I fully expect in my lifetime that ‘Remember when they thought Hitler was a bad guy?’ will become a common phrase . . . chillingly, on both sides.
Kissinger is proof that the GOP has always been like this and that moderate Republicans are a myth, they hate Trump because he speaks plainly and not in dog whistles.
Except some of us remember, and can name, liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats.
The parties have not always been ideologically split.
All that dark red is new.
When in the last fifty years has the GOP not pandered to white racists and tried to suppress black Americans access to the ballot box? Nixon? Reagan? Please.
What’s changed is they’ve dropped the pretense.
When has timing the announcement of something titanic against a current scandal for purposes of distraction EVER worked?
I can think of one very important one.
October 7, 2016, was the day the Obama Administration announced with a “high degree of certainty” by all 17 of our intelligence agencies that Russia was actively attempting to subvert our election.
October 7, 2016, was also the day that Trump’s “grab 'em by the pussy” tape surfaced.
October 7, 2016, was also the day that Russia released its the first tranche of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
I believe the latter 2 events worked extremely well to distract from the titanic announcement of the former.
It occurred to me, but the decision is in many ways a bigger deal, and had a longer development time, than the trial. So it seems implausible. But, yes, odiously convenient.
Except that Nixon and Reagan worked actively to kill off the liberal “Rockefeller” wing of the Republicans. And Nixon’s Southern strategy told the Democratic bigots who hated the civil rights movement that the Republican party would welcome them with open arms.
After that shift, the Republican party became what it is today, no matter how people want to be blind to the past.
To be nitpicky, the liberal/progressive wing of the Republicans had been fading in national power since FDRs presidency, when the fanatically anti-communist, anti-liberal HUAC wing of the party started grabbing all the headlines. The liberal wing was pushed farther into the northeast and became a mere local variant. Nelson Rockefeller’s invisible time as Ford’s VP was national evidence that the wing no longer was viable.
“The GOP has always been like this” is not far from the truth over the past 100 years.
The choice as to when to release the decision was up to the supreme court, not the political wing of the Republican party, and in spite of it being far right ideologically, there is no evidence that they are particularly enamored with Trump.
They are much more in the McConnell mode of conservative that the Trump mode, and would probably be happy to see Trump serving 5 to 10 rather than out an about causing chaos.
Better probably to link the page, which will allow you to click on the image to zoom in: