#The GOP

[tomorrowusa]

« A better kind of Republicanism is not possible as long as most of the party genuflects to Trump. This means the victory of the odd moderate conservative here or there will not change things. A little hardball in pursuit of the power needed to defeat Trumpism is not hypocrisy. It’s a necessity. »

— E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the Democratic strategy of encouraging the nomination of unelectable MAGA extremist Republicans to make it easier for moderate Democrats to defeat them in the general election. At the Washington Post.

The Republican Party of old is dead. This ain't your grandmother's GOP but instead is a totalitarian cult centered on a blathering con man. It is more interested in conducting an eternal culture war than in effective governance.

Every GOP office holder is a pillar holding up Trump. Many of them won't even admit that Trump lost because to do so would defy the cult. They have willingly relinquished the power of rational thought. A party like that has no business in a democracy.

[scretladyspider]

“The suit centers on Lorie Smith, a website designer who does not want to provide her services for gay weddings because of her religious objections.

In 2016, she says, a gay man named Stewart requested her services for help with his upcoming wedding. “We are getting married early next year and would love some design work done for our invites, placenames etc. We might also stretch to a website,” reads a message he apparently sent her through her website. In court filings, her lawyers produced a copy of the inquiry.

Web designer’s US supreme court case could trample LGBTQ+ rights, advocates say

But Stewart, who requested his last name be withheld for privacy, said in an interview with the Guardian that he never sent the message, even though it correctly lists his email address and telephone number. He has also been happily married to a woman for the last 15 years, he said. The news was first reported by the New Republic.

In fact, until he received a call this week from a reporter from the magazine, Stewart said he had no idea he was somehow tied up in a case that had made it to the supreme court.

“I can confirm I did not contact 303 Creative about a website,” he said. “It’s fraudulent insomuch as someone is pretending to be me and looking to marry someone called Mike. That’s not me.

“What’s most concerning to me is that this is kind of like the one main piece of evidence that’s been part of this case for the last six-plus years and it’s false,” he added. “Nobody’s checked it. Anybody can pick up the phone, write an email, send a text, to verify whether that was correct information.”

Key document may be fake in LGBTQ+ rights case before US Supreme Court, The Guardian, by Sam Levine

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line – no matter how big the lie, repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth. If anything stands out in the history of the Grand Old Party during the past two years it is that its majority in Congress has waged perpetual, unending war on all fronts against the rights and the aspirations of American workers. I was there... I speak from what I have seen. The Republican members of Congress have been vicious in the passage of laws which restrict and deny fundamental rights to all those in America who have to work for a living. But meantime profits for the bosses have steadily increased. The bosses, I might add, are the members of the National Association of Manufacturers and other selfish employers who provide the treasure chest by which the candidates of the Grand Old Party seek to have you vote for them.

—John F Kennedy, Remarks before the Fitton Council of the Knights of Columbus, East Boston, May 18, 1947

[Robert B. Hubbell]

[daddysakic]

It’s FINALLY over

[thecovenhouseco]

If conservatives ever complain about Drag or Trans people, ask how many times they laughed at Big Mamma’s House, Mrs Doubtfire, Madea or White Chicks. Orrrrr Ask them why they supported Trump even after this

Or maybe ask them why they supported The Man who said “Transgenderism” needs to be eradicated even after this

Or maybe ask them about this

They’re a bunch of lying hypocrites who simply want control. Fuck the GOP.

[burnitalldownism]

George Washington wore powdered wigs, makeup, leggings, and heels.

The GOP would cancel George Washington in a second. Ditto for all the “founding” fathers.

[loweffortartist]

Help is on the way

[uboat53]

"So here we are in 2023. The malcontents are still digging in – the only difference now is that there is a smaller governing majority. Actually, there really is no GOP governing majority at all, and the world will learn that soon enough."

Source

Fair warning, SHORT RANT (TM) ahead.

