# The Republican Party is the Party of Evil **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 4, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187 "2021-03-04T17:43:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 127
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2522 "2024-02-10T21:01:19Z")
That’s what the experts were saying in explaining why Carroll’s $83M judgement would likely withstand appeal. It was less than the magic 4:1 ratio. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2523 "2024-02-10T21:44:19Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Republican school board member posts a picture of a female high school basketball player, suggesting she is transgender Well of course she did, because transgender children don’t matter, they aren’t real people. Besides, once they are born, children aren’t important anymore. And her apology is that it would be okay to bully real transgender children, and somehow it’s all the liberals’ fault anyway for “taking advantage” of her “good faith efforts to be accepting of differences”. You know what would be a good faith effort to be accepting of differences? Accepting transgender people for their differences. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2524 "2024-02-10T21:49:50Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Fox News aired a story where a “migrant” was beaten up while Sean Hannity laughed. It was later determined that the man was a resident of NY, and to give them minor credit they did admit the mistake. But not for condoning vigilantism. Yeah, “oops, I shouldn’t have just listened to the crowd about who he was,” isn’t an apology for vigilante abuse of fellow citizens. Sorry it was just a guy who was heckling the Guardian Angels, not a real migrant or real shoplifter. At least Hannity posted a correction. You know, for journalistic integrity. You know, that thing Hannity was fired from Fox over because he had so much of it. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2525 "2024-02-10T21:56:46Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > You know, that thing Hannity was fired from Fox over because he had so much of it. Did you confuse him with Tucker Carlson? Hannity is still in the Fox fold. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2526 "2024-02-10T23:29:01Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > And her apology is that it would be okay to bully real transgender children, and somehow it’s all the liberals’ fault anyway According the cretin in question, her stunt was the fault of Transgender people. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2527 "2024-02-11T01:46:58Z")
Oops, sorry, Yes I did. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2528 "2024-02-11T02:14:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I have to wonder about the token compensatory damages, though. First, that seems to be indicating that they thought that the damage to Mann’s reputation had no value. Yes. I speculate that the reason for punative damages was they invoked Jerry Sandusky’s name and likened Mann to a pedophile. There’s probably an assumption that Mann’s actual scientific standing wasn’t affected because mainstream climate science continued to back him. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2529 "2024-03-02T00:01:12Z")
Gen. Mike Flynn wants to throw out the First Amendment. > “If we are going to have one nation under God which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God” > ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2530 "2024-03-02T02:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > “If we are going to have one nation under God which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God” Absolutely! Now, Mike, tell us which religion. So much for the “_Judeo_-Christian” gaslighting. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2531 "2024-03-02T08:35:09Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Gen. Mike Flynn wants to throw out the First Amendment. Is it possible to strip him of his pension? Not that it would make much difference because he’d be well paid by Fox and OANN for screaming about “woke” this or that but it would tickle me. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2532 "2024-03-02T13:21:53Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Gen. Mike Flynn wants to throw out the First Amendment. Well, why not? They’re already trying to get rid of democracy in favor of a Trump dictatorship. You know, I wonder about those MAGA legislators supporting Trump. Don’t they realize that if Trump actually gets elected, Congress will be in the chopping block? I mean, that’s straight out of the Dictator’s Handbook (not a real thing). ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2533 "2024-03-02T13:46:00Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > the Dictator’s Handbook (not a real thing). Wrong! > **[The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics -...](https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics-ebook/dp/B005GPSLHI)** > > The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics - Kindle edition by de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno, Alastair Smith. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking... ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2534 "2024-03-02T16:29:31Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > You know, I wonder about those MAGA legislators supporting Trump. Don’t they realize that if Trump actually gets elected, Congress will be in the chopping block? They already screwed the pooch when they didn’t impeach and remove the guy from office no later than January 9th, 2021. I can imagine not doing it on January 7th - everyone’s tired and hopped up from the commotion, the session hadn’t ended until well after midnight - but they should have been ready to go with impeachment on the 8th and removal on the 9th, in short order. Let Pence be the answer to a trivia question in the 2100s. But let’s face it - Congress (by which I mean Republicans in Congress) not standing up for its prerogatives in this case simply means that future chief executives will learn the lesson that they can stir up a mob to attack Congress and not be punished for it - heck, if Trump wins the election this November, he’ll be _rewarded_ for it. Congress is effectively no longer a coequal branch of government. If they attempt to defy Trump - or the next proto-dictator demagogue - he’ll simply stir up another mob to attack them - and this time, it will work. The next steps after that will have a nice procedural veneer on them to try to reassure people that the forms are being obeyed and that what just happened isn’t really what’s happening, but everyone will know who’s in charge. But, that’s the Republican party for you. “Party over country, and self over all.” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2535 "2024-03-02T16:30:10Z")
