The GQP: Trumpist Death Cult

[Anastasis 23393]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

I definitely repped this.  Matt is someone who....man, it's just hard to reconcile it all.  He's decent and smart enough to know that there's some SERIOUSLY F'd up stuff going on....but he's in too deep to do anything but carry water for a movement that, ultimately, is pure poison to his own party.

Here's the problem:

The Republic cannot long survive the GOP in its present form, which includes doubling and tripling down on its present form.  It is a party of unabashed racism/xenophobia/white nationalism, and shamelessly open strategies to disenfranchise any group that might tend to vote against them.

But the GOP cannot survive EXCEPT in its present form; it has sold its soul to the white nationalist identity, and the base will accept no substitute.

At every step along the way, the Republic is being presented with lose-lose propositions.  Which is kinda my entire point with the ledge and whatnot.

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

[Brisketexan 104561]

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

I don’t disagree with this at all. The problem with creating a dictatorship is that it ain’t always your dictator in the office. It’s a dumb, shortsighted, self-destructive path. Which is also our new national motto.

[Huckleberry 32695]

20 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

 

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I don’t disagree with this at all. The problem with creating a dictatorship is that it ain’t always your dictator in the office. It’s a dumb, shortsighted, self-destructive path. Which is also our new national motto.

Exactly. But we should be careful, soon NowThis will be here to explain how he is the only one who thought of this.

[DigglerontheHoof 21053]

43 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

Agreed.  I'd like to hear the Dem candidates get asked about their views on the executive branch's ever growing power. 

[Anastasis 23393]

4 minutes ago, Axiom of Choice said:

.We need to split the executive into three equal consuls

The forth Rome. 

[Anastasis 23393]

4 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Agreed.  I'd like to hear the Dem candidates get asked about their views on the executive branch's ever growing power. 

You are trying to draw me into deploying the hashtag, but I am not going to fall for it.  

[Bozo_Casanova 26277]

59 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

I agree with you entirely, but the last time a political party collapsed in this country we had a Civil War. Institutional stability is really important. I'd much rather the GOP was just sorely chastened by the electorate and spent a while working for support again while the Democrats regrow their social conservative wing. The imperial unitary executive is already coming apart in front of our eyes. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Bozo_Casanova

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

the last time a political party collapsed in this country we had a Civil War.

Bull Moose out front should have told ya...

[Bozo_Casanova 26277]

21 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Bull Moose out front should have told ya...

I'm sorry, I mean the last time a real political party collapsed, not Teddy's vanity project to deny Taft reelection. 

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

The problem, at least as far as the survival of the Republic goes imo, is that we have undermined the structural balance between the branches of government.  The executive has been granted far far far too much power, and congress has abdicated their responsibilities on everything from foreign to economic policy.  I would argue as well that we have undermined the balance inherent to federalism as well, centralizing too much power in Washington. If you want to discuss the survival of the Republic, I think that those structural issues need to be part of the discussion.  I think the Republic survives the GOP, I am not sure that the Republic survives the consolidation of power at the federal level in the executive branch. 

While you are right on this, the ultimate cause of those ills was a bunch of racist southern states unwilling to treat all of its citizens as equal, even after losing a terrible war, causing a federal and authoritarian type response, which continues on to this very day. That and the republicans ruining the economy in the late 20s and into 30s (the federal reserve raised interest rates in the early 30s, making the depression far worse) , eliciting a state pro government response from FDR through LBJ. 

We would have been far better off if the radical republicans had been allowed to see their version of reconstruction seen through to the end. But that was never the intent of the owners anyway. So here we are. 

Most all of our ills can be traced back to the day this country was founded. Shitbags like trump coming along certainly don’t help things. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

The military industrial complex post WW2 is another inflection point that dramatically changed the power dynamics of the federal government and our economy.  

Since then, a foundation of our economy has been based around warfare and the oligarchs that run it almost exclusively through financing via the federal government (tax dollars).  This has been a large drain on our collective resources and opened the door for the rampant corruption that comes with it. 

[JimmyJames 12271]

18 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The military industrial complex post WW2 is another inflection point that dramatically changed the power dynamics of the federal government and our economy.  

Since then, a foundation of our economy has been based around warfare and the oligarchs that run it almost exclusively through financing via the federal government (tax dollars).  This has been a large drain on our collective resources and opened the door for the rampant corruption that comes with it. 

WW2 created the military industrial complex. If the federal reserve backed by their republican backers doesn’t raise interest rates in their early 30s during a severe recesion, thus causing the great depression, we may not have had Hitler rise to power, thus no need for a military industrial complex to counter this existential threat and Japan. 

