Thanks for the greatest hits. It’s disgusting how many have changed their tune since then. No integrity. No patriotism. I really can’t understand it. This is why - as Tom Nichols insists- no one should vote for ANY Republican until this cancer is destroyed.
When I first started caring about politics (I started late, but have made up for it), I noticed the republican tendency towards bald faced lying. Not the kind of lying that has always been a part of politics, but completely making stuff out of whole cloth. I was shocked and angry at first. It’s become their trademark, so I’m no longer shocked but I am way more angry. They aren’t just lying about one or two things, they’ve constructed an alternate universe, complete with its own media, history, and “science.” It has gotten many people killed and likely will kill more. At this point, I truly hate them for what they’ve done to America. I hope in the future this may change, that something will persuade them they are on the wrong path. I don’t want to hate my neighbors, or fear them. I am willing to listen to other people’s views on issues and disagree with respect. I am not willing to disagree respectfully on whether covid is real, whether the rioters on January 6 were “sightseeing,” or whether the civil war was about slavery.
I am terrified that he will win, and that as a democrat in a democratic state, he will take punitive actions against us (my state, not personally, though who knows how much his army of trolls hand picked by the far right maga “think tanks” will be capable of?). And I am terrified for people less able to protect themselves than we are, people who are minorities or impoverished or have some other vulnerability. If we could easily leave, I think I would, but damn it, as changed as it is, this is my HOME.
I am also terrified that he will win and I have been a registered Republican my whole life; but I voted Democrat the last time. If Trump is the nomiee this time Joe Biden has my vote. I worry for my grandkids and the future of this nation.
Anyone else find it ironic that most of the commentary on the upcoming Supreme Court consideration of Colorado's 14th amendment case appears to assume they'll look for an off ramp so that they don't have to rule that Trump should be kept off the ballot.
The irony is that this is what they're expecting from a Supreme Court with 5 "originalist" justices who have clearly stated their philosophy that all legal disputes should be resolved by asking how they would have been resolved at the time they were drafted, to comply with the author's original intent.
The original intent of this amendment was to prevent Confederates who worked against the constitution from holding office, unless a 2/3 majority of legislators voted to allow for an exemption. In other words, it specifically told voters who wanted to elect secessionists - nope, you can't. Those folks are disqualified; doesn't matter if you want to vote for them. You can't.
Yet we all seem to expect that this deeply held belief of these justices will be tossed out the window if the justices think that following it would tick off Trump voters and perhaps lead to another mob uprising. Either we don't believe this "originalism" philosophy is held in good faith or we believe the justices are afraid to enforce the Constitution for fear of Trump's mob.
Let's let them do their work and maybe they'll surprise us and follow their sacred "originalism" theology. If they don't, they'll be telling us exactly how much they believe it or whether it's just cover for them to implement the policies they support.
We aren’t even getting close to November and getting tired of the Trump mob threat. I believe it is very real, hope to H—- it doesn’t intimidate hundreds of thousands to not vote (unless they’re MAGA-AI). It seems incomprehensible to what could happen to nation or the world.
Sadly, I fear we're going to face the mob no matter what. If he loses, he and his shameful toadies are already laying the groundwork for their "stolen election" nonsense. They're going to cause mayhem, chaos and civil unrest no matter what. His followers are just spoiling for a fight, just like they were on Jan 6th. We will never wash the stain of having elected this vile man to the presidency of our country. We'll never scrape him off our shoes.
Just curious what the GOP wants? What is their vision for America?
Even when Trump has left the scene, what exactly will the next generation of conservatives want for America?
We have seen 40 plus years conservative policy - so lower taxes, deregulation (compared to the time before Reagan). Yet what did we get? We got a weakened working class and a deindustrialized America.
Can conservatives admit that their vision failed?
There is always lots to complain about in the stuff that comes out of the progressives. But once we’ve had our laugh, in terms of making a better America, the Democrats do a better job.
