I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I am of the school that believes Trump was not the disease, but a symptom. The Republican party lost its collective way back (at least) to the Nixon Southern Strategy of openly courting and catering to racists and misogynists. Any candidate who tries to buck that at this point will be summarily drummed out of the party and labelled a RINO. Fascists don’t moderate, they only fasc harder. Republican delendo est.
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The very first thing would have to be a complete repudiation of Trump and MAGA, which won’t happen because they’re all so desperately afraid of that portion of their base. Those folks are mad as Hell (even if they’re not quite sure about what, but boy are they mad), and they will crawl over broken glass to get to the voting booth. And they’re just filled with hate. I’ve told this story elsewhere, I asked my father, who was in country during Tet, why he would vote for a draft doging asshole who mocked an honorable POW, and his reply was “I hate that b1tch.” That’s the level we’re dealing with for about 25% of this country, and they seem to control 90% of the GOP levers of power right now.
But beyond that, they do know that their policies are an anethma to the general public, and that’s why they’re so focused on sewing up their minority rule through gerrymandering purple states to Hell and back (I’m looking at you Wisconsin legislature), as well as their successful plan to capture SCOTUS for the next generation…Alito and Thomas are the oldest Justices and there’s no way in any timeline they’re going to resign under a Democratic President, so we need to wait for natural attrition to work while keeping the Senate and Presidency, but we also need to work on pumping through as many Judges as possible. This is why is absolutely necessary that Diane Feinstein remain alive until the new Senate is seated after '24. If she dies or resigns (sadly while this is the right course of action for her given her state, this does not seem likely), the GOP will not allow a new Senator to be seated on the JC, so they would be able to effectively stop all Judicial confirmations cold.
All this is to say, the GOP doesn’t seem to want to walk itself back from the brink, they have found a strategy they believe will work for them (minoritarian rule) and they’re going to go all in on it. We will not get a Great Statesman out of that party for a very long time, if ever again. Which is sad, because we do need two functioning parties at honorable odds with each other to have good, quality government.
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I’m the only liberal in my family. Two R brothers. And one bad seed chameleon brother who is whatever party gets him into the panties/wallet/grift. But of my two R brothers in '16 both voted for drumpf. In '20 one of them said ‘this is insane’ and put up Republicans for Biden signs in his yard. Other probably voted for drumpf AGAIN, tho resolutely refuses to talk politics like ever.
My dad was still alive in 2016 and was hopping mad Rs chose herr shitler. One time I asked him if he liked the '16 R candidate, he said something like “No sir I do not! Firstly he’s never been a R, secondly he’s a clown!”
Points to any ‘reasonable republicans’ who are willing to stand up to the insanity and speak any sort of truth. Even just a little. Christie is a bully and a cretin, but at least he is blasting some holes in drumpf’s armor. More please, oh enemy of mine enemy. Let them fight.
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Maybe someone pointed out to Trump that the only way one of the others would win was if he died and is worried they might help him along that path.
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This.
The decision to pursue the Southern Strategy aimed the Republican Party at their current position the moment they made it. The cynical adoption of an electoral strategy that freed them from having to pursue popular policies was purposefully designed to create an outcome combining massive economic with fascistic social policies. There is no rewinding the clock to Regan without tearing the party apart. This was a one-way trip from the start with the only possible results the end of American democracy or destruction of the Republican party. I’m OK with the second of those outcomes and will fight the first with all my being.
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Can’t wait for Christie to relentlessly drag him even in his absence, it will be just as if not more damaging because it will only underscore what a coward Trump is.
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Far more damaging to TV sets around the country as trumpers throw beer bottles at Christie’s face.
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That may be a net positive. 
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If they served beer at the debate, which I approve of, I imagine that it would look a lot like a stage wrapped in chicken wire ala the Country and Western Bar in the Blues Brothers movie.
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I was thinking more about the subsequent decrease in the television viewing among that segment of the populace, following the beveragr-soaked hardware failure
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You know, I remember a Doonesbury cartoon from the 1970ies where something very similar comes up in a strip where Honey and Duke are discussing Nixon.
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I think Lord Dampnut was inevitable when Ford pardoned Nixon; this showed the GOP that corruption has no consequences;;; and every GOP administration since has been engaged in digging that cesspool deeper.
This foreshadowed the Iraq war; there are some familiar names at the bottom…
That was a shrewd move by Nixon, who figured the loss of Liberal Republican would be far overshadowed by welcoming the bigots in, and he was right.
Good riddance to them.
But the GOP of a hundred years ago was also the Business Party, and had members that were favorable towards fascism because of their animus towards labor unions.
And, they weren’t about to pass up the opportunity to make a buck, either.
It’s amusing that most of 'em are trying to win the nomination from someone they dare not criicize, yet don’t seem to understand they have no chance of winning support from his base, either.
You could make the arguement that Blacks (and other minorities) in this country have lived under fascism from the time of Reconstruction until the Voting Rights Act was passed.
And now the SCOTUS is trying to do away with the VRA.
So it certainly shows where their sympathies lie.
Ditto Trumpism.
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Interesting thought, but as a Tom Waits fan, that’s also sacrilege to me.
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… so the others are all running for vice president?
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Maybe literally yes. I hadn’t thought of that.
I was thinking more like the understudy candidate - the one who steps in if the candidate drops dead, is incarcerated, etc.
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He’s afraid he will get leprosy from DiSantis
Dwight Frye’s ghost is not happy either
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Of course it’s the symptoms of the disease that ultimately kill you if left unchecked… if Trump isn’t the virus then perhaps we could think of him as the 110-degree-Fahrenheit-fever.
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