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I'm in the camp that the Republicans are toast. The people in power today will never give it up. Especially with such power.

CamperBob2 6y ago
Aren't the Republicans in power today? Who else can they blame for losing it, but themselves? They knew who Trump was all along [1], but they stuck by him nevertheless. There are bound to be consequences for that kind of poor judgment. 1: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-trump/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-tr...
majormajor 6y ago
There's less of a media monoculture today than there was in an 80s and 90s, when the Republican perception of media persecution and bias really started to accelerate. Basically all of the resulting right-wing media empires that were built still exist! I'm unsympathetic to the "we need a right-wing social network where our death threats don't have to get moderated" argument, so let's see if a few more attempts that are in more good faith get blocked by Apple before I care too much there... The problem with how far these big chunks of their voter base have gone into extremism is that it really undermines their complaints about being treated unfairly. If I'd predicted even a year ago that people would get shot storming the capital over unsubstantiated claims of fraud that Trump himself had stirred for the better part of a year I'd have been mocked even by "moderate" Republicans as having "trump derangment syndrome" and told I was being unfair to Trump by assuming he would act so badly... and yet here we are. At some point we have to start dealing with Trump, and his base, for who they actually are now, not just in idealistic terms of "Repubs and Dems are the same, just on opposite sides."
dragonwriter 6y ago
> I’m in the camp that the Republicans are toast. The people in power today will never give it up. The people in power today in the Federal government are the Republicans, with the exception of the House of Representatives.
blisterpeanuts 6y ago
Except for the Senate run-off and of course the White House, the Republicans actually were quite successful in the 2020 election; they took back 9-10 seats in the House, flipped one Senate seat, and won many state and local elections. It may be that the people in power will make it harder in the future for the opposition party to win, but at a grassroots level there is still substantial traction for a moderate/conservative party.
- germinalphrase 6y ago
  “there is still substantial traction for a moderate/conservative party” which the Republican Party has actively been moving away from since Newt Gingrich intensified the obstructionist power politics that both parties are on rails about.
  - blisterpeanuts 6y ago
    Trump foreign policy was to stay out of armed conflict and that's about as moderate a policy as you can get.
    - germinalphrase 6y ago
      Which is an atypical position for a member of his party, nor does it contradict the rhetorical and political hardening that had taken place since the 90’s.
dang 6y ago
Would you please stop using HN primarily for political battle? That is the line at which we ban accounts, because it destroys what this site is supposed to be for, namely curious conversation on topics of intellectual interest. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.

CamperBob2 6y ago

Aren't the Republicans in power today? Who else can they blame for losing it, but themselves? They knew who Trump was all along [1], but they stuck by him nevertheless. There are bound to be consequences for that kind of poor judgment. 1: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-trump/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-tr...

majormajor 6y ago

There's less of a media monoculture today than there was in an 80s and 90s, when the Republican perception of media persecution and bias really started to accelerate. Basically all of the resulting right-wing media empires that were built still exist! I'm unsympathetic to the "we need a right-wing social network where our death threats don't have to get moderated" argument, so let's see if a few more attempts that are in more good faith get blocked by Apple before I care too much there... The problem with how far these big chunks of their voter base have gone into extremism is that it really undermines their complaints about being treated unfairly. If I'd predicted even a year ago that people would get shot storming the capital over unsubstantiated claims of fraud that Trump himself had stirred for the better part of a year I'd have been mocked even by "moderate" Republicans as having "trump derangment syndrome" and told I was being unfair to Trump by assuming he would act so badly... and yet here we are. At some point we have to start dealing with Trump, and his base, for who they actually are now, not just in idealistic terms of "Repubs and Dems are the same, just on opposite sides."

dragonwriter 6y ago

> I’m in the camp that the Republicans are toast. The people in power today will never give it up. The people in power today in the Federal government are the Republicans, with the exception of the House of Representatives.

blisterpeanuts 6y ago

Except for the Senate run-off and of course the White House, the Republicans actually were quite successful in the 2020 election; they took back 9-10 seats in the House, flipped one Senate seat, and won many state and local elections. It may be that the people in power will make it harder in the future for the opposition party to win, but at a grassroots level there is still substantial traction for a moderate/conservative party.

germinalphrase 6y ago
“there is still substantial traction for a moderate/conservative party” which the Republican Party has actively been moving away from since Newt Gingrich intensified the obstructionist power politics that both parties are on rails about.
- blisterpeanuts 6y ago
  Trump foreign policy was to stay out of armed conflict and that's about as moderate a policy as you can get.
  - germinalphrase 6y ago
    Which is an atypical position for a member of his party, nor does it contradict the rhetorical and political hardening that had taken place since the 90’s.

dang 6y ago

Would you please stop using HN primarily for political battle? That is the line at which we ban accounts, because it destroys what this site is supposed to be for, namely curious conversation on topics of intellectual interest. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.