A few years ago, Kansas tried to apply a strict low tax policy in an already low tax state. The effort failed. Some (like the Cato institute) spun the failure as political - not as a failure of the idea. But I remember hearing Arthur Laffer speak about the matter and he suggested that Kansas just needed more time. In any case all policy faces compromise in the legislative process. And however you spin it, the ideological effort failed.
But even the GOP is very much like the teenager who can’t agree with his parents even when they are right.
I think there’s three main competing groups and the only thing they can agree on is “own the libs”. Two are mainstays, one is very fair weather.
Group 1: Christian Nationalists / Culture Warriors. Note: these people aren’t real Christians, but plenty of ‘Christians’ are Christian Nationalists. They want to use government against perceived enemies, force a more consistent social order, love the military, constantly talk about being true patriots, believe we’re a “Judeo-Christian” nation. This group deeply frightens me and a lot of “normies” are part of it knowingly or not. This is the MAGA base. Bannon, Kari Lake, Chris Rufo, too many evangelicals, etc. odd bedfellows…
Group 2: The donors / GOP elite / political class. The people who created the monster to get their conservative economic policies. They came out of the Reagan Revolution and…no one likes them. Group 1 hates them more than liberals, calls them RINO cucks. Many of our Bulwark hosts started here, but have moved on from their GOP identity because they see the dangers. The only thing the remnants of this group has in common with modern GOP is they vote for Republicans. They can’t bring themselves to uniformly move on from the GOP identity so they’re trying to awkwardly fit in. They just want a Republican and they’ve twisted their brains to continue justifying things. See Sununu, Haley, Graham, etc.
Group 3: Horny dude bros. Most guys belonged to this group…when we were 15. Almost half of US men never grew up I guess. These guys think Trump’s a blowhard, but they’ll vote for him cause he’s a “player”, a “businessman” and not “woke”. Some of these guys need actual help / therapy, others need to be punched. This also includes some Latino and Black men (though most will simply opt not to vote). No real policy priorities here, they just like “hot chicks”, manly men being manly, don’t like that gay stuff, and are way too easily co-opted into group #1. Rogan, Musk, and many unwitting normie to alt-right pipeline figures belong here.
So that leaves us with:
- Desire/accepting of authoritarian state
- Use power of government to help “our people” and punish “those people”, but only really help the richest people
- Keep the horny dude bros (mostly) happy by being “anti-woke” (note: this is why MAGA hates Haley more than liberals…she’s a “RINO cuck” who is a brown woman)
- Be anti-woke aka ostracize people they disagree with using power of the state
- Teach their version of history, stifling debate wherever possible
- Glorify the military
So basically, the 1930s called, they want their fascism back. We even have the worst uniform ever: a stupid red hat.
I very much suspect it's more than just campaigning. Owning the libs, such as it is, IS their vision for America. It is what the GOP wants. They have nothing except to win the unwinnable struggle and to keep doing so forever.
This just in per NYT: "Chairman of Florida Republican Party Is Ousted Amid Scandal The move came more than a month after the police in Sarasota confirmed that Christian Ziegler was under criminal investigation for sexual assault."
But they have no problem with a president who was accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and has been found by an R judge that Jean Carroll was raped by him and has to pay her millions. I guess Ziegler's problem was he didn't start defaming the victims.
I agree with the first half, but not the rest. They simply don't believe their wannabe god lies, cheats and rapes. If they really believed he did, most would slink away from him.
Charlie,you once had a section of Morning Shots devoted to the worst persons of the week.How about worst statements of the week?You could call it Worst Statements of the week or Trump Idiotics or Sycophants idiotics (Not necessarily just Trump but also loyalists and boot kissers) It is truly the gift that will keep on giving.
Seeing how complete the transformatiom of a Republican party to the now MAGA party has been astonishing.I can't find anything in American history that comes remotely close.Jim Jones and David Koresh come to mind but on a tiny fraction to scale. The immediate reaction of Republicans to 1/6 then and now has come to show the current mantra of many if not most of them now. "I don't believe what my eyes just saw". Those are the words of sportscaster Jack Buck. As I said, many if not most Republican voters now are fully emersed in what Sarah calls the "triangle doom loop of information". And their views of most American institution has been crushed by Trump and Trumpism.
The MAGAfication of the GOP seems to be unprecedented not just in its scale, but in the extent to which people who aren't stupid --people who have political power or cultural influence -- have dedicated themselves to defending a psychopath who openly praises "ruthless" dictators.
For a whole political party to be organized around feeding the ego of a malignant narcissist and shielding him from the consequences of his criminality is something I couldn't have believed before 2016.
There's no doubt that many of the people who are Trump partisans -- if not outright cultists -- once mocked the "cult of personality" around Obama. But the cult around Trump is weirder, more extreme, and far more dangerous.
I've always been simply astonished that people support such a God awful human being like Trump. I can't fathom the appeal. (even politicaly).He his such a con artist.Thats why I can only think of those two cultist.As for "cult of perrsonality" around Obama,every president a their number who will always support regardless.
Jones and Koresh weren't people with real power and influence and in charge of one chamber of Congress. Their ends and that of their followers is sad, but they didn't threaten to take 330 million Americans to disaster as well.
Enjoyed the article. Can you imagine if Trump's "hostages" went to Mar-a- Lago and smeared the walls with feces? They would change from hostages to criminals maybe even vermin very fast. The criticism must hit him personally. Make people think how they would feel if they had family members working as agents, and he shared their information with our foreign adversaries. This can not stay intellectual. I am worried about democracy, but I think the public is feeling lectured to, and the arguments must be visceral .
It's like a hypnosis and cult rolled into one. A very dangerous cult.
I understand that. The current WH comms staff is doing a terrible job communicating what Biden is accomplishing as President. That’s their job.
I'd argue the J6 commission was not on a fishing expedition. There was/is so much evidence it was more like shooting fish in a barrel.
“Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.”
He must have meant hydroxychloroquine.
He's an uneducated, non reading idiot.
Thanks for the greatest hits. It’s disgusting how many have changed their tune since then. No integrity. No patriotism. I really can’t understand it. This is why - as Tom Nichols insists- no one should vote for ANY Republican until this cancer is destroyed.
Re Stefanik and McCain:
'"[We are] a nation of ideals, not blood and soil"
Sen. John McCain's words of farewell. PBS. 27 August 2018.
When I first started caring about politics (I started late, but have made up for it), I noticed the republican tendency towards bald faced lying. Not the kind of lying that has always been a part of politics, but completely making stuff out of whole cloth. I was shocked and angry at first. It’s become their trademark, so I’m no longer shocked but I am way more angry. They aren’t just lying about one or two things, they’ve constructed an alternate universe, complete with its own media, history, and “science.” It has gotten many people killed and likely will kill more. At this point, I truly hate them for what they’ve done to America. I hope in the future this may change, that something will persuade them they are on the wrong path. I don’t want to hate my neighbors, or fear them. I am willing to listen to other people’s views on issues and disagree with respect. I am not willing to disagree respectfully on whether covid is real, whether the rioters on January 6 were “sightseeing,” or whether the civil war was about slavery.
Well said.
I am terrified that he will win, and that as a democrat in a democratic state, he will take punitive actions against us (my state, not personally, though who knows how much his army of trolls hand picked by the far right maga “think tanks” will be capable of?). And I am terrified for people less able to protect themselves than we are, people who are minorities or impoverished or have some other vulnerability. If we could easily leave, I think I would, but damn it, as changed as it is, this is my HOME.
I am also terrified that he will win and I have been a registered Republican my whole life; but I voted Democrat the last time. If Trump is the nomiee this time Joe Biden has my vote. I worry for my grandkids and the future of this nation.
I have always wondered what Trump was doing all alone in the Oval office. Perhaps he was jacking off while watching his admirers reeking havoc.
Anyone else find it ironic that most of the commentary on the upcoming Supreme Court consideration of Colorado's 14th amendment case appears to assume they'll look for an off ramp so that they don't have to rule that Trump should be kept off the ballot.
The irony is that this is what they're expecting from a Supreme Court with 5 "originalist" justices who have clearly stated their philosophy that all legal disputes should be resolved by asking how they would have been resolved at the time they were drafted, to comply with the author's original intent.
