# When should Republicans start setting themselves up as the anti-Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 30, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275 "2024-05-30T13:46:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/1 "2024-05-30T13:46:49Z")
Believe it or not, there is a faction of the Republican Party that does not believe in MAGA, believe the Constitution should run the country and not The Bible™, that newcomers are human beings, &c. But many are afraid to speak out because they get cancelled by the loonies. At some point (hopefully) the Republican Party as a whole will come to its senses and say, “WTF were we thinking?!” Yes there will be wackos, there always are on both sides but we can already see an exodus of (relatively) rational Republicans leaving the House because they are too old for this shit. Liz Cheney (not a moderate) was forced out because how dare she think an insurrectionist be impeached but Lisa Murkowski is still relatively safe. Phil Scott, governor of Vermont, does not seem to come under attack for being moderate and opposed to many Trumpisms. So the question on the floor is: when should the moderate Republicans start coming out of the woodwork, demand their party return to normalcy, and start setting themselves as the “right” choice (Get it? **Right** choice. Ha Ha Ha) for the next election whenever that is? ---
**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:** [May 30, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/2 "2024-05-30T13:49:35Z")
Somewhere between the Speakerships of Tip O’Neill and Newt Gingrich. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/3 "2024-05-30T13:53:54Z")
Let’s assume time machines have not been invented. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/4 "2024-05-30T13:56:51Z")
No time machines needed. If, after nearly a half a century, the Republican Party as a whole has not come to its senses and said, “WTF were we thinking?!” what gives you any hope that this time will be different? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/5 "2024-05-30T13:57:03Z")
It’s not going to happen until Republican voters force the change. Nothing indicates this will likely happen in our lifetimes. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/6 "2024-05-30T13:58:11Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > It’s not going to happen until Republican voters force the change. That’s circular. Who can they vote for if no moderates are willing to stand up and say vote for me for fear of being cancelled? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/7 "2024-05-30T14:00:40Z")
Quite the pickle huh? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/8 "2024-05-30T14:01:46Z")
But seriously, there is no demand for “moderate” Republicans (whatever that means). Voters clearly don’t want anything other than MAGA. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/9 "2024-05-30T14:02:25Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So the question on the floor is: when should the moderate Republicans start coming out of the woodwork, demand their party return to normalcy, and start setting themselves as the “right” choice (Get it? **Right** choice. Ha Ha Ha) for the next election whenever that is? When the next Trump wannabe shows up who also starts to get popular. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/10 "2024-05-30T14:08:04Z")
Then today. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/11 "2024-05-30T14:09:40Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > when should the moderate Republicans start coming out of the woodwork, demand their party return to normalcy, and start setting themselves as the “right” choice (Get it? **Right** choice. Ha Ha Ha) for the next election whenever that is? They should start right now. They won’t win “the next election” if Trump blows this one, because despite the best efforts of these purported “normal” Republicans, the party as a whole will not renounce Trump so easily. They will blame the loss on not being sufficiently Trumpy, and double down on candidates even worse than we see now. At some point, this downward spiral of Lose \> Double Down \> Lose Again will finally break the spirit of the deplorables, or they’ll just die off, and then maybe the “normal, moderate” Republicans who have hung in there long enough can begin to reform the party, but even then, they’re looking at at least a couple of elections worth of proving they’re Not Trump Anymore. With 4 year Presidential election cycles, I put it at no less than 16 years before they’re even remotely viable, and probably longer. 4 years of Biden’s next term, minimum of 8 years of Trumpism-dominated losses to whoever succeeds Biden, and at least another 4 years after than for the “reformed” GOP (RGOP) to try to get its new message out. Its gets longer if the Trumpists hang in there an extra election or two, and if the RGOP has trouble convincing people they’ve changed. If this wasn’t the US with its well-entrenched two party system, I’d say the moderate Republicans would be better served just starting a whole new party, but that’s unlikely to work. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/12 "2024-05-30T14:12:06Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > But seriously, there is no demand for “moderate” Republicans (whatever that means). Voters clearly don’t want anything other than MAGA. All the voters who went for Haley may beg to disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/13 "2024-05-30T14:21:39Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > At some point (hopefully) the Republican Party as a whole will come to its senses and say, “WTF were we thinking?!” I don’t think they will. Consider what happened after the George W. Bush administration. The economy was terrible, and the war in Iraq had been a massive clusterfuck. I think, deep down, most Republicans realized that he’d been a failure. They never talk about W. anymore, but neither do they stand up and say “we were wrong”. I don’t think they can even really admit it to themselves, so they cast their minds to look for any reason they can cling to for why the whole debacle wasn’t their fault. I think the same thing will happen after Trump. The party will never explicitly repudiate Trump, and the voters won’t go for anyone who speaks ill of him, but they’ll line up behind some charismatic politician who gets them outraged over something trivial and tells them they were right all along. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/14 "2024-05-30T14:26:07Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > They never talk about W. anymore, but neither do they stand up and say “we were wrong”. But those were also the Obama years, which was the beginning of the steep part of their descent. They wouldn’t have disowned W because they were just really getting going on the crazy that led us to Trump. This roller coaster didn’t start in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/15 "2024-05-30T14:37:43Z")
The GOP only has one leader right now. All other elected Republicans are ruled by the base that follows that one leader. A very few fortunate Republican leaders come from places (like Alaska, Maine, or Vermont) where there is a culture of individualism that lets them short circuit that cultish loyalty as long as they don’t stick their necks out too far. Before other Republicans can exercise actual leadership, Trump will either be dead or otherwise silenced. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/16 "2024-05-30T14:38:46Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > But those were also the Obama years, which was the beginning of the steep part of their descent. When the Religious Right took over the Tea Party. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/17 "2024-05-30T14:39:46Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > But seriously, there is no demand for “moderate” Republicans (whatever that means). As I pointed out, there are two mods in statewide office, Murkowski and Scott. So there is some demand. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/18 "2024-05-30T14:41:25Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > When the Religious Right took over the Tea Party. I trace all of the country’s problems back to when one side turned politics into some kind of weird cosplay. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/19 "2024-05-30T14:41:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So there is some demand. And also, if the GOP is ever to be a viable party again, they’ll need to recapture a lot of voters that they’ve lost to the Democrats. Everyone who is reluctantly voting Biden this year is a potential gain, if they can ever get their heads out of their asses. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275/20 "2024-05-30T14:43:28Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > As I pointed out, there are two mods in statewide office, Murkowski and Scott. Neither would be in office without some help from “socially liberal - fiscally conservative” Democratic voters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-should-republicans-start-setting-themselves-up-as-the-anti-trump/1002275.md?page=2)