individual while blaming a country's problem on 'others.' No Godwin's Law applicable here -- this is literally how Nazi Germany got started.

 

[zztop]

hmm that reminds me I should re-watch Man in the High Castle

 

[Paul]

hmm that reminds me I should re-watch Man in the High Castle

Loved that show!

 

[B4YOU]

Nope, not a cult at all... this is some next-level grifting for $...

The bottom left card misspelled “official”.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

No proof readers? OFFICAL?

You have to give them props for being consistently incompetent, they seem to work hard at maintaining that level.

 

[Goatman saint]

You have to give them props for being consistently incompetent, they seem to work hard at maintaining that level.

But that’s what’s frigging scary. Him and his whole administration were generally a bunch of incompetent fools. Imagine the actual damage they could’ve done if there was someone competent.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Nope, not a cult at all... this is some next-level grifting for $...

Ha
===========

You may have some questions about the newly announced Trump Card! Well, I have answers!


What can I use my Trump Card for?

Winning!


Winning what?

Winning!


If I play my Trump Card in a game, do I automatically win the game?


Absolutely not, but it will allow you to say that the game was rigged against you and call the entire premise of the game into question. This is what is meant by winning.


What benefits do I get with my Trump Card?

A Trump Card!


Can I use my Trump Card to pay for things?


You can certainly try! Then when it isn’t accepted as a form of payment on the grounds that it is “some random card that has Donald Trump’s signature on it and a creepy picture of an eagle, not a valid credit card,” you can complain that you are being discriminated against for your political beliefs and create lots of problems.


The eagle looks kind of . . . Third Reich-y?


This is a simple misunderstanding! Just one of a series of isolated, totally spontaneous Trump-adjacent design mistakes that have been happening consistently without fail for the past five years!


One of the four designs for the card misspells the word “official.” Is the typo intentional?


The typo is proof of your card’s authenticity!…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/06/your-trump-card-benefits/

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Ha
===========

You may have some questions about the newly announced Trump Card! Well, I have answers!


What can I use my Trump Card for?

Winning!


Winning what?

Winning!


If I play my Trump Card in a game, do I automatically win the game?


Absolutely not, but it will allow you to say that the game was rigged against you and call the entire premise of the game into question. This is what is meant by winning.


What benefits do I get with my Trump Card?

A Trump Card!


Can I use my Trump Card to pay for things?


You can certainly try! Then when it isn’t accepted as a form of payment on the grounds that it is “some random card that has Donald Trump’s signature on it and a creepy picture of an eagle, not a valid credit card,” you can complain that you are being discriminated against for your political beliefs and create lots of problems.


The eagle looks kind of . . . Third Reich-y?


This is a simple misunderstanding! Just one of a series of isolated, totally spontaneous Trump-adjacent design mistakes that have been happening consistently without fail for the past five years!


One of the four designs for the card misspells the word “official.” Is the typo intentional?


The typo is proof of your card’s authenticity!…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/06/your-trump-card-benefits/

I think whoever wrote this missed a golden opportunity to claim the typos is proof of the card's "authenticty."

 

[MT15]

Teri Kanefield is a great person to follow for her thoughts on the direction the Republican Party is currently taking. She is thoroughly knowledgeable and at the same time pragmatic and realistic. For example:

“Because there’s been a steady drip of evidence of Trump (and Republican) crimes, there’s an expectation among some that criminal prosecution will bring Trump—and his brand of American fascism—crashing down.

A few weeks ago, in a blog post called “Republican Lawbreaking,” I explained why I think criminal prosecution is unlikely to end the danger posed by what we might call the Trump-Newsmax-Fox Republican Party. (I used to call it the Trump-Fox Party but the sad fact is that right wing media has now moved far to the right of Fox News.)

If you missed that blog post, and your expectation is that criminal prosecution will (or can) put an end to American fascism, you might want to read that one first.

We have a political problem, and political problems require political solutions. What prosecution can do is help expose the truth. Fascism is built on lies. Rule of law, which requires a shared factuality, is based on truth. That’s why truth is the enemy of fascism.”