The original intent of this amendment was to prevent Confederates who worked against the constitution from holding office, unless a 2/3 majority of legislators voted to allow for an exemption. In other words, it specifically told voters who wanted to elect secessionists - nope, you can't. Those folks are disqualified; doesn't matter if you want to vote for them. You can't.
Yet we all seem to expect that this deeply held belief of these justices will be tossed out the window if the justices think that following it would tick off Trump voters and perhaps lead to another mob uprising. Either we don't believe this "originalism" philosophy is held in good faith or we believe the justices are afraid to enforce the Constitution for fear of Trump's mob.
Let's let them do their work and maybe they'll surprise us and follow their sacred "originalism" theology. If they don't, they'll be telling us exactly how much they believe it or whether it's just cover for them to implement the policies they support.
We aren’t even getting close to November and getting tired of the Trump mob threat. I believe it is very real, hope to H—- it doesn’t intimidate hundreds of thousands to not vote (unless they’re MAGA-AI). It seems incomprehensible to what could happen to nation or the world.
Sadly, I fear we're going to face the mob no matter what. If he loses, he and his shameful toadies are already laying the groundwork for their "stolen election" nonsense. They're going to cause mayhem, chaos and civil unrest no matter what. His followers are just spoiling for a fight, just like they were on Jan 6th. We will never wash the stain of having elected this vile man to the presidency of our country. We'll never scrape him off our shoes.
We may not survive him.
Just curious what the GOP wants? What is their vision for America?
Even when Trump has left the scene, what exactly will the next generation of conservatives want for America?
We have seen 40 plus years conservative policy - so lower taxes, deregulation (compared to the time before Reagan). Yet what did we get? We got a weakened working class and a deindustrialized America.
Can conservatives admit that their vision failed?
There is always lots to complain about in the stuff that comes out of the progressives. But once we’ve had our laugh, in terms of making a better America, the Democrats do a better job.
A few years ago, Kansas tried to apply a strict low tax policy in an already low tax state. The effort failed. Some (like the Cato institute) spun the failure as political - not as a failure of the idea. But I remember hearing Arthur Laffer speak about the matter and he suggested that Kansas just needed more time. In any case all policy faces compromise in the legislative process. And however you spin it, the ideological effort failed.
But even the GOP is very much like the teenager who can’t agree with his parents even when they are right.
Adam beat me to the “owning the libs” stuff.
I think there’s three main competing groups and the only thing they can agree on is “own the libs”. Two are mainstays, one is very fair weather.
Group 1: Christian Nationalists / Culture Warriors. Note: these people aren’t real Christians, but plenty of ‘Christians’ are Christian Nationalists. They want to use government against perceived enemies, force a more consistent social order, love the military, constantly talk about being true patriots, believe we’re a “Judeo-Christian” nation. This group deeply frightens me and a lot of “normies” are part of it knowingly or not. This is the MAGA base. Bannon, Kari Lake, Chris Rufo, too many evangelicals, etc. odd bedfellows…
Group 2: The donors / GOP elite / political class. The people who created the monster to get their conservative economic policies. They came out of the Reagan Revolution and…no one likes them. Group 1 hates them more than liberals, calls them RINO cucks. Many of our Bulwark hosts started here, but have moved on from their GOP identity because they see the dangers. The only thing the remnants of this group has in common with modern GOP is they vote for Republicans. They can’t bring themselves to uniformly move on from the GOP identity so they’re trying to awkwardly fit in. They just want a Republican and they’ve twisted their brains to continue justifying things. See Sununu, Haley, Graham, etc.
Group 3: Horny dude bros. Most guys belonged to this group…when we were 15. Almost half of US men never grew up I guess. These guys think Trump’s a blowhard, but they’ll vote for him cause he’s a “player”, a “businessman” and not “woke”. Some of these guys need actual help / therapy, others need to be punched. This also includes some Latino and Black men (though most will simply opt not to vote). No real policy priorities here, they just like “hot chicks”, manly men being manly, don’t like that gay stuff, and are way too easily co-opted into group #1. Rogan, Musk, and many unwitting normie to alt-right pipeline figures belong here.
