Do you think that Trump will ever meet his "Joe McCarthy" moment?

[Wesley_Clark]

@Bryan_Ekers

Well, I suspect many of them will express support for Trump but really don’t care even a little about what he says or does, as long as he’s a Republican and the perceptions persist that Republicans:

1. Are more likely than Democrats to restrict abortion.
2. Are less likely than Democrats to restrict guns.
3. Are more likely than Democrats to cut taxes.

I can somewhat understand a single-issue voter who picks the R candidate (and then sticks with him or her) based solely on one of the above premises or something similar. Even if the R official mildly violates one of the premises, he can be forgiven by the voter, if the voter doesn’t want to analyze the issue too deeply.

I’m not even sure if it is that.

1. Trump appointed a SCOTUS judge who may overturn Roe. But he has supported abortion until recently (he was a pro-life democrat most of his adult life). He has also supposedly funded a lot of abortions in his personal life.

2. In general, but Trump recently talked about taking guns way without due process, raising the gun buying age, etc.

3. True. They cut taxes for the rich, but taxes are going up for everyone else. Of course its a matter of perception.

I don’t know. I really think for Trumps followers it is all about tribalism.

Republican over democrat
Whites over non-whites
Christians over other faiths
Men over women
Native born over immigrants
Heterosexuals over LGBT

Pretty much every GOP candidate talked about guns, abortion and taxes. But Trump was brazen in his white nationalism. I think that is what his followers truly like.

The only thing Trump can do to lose his base is treating out groups decently. Coming out in favor of BLM and NFL protests, saying Muslims are Americans too, endorsing amnesty for immigrants (his DACA negotiations pissed off his base).

[Roderick_Femm]

@Mr_Downtown

For some window into Joseph Welch’s personality, watch the (wonderful) 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder.

Welch played the judge.

[JOHNNY CARSON] I did not know that![ /JOHNNY CARSON]

It’s funny to me that IMDB only refers to him as “an actor” and then lists his acting credits, with no mention of his legal career, except under the heading of “Trivia.”

As to the main topic of this thread, I can only repeat what many others have said. McCarthy, and others to whom 45 has been compared such as Nixon, depended on secrecy to keep their true natures from the public view. 45 does not have that particular personal flaw (except financially). He is exactly who he appears to be. And he is perfectly capable of looking someone like Joseph Welch in the eye and giving him, to his face, an invidious nickname. Or just turning it around even when it makes no sense. “You’re the one with no decency, you’re the one!” “You’re the puppet!”

His supporters don’t care what he is, and his many enemies already know. Getting rid of 45 won’t be a matter of public exposure, it will be a long, drawn-out legal process, or a very contested election. Whatever it is, it will do huge damage to our political system.

[Buck_Godot]

The only thing that I could imagine doing it would be something that made him appear weak. He has gotten as far as he did by being a big blustering bully alpha dog who never backs down.

If the Stormy Daniels Spanking incident was true and caught on tape, I think that would do it. Its OK if he dominates women by grabbing them by their Pussy, but to be dominated by a women, would be a totally different kettle of fish. Otherwise its going to have to be him holding up a baby as a human shield, or knocking over old ladies as he madly runs to escape the FBI agents sent to arrest him.

[MonkeyCat]

@K364

A lying, reckless, power mad bully at long last overstepped even what his partisan supporters could stand in a famous confrontation June 9, 1954.

The man was Senator Joseph McCarthy who starting in 1950’s had a meteoric rise to power exploiting what he claimed was massive infiltration by “known Communists” in the State Department. His reign of terror continued for almost four years and expanded the witch hunt into every aspect of American society.

From here: “Behind closed-door hearings, McCarthy bullied, lied, and smeared his way to power, destroying many careers and lives in the process.”

“When Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the White House in 1953, however, McCarthy’s recklessness and increasingly erratic behavior became unacceptable and the senator saw his clout slowly ebbing away. In a last-ditch effort to revitalize his anticommunist crusade, McCarthy made a crucial mistake. He charged in early 1954 that the U.S. Army was “soft” on communism. As Chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee, McCarthy opened hearings into the Army.”

“Joseph N. Welch, a soft-spoken lawyer with an incisive wit and intelligence, represented the Army. During the course of weeks of hearings, Welch blunted every one of McCarthy’s charges. The senator, in turn, became increasingly enraged, bellowing “point of order, point of order,” screaming at witnesses, and declaring that one highly decorated general was a “disgrace” to his uniform. On June 9, 1954, McCarthy again became agitated at Welch’s steady destruction of each of his arguments and witnesses. In response, McCarthy charged that Frederick G. Fisher, a young associate in Welch’s law firm, had been a long-time member of an organization that was a “legal arm of the Communist Party.” Welch was stunned. As he struggled to maintain his composure, he looked at McCarthy and declared, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” It was then McCarthy’s turn to be stunned into silence, as Welch asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” The audience of citizens and newspaper and television reporters burst into wild applause. Just a week later, the hearings into the Army came to a close. McCarthy, exposed as a reckless bully, was officially condemned by the U.S. Senate for contempt against his colleagues in December 1954. During the next two-and-a-half years McCarthy spiraled into alcoholism. Still in office, he died in 1957.”

While I think most of America has had their hopes beaten out of them as Trump time and again shits on everyone and gets nothing in the way of repercussion, I do think so. It’s not that I’m optimistic, it’s that he’s just that bad. Statistically, even the Republicans who think they’re benefitting from him being in power won’t be able to save him. He’ll fuck up bad enough the country will rally. That’s my prediction. I’ve been pretty good at predicting Trump stuff so far, at least.

[dorvann]

I think the only way Trump’s supporters would abandon him is if he did a major reversal on an issue that mattered deeply to them.

Gay Marriage. Abortion. I could see these as the big ones if Trump doesn’t kowtow to evangelicals and tries to appoint a pro choice, pro gay marriage candidate to the Supreme Court. It seems to be a main reason they supported him.

Immigration. i suspect if Trump did a complete 180 on his immigration policy he would lose support to.