The GQP: Trumpist Death Cult

[Dr. Teeth 5868]

11 hours ago, Satchel said:

To turn a Biden phrase, Democrats must exploit every media appearance by using a noun, a verb and a reference to the Trump led insurrection on 1/62021. 

I am kind of tired of hearing this guy's name. If he had these types of reservations, he'd be an independent right now. This isn't a fix it from within situation. Based on only his comments, not my belief, he is saying that this is unfixable. Except he just wants to maintain his place in the Republican party. Until someone actually moves over to the other side or just removes party affiliation, this is all meaningless. But they all see what happens when they do, so they continue to simply talk about it. Instead, we hear shit like "progressives are the real evil" from people like Collins.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Dr. Teeth

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I am kind of tired of hearing this guy's name. If he had these types of reservations, he'd be an independent right now. This isn't a fix it from within situation. Based on only his comments, not my belief, he is saying that this is unfixable. Except he just wants to maintain his place in the Republican party. Until someone actually moves over to the other side or just removes party affiliation, this is all meaningless. But they all see what happens when they do, so they continue to simply talk about it. Instead, we hear shit like "progressives are the real evil" from people like Collins.

Actually, he's retiring. He's not recommending any fixes because he's reached the "I'm just sick of it all" phase.

[Dr. Teeth 5868]

3 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Actually, he's retiring. He's not recommending any fixes because he's reached the "I'm just sick of it all" phase.

Amash did the same thing and at least went Independent. I think it did far more good than harm to the national discussion when he did.

[atomheartbevo 90649]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I am kind of tired of hearing this guy's name. If he had these types of reservations, he'd be an independent right now. This isn't a fix it from within situation. Based on only his comments, not my belief, he is saying that this is unfixable. Except he just wants to maintain his place in the Republican party. Until someone actually moves over to the other side or just removes party affiliation, this is all meaningless. But they all see what happens when they do, so they continue to simply talk about it. Instead, we hear shit like "progressives are the real evil" from people like Collins.

5 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Actually, he's retiring. He's not recommending any fixes because he's reached the "I'm just sick of it all" phase.

If he was sticking around, his comments would mean the Trumpers would be aiming to primary him.  I don’t know if he’d be saying the same things if he was running.  

[Dr. Teeth 5868]

I actually think there is a better chance that a Democrat leaves the party because of "the squad" more than a R going D. Because Republicans can message around conspiracies. Democrats can't message around the Republicans message that doesn't resonate with 70% of the county. It's amazing.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11860]

23 hours ago, LABEVO said:

narrative violation.

 

 

For the record, here's the full report and data sets. Some interesting stuff in there.

https://catalist.us/wh-national/

 

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

On 5/8/2021 at 10:58 AM, Brisketexan said:

The uncomfortable truth is that with the curtain pulled back, we’re realizing that there really isn’t much defensible “conservative” ideology, either. Much of it was and is a proxy for white supremacy. Others are just shitty and counterproductive economic policy (“trickle down” is a lie, etc). There are tiny islands of defensible ideas, but not enough to stitch together into a defensible political movement. We’re in dangerous waters.

The conservative freak out around critical race theory is big tell because it exposes much of this. 

[Js1 87183]

1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Actually, he's retiring. He's not recommending any fixes because he's reached the "I'm just sick of it all" phase.

Kinzinger hasn't announced retirement (yet) - he's raised $2.2m for his 2022 re-election. 

He's most likely getting his district drawn into oblivion though.  He said he won't run statewide. 

[formermav43 4630]

On 5/8/2021 at 9:45 AM, TwiceHorn said:

Well, of course they can't.  Because they have no discernible political or policy platform, and certainly not one a majority would vote for.

But Trump can bring the oppositional-defiant overgrown fourth grader vote like nobody's business.

 

On 5/8/2021 at 10:18 AM, Brisketexan said:

 

Fantastic descriptor, and I will be stealing it. That is indeed now the dominant strain in the GQP base: oppositional-defiant children.



And this. It’s not shocking that these people exist. But I’m still unnerved by the fact that there are so many of them.