Source

INTRODUCTION

You remember how I told you that you should read smart conservatives? The above comes from Charlie Dent, a former Republican Congressman who left Congress in 2018 and has been writing about politics ever since.

The reason I bring this up is that he makes an extremely good point here, one we should all consider. You see, I was going to write about how the GOP majority is extremely shaky, but he made me realize they don't actually have a majority at all.

TWO PARTIES

One thing that has become abundantly clear over the course of the last week is that there is not a Republican Party anymore, there are two parties that share a label and campaign infrastructure. One the one side are the Establishment or Ideological Republicans (I'll call them E's for short). These are the Republicans who are committed to the old style conservative orthodoxy of military spending, small domestic programs, and general social conservatism. In other words, the Reagan "three-legged stool". These Republicans don't like what the Democrats want the government to do, but they still want the government to do things. Just different things.

On the other side, though, are the MAGA Republicans (I'll call them M's for short). These are the Republicans who want to destroy the government. But let's be clear, it's not due to any libertarian-style belief that institutions limit the freedom of the individual, it's because they want to empower other institutions such as militia groups and fundamentalist churches to control people instead.

THE SPLIT

At this point there about 150 or so Republicans that I would call E's, the standard type, and there are about 20-30 that I would call M's (the rest are somewhere in between). The problem is that the combined party can only spare 4 votes in their majority, meaning that even a minority of each group can completely grind their efforts to a halt.

The Hastert Rule (any bill must be able to pass with only Republican votes or it will not be brought to a vote at all) was an effort to call a truce between the two sides, but it has become more and more of a hinderance to accomplishing anything at all as their combined number have fallen lower and lower. We saw this in action during the vote for House Speaker when a small handful of M's were able to grind the process to a halt for days in order to try to wring further concessions from the E faction that had already conceded to them a great deal.

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

The important thing to realize is that this isn't a new phenomenon. As I've previously written, this is the continuation of a split that began in the 1950s and 60s with the Southern Strategy. What we're seeing now is simply an escalation of a battle for party control between a majority and a minority that believes it should be at the helm.

They have the problem, however, in that they share both a voting base and a fundraising base. If they were to split, how many of each would go to which side? I don't know the answer to that, but both E's and M's have been too afraid to find out.

The biggest problem, though, is that they are fighting over diminishing returns. This last year should have been a banner election for Republicans; they controlled redistricting in more states and ran in a very positive economy (for an opposition party), yet they barely took a majority in only one house of Congress. Their voters are older and are dying off while young people are largely rejecting their ideas.

Finally, there's an increasing distance between the two parties. It used to be that you could find Democrats who were politically to the right of a good number of Republicans and vice-versa, but that doesn't happen anymore. Even Joe Manchin is to the left of almost every Republican by a good margin and most Democrats we would otherwise call "moderate" have more in common with AOC than with even someone like Adam Kinzinger. The same is true on the Republican side, so there's not really much room for a "unity caucus" even if the E's of the Republican side wanted to try.

As I see it, we're in a situation where the Establishment and MAGA Republicans are stuck with each other because there's no way for either of them to ever take power by themselves. It's an ugly marriage between two groups that actually hate each other but are staying together because a divorce would ruin their careers.

I'll be honest, I have no idea how long they can continue putting up with each other before one or the other decides to finally just do it.

[biglisbonnews]

Ann Coulter tells Nikki Haley to "go back to your own country" Conservative agitator Ann Coulter lashed out at GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley with racist fury, saying, "Why don't you go back to your own country?" Which is the United States. Apparently, Coulter is up in arms over the fact that the former governor of South Carolina, who was born in the U.S. — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/02/17/ann-coulter-tells-nikki-haley-to-go-back-to-your-own-country.html

[faironeforest]

I grew up in the Lutheran church. Which is not really known for conservative politics. But it’s there. It’s always been there.