I’m almost curious enough to look up those guys and see their backgrounds and how they’ve arrived at those conclusions. Dare I? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2536 "2024-03-02T16:32:33Z")
I can’t tell you from first-hand experience. I just remembered seeing a book with that title when @Irishman said there wasn’t one. If you have Kindle, you can download a free sample. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2537 "2024-03-02T17:22:06Z")
No surprise here but now we have data…doubt that it will help much though: > **[White Rural Trump Supporters Are a Threat to Democracy](https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-rural-trump-supporters-are-a-threat-to-democracy)** > > A new book shows how many supposed “elitist stereotypes” of rural MAGA voters are true—and backed by hard data. > The authors, Tom Schaller, a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Paul Waldman, a former columnist at _The Washington Post_, persuasively argue that most of the negative stereotypes liberals hold about rural Americans are actually true. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2538 "2024-03-02T17:36:14Z")
Yet another piece where systemically poor representation is cited as part of the problem (of the disproportionate influence rural white voters have on national elections). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2539 "2024-03-02T20:25:26Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Wrong! Color me chagrined. Though technically it’s not really a handbook, but an analysis to describe the functional workings of politics. Whereas I meant an actual handbook - a list of steps to follow. > [@SunUp](#): > > They already screwed the pooch when they didn’t impeach and remove the guy from office no later than January 9th, 2021. No question, Republicans had their out right then, put Donnie in the rearview, take a few lumps from hardcore Trumpers but with solid justification even most MAGAs would have bought into. I know my neighbor took down his Trump flag the next day. (Yes, an actual flag like one seen in the insurrectionist’s footage). Instead, they let fear of rejection by their own base drive them to bow to Trump and guarantee their own irrelevance. They helped promote Donnie’s lies and thereby paved the way for his dominance of the Party and possibility of returning to the White House. Which will be to their own detriment. Witness how the GOP leadership is about to be taken control of by Trumpers who plan to funnel all the party money into Trump’s pockets instead of supporting party candidates in other elections. > [@SunUp](#): > > Congress is effectively no longer a coequal branch of government. If they attempt to defy Trump - or the next proto-dictator demagogue - he’ll simply stir up another mob to attack them - and this time, it will work. The next steps after that will have a nice procedural veneer on them to try to reassure people that the forms are being obeyed and that what just happened isn’t really what’s happening, but everyone will know who’s in charge. I submit that if Trump wins and takes office, it won’t even take another mob attack. Trump will eliminate Congress to guarantee his own power growth. Whether it’s Hitler or Palpatine or Netenyahu, you eliminate the alternative institution of power to consolidate your own. And the MAGA dimwits in Congress will assist in their own dismissal. > [@SunUp](#): > > But, that’s the Republican party for you. “Party over country, and self over all.” And my point is that that self-serving drive will be the root of their own displacement. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I’m almost curious enough to look up those guys and see their backgrounds and how they’ve arrived at those conclusions. From the Amazon page: > [@](#): > > A groundbreaking new theory of the real rules of politics: leaders do whatever keeps them in power, regardless of the national interest. > As featured on the viral video Rules for Rulers, which has been viewed over 3 million times. > Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”-or even their subjects-unless they have to. > This clever and accessible book shows that democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is a political science professor and generator of political forecasting models. > **[Bruce Bueno de Mesquita](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bueno_de_Mesquita)** > > Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (/məˈskiːtə/; born November 24, 1946) is a political scientist, professor at New York University, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. > Bueno de Mesquita graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1963,\[citation needed\] (along with Richard Axel and Alexander Rosenberg), earned his BA degree from Queens College, New York in 1967 and then his MA and PhD from the University of Michigan. He specializes in international relations, foreign policy, and n... He’s apparently created a model, the Predictioneer’s Game, that has shown real world success in predicting political outcomes. Alistair Smith is another politics professor at New York University. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2540 "2024-03-02T22:09:39Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Trump will eliminate Congress to guarantee his own power growth. Genuine question: how does that generally work when it happens (granting that it’ll differ depending on country and circumstance)? Like, when it was theorized that Trump would just ignore the election results and not leave, I struggled to imagine the military paying attention to him or security briefings going to him in such circumstances, so I’m comparing situations here. I assume that loyalty of the military is key. Does the public have any effect whatsoever either way? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187/2541 "2024-03-02T22:19:14Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I struggled to imagine the military paying attention to him or security briefings going to him in such circumstances, so I’m comparing situations here. I assume that loyalty of the military is key. What you describe is a complete breakdown of the government. If the military is ignoring the president like that then it is a teeny-tiny step to a coup. And if that happens all hell will break loose. Not just the US. Globally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187.md?page=126) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-is-the-party-of-evil/937187.md?page=128)