 

I’m witnessing a great example of the oppositional defiant disorder in action right now. Our church is partnering with DSHS to host a vaccine clinic this Friday at our facility, anyone in the community welcome. As part of promoting that, we’ve bought an ad on Facebook targeted at anyone in our immediate area.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, lots of likes, shared, etc. But there’s been 8-10 negative reactions, including comments of a gif of sheep jumping a fence, a fierce “NO! POISON,” and a rant that we needed to stay in our lane (all deleted immediately-not the place for debate).

Theres any number of websites, message boards, Facebook groups, your own personal page, wherever that you can post that sort of stuff to your hearts content. Who posts responses like that to a church??? And @TwiceHorn’s description is the answer.

[Bama Chick 28596]

I’m witnessing a great example of the oppositional defiant disorder in action right now. Our church is partnering with DSHS to host a vaccine clinic this Friday at our facility, anyone in the community welcome. As part of promoting that, we’ve bought an ad on Facebook targeted at anyone in our immediate area.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, lots of likes, shared, etc. But there’s been 8-10 negative reactions, including comments of a gif of sheep jumping a fence, a fierce “NO! POISON,” and a rant that we needed to stay in our lane (all deleted immediately-not the place for debate).
Theres any number of websites, message boards, Facebook groups, your own personal page, wherever that you can post that sort of stuff to your hearts content. Who posts responses like that to a church??? And [mention=248]TwiceHorn[/mention]’s description is the answer.

Try being the admin for a hospital Facebook page during this last year.

I have hidden so many batshit posts it’s unreal.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

24 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

Try being the admin for a hospital Facebook page during this last year.

I have hidden so many batshit posts it’s unreal.

Well, that's what you get for trying to insert Bill Gates' microchips for him.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Here's my doomscrolling for the day. It's something we've been discussing, and I can't reiterate enough that a state trending 'blue' is not going to matter if it still has a Republican controlled apparatus. Series of tweets and a Washington monthly article to which they refer included in a few. In other words, it isn't just the supression, and while that matters, look beyond that to what is going on. The audits taking place may seem like jokes, but there are large groups of Americans who believe them to be necessary and do not discern the flim flam quality. The even less engaged voters become ever more less likely to vote if they are not only suppressed, but believe the results won't matter.

 

[TwiceHorn 32079]

8 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Here's my doomscrolling for the day. It's something we've been discussing, and I can't reiterate enough that a state trending 'blue' is not going to matter if it still has a Republican controlled apparatus. Series of tweets and a Washington monthly article to which they refer included in a few. In other words, it isn't just the supression, and while that matters, look beyond that to what is going on. The audits taking place may seem like jokes, but there are large groups of Americans who believe them to be necessary and do not discern the flim flam quality. The even less engaged voters become ever more less likely to vote if they are not only suppressed, but believe the results won't matter.

 

I think the answer to that is the 14th Amendment would invalidate such an action.

[wildcat09 29579]

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think the answer to that is the 14th Amendment would invalidate such an action.

The Constitution is not self-executing.

[Js1 87183]

8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think the answer to that is the 14th Amendment would invalidate such an action.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

9 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think the answer to that is the 14th Amendment would invalidate such an action.

You believe the GQP is concerned about some trifly little Amendment? They will pick and chose which to follow and which to ignore just as they do with the laws which bind some and not others. This cult is dropping any pretense whatsoever regarding what stands for a federal government in the United States of America. From the bottom to the top and vice versa, they are distilling themselves into the purified form of kleptocracy/plutocracy/oligarchy (choose one) with an increasingly outspoken view toward white male supremacist views as the underlying framework for rule. The ship has sailed beyond the boundaries of the map and we are in choppy uncharted waters now.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

6 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The Constitution is not self-executing.

So... it is a suicide pact?

[Brisketexan 106899]

50 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Here's my doomscrolling for the day. It's something we've been discussing, and I can't reiterate enough that a state trending 'blue' is not going to matter if it still has a Republican controlled apparatus. Series of tweets and a Washington monthly article to which they refer included in a few. In other words, it isn't just the supression, and while that matters, look beyond that to what is going on. The audits taking place may seem like jokes, but there are large groups of Americans who believe them to be necessary and do not discern the flim flam quality. The even less engaged voters become ever more less likely to vote if they are not only suppressed, but believe the results won't matter.