So that leaves us with:
- Desire/accepting of authoritarian state
- Use power of government to help “our people” and punish “those people”, but only really help the richest people
- Keep the horny dude bros (mostly) happy by being “anti-woke” (note: this is why MAGA hates Haley more than liberals…she’s a “RINO cuck” who is a brown woman)
- Be anti-woke aka ostracize people they disagree with using power of the state
- Teach their version of history, stifling debate wherever possible
- Glorify the military
So basically, the 1930s called, they want their fascism back. We even have the worst uniform ever: a stupid red hat.
Who needs a vision or policy or governmental competence when you can own the libs instead?
in terms of campaigning, you are right of course
I very much suspect it's more than just campaigning. Owning the libs, such as it is, IS their vision for America. It is what the GOP wants. They have nothing except to win the unwinnable struggle and to keep doing so forever.
This just in per NYT: "Chairman of Florida Republican Party Is Ousted Amid Scandal The move came more than a month after the police in Sarasota confirmed that Christian Ziegler was under criminal investigation for sexual assault."
But they have no problem with a president who was accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and has been found by an R judge that Jean Carroll was raped by him and has to pay her millions. I guess Ziegler's problem was he didn't start defaming the victims.
Trump is a child rapist from his Epstein days, but that's cool to Repubs who rape their daughters.
I agree with the first half, but not the rest. They simply don't believe their wannabe god lies, cheats and rapes. If they really believed he did, most would slink away from him.
Charlie,you once had a section of Morning Shots devoted to the worst persons of the week.How about worst statements of the week?You could call it Worst Statements of the week or Trump Idiotics or Sycophants idiotics (Not necessarily just Trump but also loyalists and boot kissers) It is truly the gift that will keep on giving.
That list is so long it is precluded from being included by the laws of physics.
Seeing how complete the transformatiom of a Republican party to the now MAGA party has been astonishing.I can't find anything in American history that comes remotely close.Jim Jones and David Koresh come to mind but on a tiny fraction to scale. The immediate reaction of Republicans to 1/6 then and now has come to show the current mantra of many if not most of them now. "I don't believe what my eyes just saw". Those are the words of sportscaster Jack Buck. As I said, many if not most Republican voters now are fully emersed in what Sarah calls the "triangle doom loop of information". And their views of most American institution has been crushed by Trump and Trumpism.
The MAGAfication of the GOP seems to be unprecedented not just in its scale, but in the extent to which people who aren't stupid --people who have political power or cultural influence -- have dedicated themselves to defending a psychopath who openly praises "ruthless" dictators.
For a whole political party to be organized around feeding the ego of a malignant narcissist and shielding him from the consequences of his criminality is something I couldn't have believed before 2016.
There's no doubt that many of the people who are Trump partisans -- if not outright cultists -- once mocked the "cult of personality" around Obama. But the cult around Trump is weirder, more extreme, and far more dangerous.
I've always been simply astonished that people support such a God awful human being like Trump. I can't fathom the appeal. (even politicaly).He his such a con artist.Thats why I can only think of those two cultist.As for "cult of perrsonality" around Obama,every president a their number who will always support regardless.
Obama was never head of a cult.
True. Like I said, everybody has their core supporters.
Jones and Koresh weren't people with real power and influence and in charge of one chamber of Congress. Their ends and that of their followers is sad, but they didn't threaten to take 330 million Americans to disaster as well.
I did say on a very small scale.
True. :-)
RE: If only Orwell could see us now.
Why? He already had our number 75 years ago. It just took 3/4 of a century for the rest of us to get clued in.
Enjoyed the article. Can you imagine if Trump's "hostages" went to Mar-a- Lago and smeared the walls with feces? They would change from hostages to criminals maybe even vermin very fast. The criticism must hit him personally. Make people think how they would feel if they had family members working as agents, and he shared their information with our foreign adversaries. This can not stay intellectual. I am worried about democracy, but I think the public is feeling lectured to, and the arguments must be visceral .