Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss
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@taiwan_girl said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
@Horace said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
There are hopelessly complicated status reasons for propagating an existential threat narrative, and good reason not to take them seriously. And then, even if one does take them seriously, inevitably left uninvestigated is the process by which a POTUS becomes Hitler within our system of checks and balances, and within our entirely polarized society, where half the population and most of people at the institutional levers, do not like him, and are completely unafraid to say that and act on it.
Can you rewrite in simple English? LOL
(Just tease you (but only a little bit). LOL. Your writing is very good, but it takes me at least 2 or more re-reads to try and understand! ).
For instance one of the signatories Scarramucci has a side gig of going on CNN etc to propagate TDS narratives. There are plenty of social and economic incentives to use one's status as a first-hand Trump expert, to say the right things that media companies are willing to pay for.
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This sort of "borrowed credibility" is a common tactic when propagating desired narratives. For instance, white progressives will lean into the idea that they are only backing up the opinions of minorities, and they will inevitably find some minorities who happen to agree with whatever the white progressives would like to be true. You have to be careful, when assessing narratives, that your natural inclination to trust those with first-hand experience, might be used against you.
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@taiwan_girl said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
@Horace said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
TG consider the endorsements to be slam dunks.
I dont think that endorsements do much (if anything).
I am just surprised that the comments and insights of people who worked more closer to President Trump than pretty much anyone else are discounted. As I have said before, I dont necessary agree or disagree with their politics, but their insights carry some weight.
If you are looking to eat at a restaurant, what would you trust more; the review of the brother of the owner, or the review of the people who worked there?
Depends, were those people fired?
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Two failed politicians.
Trump - Hitler could've done some shit in 2016, and he didn't.
Harris - could have fixed everything in the last 3 years, and she didn't.
Also remember who owns the Atlantic. Lauren Powell Jobs, Steve's widow. She is well known to be close friends with...
Oh, wait...wrong friend.
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@LuFins-Dad said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
Depends, were those people fired?
If one person makes a bad comment about closely working with President Trump, yeah, he could be a sour grape. Five people who worked closely with him, hmmm maybe still a sour grape. When you get to 10 or more, I have to think that there is something to it. And again, most of these people are not a junior analyst who only sees President Trump on TV. These are people who probably spent more time on a daily basis with President Trump than his wife.
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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said that President-elect Donald Trumpâs victory puts Americans in âa very, very dangerous world,â stressing that he plans to spend his final two years in the Senate pushing back against the growing Trump-fueled isolationism within the GOP.
âWeâre in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before World War II,â McConnell told the Financial Times on Wednesday. âEven the slogan is the same, âAmerica First.â That was what they said in the â30s.â
https://www.ft.com/content/11d29c2f-4575-4f33-9419-b7abca1dbf39
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Like Pelosi, time has now passed by The Turtle.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly I agree that he is on the downslope of his career, but do you disagree with what he is saying?
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Yep.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@taiwan_girl said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
@Jolly I agree that he is on the downslope of his career, but do you disagree with what he is saying?
The story is paywalled. Does he say anything beyond what you quoted?
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@Jolly said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
Yep.
What part do you disagree with,
That we live in a dangerous world?
That America First is a slogan used now?
That America First was a slogan used in the 30s?
Or that Trump handing Putin a W makes the world more dangerous? -
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@jon-nyc said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
If someone tried to forcefully take over your property and the state forced a settlement on you that ceded 25% of it to the aggressor, would you consider that a loss?
I refer you to the second half of my one-sentence post.
"as compared to <whatever the hell anybody expected if Kamala had won>."
What hypothetical outcome, in a Harris regime, are you comparing Trump's "handing Putin a W" to?
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@horace - Does not really go too far beyond, but below is the article.
(Kind of funny, but when I copied and pasted, this "thing" popped up to tell me I should not be copying and pasting articles from the Financial Times. :eek. Hopefully, no one from FT will come to knock on your door!! LOL)
Mitch McConnell is standing in his office smiling. Hanging on the walls are faces, mostly stern, from Washingtonâs past. McConnellâs portrait might soon join them. Last month, the Republican leader in the US Senate stepped down from the role he has held for longer than anyone in US political history. At the age of 82, McConnell is âready to do something elseâ.
A pivotal politician in a tumultuous time, McConnell earned power and used it to shift the country to the right during his 17-year tenure. He won races across the country, raised more than $1bn to boost his colleagues and negotiated trillion-dollar-plus bills, including the aid that lifted the country out of the pandemic. He became enormously influential and broadly unpopular, making enemies among Democrats for blocking judicial nominations to the Supreme Court and among Republicans for his occasional, sharp criticisms of Donald Trump. With the latter preparing to return to the White House next month, the veteran lawmaker issues a warning from Americaâs past. âWeâre in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before world war two,â he says. âEven the slogan is the same. âAmerica First.â That was what they said in the â30s.â
Warming to his historical theme, McConnell turns to one of the portraits behind him, an influential Senate Republican of the wartime era named Robert A Taft. Son of the 27th president William Howard Taft, Robert was âa raging isolationistâ who opposed Lend-Lease before the second world war and both the creation of Nato and the Marshall Plan afterwards, says McConnell. âThank goodness Eisenhower beat him for the [presidential] nomination in â52 and had a much different view of Americaâs role in the world.â
McConnell has been Kentucky senator since 1985. Having committed to serving the final two years of his term, he intends to spend the time pushing back against the increasingly isolationist elements of todayâs GOP. âThe cost of deterrence is considerably less than the cost of war,â he says, reeling off the figures to prove it. In the second world war, the US spent 37 per cent of GDP on the fight. Last year that figure was about 2.7 per cent.
