In the spirit of American optimism, and in an effort to head a hijack off at the pass, I wonder:
What happens once the fever breaks?
Does the Republican party survive in any recognizable way?
Do they move past Trumpism?
Do they double down, wresting as much power as they can through non-democratic means? Does a nastier vulture rise from the ashes? Do we let it?
I’d like to think about my answer to this question for a bit, but I’d love to hear what others think.
My best guess is that the GOP tacks away from, while still strongly hinting at, Trump: give us this somewhat-reasonable list of things we want, they’ll say; or else, y’know, another Trump, they’ll imply…
My only hope is that he destroys the modern Republican party.
Well you don’t want to leave a void, that would be terrible, but certainly if he takes the extreme wing with him that’ll be no bad thing.
As much as I dislike the majority of their policies, USA politics needs a reasonable Republican-type party.
The do, it’s called the moderate Democrats.
He couldn’t have done that if the Republican party wasn’t open to him. He’s the symptom, not the cause.
I think that can rise from the ashes after the fall.
Oh sure, plenty of blame to go round. It is impossible for those at the top of the party to pretend they didn’t know what he’d be like.
Well let’s hope so, the fall first and then something more responsible in it’s wake.
This is more IMHO than a studied analysis, so please understand.
The last time the main Republican presidential candidate ran on issues of government was either Romney or McCain. During that same time, Republican legislatures rarely were for anything, just against anything that Democrats put forward.
They painted themselves into a hole where they threw away anything they said they were about (low spending, balanced budgets, free markets, etc) to fighting a war of negation. And it was slowly costing them. Thus they tied themselves ever more tightly to their single issues: abortion, guns, Christian identity.
And then they had a scare. The Tea Party, which for all it’s MANY flaws, started trying to hold them to some of those earlier budgetary demands, and threatened to split their minority control. But they weathered the storm, and when the Tea Party couldn’t accomplish anything, they faded into insignificance.
Then came Trump, and for the first time in decades, he invigorated the base beyond those seeking tax cuts and/or the wedge issues. He got people worked up, they cared, and more importantly they voted! Sure, they hate him, or wish they could be him / wield his base, but they saw a path to maintaining power.
Which means they have to keep their base riled up, angry, blind, and hateful. They focus on culture wars so they don’t have to accomplish anything other than owning the libs. And it works! Better yet, they can use the wave of popular support, especially in their strongholds to dismantle (more than they had already) democratic protections ensuring they will never have to surrender power.
And if anything is bad, they’ll continue to blame it on “the libs” even though they have literally purged (a la Tennessee) any impediment to their rule.
So, yeah, even if Trump chokes to death on a cheeseburger tomorrow, they’ll ride his martyrdom (he wouldn’t have been binging if they hadn’t unfairly, illegally indicted him) into perpetual control. He will always be there, and I fully expect certain battier Xtian communities to canonize him as a saint.
It’s bad folks, and getting worse. I used to see the nation moving past this, but as I said in an earlier thread, I now feel electing Biden was like getting the boy to put his finger in the dike - it’s paused the destruction, but the root cause is just as dangerous.
And even if we don’t get Trump in 2024 (for any of a number reasons), it is only a matter of time until the next Republican of the Fascist/Autocratic bent gets into power, as all the normal ones have been purged as RINOs. And they’ve proven that ignoring democracy, ignoring the rules, ignoring the facts, and ignoring the laws is a working option.
The next will be far, Far worse, whether it be DeSantis or someone else.
IMHO the best we can hope for is if Fox is destroyed or splintered by a massive loss to Dominion, is that the unified messaging for the Republicans fails as well, and they split into, say, a Xtian Nationalist, a Populist, and a Tea party Esque party. But I don’t consider it likely.
Already, we’re seeing in Tennessee, the start of literally removing elected Democrats from their positions on flimsy pretexts with no oversight. This is (IMO) a test to see how far they can push it, until the final step of outlawing the Democrat Party and/or jailing it’s members.
Yours is a well-considered post and exactly the sort of discussion I was hoping for. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m going to factor them into mine when I am able to respond.
I’ve been wondering about this. $1.6 billion might be a lot of money for Dominion, but isn’t it relative chump change for News Corp? They had >$10 billion in revenue last year, so sure, their stock would take a pounding, but I don’t see a loss destroying them.
The thing to keep in mind about the 1.6 billion is that those are compensatory damages, meaning actual damages that Dominion believes they can prove, of revenues they directly lost as a result of the harm they suffered by Fox’s actions.
What is left to be determined are punitive damages. And those are intended to hurt. As such, they can be quite high.
Also, if the harm imposed by Fox is determined by the jury to have been done in a willful manner or at least with a reckless disregard for the result, then that opens the door for lots of other civil lawsuits against Fox by others who believe they were harmed by Fox’s actions.
Ah, thanks for the broader view. A happy thought to kick off my weekend!
We’re several decades into this process. The only difference is that the Republicans usually prevent Democrats from getting elected rather than removing them from office after they get elected. The same effect but it’s less visible.
But I don’t feel the Republicans plan on eliminating the Democrats. The Republicans want to force the Democrats into a permanent minority position in office (regardless of what their support is among the general population) so the Republicans will be free to do whatever they want. But the Republicans will want some Democrats to be in office so they have somebody they can blame for all of the problems they cause.
The GOP will become a Regional party, in the South & Midwest.
The MAGA people always need something to hate.
Imagine if we poofed into their magical realm. All black people are gone. All Hispanics are gone. All Asians. Basically, everyone who is not White. Also, magically poof away all gay people, transgendered people, women who have had abortions and so on. Also poof away anyone who is not Christian. We are left with a magical realm that is only populated by white, protestant men and the women who love them.
I guarantee you these people will find someone to hate. People with blue eyes or brown hair or Methodists versus Presbyterians. Take your pick.
There is no end to it. Too many of these people are motivated by hate and they will find it.
“When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.” - Oscar Wilde
Trump might exit stage left, maybe even in chains. De Santis might tack centre.
Doesn’t change the source of the problem.
There are still 74mil USAers who voted Trump in 2020 and 11mil of those didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. This is mainstream, not a fringe movement. You are hoping a whole swathe of people, and money, voluntarily decide get back in the box and disenfranchise themselves.
How do you disenfranchise yourself when you vote?