# The Patriot party

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 20, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969 "2021-01-20T14:46:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/21 "2021-01-20T16:49:16Z")

</div>

I was tempted to post a link to Madonna’s “Where’s the party” if only for the forced bar fly skank-laugh at the end. Somehow it reminds me of ‘Trump women’.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lum\_s\_husband](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lum_s_husband/32/3698_2.png) [@lum\_s\_husband](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lum_s_husband)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/22 "2021-01-20T16:56:55Z")

</div>

They should all wear gold shirts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/23 "2021-01-20T17:01:11Z")

</div>

> [@7 Jan 2021 and beyond - the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-jan-2021-and-beyond-the-aftermath-of-the-storming-of-the-capitol/930020/449):
>
> …the Trumpists can form their new splinter party. For my SDMB pool entry, I predict they’ll name it The Patriot Party.

OK, I wasn’t exactly going out on a limb here. I’ll settle for the Captain Obvious prize.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/24 "2021-01-20T17:06:10Z")

</div>

Trump has been hanging out a few times with Nigel Farage. Threatening to split the Tory vote is exactly the methodology that Nigel used to get the referendum and from that Brexit.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/25 "2021-01-20T17:45:01Z")

</div>

> [@BeepKillBeep](#):
>
> So, the USA really has:
> 
> Progressives (far-left)  
> Democracts (center-left)  
> Republicans (center-right)  
> Fascists (far-right)

This sounds about right to me. My guess is that the split, among active voters, is something like 10 P / 43 D / 11R / 36 F. Due to inertia, the Rs still dominate among the US senators, but even in the House it seems the Fs now dominate, to say nothing of various local officials.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/26 "2021-01-20T21:21:43Z")

</div>

This isn’t exactly correct.

The steady state is two parties, but it doesn’t always have to be the same two parties.

The first presidential election with a Republican on the ballot was 1856.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/27 "2021-01-20T22:52:32Z")

</div>

Just yesterday, before the new Party was announced (or at least rumored), I heard an NPR piece where some Trump supporters were spouting about being “patriots” and was pissed that the term has been co-opted for the rest of us.

I felt the same way about flying an American flag at my house the last few years, fearing it has become a symbol of solidarity to my Trumpy neighbors, or of my antipathy toward the many, many immigrants and people of color in my city.

Supporting the “democrat” party here in our democratic republic, being proud of being an American (today, for sure), considering myself a patriot, and being against fascism should not be bad things.

It sucks when good, useful words get corrupted.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/28 "2021-01-20T23:43:34Z")

</div>

All kinds of innocuous symbols get corrupted and then only the corrupted connotations are seen.

The “OK” hand sign co-opted by white supremacists.  
Likewise, the Pepe The Frog image.  
The swastika, once an innocuous decorative motif, co-opted by Nazis.  
Likewise, the stiff-arm salute, once used even in America, co-opted by Nazis.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/29 "2021-01-21T00:13:58Z")

</div>

They can have Pepe the Frog. We got the rainbow!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/30 "2021-01-21T00:22:03Z")

</div>

> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> And one that ends in a riot.

If this ever turns into anything, I guarantee you I will be calling it the Pat Riot Party.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/31 "2021-01-21T00:25:57Z")

</div>

Missed it by _that_ much!

That’s the Rat-riot party.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/32 "2021-01-21T00:35:16Z")

</div>

> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> I wanted a good anagram of Patriot Party that included “riot”, but nothing available beats “to pry it apart”

Trapt Topiary.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/33 "2021-01-21T00:37:11Z")

</div>

> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> Hey, if it fractures the Republican party so badly that they can never win another election, I’m all for it.

When the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party split in two, it didn’t go well for them. Same thing in Alberta, which saw (for the first and only time) a left wing party in charge for four years. (In both cases the Conservatives reunited.)

I would hope every single idiot who runs for a Patriot Party position get banned from the Republican Party. People will eventually notice there’s no Patriot Party judges, etc, and get tired of them… but they won’t be allowed back into the “we’re pretending to be sane Republicans” party.

> [@](#):
>
> The Patriot Party was an American socialist organization

LOL!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/34 "2021-01-21T00:51:41Z")

</div>

If this ever does get off the ground, I think it’ll be a top down event. It won’t start with an up and coming Patriot primarying Mitt Romney or Susan Collins or Mitch McConnell. What it would take is for those House Republicans that objected during the electoral vote count to announce en masse “we’re no longer members of the Republican Party, we’re now members of the Patriot Party.” A few senators like Cruz, Hawley, and maybe Tubberville would also have to join them. That’s the only way this ever gets going.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/35 "2021-01-21T03:04:56Z")

</div>

> [@Kimera757](#):
>
> Same thing in Alberta, which saw (for the first and only time) a left wing party in charge for four years

Actually, in the late 20s and early 30s, Alberta was governed by the United Farmers of Alberta, who were pretty lefty.

Fun fact: no party that has lost office in Alberta has ever been re-elected. It’s gone Liberals =\> UFA =\> Social Credit =\> Progressive Conservative =\> New Democratic =\> United Conservative Party.

Notley is hoping to break that pattern in the next election and take the NDP back to power.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/36 "2021-01-21T03:24:42Z")

</div>

> [@Cardigan](#):
>
> No doubt he likes the idea, but the question remains would others with greater talent and resources be willing to do this undertaking on his behalf?

Of course, there’s PAC money to siphon.

Will anyone serious about getting people in office get involved - probably not. Will very talented people with a medium-or-better understanding of campaign finance get involved? Yep. They might even bring a few policy oriented friends who want to drag the GOP further right and can use such a party to force conversations and concilations from the Republicans.

But no, no one with talent and resources is going to actually try to win statewide/national offices with such a party. It’s just a potentially useful tool.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/37 "2021-01-21T03:39:43Z")

</div>

> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> From what I understand, the two party system comes from the voting system. Third parties don’t stand a chance.

Strange, then, that in parliamentary democracies with first-past-the-post voting systems, there are multi-parti systems: check out the Parliaments of Canada and the UK, and the Lok Sabha of India, which all use FPTP, and don’t have duopoly party systems.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/38 "2021-01-21T04:11:45Z")

</div>

Parliamentary systems generally do not have a national election for the powerful CEO of the country. Hence, elections are much more heavily district-focused. The combination of 12A and the presidential election cycle laid the groundwork for the formation of the vise grip of the duopoly, and once it became about the Party, they pushed through legislation that has made it harder and harder to escape that vise.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/39 "2021-01-21T04:15:11Z")

</div>

Sure, I agree. But that’s not the voting system. It’s an outgrowth of a congressional-presidential system, plus the lock that the two parties have on ballot access.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969/40 "2021-01-21T08:02:14Z")

</div>

Would this Trump sponsored party symbol entail using an orange jump suit as the coat-of-arms? Me thinks Trump’s chances of creating and running this organization is about equivalent to the Whigs winning seats in Congress in 2022.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969.md?page=1)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-patriot-party/930969.md?page=3)
