Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss
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Opinion piece by Mitt Romney
Even as we watch the reservoirs and lakes of the West go dry, we keep watering our lawns, soaking our golf courses, and growing water-thirsty crops.
As inflation mounts and the national debt balloons, progressive politicians vote for ever more spending.
As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.
When TV news outlets broadcast video after video of people illegally crossing the nation’s southern border, many of us change the channel.
And when a renowned conservative former federal appellate judge testifies that we are already in a war for our democracy and that January 6, 2021, was a genuine constitutional crisis, MAGA loyalists snicker that he speaks slowly and celebrate that most people weren’t watching.
What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats? The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.
I have witnessed time and again—in myself and in others—a powerful impulse to believe what we hope to be the case. We don’t need to cut back on watering, because the drought is just part of a cycle that will reverse. With economic growth, the debt will take care of itself. January 6 was a false-flag operation. A classic example of denial comes from Donald Trump: “I won in a landslide.” Perhaps this is a branch of the same delusion that leads people to feed money into slot machines: Because I really want to win, I believe that I will win.
Bolstering our natural inclination toward wishful thinking are the carefully constructed, prejudice-confirming arguments from the usual gang of sophists, grifters, and truth-deniers. Watching angry commentators on cable news, I’m reminded of H. L. Mencken’s observation: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. During the past half century, we Americans have lived in a very forgiving time, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses had limited consequences. The climate was stable, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. Today, every one of those things has changed. If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences.
What clears the scales from the eyes of a nation? Pearl Harbor did. 9/11 did. A crisis can shake the public consciousness. But a crisis may come too late for a course correction that can prevent tragedy. The only cure for wishful thinking is leadership. Winston Churchill emboldened a complacent Britain and rallied the world. Abraham Lincoln held the Union together. Ronald Reagan shook us from our malaise. Lech Wałęsa inaugurated a movement that brought down the Iron Curtain. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired us to “believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” And Volodymyr Zelensky’s stunning display of courage—“I need ammunition, not a ride”—showed us what real character looks like.
President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust. A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. Congress is particularly disappointing: Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it. Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.
I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth. Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality. While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits. That will require us all to rise above ourselves—above our grievances and resentments—and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
A current slur in the GOP, is to call someone a "Mitt Romney Republican".
I concur, and I voted for the man.
What parts of his policy positions (excluding his thoughts on President Trump) do you disagree with?
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@taiwan_girl said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.
So, is he advocating for more governmental interference to "help" with climate change? Or is this just a handwavy eyeroll at ... some unspecified set of people?
And when a renowned conservative former federal appellate judge testifies that we are already in a war for our democracy and that January 6, 2021, was a genuine constitutional crisis, MAGA loyalists snicker that he speaks slowly and celebrate that most people weren’t watching.
Legit stupid sentence. First of all, an appeal to the authority of a "conservative former federal appellate judge", to define how we want to fashion our narratives about January 6, is primate hierarchy idiocy. We all have sufficient information to judge for ourselves, and that judgment does not require an intimate familiarity with constitutional law. Present the following question to any True Believer in the "existential threat to our democracy" narrative: would locked Capitol doors have substantially changed the way we talk about what happened? The answer to that question is yes. But they will be unwilling to answer the question. They will prevaricate, or they will just lie. Their narrative is too precious to muddy it with hypotheticals about how easily the alleged existential threat to hundreds of millions of Americans could have been avoided.
What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats? The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.
More and more, we are an op ed in the throes of histrionic narratives about cataclysmic threats. Actually the conservative side is pretty consistent in downplaying these alleged cataclysms. And maybe they should be downplayed, at least in the face of the Romneys of the world who use them to ... whatever, justify his existence, I guess.
I have witnessed time and again—in myself and in others—a powerful impulse to believe what we hope to be the case. We don’t need to cut back on watering, because the drought is just part of a cycle that will reverse. With economic growth, the debt will take care of itself. January 6 was a false-flag operation. A classic example of denial comes from Donald Trump: “I won in a landslide.” Perhaps this is a branch of the same delusion that leads people to feed money into slot machines: Because I really want to win, I believe that I will win.
Wow someone took psychology 101. Or maybe he discussed this with a relatively bright 15 year old. I assume most of them have achieved this height of awareness.
Bolstering our natural inclination toward wishful thinking are the carefully constructed, prejudice-confirming arguments from the usual gang of sophists, grifters, and truth-deniers. Watching angry commentators on cable news, I’m reminded of H. L. Mencken’s observation: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. During the past half century, we Americans have lived in a very forgiving time, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses had limited consequences. The climate was stable, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. Today, every one of those things has changed. If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences.
