What happened to the GOP?

Politics US Politics
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I’m sure some conservatives will take with Ezra Klein (cofounder of Vox) hosting the podcast. But regardless, the conversation with Stevens is a stinging indictment and lays the case clearly why the GOP must either reform or thrive on chaos - an informative listen from an insider.

Stevens talks about how the basis of GOP policy, supply side economics - tax cuts, was always lie since it never worked. Tax cuts were never met with equal spending cuts, went mostly to the rich, and increased the deficit every time. This policy did not match with increasing income inequality so the party was forced to rely more more on fear, tribalism and identity politics issues.

"For 30 years, Stuart Stevens was one of the most influential operatives in Republican politics. He was Mitt Romney’s top strategist in 2012, served in key roles on both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, and worked on dozens of congressional and gubernatorial campaigns — building one of the best winning records in politics. Then Stevens watched his party throw its support behind a man who stood against everything he believed in, or thought he believed in.

Most dissidents from Trumpism take a familiar line: They didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left them. But for Stevens, Trump forced a more fundamental rethinking: The problem, he believes, is not that the GOP became something it wasn’t; it’s that many of those within it — including him — failed to see what it actually was. In Stevens’s new book, It Was All a Lie , he delivers a searing indictment of the party he helped build, and his role in it.

This is a conversation about the Republican Party’s past, present, and future. Stevens and I discuss the differences between the Democratic and Republican coalitions, whether party elites could have prevented Trump’s rise, the power the GOP base holds, the relationship between tax cuts for the rich and white identity politics for the poor, where the party can and can’t go after Trump, the GOP operatives trying to put Kanye West on the 2020 ballot, how Stevens played the race card in his first campaigns, why Romney lost while Trump won, and more."

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Yeah, that’s totally devastating.

develemo
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Not going to read the article.
The GOP are stuck in the 2000s. Like those in the Demented party, most are corporatists and pro war.
Trump’s base and more people are rejecting their candidates for ones that offer things they can relate to (and that includes GOP candidates Trump has endorsed (he should have endorsed the ones that really back him)).

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In this case, you may as well not.

austin.powers.shit.nutty
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It’s actually a podcast but nice try. Self censorship is a recurring theme among conservatives. “Lalalalaa nothing to see here!” :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

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This is the key takeaway for me, before I read the quote even I was thinking this. The people who actually believe in the typical conservative principles, they were just passengers on this ride. They deserve to be called naive really, to not be able to see that the real GOP never actually believed in anything other than securing GOP power. They don’t care about 2nd amendment when it doesn’t help their side, or pro-life, or Christian tenets, etc. They’ve been laid bare for what they really are via Trumpism, willing fascists. That’s the only thing they can legit claim to be consistent on now.

The big thing the party has been doing for decades is trying to dumb down the populace, and kill education. They have succeeded to degrees, for example the number of eager beavers who express disagreement in political discussion almost solely via the posting of cartoons and memes.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. These are the fruits of the GOP’s labors though, to breed an unthinking, childlike populace. Adults rejecting masks in a pandemic because they’re so confused by the internet and fox news is exhibit A.

Their far-rightism will be rejected because they screwed the pooch too early with a dummy like Trump, and Trumpist fans are gonna hate the future a lot more as a result. US is only going to get more liberal politically, both from the left and whatever shifts to the left out of the carcass of the GOP, to more accurately reflect the actual views of Americans.

That lean isn’t generally reflected in Americans’ self-designations, nor is ideological consistency a notable American trait. A new Pew survey found that about one-third of Americans hold both liberal and conservative views, depending on the specific issue. Another Pew report divides Americans into nine categories based on their political and social views, from core conservatives (13 percent) to solid liberals (16 percent). But even those on the extreme right and left ends of the spectrum share some views in common.

The Economy

  • 82 percent of Americans think wealthy people have too much power and influence in Washington.
  • 69 percent think large businesses have too much power and influence in Washington.
  • 59 percent—and 72 percent of likely voters—think Wall Street has too much power and influence in Washington.
  • 78 percent of likely voters support stronger rules and enforcement on the financial industry.
  • 65 percent of Americans think our economic system “unfairly favors powerful interests.”
  • 59 percent of Americans—and 43 percent of Republicans—think corporations make “too much profit.”