I left the church when I was 15 because I couldn’t handle the dissonance between what the pastor preached on Sundays, the behaviors Wednesday Bible study encouraged, with what I was watching the members of my church doing the rest of the week. They would all nod their heads, and agree Yes, it’s good to treat people the way you would want to be treated. Yes, we should be like Jesus and turn the other cheek. Forgive those who trespass against us.

Their actions spoke louder than their words. And I couldn’t be a part of it any more.

And no matter where I went, which churches I attended, the same thing kept happening. Over and over again. I realized it wasn’t a one-off incident, an outlier. It was deeply ingrained into the entire culture. No one was listening to the message. No one internalized Christ’s teachings.

I lost my faith in Christians long before I lost my faith in God.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, to listen to doctors and get my flu vaccine and any shots i could because they remembered Before.

then they started fighting Covid precautions.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that the ozone was disappearing and the earth was dying and we needed to recycle and save the planet.

now my parents think climate change is a myth.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that racism was a plague, that we had to love and accept everyone, that we should never judge before walking a mile in their shoes.

then they told me that protesting for my Black siblings was wrong.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that we needed to give to the poor. working at soup kitchens. making quilts. collecting food and money and supplies. building houses. because it was the christian and just plain right thing to do.

now they look at me, on food stamps with their grandchildren, and lament the "welfare state".

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and that any rich man, especially an immoral one, should never run our country.

you can guess who they voted for.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, so very much.

when did they forget?

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[mike luckovich]

* * * *

The demise of the GOP.

September 22, 2023

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

          The media is in rapture over the resignation of Rupert Murdoch, but the most significant story of the day was Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s inability to bring a defense spending bill to the floor of the House on Thursday—the third such failure in two weeks. See Politico, House GOP erupts as McCarthy fails to move Pentagon bill.

          The power of the Speaker lies mainly in their ability to control the progress of legislation through the House. Absent that power, the Speaker’s office is ornamental—a fascinator on the head of Congress. Kevin McCarthy is all feather and no hat.

          The collapse of the Republican Party in the House mirrors the collapse of the GOP as a national party, no longer capable of winning the popular vote in presidential elections. The GOP has not won the popular vote in a presidential election in two decades—and has won the popular vote only once in the last three decades (George Bush in 2004).

          The GOP is a failed party at the national level, especially in the House. It is no longer a political party. It is a loose federation of fiefdoms, each run by a petty tyrant who maintains power by transactional graft, shifting alliances, and animal cunning.

          None of this means that we can assume victory or relent in our efforts to defeat every Republican in every election henceforth. But it is worth a moment of reflection and introspection on our part. I hear from readers every day who are concerned about the supposed dysfunction and weak messaging of the Democratic Party. I believe that misperception is based on the asymmetry inherent in a two-party system in which one party is dedicated to the truth while the other views deceit as its business model. It is easier to create a soundbite if you are not constrained by the truth.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one party seeks to achieve consensus for the common good while the other inflames grievance to secure votes in gerrymandered districts.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one seeks to preserve the rule of law while the other views it as an impediment to power.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one party recognizes that lasting progress is the incremental product of thoughtful planning and careful execution while the other measures success in soundbites-per-minute on Fox News.

          When McCarthy’s third attempt to bring the defense bill to the floor collapsed, he declared a recess and sent members of his party home for the weekend—five business days before the government would shut down in the absence of a budget. McCarthy appears to have surrendered to the chaos of his warring federation of tribes.

If there is a way out of the mess caused by the demise of the GOP as a governing political party, it will involve a bipartisan solution in which a handful of Republicans cross party lines to protect millions of Americans from the devastating effects of a government shutdown.

          The demise of the GOP is no cause for joy; it calls us to create a stronger Democratic Party that can rise above the chaos of the failed Republican Party. That challenge—and much more—is on the ballot in 2024.

[daddysakic]

11 and counting

[animentality]

[burnitalldownism]

Real curious to hear the MAGA crowd’s thoughts on y’know…child labour being totally awesome, & something the people that they vote for, support.

[mysharona1987]

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]