 

Sounds like someone has been reading my newsletter.

Continuing to discuss opposition to the GQP movement in terms of a functioning democracy and elections misses the point entirely.  That's no longer the war being waged.

[WhatTheBuck 28930]

4 hours ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I actually think there is a better chance that a Democrat leaves the party because of "the squad" more than a R going D. Because Republicans can message around conspiracies. Democrats can't message around the Republicans message that doesn't resonate with 70% of the county. It's amazing.

Bullshit. Nobody cares about “the squad” who isn’t influenced by GOP messaging. Apparently that includes you. Let’s wait and see who among them is even elected to a second term before we try to declare them as some new monolithic movement in the Democratic Party.

Oooh...the squad, the squad, the squad.

 

[Satchel 6982]

3 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The conservative freak out around critical race theory is big tell because it exposes much of this. 

Yep. Those freaking out couldn’t provide a coherent explanation of CRT if their lives depended on it.

[Satchel 6982]

5 hours ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I am kind of tired of hearing this guy's name. If he had these types of reservations, he'd be an independent right now. This isn't a fix it from within situation. Based on only his comments, not my belief, he is saying that this is unfixable. Except he just wants to maintain his place in the Republican party. Until someone actually moves over to the other side or just removes party affiliation, this is all meaningless. But they all see what happens when they do, so they continue to simply talk about it. Instead, we hear shit like "progressives are the real evil" from people like Collins.

I think there is value in staying and speaking truth to crazy.

[Dr. Teeth 5868]

44 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Bullshit. Nobody cares about “the squad” who isn’t influenced by GOP messaging. Apparently that includes you. Let’s wait and see who among them is even elected to a second term before we try to declare them as some new monolithic movement in the Democratic Party.

Oooh...the squad, the squad, the squad.

 

The point is that there are conservative Dems that are far more likely to align themselves with Rs than there are moderate Republicans that would be willing to come on board as a IND or D right now. And yes, they would give a stupid reason like something AOC said rather than defending a popular initiative. I think we are seeing that with people like Sinema. And additionally with people who for some reason or another are seen as moderates like Collins, who has come out time and time against far left members of the House caucus.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Article indicates that Ryan Fournier was also indicted and cooperated with authorities...pretty confident con-men to straight up say you're an NYU Law grad with fifteen years experience when you appear in age to be twelve.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28930]

29 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

The point is that there are conservative Dems that are far more likely to align themselves with Rs than there are moderate Republicans that would be willing to come on board as a IND or D right now. And yes, they would give a stupid reason like something AOC said rather than defending a popular initiative. I think we are seeing that with people like Sinema. And additionally with people who for some reason or another are seen as moderates like Collins, who has come out time and time against far left members of the House caucus.

You’re wrong.

[Captainant 28539]

32 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Article indicates that Ryan Fournier was also indicted and cooperated with authorities...pretty confident con-men to straight up say you're an NYU Law grad with fifteen years experience when you appear in age to be twelve.

 

hey it worked for briscoe cain, why not this schlub?

[Beau Vine 55866]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

The point is that there are conservative Dems that are far more likely to align themselves with Rs than there are moderate Republicans that would be willing to come on board as a IND or D right now. And yes, they would give a stupid reason like something AOC said rather than defending a popular initiative. I think we are seeing that with people like Sinema. And additionally with people who for some reason or another are seen as moderates like Collins, who has come out time and time against far left members of the House caucus.

There is zero point in a conservative Dem becoming a moderate Republican right now unless they're also going to line up behind Trump.

[Pancho 46309]

Just listened to a segment on Deadline Whitehouse where they are saying radical Republicans are now starting to infiltrate school boards across the country with hopes of opening schools and getting rid of any curriculum/classes/teachers who talk about race, racial injustice, or social justice for minorities. 

