# The GOP is the party of Authoritarian Bullies and Gaslighting now **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943 "2019-04-23T15:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/61 "2019-04-24T18:30:28Z")
To add some evidence to the OP and to support my Orwellian comparison, this article is a fine example of GOP doublethink: [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/a-rude-surprise-could-be-awaiting-trump/ar-BBWdSLm](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/a-rude-surprise-could-be-awaiting-trump/ar-BBWdSLm) See? When they want to pass the Muslim ban, they argue that the courts should not peek behind the surface reasoning to guess at the real motives. Just executive authority. But when they are facing a subpoena they don’t like, they literally rest their case on peeking behind the stated reasoning to speculate about some inappropriate intent, to deny another branch of government its authority. Classic authoritarianism and gaslighting right there- whatever they want to be true in any given moment is the case, without consistency or regard for precedent. Or the law for that matter. Of course the clearest example of the Orwellian nature of the GOP is the inability of conservatives to even engage a conversation on a substantial level. Note how the concepts of good and bad, true or false and right or wrong have all been replaced by liberal and conservative. And note that the conservative usage of “liberal” doesn’t even describe their opponents- it is just a straw man built of hateful accusations. I bet our conservative friends in this thread could not even tell us what the word “liberal” means. It has become a thought terminating reflex. Holy shit folks, if you haven’t read 1984, drop everything and get on it! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/62 "2019-04-24T18:36:48Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > By the way thank you guys for proving my OP exactly true. There has not been one suggestion for what the GOP is running on, other than gaslighting, bullying and demonization of liberals. Only a bunch of assholish bullying crap in reply. So thanks again for demonstrating exactly what I was saying. It’s not that hard: Lower taxes Stopping the migration of illegal immigrants from south of our border Conservative judges No additional gun control regulations Ending the legalization of abortion Make people put forth some effort in order to collect government benefits If you want those 6 things, vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/63 "2019-04-24T18:47:02Z")
You left out golf. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/64 "2019-04-24T18:47:39Z")
You forgot “the destruction of Social Security and Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy,” but that one can’t be stated explicitly and needs to be sugar coated with gaslighting. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/65 "2019-04-24T18:50:57Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > You forgot “the destruction of Social Security and Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy,” but that one can’t be stated explicitly and needs to be sugar coated with gaslighting. “I don’t believe that Social Security and Medicare will be destroyed. Besides, a vast majority of Americans received a tax cut last year. It wasn’t just for the wealthy.” ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/66 "2019-04-24T19:16:56Z")
Miniscule and expiring tax cuts for regular people, and permanent hundreds of billions of $$ for the wealthy. It would be telling to express it in terms of what % of tax cut dollars went to households making over, say, $250k. As for SS and Medicare, screaming about “entitlements” and now “socialism” is the only real point of consistency in the GOP. W wanted to privatize SS. GOP governors would rather people due than expand Medicare. It is a forward looking statement, but I think getting rid of those programs is a fundamental GOP raison d’être ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/67 "2019-04-24T19:20:34Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Miniscule and expiring tax cuts for regular people, and permanent hundreds of billions of $$ for the wealthy. It would be telling to express it in terms of what % of tax cut dollars went to households making over, say, $250k. “Regardless of how you feel tax cuts should have been distributed across the populace, wanting, and succeeding, to cut taxes on a majority of Americans is a Republican plank that is not 'gaslighting, bullying or demonization of liberals” ---
**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:** [April 24, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/68 "2019-04-24T19:26:23Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > I’m pinning all my hopes on the young voters coming online. If 2016 wasn’t the Pickett’s Charge of authoritarianism (specifically, that moment when his troops breached the wall, the “High Water Mark of the confederacy”), we’re fucked. That would be a compelling analogy if the Confederates had won the battle of Gettysburg, but thankfully they did not. Instead, we have been stranded in the Wilderness, seeking a Cold Harbor in vain. Will the Democrats’ 20 Presidential candidates surge through the first line of Republican defenses and reach the hilltop, only to look down and see overwhelming masses of G.O.P. and indifferent independent voters? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/69 "2019-04-24T19:32:29Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > It’s not that hard: > > Lower taxes > Stopping the migration of illegal immigrants from south of our border > Conservative judges > No additional gun control regulations > Ending the legalization of abortion > Make people put forth some effort in order to collect government benefits > > If you want those 6 things, vote Republican. Tax cuts for the wealthy Stopping migration of brown people Judges who do what we tell them to Guns for mentally ill and violent groups - ignore deaths Government control of women Cut all government benefits - they are for the lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/70 "2019-04-24T19:45:16Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Tax cuts for the wealthy > Stopping migration of brown people > Judges who do what we tell them to > Guns for mentally ill and violent groups - ignore deaths > Government control of women > Cut all government benefits - they are for the lazy. Even framing them as you do, which ones are “gaslighting, bullying and demonization of liberals”? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/71 "2019-04-24T19:53:31Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > “Regardless of how you feel tax cuts should have been distributed across the populace, wanting, and succeeding, to cut taxes on a majority of Americans is a Republican plank that is not 'gaslighting, bullying or demonization of liberals” You aren’t all wrong, that Is a plank. But it is associated with tons of demonization- “tax & spend liberals”, as if they do it for its own sake to screw with people. And I don’t know that it is gaslighting, but the reason behind the cuts was to increase revenue, not just a lie but a worn one. And the increase in deficits is Never the fault of tax cuts, it is always spending, which is a liberal thing. Can’t cut the military, so what is left? Social security and Medicare. What is the deficit for? To force the cutting of those programs. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/72 "2019-04-24T19:54:45Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Even framing them as you do, which ones are “gaslighting, bullying and demonization of liberals”? Liberals want to tax us to death! Liberals want illegals to vote! Liberal activist judges are going to destroy America! Liberals want to take all of your guns! Liberals want to murder babies! Liberals just want to give money to lazy people to get votes! So … pretty much all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/73 "2019-04-24T20:11:11Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Liberals want to tax us to death! I’ll pick one, since I’m leaving work now. I have no doubt that Liberals want to raise taxes. Whether “Liberals want to tax us to death!” is comparable to “[Conservatives want]the destruction of Social Security and Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy” is an exercise left to the reader. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/74 "2019-04-24T20:54:10Z")
Republicans are working for Putin! Republicans want the elderly to die in the street! Republicans want the rich to eat the poor! Republicans want our children to drown in rising waters! Republicans want to control womens’ bodies! Republicans want draconian cuts in spending! Republicans want to run up the debt! Republicans don’t run on issues! Republicans want to drum up hatred of liberals! ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/75 "2019-04-24T20:57:47Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Republicans are working for Putin! > Republicans want the elderly to die in the street! > Republicans want the rich to eat the poor! > Republicans want our children to drown in rising waters! > Republicans want to control womens’ bodies! > Republicans want draconian cuts in spending! > Republicans want to run up the debt! > Republicans don’t run on issues! > Republicans want to drum up hatred of liberals! So, how many of those aren’t true? You do realize that truth matters, right? To some of us, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/76 "2019-04-24T20:58:03Z")
Back in reality we had a presidential election between Obama and Romney that had literally nothing at stake. The big disagreement was whether taxes should be 29% or 26.5%. Trump came into politics like a meteorite bringing up issues such as immigration, free trade, and endless wars. I disagree with Trump much more often than a token Democrat, so probably more than the OP, but to claim that Republicans do not service their base with issues is perhaps something a political greenhorn would say. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/77 "2019-04-24T20:59:30Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > So, how many of those aren’t true? > > You do realize that truth matters, right? To some of us, anyway. The point is that it is demonization and fear-mongering. The average Republican would claim their fears are justified as well. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/78 "2019-04-24T21:00:58Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Back in reality we had a presidential election between Obama and Romney that had literally nothing at stake. The big disagreement was whether taxes should be 29% or 26.5%. > > Trump came into politics like a meteorite bringing up issues such as immigration, free trade, and endless wars. I disagree with Trump much more often than a token Democrat, so probably more than you, but to claim that Republicans do not service their base with issues is perhaps something a political greenhorn would say. You talkin’ to me? If so, then I’ll interpret you as saying “Of the options listed, ‘Republicans don’t run on issues!’ isn’t true.” ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/79 "2019-04-24T21:04:33Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > The point is that it is demonization and fear-mongering. The average Republican would claim their fears are justified as well. You do realize you can’t demonize a demon. If republicans are, in fact, actually working for Putin, then it’s not demonization to say so. That’s the big difference that I can see - republicans and their friends the russian trolls are cheerfully willing to create false narratives to monger fear where it’s entirely unjustified. And while there’s a certain amount of hyperbole that comes from the left too (even we have some loons), the claim that “both sides do it”, is, by and large, more false narrative. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943/80 "2019-04-24T21:06:36Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > You talkin’ to me? If so, then I’ll interpret you as saying “Of the options listed, ‘Republicans don’t run on issues!’ isn’t true.” The fact that you think the most satirical and hyperbolic partisan hackery I could come up with is true may says a lot about your status. I hope you are paid for spreading such hackery, otherwise it is pretty pathetic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-is-the-party-of-authoritarian-bullies-and-gaslighting-now/832943.md?page=5)