Inequality

  • 82 percent of Americans think economic inequality is a “very big” (48 percent) or “moderately big” (34 percent) problem. Even 69 percent of Republicans share this view.
  • 66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly.
  • 72 percent of Americans say it is “extremely” or “very” important, and 23 percent say it is “somewhat important,” to reduce poverty.
  • 59 percent of registered voters—and 51 percent of Republicans—favor raising the maximum amount that low-wage workers can make and still be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, from $14,820 to $18,000.

Money in Politics

  • 96 percent of Americans—including 96 percent of Republicans—believe money in politics is to blame for the dysfunction of the U.S. political system.
  • 84 percent of Americans—including 80 percent of Republicans—believe money has too much influence in politics.
  • 78 percent of Americans say we need sweeping new laws to reduce the influence of money in politics.
  • 73 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Taxes

  • 80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
  • 78 percent think some wealthy people don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
  • 76 percent believe the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes.
  • 60 percent of registered voters believe corporations pay too little in taxes.
  • 87 percent of Americans say it is critical to preserve Social Security, even if it means increasing Social Security taxes paid by wealthy Americans.
  • 67 percent of Americans support lifting the cap to require higher-income workers to pay Social Security taxes on all of their wages.

Minimum Wage

  • 66 percent of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
  • 59 percent favor raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.
  • 48 percent support raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour. (A survey of registered voters found that 54 percent favored a $15 minimum wage.)
  • 63 percent of registered voters think the minimum wage should be adjusted each year by the rate of inflation.

Workers’ Rights

  • 61 percent of Americans—including 42 percent of Republicans—approve of labor unions.
  • 74 percent of registered voters—including 71 percent of Republicans—support requiring employers to offer paid parental and medical leave.
  • 78 percent of likely voters favor establishing a national fund that offers all workers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

Health Care

  • 60 percent of Americans believe “it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage.”
  • 60 percent of registered voters favor “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.”
  • 58 percent of the public favors replacing Obamacare with “a federally funded healthcare program providing insurance for all Americans.”
  • 64 percent of registered voters favor their state accepting the Obamacare plan for expanding Medicaid in their state.
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It’s clear to see that Americans can support and agree on most issues. The GOP will then almost always counter this with the slippery slope argument. As in democrats say they support the 2A but really they want to take all your guns. Democrats say they want healthcare but really they want communism. Democrats say they wants gays to marry and next they’ll destroy the family.

So instead of allowing those on the Left to explain what we believe we are being told what we believe. And the excuse made is that actually a fringe element is taking over the party when there is no evidence to substantiate that. They are running two centrists in 2020 so that argument fails. Or they’ll play up AOCs role and influence when I only hear about her and Ilhan Omar from Fox. I don’t expect to hear about a junior congressmen everyday when there are more important issues at hand.

This sounds familiar. I think there are like five memes on repeat - something about derp, something about projecting. And then it’s just a long line of statements like “Somebody doesn’t know about X” as a way to cover up one’s own ignorance I guess and avoid having to actually discuss facts and back anything up.

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“The Republican Party as I knew it no longer exists. I’d call it the cult of Trump,” said Jimmy Gurulé, who was Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Bush administration.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene. Believes:

9-11 was in inside job.
Parkland elementary school shootings were staged.
Rothchilds (hint hint*) used space lasers to start the California forest fires in order to benefit bankers (hint hint*).
Jews were bringing in immigrants into Europe.

And the president supports her.

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Joe Biden supports her?

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lol

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oops meant Trump. It’s early in the morning.

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where are they planning on going?

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I have no idea. Nor do I care. At this point, I am through with the Republican party. I voted Republican in the past, even for more than one presidential election, but after seeing their spinelessness with Trump, which appears to be ongoing, I am uninterested in what they have to say. Read the article if you haven’t already. Wow. I completely agree.

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Unless they start listening to party members such as Congressman Adam Kinzinger, they are going down the toilet and the only question is if they drag the rest of the US with them.

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What happened to America is a better question. Republicans aren’t the only ones who’ve gone down the rabbit hole there.

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That sounds familiar

After objecting to the election results, Kevin McCarthy says all Americans bear responsibility for the deadly Capitol riot

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blasted Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s embrace of “loony lies and conspiracy theories” as a “cancer for the Republican Party.”

“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” McConnell said in a statement first shared with The Hill. “This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

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The party is in it deep when it 's newsworthy for a party leader to come out against colleagues who say that an plane did not hit the Pentagon on 9/11

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As of today the GOP is one happy family again. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: They didn’t vote Cheney out and they accepted the looney bin members!

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