This really really weird, odd, baffling, and completely incorrect idea by radical Republicans that racism just either a.) doesn't exist anymore or b.) will go away if you stop talking about it just confirms their stupidity and wish to hold on to white supremacy. 

The weird part about them being up in arms over Critical Race Theory is the theory does take into account White people since White is a race.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Kevin's mother is 80 years old so why the former congressman would think Kevin wouldn't do it is naive. Kevin betrays the McCarthy name in so many ways.

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

8 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Just listened to a segment on Deadline Whitehouse where they are saying radical Republicans are now starting to infiltrate school boards across the country with hopes of opening schools and getting rid of any curriculum/classes/teachers who talk about race, racial injustice, or social justice for minorities. 

This really really weird, odd, baffling, and completely incorrect idea by radical Republicans that racism just either a.) doesn't exist anymore or b.) will go away if you stop talking about it just confirms their stupidity and wish to hold on to white supremacy. 

The weird part about them being up in arms over Critical Race Theory is the theory does take into account White people since White is a race.  

The topic came up (maybe in this thread?) many pages ago in response to a posted tweet about a specific school board race. It's been a strategy they are using not just for school boards, but local political races in general. Small ball, if you will, in order to put people in positions to refuse certification of elections, direct funding away from issues such as the one you describe above, etc.

IMO it is Reconstruction The Sequel as they attempt to claw back any gains made by marginalized citizens not unlike what happened post Civil War when freed men and women began to own property, start businesses, vote (men), and gain a semblance of prosperity.

[Captainant 28539]

9 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Kevin's mother is 80 years old so why the former congressman would think Kevin wouldn't do it is naive. Kevin betrays the McCarthy name in so many ways.

 

@atomheartbevo this is one of those pre-conditions to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in our democracy. The pursuit of power over all else - and we're seeing it play out in realtime predicated on trump's big lie.

[Biff Tannen 46166]

2 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Article indicates that Ryan Fournier was also indicted and cooperated with authorities...pretty confident con-men to straight up say you're an NYU Law grad with fifteen years experience when you appear in age to be twelve.

 

I mean, they saw the most obvious conman ever getting away with the presidency, they must have said, "why not me?"

[Gatorubet 30720]

Article indicates that Ryan Fournier was also indicted and cooperated with authorities...pretty confident con-men to straight up say you're an NYU Law grad with fifteen years experience when you appear in age to be twelve.
 

Fournier flipped. The smarter one of the two.

[RDCanecutter 26891]

2 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Article indicates that Ryan Fournier was also indicted and cooperated with authorities...pretty confident con-men to straight up say you're an NYU Law grad with fifteen years experience when you appear in age to be twelve.

 

Sposed to be a lawyer. Pulls in only 46 grand over the course of 2 years.

Half-steppin lazy little scammer.

[Beau Vine 55866]

 

[Superhero 9023]

Responding to stuff from page 233.

Deleted because... context.

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Superhero

[Superhero 9023]

On 5/4/2021 at 7:53 AM, Neonmoon said:

 I will start the countdown to when a teacher murders a brat kid

 

On 5/4/2021 at 12:06 PM, Snacks said:

brat kid? snacks kid?

 

 

[Js1 87183]

Someone should let ole Ted and Hawley and Rubio know their blue collar, working class party picked* a venture capitalist rich guy to be the nominee for Governor in Virginia. 

*Using drive-thru voting and ranked choice method 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Js1

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

It’s Jeff Flake 2.0

Edited May 12, 2021 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Francisco 2.0 32592]

 

[washparkhorn 9973]

Truth to power, by a . . . . Cheney?! 

 

[Celery Man 21098]

just an irredeemable trash party

[OneOfTheOutOfFocusGuys 2153]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/11/jeff-flake-liz-cheney-republican-party/

Opinion in WaPo from Jeff Flake 

 

Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019.

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” — George Orwell

Near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

There you have it. From the very beginning of America, our freedom has been predicated on truth. For without a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, our democracy will not last.

On Wednesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will most likely lose her leadership post within the House Republican Conference, not because she has been untruthful. Rather, she will lose her position because she is refusing to play her assigned role in propagating the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. Cheney is more dedicated to the long-term health of our constitutional system than she is to assuaging the former president’s shattered ego, and for her integrity she may well pay with her career.

