# What will the Republican Party be like post-Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 6, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574 "2019-05-06T17:31:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/61 "2019-05-07T23:10:29Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The idea that the FCC could react swiftly enough to “shut down the broadcast within seconds” is the most laughably unrealistic part of that whole hypothetical. I had actually imagined they stationed someone at major broadcast centers and could, in an emergency, shut it down. Boy was I wrong. That’s the broadcaster who enforces the 7-second rule. Ignorance fought. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/62 "2019-05-08T06:51:17Z")
[Maybe we can get back on topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21630743&postcount=830). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/63 "2019-05-08T12:04:45Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m not terribly worried about the mote in the [Republicans]’ collective eye You misspelled plank. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/64 "2019-05-08T17:10:43Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I predict they’d vote for him again. Just curious, what do you think the overlap is between “Trump’s hard-core, never say die support” and people who approve of Justice Clarence Thomas? Don’t know, don’t care. I think the real question is how many people will never vote for a black woman for Vice President no matter how much they like the Presidential candidate. “Conventional wisdom” is that Dan Quayle’s misspeaks hurt George H.W. Bush at least a little, and Sarah Palin cost John McCain more votes than she brought him. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/65 "2019-05-08T17:47:21Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > … I think the real question is how many people will never vote for a black woman for Vice President no matter how much they like the Presidential candidate. … I submit that the answer is relatively few, at least among Republicans. There hasn’t been a black female VP candidate yet, so we don’t have direct evidence of it, but there’s plenty of indirect evidence. First, lets address the “woman” aspect of your question: You mentioned Sarah Palin. A Republican ticket with a female VP on it got almost 60 million votes in 2008, with the overwhelming majority of those coming from self-identified Republicans. It seems pretty clear to me that Republicans collectively don’t have any major hang-ups about voting for a woman. So what about “black”? It’s true that the Republicans have not run a black VP candidate, but there have been black Republican candidates for other positions, and the Republicans have not seemed to be shy about voting for them in general elections. I could probably dig up some additional examples if you doubt this, but off the top of my head, the current Lt. Governor of Kentucky is a black female Republican and until the 2018 election, Utah had a black female Republican congresswoman (Mia Love). If you’ve got some evidence to suggest that the number of people who “will never vote for a black woman for Vice President” is significant, I’d be interested in seeing it, but right now it looks like fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/66 "2019-05-09T15:23:56Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > A recent poll shows ~90% of Republicans approve the job Trump has done. He has strong - somewhat sycophantic - support among Congressional Republicans. People like Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul who ridiculed him during the primaries of the 2016 election are now staunch defenders of his presidency and the president himself. > > The Republican Party is the Party of Trump. But for how long? > > The youth turn-out in 2018 helped the Democrats. Coupled with Democrats sweeping offices in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan which twice went for Obama but switched to Trump in 2016, plus Red states like Texas and Georgia being a lot closer than usual, signs from the mid-terms could signal big trouble for Trump. > > Suppose next year the Democrats regain the White House, the Senate and retain the House…that’s quite a message from the American people. To boot out the sitting president up for re-election has just happened twice since Hoover. And if there is no wall, no healthcare reform, no immigration reform, will there be a reckoning within the party that a President Cruz will have done exactly the same things (tax cuts, conservative judiciary appointments, reducing regulations, repeal individual mandate of Obamacare) without all the bickering and polarisation? And Trump gets treated as an abberation? > > The flipside is the economic numbers are very good and that can carry him for another four years. The recession some predicted hasn’t arrived. And if he gets four more years to fulfill his campaign promises such as the wall will Trump be put on a pedastal for years to come like Ronald Reagan? A conservative deity who in twenty years time will be brought up in presidential debates as candidates try to compare themselves to, as they have done with Reagan for the last twenty years. Actually, the FIRST question should be, will there be any Republican party left after what Trump’s doing to it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/67 "2019-05-10T01:10:13Z")
I have to figure post-Trump, the Republican Party average IQ will rise, because he is surely dragging them down a bit. But more likely after his defeat in 2020 (inshallah), he will be loudly and perpetually yelling that his second term was “stolen” and if he isn’t the nominee in 2024, it’s because the Republicans have turned their backs on him and they’ll be sorry! This will continue until he sooner-or-later dies (inshallah). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/68 "2019-05-10T01:56:14Z")
What makes you think he’s going to make it to 2024, and age 77? You see what he EATS, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/69 "2019-05-10T02:03:34Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > What makes you think he’s going to make it to 2024, and age 77? You see what he EATS, don’t you? I expect he’s made his children sign mandatory organ-donation contracts in case he needs them. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/70 "2019-05-10T03:16:57Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > If you’ve got some evidence to suggest that the number of people who “will never vote for a black woman for Vice President” is significant, I’d be interested in seeing it, but right now it looks like fiction. I have no evidence to support my statement, but I will offer my opinion that there is some portion of voters, who would never accept a black, a woman, or a black woman as President, and the thought of such a woman being “a heartbeat away” from being President is too much for them. It is also my opinion that while they are crazy nutjobs who, if they vote at all, vote for fringe candidates, some of them voted for Donald Trump. And those voters would find some fringe candidate to vote for if Trump chose a black woman as his 2020 running mate. Whether we define that number of voters as “significant” is strictly opinion. But given how close the popular vote was in many states in 2016, it’s my opinion that Donald Trump needs every vote he can possibly get. You have your opinion, I have mine. As for 2024, my offer still stands for anyone on this board. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/71 "2019-05-10T12:21:45Z")
I’d actually be interested in any detailed forecast of next year’s election from my conservative friends here because it would make for a good argument. Really, anything beyond “he surprised us once” would be great to read. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/72 "2019-05-10T13:56:09Z")
I see no reason Republicans would hold on to Trump in any way once he is out of the White House. Reading many posts on Facebook written by conservatives, they already have turned on Bush Sr., Bush Jr., McCain and Romney in such a way that you’d never have guessed that they were fervent supporters of them in the past. Once Trump is gone, his usefulness is absolutely gone as well. They’ll firmly jump aboard with whomever is steering at the helm next - Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse or whomever. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/73 "2019-05-10T15:03:19Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > I’d actually be interested in any detailed forecast of next year’s election from my conservative friends here because it would make for a good argument. Really, anything beyond “he surprised us once” would be great to read. This isn’t too relevant but it made me remember a Bushism (though I doubt Bush ever approved of Trump): > [@G. W. Bush](#): > > There’s an old saying in Tennessee - I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can’t get fooled again. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/74 "2019-05-10T15:20:44Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I expect he’s made his children sign mandatory organ-donation contracts in case he needs them. Probably planning on harvesting Barron first; he’s the youngest and freshest. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/75 "2019-05-11T02:43:08Z")
Ever read “The Foundation Trilogy”? Remember what happened when The Mule died? That’s what it will be like when trump goes. They will abandon their present form of insanity and revert to their prior form of insanity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/76 "2019-05-11T17:30:34Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m not terribly worried about the mote in the [Republicans]’ collective eye You support Republican disenfranchisement efforts if it means you get your way. Weird that a while back you declared yourself to be a patriot. I doubt you’d be as sanguine about the matter if roles were reversed and decent Americans were making efforts to disenfranchise right-wing scum. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/77 "2019-05-12T05:21:38Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I think people are making an incorrect association between perceived competence and the ability to destroy democracy. Most authoritarians are incompetent when it comes to governing a country in ways that produce benefit for the masses; what they’re competent at is in gaining power, and while Trump might not know shit about the Constitution, economics, history, and foreign policy, he knows a lot about power. He couldn’t have been this successful at conning people for so long if he didn’t know something about the human animal and its frailties. Of course he could, and he has. Trump doesn’t understand psychology or sociology. He doesn’t know how to read people, really. He does know what his base likes, but that’s mostly because his base mirrors his simplistic, pseudo-patriotic, ignorant views. He’s been successful at conning people because when he was in the private sector, he hired the wiliest attorneys and the most brilliant toadies and told them what he wanted. Their job was to figure out how to make it happen. He doesn’t know much about power and doesn’t need to: he’s got it, and his base is so infatuated (Call it narcissism.), they’ll go along with anything he says or does. ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/78 "2019-05-12T11:44:41Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I see no reason Republicans would hold on to Trump in any way once he is out of the White House. Reading many posts on Facebook written by conservatives, they already have turned on Bush Sr., Bush Jr., McCain and Romney in such a way that you’d never have guessed that they were fervent supporters of them in the past. Once Trump is gone, his usefulness is absolutely gone as well. They’ll firmly jump aboard with whomever is steering at the helm next - Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse or whomever. John Bolton. He’s as belligerent and as big an asshole and liar as Trump. Not quite as crass and probably not as good with the tweets, but he loves bombs. He should be able to pick up the “America should quit getting pushed around” theme wherever Trump leaves off. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/79 "2019-05-12T12:37:39Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > You support Republican disenfranchisement efforts if it means you get your way. Weird that a while back you declared yourself to be a patriot. I doubt you’d be as sanguine about the matter if roles were reversed and decent Americans were making efforts to disenfranchise right-wing scum. “If”? Left-wingers ARE trying to disenfranchise Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574/80 "2019-05-13T11:03:13Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > “If”? Left-wingers ARE trying to disenfranchise Republicans. No they aren’t. You support Republican disenfranchisement efforts if it means you get your way. Weird that a while back you declared yourself to be a patriot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-the-republican-party-be-like-post-trump/833574.md?page=5)