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And as this all unfolds, just remember: the GOP had two golden chances to wash their hands of Trump for good, and refused to take either one.

They wanted this. They wanted all of this. And I'm very happy for them that they're getting exactly what they wanted.

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J.W. to the GOP via Tool:

"Is this what you wanted?

Is this what you had in mind?

Is this what you wanted?

'Cause this, this is what you're getting

I hope, I hope, I hope you choke!"

Tool - lyrical excerpt from "Ticks and Leeches" , 2001

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I'll go with wanted this, but it's more in line with they think we (the voters) are STUPID. Arrogance is their modus operandi and we're fed up!

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I'm inclined to think the electorate, especially in rural and southern America, is indeed irretrievably ignorant and bigoted, if not outright stupid. Pause and think-- Tennessee. Florida. Arkansas. Missouri. Mississippi, Alabama. Even Ohio. Any Informed person can think of specific events in each of these states (and more) which prove this point beyond question.

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I don't think they "want" this per se, it' s just that they can't get off the ride. Let's postulate that Trump has a hardcore base of ~25% (plus/minus 5%) of the GOP, if the GOP breaks with him decisively, and only 25% of that 25% stays home, they will get crushed from top to bottom on the ballot. They've traded the suburban vote for the fickle Trump MAGA base. They're basically stuck with them.. until they are ready to take the medicine of being wiped out in one or more elections to try and win back some of that suburban base. You pays your ticket, you takes the ride.

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Two chances? TWO chances?!?! They've had 20! 100! Every day of the last 8 years! And they haven't taken any of them. I agree with you completely: there is going to be a raging, solar, volcanic mushroom cloud of a dumpster fire before this ends. And they will deserve everything they get.

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The problem is that the fire will spread to the rest of us.

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Don't ever give up

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It is what the record says it is.

Keep an eye on the Thomas situation.

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Weird to think what could have been if theyтАЩd done the right thing after Jan 6th. At this point, theyтАЩd be, at most, two election cycles away from a full recovery.

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And thatтАЩs part of why we canтАЩt achieve any long term goals, such as taking action on climate: we are on a pendulum swinging between election cycles, with a two-year world view.

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And a fan fiction, minute-by-minute perspective that's even shorter.

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Yeah but that would be an eternity for the political survivors, and the ones who get drummed out would be dead in the party.

That's one thing that really gets me about the mindset- it's so very by the minute and greater consequences be damned.

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I'd say they just wanted, and still want, not to alienate their knuckle-dragging base, which richly deserves to be alienated.

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You are of course correct, but it is the entire country that is suffering because of it.

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True, but my naive, glass-half-full vision of the future has me believe that after a couple of electoral-cycle shellackings, the fever will break. There's too much power, and too much money, at stake for them to allow Trump to burn down the party just to reign as king of the ashes.

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Don't blame the arson on trump. You can't govern through the likes of Goetz and Greene et al.

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TheyтАЩve had a couple of electoral shellackings, and hopefully next year theyтАЩll get some more. They seem no closer to understanding their sin than my dog when I tell him off for raiding the garbage. How much is enough?

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