In any event your right in that the military industrial complex causes never ending war which is why the war in Afghanistan and Iraq have lasted far longer than WW2. Trump and the Russians have sought to exploit this fact, quite effectively. 

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

As if we needed any more evidence that having a racist President is great for the Republican Party, and republican voters, well, here we are.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll/republican-support-for-trump-rises-after-racially-charged-tweets-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1UB2UD?il=0&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&__twitter_impression=true

 

Quote

Support for U.S. President Donald Trump increased slightly among Republicans after he lashed out on Twitter over the weekend in a racially charged attack on four minority Democratic congresswomen, a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll shows.

 

Quote

The national survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday after Trump told the lawmakers they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” showed his net approval among members of his Republican Party rose by 5 percentage points to 72%, compared with a similar poll that ran last week. 

 

Quote

The public response to Trump’s statements appeared to be a little better for him than in 2017, after the president said there were “very fine people” on both sides of a deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

In that instance, Trump’s net approval dropped by about 10 points a week after the Charlottesville rally. 

This time, while Democrats and some independents may see clear signs of racial intolerance woven throughout Trump’s tweets, Republicans are hearing a different message, said Vincent Hutchings, a political science and African-American studies professor at the University of Michigan.

 

[JimmyJames 12271]

30 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

As if we needed any more evidence that having a racist President is great for the Republican Party, and republican voters, well, here we are.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll/republican-support-for-trump-rises-after-racially-charged-tweets-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1UB2UD?il=0&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&__twitter_impression=true

 

 

 

 

White man’s burden Lloyd my man. White man’s burden. 

The trump supporters have gotten drunk on Lloyd’s jack Daniels, kissed the beautiful woman/old hag in the purple gold and green room 237, pocketed a few dollars as a result, met with the Grady in the red and white flag of England bathroom, a man who had a few suggestions, released from the food pantry after the owners unlocked the door after promising that they had the stomach for it, and are looking for the axe to kill the “outsider” brought here by a willful and naughty boy and then chop down the bathroom door. 

Basically the ending has not yet been written. 

[atomheartbevo 89409]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

As if we needed any more evidence that having a racist President is great for the Republican Party, and republican voters, well, here we are.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll/republican-support-for-trump-rises-after-racially-charged-tweets-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1UB2UD?il=0&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&__twitter_impression=true

Good. The more the GOP is exposed, the better.  I want to make them defend the racism.

[atomheartbevo 89409]

4 hours ago, Axiom of Choice said:

Agreed. But I seldom see it discussed on what to do about the excessive power of the federal executive.  Few seem to care that we have a dictator; they just take issue with this or that particular dictator.  We need to split the executive into three equal consuls. It’s ridiculous that a single person is over the entire executive branch. There needs to be many other steps taken to restore balance, but that would be a good start.  

If Congress would actually use the power of the purse, they could shut a lot of this shit down.  He can’t do shit if there’s  no money for something.

[Pancho 44457]

 

[retread 2951]

^ Good ole Rs always respecting the President.

 

[Gil Bang 25897]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

Yeah but Reagan was just a Hollywood coastal elite. Not a true Republican.

[horncyclist 1385]

16 minutes ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

Yeah but Reagan was just a Hollywood coastal elite. Not a true Republican.

The original libtard some people are saying.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

He’s clearly suffering from Alzheimer’s there /surly teledoctors

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

1 hour ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

Yeah but Reagan was just a Hollywood coastal elite. Not a true Republican.

Yeah.  Today's R's worship a carpetbagging lifelong New York real estate magnate/part time reality TV host/fucker of porn stars/failed businessman/wedded to immigrants/chain migration of inlaws/saluter of North Korean military officers/launderer of money/friends with child sexual abuser/racist/I'msureI'mforgettingsomethingbutthere'ssodamnedmuch.

 

That's a true Republican now.  That's the standard of the day.

Reagan would be taken to sea and shoved off on an iceberg if he spoke out on what Team R has become.

[Fozzz 152]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

lol this is such horseshit.  President diaper shitter would have been just as awful to migrants if conditions during his day were similar to ours.  Capital prefers the free movement of labor across borders but is willing to crackdown for the sake of maintaining power.  

[Pancho 44457]

9 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

 

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills 

[Keef 757]

Fun fact, the last president to implement a mass amnesty program was Mr. Conservative himself, Ronald Reagan.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

36 minutes ago, Fozzz said:

lol this is such horseshit.  President diaper shitter would have been just as awful to migrants if conditions during his day were similar to ours.  Capital prefers the free movement of labor across borders but is willing to crackdown for the sake of maintaining power.  

