My concern is the dangerous lunatics who will buy into conspiracy nonsense related to his demise. And we saw on 6 January 2021 exactly what those loons can do.
Oh, he has been one forever. All he cares about is one day being Speaker and the others can tell that they can extract anything from him by threatening that aspiration.
They really can’t do very much. This isn’t 1860 and these guys don’t have the balls to fight anyone who might shoot back. And with Trump out of power, there’s nobody protecting them from the police.
Will they commit crimes and hurt some innocent people? Yes, they’ve been doing that all along. But a threat to the country or the government? No.
Okay in one sense he is an empty suit-- but he holds power and believes he will wield even greater power. Morally he is empty but he can leverage power beyond his abilities and that makes him dangerous. He has substance just based upon his role (and possible future role) in the legislature.
Actually, there is not any greater empty suit than Trump in many ways, the part of him that is substance would fit in a thimble. But his style allows him to direct the power of a zombie army that is absolutely loyal and absolutely believes his nonsense. That is what makes him so dangerous – he is nothing and has nothing to lose. The money and power and position of authority are used the way a child would use them-- to keep score and to create creature comfort for himself. At least Trump has been stripped of his Twitter voice and direct access to his mindless army of undead soldiers. His real power (to order, to pardon, to proclaim) has been taken away, now he has to peddle his influence which is unfathomably huge for some reason.
When McCarthy has lost his power and position and is just a talking head THEN he will fully be an empty suit.
There is no doubt just as many knuckleheads would be willing, eager even, to do crazy shit for Trump as the number that stormed the capitol; and without doubt they will absolutely blame the liberal politicians, media, and activists for Trumps death as Monty fears. However as Nemo points out with no Trump in any position of power, or even alive to verbally defend them, they will stand down because they will KNOW that they will be held accountable. They will talk a good game and invent the most preposterous shit imaginable to explain the thing that needs the least explanation but they will do very little that takes any courage or action.
Except killing innocent people. That’s my worry.
Do you mind?? I live in his district (FTR, I’d vote for a syphilitic Presbyterian kangaroo before I cast my vote for Kev). I don’t need his corpse stinking up the joint when I get my Royale With Cheese.
Back on top:
I see a Holy War coming. Various factions with the GOP, all scrambling to inherit the mantle of Cheeto Jesus, will clash by night in the streets to a soundtrack of Wagner mixed with country-and-western. Congressman and Senators, branded as RINO’s and traitors, will dragged from their offices and country clubs and hanged from streetlights. The Lincoln Project offices will be firebombed. Dick Cheney will machine-gun all attackers from his wheelchair before succumbing to overwhelming gunfire. Sean Hannity will have an aneurysm from flipping from one New Savior of America to another. A bounty is put on Antifa, but nobody can find its headquarters.
Finally, the fighting converges on Florida. DeSantis declares himself God Emperor of America and tries to seize control of military installations to launch tactical nukes at his enemies. Joe Biden is forced to drop nukes first on DeSantis. He then asks Bugs Bunny to come out of retirement to saw Florida off from the rest of the continental U.S…again.
I am certain when all is said and done a great deal will be said and very little done.
But you do make a good point. Especially if they concoct some insane conspiracy theory that blames one specific person or a small group of people. Some wingnut might pull a John Wilkes Booth and believe they will be a national hero after they exact revenge on a completely innocent person or persons.
I am amused by the entire post, but this part can be taken quite seriously!
The white American reformed church has entered its dark ages as I eventually get around to posting in every single thread. They have too much political power like the Church of Rome did back in the day and they have started to dictate laws reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. They have had two crusades in the middle east against the infidels – and if they have their way there will be an even grander one with crosses atop every mosque within five-thousand miles of the fertile crescent. They will come home rich and prosperous with the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands.
(They will also have the Holy Grail, the Arc of the Covenant, a whip, and a fedora hat crated and sent home, but those will be lost in transit.) Church choirs will sing at the hanging of RINO’s and Paula White will pray for their black souls as the floor drops. Witchcraft trials will resume in Salem, Mass. but will soon be moved to Washington D.C. Democrats will have to wear stars on their clothing and eventually will be tattooed with numbers.
And I really wish we lived in a country where there were NONE who wanted this vision of the future to come true – but I know these people, they exist. What is especially painful is that they see their views as devotion to God. (I do not believe all Christians are guilty of this- but I do believe some are and even one person who believes this is too many.)
