The Koch family were one of the early mega-donors and are still funding the Federalist Society, which is where Pence was speaking last week.
Now, I doubt that Pence has much of a political future (hope not), but he is still available.
Trump was facing almost nothing but deep pockets in the early primaries, and was spending very little of his own cash (however much he actually has) on publicity efforts. He spent a bit on his online presence, especially focused on fund-raising, and then leaned heavily on the free air time that materialized around him every time he said something obnoxious and outrageous. The vast heaps of money arrayed against him ended up mattering not at all.
Now, I do think that Trump himself is a walking black swan, and massive expenditures are critically important in a typical race with normal candidates who need to be propped up and their images massaged on television. But Trump demonstrated that the right candidate can transcend the conventional wisdom around money, and that conversely a bad candidate can have all the money in the world and still be a non-starter.
Important to remember that Trump did have preexisting celebrity going for him. It helped him get a lot of exposure other candidates would have to pay for. He also tapped into the “many voters are happy being constantly and obviously lied to” vein, which has kept being successful for a significant number of GOP candidates, but I don’t think there are many who have copied his initial “spend little money approach”.
What have you done with the real Mitch McConnell??
Shared link. Should be accessible.
Pushback from Trump in 3… 2… 1…
Republican vs Republican, cage match to the death. Pass the popcorn!
He’s still as slimy as ever. Mitch is playing the long game. Something Trump isn’t capable of.
Mitch is not pro trump. He is pro Mitch first and secondarily pro GOP. Note that pro-America is not on that list.
Definitely. Lock Trump and McConnell in a room together and let them fight it out. The winner can stay the fuck in there until he starves.
Little Marco offers the Sideshow Bob Defense:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/593463-rubio-calls-jan-6-attack-a-violent-riot
“There was no way they were going to overthrow the government,” Rubio said of the hundreds of people that descended on the Capitol, some breaching the building and assaulting police officers as lawmakers, aides and journalists cowered inside. “It’s just not. It wasn’t going to happen. They were able to delay by a few hours, the vote count but there was absolutely no way did we ever come close in any way shape or form to those people leading to the overthrow of the government of the United States of America.”
Rubio added that it is “important” for people to “characterize this as it was.”…
I agree. But what are they up to?
WASHINGTON — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday he agreed that the Capitol riot was a violent insurrection, the clearest answer he’s given after dodging the issue this week.
Asked Wednesday about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) description of the riot as a “violent insurrection,” McCarthy said he agreed.
“No one would disagree with that,” McCarthy told reporters.
Plenty of Republicans disagree with the term “violent insurrection” ― several House members have even suggested that federal agents actually tricked Trump supporters into ransacking the Capitol.
…
“See? We’re all in agreement and on the same page. Time to move on.…”
If there is “no way” for you to get into the bank vault, does attempting to do so no longer become a crime?
And some optimists are saying indictments are coming.
PS. I’m not an optimist.
Neither am I. But, yes, Twitter is all-a-twitter with speculation that Mitch, Kevin, etc. “know something” and are scrambling to distance themselves from Trump before the “something” comes down.
I’m a skeptic. (But I’d LOVE to be proven wrong!)
The story I am following tonight is that Trump took classified documents out of the White House when he left. So if causing an insurrection can’t bring him down, I guess we’ll get him on some administrative bullshit (which is exactly what he will argue it is because of his unlimited power to decide what is and is not classified). Any other US citizen would be facing severe penalties for this but I can’t really get excited about it because it’s MSNBC’s 25,748th “Trump done fucked up now!” story.
You see, there is no such thing as an attempted coup unless you succeed, in which case, it is no longer an attempted coup, it is a coup. See?
Ta Da!
There’s also the added benefit that it’s not illegal if it fails, and it’s totally legal if it succeeds because the rules are now changed!
Franklin: I’m surprised at you, Mr. Dickinson. Revolution is never illegal in the first person – “our Revolution”. It’s only in the third person – “Their Revolution” – that it’s illegal.
–Peter Stone, 1776
WH Staff Say Trump Blocked Toilet by Flushing Documents: Report (businessinsider.com)
i was wondering when “the plumbers” (watergate reference) would get involved.
So when Trump made that statement about people needing to flush five or ten times, he was thinking of himself?