What clears the scales from the eyes of a nation? Pearl Harbor did. 9/11 did. A crisis can shake the public consciousness. But a crisis may come too late for a course correction that can prevent tragedy. The only cure for wishful thinking is leadership. Winston Churchill emboldened a complacent Britain and rallied the world. Abraham Lincoln held the Union together. Ronald Reagan shook us from our malaise. Lech Wałęsa inaugurated a movement that brought down the Iron Curtain. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired us to “believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” And Volodymyr Zelensky’s stunning display of courage—“I need ammunition, not a ride”—showed us what real character looks like.
President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust. A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. Congress is particularly disappointing: Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it. Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.
I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth. Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality. While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits. That will require us all to rise above ourselves—above our grievances and resentments—and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.
"We need to be better". Thanks boomer for the words of wisdom.
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https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/11/rnc-trump-2024-neutrality-00045008
The RNC is promoting Trump and his business again.
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Rusty Bowers, the Arizona house speaker who testified to the January 6 committee about how he resisted Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden in the sun belt state, has been formally censured by his own Republican party.
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“GOP still unsure if guy who likens himself to Hitler should be leader”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/trump-generals-hitler-comparison-satire/
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https://kdvr.com/news/local/gop-state-senator-kevin-pirola-switching-parties/
Colorado state Sen. Kevin Priola who has been a Republican for 32 years announced that he will switch over to the Democratic Party. As for his reasons for the switch, he wrote:
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“I cannot continue to be a part of a political party that is okay with a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election and continues to peddle claims that the 2020 election was stolen”
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The GOP’s unwillingness to take action on climate change
In his concluding paragraph: “there is too much at stake right now for Republicans to be in charge”
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https://truthsocial.com/users/realDonaldTrump/statuses/108858312481973600
Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate. This is such an affront to honor and to leadership. He should spend more time (and money!) helping them get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!
A couple of remarkable things from that Trump post:
- Characterization of Senate GOP minority leader McConnell as “broken down hack”
- Characterization of Sen. McConnell’s wife as “crazy”, McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao being Trump’s former Transportation Secretary.
Sen. McConnell, when asked, claimed that he has no reaction to the above. Don’t know if anyone asked Ms. Chao if she has any reaction.
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https://www.axios.com/2022/09/01/trump-midterms-gop-mcconnell
“GOP's midterm fear: Referendum on Trump”
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Trump’s speech given in Pennsylvania on 2022 Sep. 4 at a campaign rally supposedly for Mastriano (GOP candidate for Governor) and Oz (GOP candidate for US Senate), both endorsed by Trump.
Link to video -
The Tipping Point of Stupid
Long article on Trump's trickle down idiocy, how the GOP candidates who act as Trump apologists make themselves look like complete imbeciles for doing so, citing such illuminating examples as Rubio, Oz, Vance, etc.
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/01/politics/trump-mcconnell-death-wish-democrat-bills/index.html
Former President Donald Trump on Friday night directly ridiculed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying on his social media platform that the Kentucky Republican had a "death wish" for supporting "Democrat sponsored bills."
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@Axtremus said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/01/politics/trump-mcconnell-death-wish-democrat-bills/index.html
Former President Donald Trump on Friday night directly ridiculed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying on his social media platform that the Kentucky Republican had a "death wish" for supporting "Democrat sponsored bills."
...Also said this about Sen. McConnel's wife, calling her "his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
Is this really a guy that people think is fit to be President???
:vomit
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/politics/don-bolduc-election-denialism-flip-flop/index.html
Story on how a Republican candidate for the Senate, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, flipped, flopped, then flipped again on whether the 2020 general election was "stolen."
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@taiwan_girl said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
Also said this about Sen. McConnel's wife, calling her "his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
Is this really a guy that people think is fit to be President???The people who think this kind of stuff is great or even an acceptable thing to say, think he's great too. Clearly, the way to fight the woke left is to talk like the bigoted old Uncle who embarrasses everybody at Thanksgiving.
He may or may not be racist, but he sure as hell panders to them.
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The interviewee Geoff Duncan, a Republican, is the lieutenant governor of Georgia.
Geodd Duncan's op-ed:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/opinions/herschel-walker-scandal-georgia-senate-gop-duncan -
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/03/gop-donor-backing-democrat-washington-00060099
The article profiles a GOP donor switching side to fund the Democratic candidate after the GOP kicked out the incumbent who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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T taiwan_girl referenced this topic on