 I’m very disappointed in Reagan for hypothetically taking that position. 

[bolverk 29397]

Hoping to see more of these defections. Alcala was the first Hispanic female judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. 

Quote

Former Texas Judge Denounces Trump for Racism, Leaves Republican Party

Former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Elsa Alcala, a longtime Republican, typically avoids politics on social media but broke that practice on Monday to denounce President Donald Trump, “for my own conscience,” she wrote on Facebook.

Trump “is the worst president in the history of this country,” said her Facebook post. The president has an ideology of racism, the judge wrote, adding she couldn’t say anything positive that would absolve Trump of his “rotten core.”

“I have been thinking about this for years and I hoped things would get better but they never did,” Alcala told Texas Lawyer. “I did not want an ‘R’ next to my name anymore.”

In Texas, judicial races are partisan, meaning that judges campaign as Republicans or Democrats. Repeated efforts over many years to reform the judicial election system and do away with partisanship have failed.

Alcala’s Facebook post comes in the wake of Trump’s tweets this week that said a group of Democratic lawmakers—all women of color—hould go back where they came from. Trump alleged they hated America. Tuesday evening, the U.S. House plans to vote on a resolution to condemn the president’s tweets as “racist language.”

In her post, Alcala urged readers not to “tell me to go back where I came from,” because she was born in the United States, and her family has resided in Texas since before it became part of the Union.

“I spent 29 years in government service to help the people of our country and I love our country and its people,” Alcala wrote. “I have given more to this country than the vast majority of people. What I know for sure is that we, as a country, are better than this.”

Alcala became the first Hispanic female judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2011 when then-Gov. Rick Perry appointed her to fill a vacancy on the high court. She told Texas Lawyer at the time that she believed it was important to have highly qualified minority jurists serving on the bench at all levels of the Texas judiciary.

She wrote on Facebook that she supported past Republican administrations because they wanted an inclusive party, but because the current Republican party supports the president, she plans to vote in the Democratic primary for the first time in 20 years.

“I hope Democrats rise to the occasion and put forth some very qualified candidates and that every polling station will be overwhelmed with voters,” Alcala wrote.

Alcala has worked in the government nearly her whole legal career. Just after earning her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989, she worked as a prosecutor for nine years in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston. Alcala then served as the judge of Harris County’s 338th District Court from 1999 to 2002. Next, she became an appellate justice on Houston’s First Court of Appeals, where she worked for nine years. In 2011, then-Gov. Rick Perry appointed her to a vacant seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where she served until she chose not to seek reelection in 2018.

When she left the high court, from January to May, she was the policy director of the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit founded by death penalty attorneys that works to improve legal representation for death penalty defendants and to highlight and solve “systemic flaws plaguing the Texas death penalty,” the service’s website said. Alcala is now a solo practitioner practicing public interest law in Austin.

She has already experienced some blowback from her Facebook post, noting in an update to the post that she had to delete comments that were name-calling, and she blocked some former relatives who commented with “hurtful and incorrect information.”

“I knew this would be a hot-button topic, so I delayed saying it publicly for quite some time. I needed to get the ‘R’ off of my name, so I had to say this publicly,” she explained.

 

The bottom of the article includes a copy of her original post.

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

Oh, the debt matters now.

 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

Yeah, sure.  

 

 

[Brisketexan 104561]

1 minute ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Yeah, sure.  

 

 

He's got a point.  The media DOES give a lot of coverage to every GOP official repeatedly lining up to gobble Trump's mushroom knob.

[Bama Chick 28596]

Got damn. Merrill was one of the few sort of decent/not completely horrible Alabama Republicans. It’s a low fucking bar, admittedly.

Roy Moore must be polling better than they are comfortable with for him to be doing Roy Moore cosplay (minus the pedophilia).

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

He's got a point.  The media DOES give a lot of coverage to every GOP official repeatedly lining up to gobble Trump's mushroom knob.

Or coverage to gay hating GOP members who end up gobbling cock in a bathroom stall. 

[F250 28680]

24 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Yeah, sure.  

 

 

Because soccer is gay! San Dimas High School Football Rules!

 

Seriously though, soccer is boring.

['stache 21765]

20 minutes ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

Or coverage to gay hating GOP members who end up gobbling cock in a bathroom stall. 

[Helobious 9480]

47 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Yeah, sure.  

 

 

Is there something incorrect with his statement? Soccer is pretty gay. 