His words are targeted directly at Trump and vice-president-elect JD Vance, who have argued that the US should not be spending any more money on Ukraine. McConnell is a strong believer in the Ronald Reagan view of the US role in the world, rather than the Trump one. âTo most American voters, I think the simple answer is, âLetâs stay out of it.â That was the argument made in the â30s and that just wonât work,â he says. âThanks to Reagan, we know what does work â not just saying peace through strength, but demonstrating it.â
Trump has also said that enemies within the US are more dangerous than Russia and China. âI donât agree with that,â says McConnell.
Though some of his biggest moments as Senate leader came during Trumpâs first presidency, he is no fan of the president-elect. Having blocked Barack Obama from replacing the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, McConnell was instrumental in the confirmation of three conservative justices to the court under Trump. Yet in The Price of Power, a new McConnell biography by reporter Michael Tackett, McConnell calls Trump âstupidâ and a âdespicable human beingâ.
After a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on January 6 2021, McConnell said the then-president was âpractically and morally responsibleâ for inciting the violence. Yet he didnât vote to convict him in the ensuing impeachment trial which, if successful, would have barred Trump from running for the White House again. His rationale was that Trump was already out of office.
Today, McConnell acknowledges for the first time that he voted for Trump last month, although he canât bring himself to mention his name. âI supported the ticket,â he says. Asked if he wishes he had done more to prevent Trump from becoming president again, McConnell says: âThe electionâs over and weâre moving on.â
Itâs characteristic of McConnellâs brand of politics. He prizes GOP power above almost all other considerations. You could call it Republican First. But he recognises that the struggle for the future of his party is an uphill one. âHe has an enormous audience, and he just won a national election, so thereâs no question heâs the most influential Republican out there,â he says of Trump. He also calls Trumpâs recent victory after losing in 2020 a âremarkable comebackâ. As to his own part in shaping the foreign affairs of the next administration, McConnell says, âNo matter who got elected president, I think it was going to require significant pushback, yeah, and I intend to be one of the pushers.â
He will chair the Senate appropriations panelâs subcommittee for defence, making decisions on how to spend billions of dollars for the Pentagon. âThatâs where the real money is,â says McConnell. He doesnât know if the US will spend more on Ukraine military aid but âthe goal here is for the Russians not to winâ. Of Ukraine and Israel, he says, âWeâve got two democratic allies fighting for their lives. I donât think we ought to micromanage what they think is necessary to win.â
McConnellâs appetite for a scrap is not in doubt. He overcame polio at an early age and repeatedly sought recognition from his peers, starting with winning a role as âkingâ in a first-grade school pageant. Through an uncommon devotion to politics, he fought his way up from Senate intern to leader. Reflecting on his legacy, he considers his part in dramatically changing the make-up of the Supreme Court as âthe most important thing that Iâve been involved inâ. The courtâs 2022 decision to overturn Roe vs Wade is just the most prominent example of how the six conservative justices have shifted US law to the right.
A prodigious fundraiser, he has been a staunch advocate for more money in politics. The 2024 presidential and congressional races cost $16bn, according to the non-partisan non-profit Open-Secrets, compared to $5.6bn in 2000. Asked if that is too much, McConnell says: âNo. Itâs not. This is political speech. One of the really good things the Supreme Court has done is to get the government out of telling people how much they can spend advocating their points of view.â
On the day he became the longest-serving party leader in US Senate history, McConnell told his biographer, âI wasnât sure I was good enough.â
Why did he feel that? âI thought of that all along the way,â says McConnell. âMainly, I was filled with gratitude about the men and women that worked with me over the years, who were really smart and made me look better than I was every single day.â His advice on what it takes to endure as a leader is simple: âBe a good listener.â
McConnell faced questions over his health last year when he appeared to freeze while speaking to reporters on two separate occasions. Not long after our meeting it was reported he had suffered a fall in the Capitol. Following the recent Senate leadership elections that confirmed South Dakota senator John Thune as his successor, McConnell is said to have told colleagues he felt âliberatedâ. âI think thatâs a good way to put it,â he smirks. âIn the leader job, you spend a lot of time taking arrows for everybody else and trying to help everybody succeed in ways that they choose to, and you donât give your opinion on a number of things simply because youâre asked.â
I ask about something he wonât miss. McConnell takes a long pause. âWell, I enjoyed it and wanted very much to get the job,â he says. âI just think itâs important to know when to leave the stage.â
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@Horace said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
@jon-nyc said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss:
If someone tried to forcefully take over your property and the state forced a settlement on you that ceded 25% of it to the aggressor, would you consider that a loss?
I refer you to the second half of my one-sentence post.
"as compared to <whatever the hell anybody expected if Kamala had won>."
What hypothetical outcome, in a Harris regime, are you comparing Trump's "handing Putin a W" to?
She would not hand him a W?
If your point is âPutin might still be successful even with us helping Ukraine rather than coercing their surrenderâ thatâs true as far as it goes, but thatâs very different than the US formally recognizing the land grab and lifting sanctions and encouraging Europe to do the same.