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No, this is not the plot of a movie set in an asylum. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your contemporary Republican Party, where today there is no greater offense than honesty.

It seems a good time to examine how we got to a place where such a large swath of the electorate (70 percent of Republican voters, according to polling) became willing to reject a truth that is so self-evident.

This allergy to self-evident truth didn’t happen all at once, of course. This frog has been boiling for some time now. The Trump period in American life has been a celebration of the unwise and the untrue. From the ugly tolerance of the pernicious falsehood about President Barack Obama’s place of birth to the bizarre and fanatical fable about the size of inauguration crowds, to the introduction of the term “alternative facts” into the American lexicon, the party’s steady embrace of dishonesty as a central premise has brought us to this low and dangerous place.

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I don’t know what will happen to Cheney politically after Wednesday. For me, I knew that I couldn’t support Trump’s election or reelection after his seminal falsehood about Obama’s birth certificate, to say nothing of the cascade of untruths, from the trivial to the consequential, that followed daily. I had hoped that, over time, my Republican constituents would feel differently about the former president, or at least value a Republican who pushed back, and that I could stand for reelection in 2018 with a reasonable chance of surviving a Republican primary. It soon became apparent that Republican voters wanted someone who was all in with a president that I increasingly saw as a danger to the republic. That could not be me, so I spoke out instead and didn’t stand for reelection.

When I became an unwitting dissident in my party by speaking in defense of self-evident truths, I assumed that more and more of my colleagues would follow me. I remain astonished that so few did. Congresswoman Cheney, I know how alone you must be feeling. But just know that history keeps the score, not Kevin McCarthy or Elise Stefanik.

In January 2018, three years before the Capitol insurrection, I said the following on the Senate floor:

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“Mr. President, let us be clear. The impulses underlying the dissemination of such untruths are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.”

Three years later, it’s clear that I didn’t know the half of it. The destructive effect of the president’s behavior — and the willingness of Republican elected officials to indulge, excuse, defend, justify and, in many cases, just roll with it — has taken a devastating toll.

It is elementary to have to say this, but we did not become a great nation by believing or espousing nonsense, or by embracing lunacy. And if my party continues down this path, we will not be fit to govern.

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Cheney has proved her fitness, and today it seems that adherents to the “big lie” will cast her out. Hold your head high, congresswoman. Those of us who believe in American democracy and who live in objective reality are grateful that you have chosen to take a stand for truth — self-evident truth — regardless of the consequences

[mchookem 16767]

my god. the reality that Liz fucking Cheney is the only paragon of virtue in the House GOP is just amazing. 

[staboner 5084]

3 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Sposed to be a lawyer. Pulls in only 46 grand over the course of 2 years.

Half-steppin lazy little scammer.

[Bama Chick 28596]

Jeff Flake defending Liz Cheney in an op-ed is a real Möbius strip of too little too late, Leopards Face Eating party, I didn’t mean for the matches I lit to actually burn MY house down GQP dipshittery.

[Francisco 2.0 32592]

Good fucking luck.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/republicans-third-party-trump.html

Quote

More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort.

The statement is expected to take aim at former President Donald J. Trump’s stranglehold on Republicans, which signatories to the document have deemed unconscionable.

 

 

Quote

“When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice,” reads the preamble to the full statement, which is expected to be released on Thursday.

The effort comes as House Republican leaders are expected on Wednesday to oust Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from their ranks because of her outspoken criticism of Mr. Trump’s election lies.

 

Quote

“This is a first step,” said Miles Taylor, an organizer of the effort and a former Trump-era Department of Homeland Security official who anonymously wrote a book condemning the Trump administration. In October, Mr. Taylor acknowledged he was the author of both the book and a 2018 New York Times Op-Ed article.

“This is us saying that a group of more than 100 prominent Republicans think that the situation has gotten so dire with the Republican Party that it is now time to seriously consider whether an alternative might be the only option,” he said.