Since this thread has wandered a ways from where it started, I will continue the hijack. Here is how I see the influence of Trump on elections.
If he is on the ballot, a lot of low information people come out to vote for him and, since they are there, vote a straight party ticket. But a lot of “normal” Republicans come out to vote, some significant percentage of whom recognize what an asshole he is and vote against him but the party ticket otherwise.
The result is that the party does better when he is on the ticket, even if he loses. Me evidence for this view comes from trying to understand the elections of 2018, 2020, and the GA runoffs.
If this analysis is correct (and I am by no means wedded to it) then the Republicans must either nominate him in 2024 or move the party definitively away from him. Since the latter is not happening, I assume they will nominate him in 2024. I don’t think his mantle is moveable.
You know that won’t happen. Those clowns don’t believe Blacks even have souls. (That’s the only thing in that paragraph that won’t happen–praying for Black souls. And, yes, I do know what you meant; it just reminded me of what I’ve heard in the last couple of years from people who actually believe their hateful nonsense.)
God, how I wish I were kidding!
I agree. He wasn’t on the ballot in 2018, Democrats did very well. He was on the ballot in 2020, Republicans did very well. He will not be on the ballot in 2022, it seems to me that Democrats will do well and in fact gain seats in the House and perhaps create a Manchin/Sinema-proof majority in the Senate.
I don’t think the pattern is as clear as that, especially in the Senate. In 2018 Democrats swept in the House but the Republicans picked up two Senate seats. And last year Democrats picked up three Senate seats even as Republicans unexpectedly picked up House seats.
Ted Cruz goes on vacation in Mexico and avoids taking a side.
One of the things about the Senate is that only 1/3 is elected in any election. So there are some times when that makes it more favorable to one party than the other. In 2022, the D’s have the advantage. It would not surprise me (in fact, I expect) if the Dems lose the House and win a couple more seats in the Senate.
And changes his name back to Rafael.
Eh, If he has called himself Ted he can then keep the Edward (it IS his real middle name anyway). Rafael is a noble and respectable archangelic name I don’t want associated with this punk.
OTOH, if he goes back to nicknaming himself Felito, then I can deal with that. Especially with all the Anglos who won’t be able to figure out how do you say “Felito” in a proper Cuban accent.
I likewise would not be surprised by this outcome, nor would I be surprised if the Republicans netted a seat or two. One of the things we’ve seen in the Senate over the last several cycles is that the states have largely “sorted” themselves between the two parties. The New England Republicans and Plains State Democrats who used to represent a sizable chunk of the body are gone and unlikely to ever come back (a Susan Collins here or there not withstanding). Control of the chamber comes down to a handful of still competitive swing states.
A consequence of this is that you’re unlikely to see significant swings in the partisan balance of the Senate. It wasn’t too long ago that the parties were picking up 8 or 9 Senate seats in a good election cycle. These days, a 2-3 seat pickup is probably the realistic upper boundary. This has obvious implications for the future of the filibuster, since neither party is likely to get to 60 votes in the foreseeable future. It’s only a matter of time before some majority decides to nuke it.
The GOP has become a personality cult of Trump. He’s the only visible thread holding it together. Maybe I’m arguing from ignorance, but I can’t think of a single personality cult that kept its momentum and organization after the loss of the personality.
As far as hereditary dynasties go, I don’t think anybody named Trump is capable of rallying the same energy. The excitement for Jr. or Ivanka isn’t there. I doubt the loyalty is there, I doubt they have that same abundance of shady relationships (Trump probably doesn’t trust them with all of his contacts or info), and they’re both deeply stupid individuals who wouldn’t be able to leverage his resources as well.
The above analysis hinges on the assumption that winning elections is the way forward for Republicans, but the chances don’t seem great that they’ll tolerate fair and free elections if they can get away with it. Seems to me there’s a 50/50 chance of them going straight-up electoral theft in 2022 or 2024. In that case it might not matter which Trump-named individual remains on the advantageous side of death or prison.
My predictions about state electorate shifts have been wrong a lot. But I think this is a pretty astute observation. The division is hardening.
I believe North Carolina will follow Georgia into solid blue territory but Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin will be hard gets/keeps for Dems. The only other target on the radar that I can make out is Texas and that one’s still not happening before '28 or '32 (insert “fusion power is only 20 years away” joke here). But Texas will happen and I think most of here will live to see it.