Your understanding of the Constitution seems to be on the same level as Trump’s Ryan does not have to care what his national ratings are.
Yeah, Trumps yahoos will hate him. But as we are seeing, if you care about actually winning national elections the yahoos aren’t going to do it for you. When Trump crashes and burns standing by him while he works at destroying the Republican party is not going to look so smart. Romney and the Bushes are going to come out of this smelling a lot sweeter than Ryan and Senator Turtle.
The report after 2012 about the GOP needing to expand its base is still correct. But Ryan and McConnell can hardly pretend they are fully behind it after their shameful performance this year.
If Trump had a network of politicians who owed him favors, or even a political power base, he might be able to do damage. But come November he will be seen as a loser who lied to his base like the rest of the Republicans did. And the country will be growing even further away from the racist scum who support him. Trump will be as much of a joke as Sarah Palin in not too long.
How long did it take Palin to become a joke to conservatives? Her named remained on a big sign on GOP headquarters in a nearby city for a least a couple years after her failed VP bid. Though I guess it could have been abandoned - first time I remember not seeing the name, the building had a new business sign out front.
Anyway, I strongly agree with DigitalC that the Republican establishment is currently supporting Trump because that’s what the base wants, and they are afraid to alienate their base. Might not have always been the case. Maybe at one point they thought they could manipulate/handle a victorious Trump; I don’t know. But definitely since the AH tape came out, it’s been about placating the base. As was mentioned, just look at the backtracking on unendorsing and disavowing Trump once the naysayers poll numbers dropped among Republicans while Trump’s stayed higher than theirs. And they know he isn’t going to win now. But disloyalty will not be rewarded with their base (who Trump is polling higher with) and they have to worry about being primaried out. Whereas backing Trump is a safer bet - if the voter still likes Trump, then it’s a win, and if the voter doesn’t like Trump anymore, it can be written off as party loyalty, rather than actually supporting him. It’s all about the base, in that context.
For the general elections - the uninvolved voters probably won’t remember who backed Trump or not, and they are more likely to only vote in Presidential elections anyway. The die-hard democrats were unlikely to be won over anyway. And “I had to back my party’s candidate” will placate some of the others.
Don’t know what the long-term consequences will be for backers or denoumcers.
Howler plans are something these populist parties have in common. Our Dutch Trumpian xenophobic party, the PVV, gave out their policy plan for the election. Usually, as with all other nine Dutch political parties, policy plans are serious, 20-100 page booklets. And those plans have been vetted by our national bureau for Policy Accounting.
The PVV issued one single page. One page. That was their policy plan.
I don’t think I’m in Swanson’s district, but I’ll check.
I was talking to another volunteer at the Dupage Democratic office Thursday who disagreed with everything Hyde stood for, but knew the guy personally and loved him.
When I asked auntie about all the women who came forth with accusations of unwanted kissing and groping, she said it was probably all a big misunderstanding … that he thinks he’s God’s gift to women, and if they even look at him he thinks it’s a come-on and they want to have an affair with him.
She always tries to see the good in people, thank goodness she’s a lifelong Democrat.
Hey his current plan is better than his old version … “Make America great again. Trust me.”
I like Michael Steele. He tickled me that time the “Morning Joe” crew were teasing him about Trump being the GOP nominee … he said, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.”
John Boehner, on the other hand, has a smile on his face 24/7.
Agreed Czarcasm. The following was particularly juvenile.
“Require for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.”
How the hell could that possibly work?
Exactly… 
By creating a new Federal regulation which has, within itself, the text of the two it replaces, plus the text of the new regulation they wanted to pass anyway.
Which gives a really nifty tool for political brinkmanship: “That regulation you need to do this function? Give me this new language, or I won’t support it.”
It’s the kind of shit people come up with when they honestly believe that an inactive government is a good thing, and that any government action is definitionally bad and freedom-limiting.
About a year or year and a half. I think when Fox dropped her is a good marker.
Republican congressmen in very red districts definitely support him because of the base - and they might also be dumb enough to buy into his crap. But Ayotte should have dumped him ages ago, and she is down 8 points now.
But nationally the base is aging and dying, and pandering to them is a guarantee of long term doom. Look how well playing to the base is doing for Trump.
I’m sure their opponents will remind the voters. It would be a lot easier to get independent votes in moderate districts with a bit of bravery than by saying that they couldn’t offend the bigots, now could they?
I used to have a certain amount of respect for them, but it’s good to know where their loyalties lie.
There are also some less-publicized bits, like “stop contributing to the UN on anything related to climate change” (not sure exactly how you do that), which hits two favorite wingnut talking points: stop supporting the UN, and climate change is a hoax. Oh, and of course the unstated implication that both are conspiracies to create a World Government™ and ultimately abolish the United States.
The Stupid. It burns.
Clearly his handlers tried to get him into “serious mode” and touch on the requisite talking points, but fortunately Trump can only be Trump, and he took the opportunity to preface his remarks with the inspirational thoughts – worthy of Lincoln himself – that the press all hate him and are very unfair and must be silenced, and that all the women who confirmed that he assaulted them exactly the way he bragged about must all be sued, because they screwed up his campaign.
I am quite literally sickened by two things: the sound of his voice, and the thought that anyone in possession of a working brain could possibly cast a vote for him.
Incidentally, yet another woman just came forward to explain how a recently-married Trump kissed her without permission and “repeatedly asked her to spend the night with him and offered her $10,000 to do so despite her rejections.”
I mention this because, hey, can you imagine what the guys at WikiLeaks must’ve been thinking way back on the morning of October 1st? “Ha! We have so much dirt on Hillary, this election will hinge on everything we release, whenever – wait, what? But that’s front-page news! Gah. Okay. Well, we’re ready to hit back with – sonofabitch, they have that on tape too? Dammit, our anti-Hillary stuff would be the biggest headlines in the country, if only all this anti-Trump stuff would stop – wait, how many accusers is it up to now? Man, last I checked, it was half that!”
My, what BIG hands Abraham Lincoln has!