[David Dennison 18652]

2 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Is there something incorrect with his statement? Soccer is pretty gay. 

Soccer isn't nearly as gay as football, with all the touching and grabbing.

[F250 28680]

5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Soccer isn't nearly as gay as football, with all the touching and grabbing.

[WhatTheBuck 28705]

6 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Soccer isn't nearly as gay as football, with all the touching and grabbing.

And you can hold the balls in your hands!

[David Dennison 18652]

1 minute ago, F250 said:

I like football.

I also like top tier soccer. It's really good. 

The MLS is trash.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13546]

If the ever increasing power of the executive branch was anywhere near the threat to the future of this country than is the GOP, Merrick Garland would at least gotten a Senate confirmation hearing.

[F250 28680]

2 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

And you can hold the balls in your hands!

Not out of the shotgun, taking snaps under the center, well yeah you can hold the balls in your hands.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28705]

9 minutes ago, F250 said:

Not out of the shotgun, taking snaps under the center, well yeah you can hold the balls in your hands.

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

 

[HenryJames 65887]

That would explain the tie.

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

https://www.axios.com/republican-party-demographics-threat-trump-racism-1524a8a1-c2f1-4183-896f-107420e2d50a.html

 

The single biggest threat to Republicans' long-term viability is demographics.

The big picture: The numbers simply do not lie. America, as a whole, and swing states, in particular, are growing more diverse, more quickly. There is no way Republicans can change birth rates or curb this trend — and there's not a single demographic megatrend that favors Republicans.

Why it matters: President Trump’s short-term calculation to stir up white voters with race-baiting rhetoric might very well echo for a generation.

About last night: Trump paused while speaking at a "Make America Great Again" campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., to savor supporters' new roar: "Send her back!"

• "I have a suggestion for the hate-filled extremists who are constantly trying to tear our country down," Trump said. "They never have anything good to say. That's why I say, 'Hey if you don't like it, let 'em leave, let 'em leave.'"
• The context, from AP: "Not since George Wallace's campaign in 1968 has a presidential candidate — and certainly not an incumbent president — put racial polarization at the center of his call to voters."

For any Republican thinking past 2020, here are numbers to fear, reported by Axios' Stef Kight:

• The Hispanic share of the population has grown in every state since 2000, according to Census data.
• Hispanic people now make up a quarter of the population in Florida, almost a third of the population in Arizona and 39% of Texas — all Trump states in 2016 that are becoming more winnable by Democrats.
• Florida and Texas, two of the big electoral giants that voted for Trump, are witnessing the fastest non-white population growth. 

This wave is only accelerating, as Stef reported in "America's majority minority future":

• Next year, the entire under-18 population will be majority non-white, according to Brookings demographer William Frey.
• In less than a decade, the under-30 population will be majority non-white.

Between the lines: Trump clearly thinks this is good short-term politics.

• Truth is: It's unknowable, though highly debatable.
• Long-term, it seems unambiguous: If you need more African American and Hispanic voters, maligning and marginalizing them strikes even some inside this White House as stupid politics.

[HenryJames 65887]

Profiles in courage.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

4 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Profiles in courage.

 

that's a good fucken tweet

[hpslugga 4043]

24 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Profiles in courage.

Mr. My-Name-Appears-First-on-the-Ballot-Next-November Walker especially believes so, and Mr. My-Name-Appears-First-on-the-Ballot-Next-November Walker also believes his constituency holds the same values, i.e. codifying psychotic hatred of all things colored/Islamic and unwavering support for Israel under the banner of "being pro-America", which is why Mr. My-Name-Appears-First-on-the-Ballot-Next-November Walker takes these brave and noble positions. Another one of Mr. My-Name-Appears-First-on-the-Ballot-Next-November Walker's positions was his courageous opposition to some of Trump's "vile" remarks against certain females, none of which had to do anything with appealing to female voters. He made these remarks because he's a man of principle, just like when he said that Muslims (in response to Trump's proposed ban) ''are hardworking Americans that have every constitutional right as you or I do," just before saying "but at the same time need to take a position of leadership in going after those that are extreme with their religion." He said this because he's a moderate centrist with moderate centrist principles that are rooted in moderate centrism, not because he's desperate to appeal to both sides of the aisle. I'm sure the corruption investigation in which he's been at least loosely implicated is entirely a fabricated witch hunt designed entirely to sully the pristine reputation of Mr. My-Name-Appears-First-on-the-Ballot-Next-November Walker.

Edited July 18, 2019 by hpslugga