 

Spoiler

The list of people signing the statement includes former officials at both the state and national level who once were governors, members of Congress, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, state legislators and Republican Party chairmen, Mr. Taylor said.

Mr. Taylor declined to name the signers. Reuters reported earlier that the former governors Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey will sign it, as will former Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters and former Representatives Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma.

Mr. Taylor declined on Tuesday to reveal the specific changes that the coalition was planning to demand of the Republican Party in its statement.

“I’m still a Republican, but I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth because how quickly the party has divorced itself from truth and reason,” Mr. Taylor said. “I’m one of those in the group that feels very strongly that if we can’t get the G.OP. back to a rational party that supports free minds, free markets, and free people, I’m out and a lot of people are coming with me.”

 

[Brisketexan 106899]

Good fucking luck.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/republicans-third-party-trump.html

More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort.
The statement is expected to take aim at former President Donald J. Trump’s stranglehold on Republicans, which signatories to the document have deemed unconscionable.

 
 

“When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice,” reads the preamble to the full statement, which is expected to be released on Thursday.
The effort comes as House Republican leaders are expected on Wednesday to oust Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from their ranks because of her outspoken criticism of Mr. Trump’s election lies.

 

“This is a first step,” said Miles Taylor, an organizer of the effort and a former Trump-era Department of Homeland Security official who anonymously wrote a book condemning the Trump administration. In October, Mr. Taylor acknowledged he was the author of both the book and a 2018 New York Times Op-Ed article.
“This is us saying that a group of more than 100 prominent Republicans think that the situation has gotten so dire with the Republican Party that it is now time to seriously consider whether an alternative might be the only option,” he said.

 
Spoiler

The list of people signing the statement includes former officials at both the state and national level who once were governors, members of Congress, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, state legislators and Republican Party chairmen, Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor declined to name the signers. Reuters reported earlier that the former governors Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey will sign it, as will former Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters and former Representatives Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma.
Mr. Taylor declined on Tuesday to reveal the specific changes that the coalition was planning to demand of the Republican Party in its statement.
“I’m still a Republican, but I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth because how quickly the party has divorced itself from truth and reason,” Mr. Taylor said. “I’m one of those in the group that feels very strongly that if we can’t get the G.OP. back to a rational party that supports free minds, free markets, and free people, I’m out and a lot of people are coming with me.”

 

He may be out. But next to no one is coming with him. There is no GQP but Trump.

[Satchel 6982]

 

[atomheartbevo 90649]

5 hours ago, Captainant said:

@atomheartbevo this is one of those pre-conditions to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in our democracy. The pursuit of power over all else - and we're seeing it play out in realtime predicated on trump's big lie.

I can immediately think of three scenarios to match Kevin McCarthy's actions/change of heart about Cheney.

1. Kevin McCarthy is an actual fascist/authoritarian/hates America
2. Kevin McCarthy is afraid that if he doesn't, or at least isn't seen as trying to, get the Majority back, that his BMDs will bail for somebody who can deliver for them.
3. Kevin McCarthy is terrified that if he doesn't do what Trump wants, he will be booted out of his own leadership position, and probably primaried by Trumpers.

Now, one, two, or even all three of those could be true.

But... in the wake of Jan. 6, McCarthy criticized Trump for the riot.  Then he started having a change of heart, and after visiting Trump, he came off as willing to bend over and spread at the drop of a Big Mac wrapper.

Remind you of anybody?  Maybe Lindsey Graham?  Of course, with Lindsey, I always wonder if his change of heart about Trump involves blackmale of some kind.

But with McCarthy, I think it's honestly something as simple as Trump telling him to knock off the criticism and kiss his ring, or a Trumper will primary McCarthy.  Trump and Sons had already made it abundantly clear that anybody who criticized Trump would face problems the next time they are elected.  McCarthy is in California, which means it probably wouldn't be hard to primary him - he normally doesn't have Republican challengers, and those Republicans are used to pulling the (R) lever without much thought. If Trump comes out against McCarthy, McCarthy would be toast.

[Js1 87183]

If not a primary, Trump made sure someone else would be Speaker if Republicans win back the House. It’s naked ambition and desire to hold that gavel in 2023.