A Thousand Cuts: An Overview - Teri Kanefield

This blog post started as a YouTube video. You can see it here. I think the way the current fascist threat will be beaten back is most likely through thousand small cuts, each seemingly undramatic. After all, over the past several decades, Trump’s brand of fascism has gained as much power as it...

terikanefield.com

 

[MT15]

I’m going to post another section. It’s something I needed to hear right now, and I hope it will help others to hear it.

‘Remember, we’re in a transition. Since 1954, the United States has been [mostly] trying to transition from a representative democracy dominated by white men with institutions that entirely served white men to a true racially diverse democracy—and we’ve been facing fierce backlash.

Given that we are in transition, looking to our history as an excuse to feel pessimistic about a possible future undercuts our ability to make the transition.

There’s a reason the great liberal leaders and trailblazers of the past—the ones who made a real difference—didn’t spread doomsday gloom. They inspired people with possibilities. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream.

I’ll go further and suggest that “leaders” who spread messages of doom are not leaders. Leaders take us forward to a better world.

I’ll also add that cynicism is a hallmark of fascism. People who embrace fascism often don’t believe equality is possible. They don’t believe fairness is possible. If you don’t believe fairness and equality are possible, politics becomes about who can “win” by any means necessary.

So don’t be cynical. We will only make this transition if enough people feel empowered by possibilities instead of paralyzed by cynicism.’

 

[DaveXA]

Teri Kanefield is a great person to follow for her thoughts on the direction the Republican Party is currently taking. She is thoroughly knowledgeable and at the same time pragmatic and realistic. For example:

“Because there’s been a steady drip of evidence of Trump (and Republican) crimes, there’s an expectation among some that criminal prosecution will bring Trump—and his brand of American fascism—crashing down.

A few weeks ago, in a blog post called “Republican Lawbreaking,” I explained why I think criminal prosecution is unlikely to end the danger posed by what we might call the Trump-Newsmax-Fox Republican Party. (I used to call it the Trump-Fox Party but the sad fact is that right wing media has now moved far to the right of Fox News.)

If you missed that blog post, and your expectation is that criminal prosecution will (or can) put an end to American fascism, you might want to read that one first.

We have a political problem, and political problems require political solutions. What prosecution can do is help expose the truth. Fascism is built on lies. Rule of law, which requires a shared factuality, is based on truth. That’s why truth is the enemy of fascism.”

A Thousand Cuts: An Overview - Teri Kanefield

This blog post started as a YouTube video. You can see it here. I think the way the current fascist threat will be beaten back is most likely through thousand small cuts, each seemingly undramatic. After all, over the past several decades, Trump’s brand of fascism has gained as much power as it...

terikanefield.com

This is probably nit-picking, but, right wing media has long been far to the right of Fox News. It's certainly not a recent phenomenon.

 

[DaveXA]

I’m going to post another section. It’s something I needed to hear right now, and I hope it will help others to hear it.

‘Remember, we’re in a transition. Since 1954, the United States has been [mostly] trying to transition from a representative democracy dominated by white men with institutions that entirely served white men to a true racially diverse democracy—and we’ve been facing fierce backlash.

Given that we are in transition, looking to our history as an excuse to feel pessimistic about a possible future undercuts our ability to make the transition.

There’s a reason the great liberal leaders and trailblazers of the past—the ones who made a real difference—didn’t spread doomsday gloom. They inspired people with possibilities. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream.

I’ll go further and suggest that “leaders” who spread messages of doom are not leaders. Leaders take us forward to a better world.

I’ll also add that cynicism is a hallmark of fascism. People who embrace fascism often don’t believe equality is possible. They don’t believe fairness is possible. If you don’t believe fairness and equality are possible, politics becomes about who can “win” by any means necessary.

So don’t be cynical. We will only make this transition if enough people feel empowered by possibilities instead of paralyzed by cynicism.’

