# Poll: Best term, Faustian or Vichy Republicans? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743 "2017-02-01T12:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/1 "2017-02-01T12:56:37Z")
[David Brooks’](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/opinion/the-republican-fausts.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1) Op-ed calls the Republicans who kow-tow to Trump, such as Paul Ryan, “Republican Fausts”. Our own Monsignor calls them Vichy Republicans. It’s all the same Party of Putin, but there are subtle differences. [**Faust**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust) > [@](#): > > is the protagonist of a classic German legend. He is a scholar who is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. “Faust” and the adjective “Faustian” imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a delimited term. Vichy Republicans is a term made up by a friend of mine last summer on another board. [**Vichy -**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France) > [@](#): > > From 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France. Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, the de facto capital of southern, “unoccupied” France was the town of Vichy, 360 km to the south. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy. The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and puppet of Nazi Germany. It vanished in late 1944 when the Allies occupied all of France. The Vichy French exemplify the term, “French surrender monkeys”. They totally kowtowed to their Nazi masters and have been considered, at best, moral cowards and at worst, as bad as the Nazis themselves. **So which term best fits McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the GOP, who, with a few notable exceptions, are going along with whatever Trump wants?** _I’m not seeing the “yes” for a poll at the bottom as I read in the FAQ. I’ll post this to see if the poll option then comes up._ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/2 "2017-02-01T13:04:42Z")
Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/3 "2017-02-01T13:28:36Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Republicans. Yup. “Faustian” has a touch of glamor. Dr Faustus was tempted by unlimited knowledge & worldly pleasures. The Republicans want lower taxes, fewer of those nasty “regulations” & right wing stooges on the Supreme Court. (Faust was a scholar–he would not have denied science.) France _was_ defeated by the Reich. Yes, they could have fought on–but they had fresh memories of endless war. Those who made the bargain were not that honorable, but they’d been backed into a corner by military might. The Republicans sold their honor for a mess of pottage. (Of course the Obama years indicate their supply of honor was pretty low.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/4 "2017-02-01T15:55:42Z")
“Faustian” is entirely inappropriate. Faust sold his soul to the devil for worldly knowledge. Republicans are not only not interested in knowledge, they have declared war against science and are actively suppressing it. A better figure would be Jabez Stone, from _The Devil and Daniel Webster_, who sells his soul to the devil for money. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/5 "2017-02-01T15:59:35Z")
Vichy. That’s my vote. Quisling works too. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/6 "2017-02-01T16:42:11Z")
Fausticans. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-term-faustian-or-vichy-republicans/778743/7 "2017-02-01T16:50:19Z")
Vichy suggests a people that have been conquered by outside forces and so are acquiescing to out of a desire for self preservation. This give Trump too much power, and neglects the role that the Republicans had in bringing him about. I think Faust is more applicable. They summoned a demon as part of a quest for power and earthly delights, but have now come to realize that what they have created is beyond their control and does not have their best interests at heart. They still have a chance to reject him and regain their soul yet they feel they have come to far and the temptations he offers are to great for them to resist.