This is pretty great. This is one of the myriad reasons for not supporting the Trump Administration. I've always been a pretty optimistic individual, and the cynical, "nothing can be done about it" approach, and vilifying of groups of people isn't what I am looking for in a leader. I couldn't stand Trump's bombastic and irreverent behavior. It's well suited for a game show, but not much else.

And I also think cynicism leads to people not caring about others and also basically does away with empathy. I do feel the cynical side of me creeping in more than I like lately, and I don't like it.

 

[SystemShock]

The bottom left card misspelled “official”.

.. or fecal.

 

[coldseat]

Teri Kanefield is a great person to follow for her thoughts on the direction the Republican Party is currently taking. She is thoroughly knowledgeable and at the same time pragmatic and realistic. For example:

“Because there’s been a steady drip of evidence of Trump (and Republican) crimes, there’s an expectation among some that criminal prosecution will bring Trump—and his brand of American fascism—crashing down.

A few weeks ago, in a blog post called “Republican Lawbreaking,” I explained why I think criminal prosecution is unlikely to end the danger posed by what we might call the Trump-Newsmax-Fox Republican Party. (I used to call it the Trump-Fox Party but the sad fact is that right wing media has now moved far to the right of Fox News.)

If you missed that blog post, and your expectation is that criminal prosecution will (or can) put an end to American fascism, you might want to read that one first.

We have a political problem, and political problems require political solutions. What prosecution can do is help expose the truth. Fascism is built on lies. Rule of law, which requires a shared factuality, is based on truth. That’s why truth is the enemy of fascism.”

A Thousand Cuts: An Overview - Teri Kanefield

This blog post started as a YouTube video. You can see it here. I think the way the current fascist threat will be beaten back is most likely through thousand small cuts, each seemingly undramatic. After all, over the past several decades, Trump’s brand of fascism has gained as much power as it...

terikanefield.com

It's a good article, but I do disagree with her on the last point she makes here:

Well, I said a lot of that and got more pushback:




The problem was that Trump was shielded by a major political party, including the Senate. The failure was in the Republican Party. They chose to shield a lawbreaking president.


Institutions can’t be any better than the people who form them.


After I posted that, the same person responded, saying:




The Constitution provides a remedy for a lawbreaking president: The House impeaches. The Senate convicts and removes. After the president is removed, the Constitution specifically says that the president can then be tried in a criminal court.


Things went wrong during the Trump presidency at the Senate trial stage.


The Constitution also provides a remedy for Senators who don’t do their jobs and refuse to convict when they should: Vote them out.


The buck stops with the voters.

The problem isn't just the Republican party, it's the Republican base voters (and moderates that vote with them) that put Trump and these Republicans in office. This is the Republican party they want and vote for. So if the buck stops with the voters, how are we not supposed to be cynical about that?

If Kevin McCarthry and Republicans gain control of the House in 2022 and he becomes Speaker after all that's happened and continues to happen, cynicism will be all that's left.

 

[MT15]

Well, there is some evidence that the Republican Party is significantly shrinking in the years since Trump was elected. And that this is accelerating since his pushing election conspiracy theories.

I think this is why Rs have become willing to publicly say they need to repress the vote. They don’t see another way to go, IMO. They are doubling down on the crazy, and alienating moderates and independents by doing so (which is why Trump lost on Nov. 4 and why both R senators lost in the GA runoff).

I don’t see this changing much in the near future.

 

[coldseat]

Well, there is some evidence that the Republican Party is significantly shrinking in the years since Trump was elected. And that this is accelerating since his pushing election conspiracy theories.

I think this is why Rs have become willing to publicly say they need to repress the vote. They don’t see another way to go, IMO. They are doubling down on the crazy, and alienating moderates and independents by doing so (which is why Trump lost on Nov. 4 and why both R senators lost in the GA runoff).

I don’t see this changing much in the near future.

I hope that's the case, this next election will tell us a lot. I'm curious to see if moderates/independents will truly recognize the danger of the current Repulbican party as a whole or fall back on old fears/tropes of out of control progressives in power.