3 ms·

I think the catch is that for the GOP it's an all Trump party. If you're not with Trump you're out anyway ... so even from the start opposing Trump means your

by duxup 2y ago

I think the catch is that for the GOP it's an all Trump party. If you're not with Trump you're out anyway ... so even from the start opposing Trump means your out, regardless of an election.

zozbot234 2y ago
This can change very quickly, though. Everyone right now is hearing the "giant sucking sound" of the economy going down the toilet due to entirely self-inflicted damage. There's no way that the broader Republican constituency is going to ignore this fact, regardless of Trump.
- duxup 2y ago
  I agree to some extent, but many of the independent voices in that party have been discarded in favor of others. Even in the early days of Trumps first term they struggled for weeks to shutdown Obamacare and … just gave up as they couldn’t legislate. It’s a party that by design is missing leadership.
- hayst4ck 2y ago
  I don't really think it can. I think it's wrong to view the GOP as a party of elected officials. The GOP has elected officials, but Fox news/Rogan/etc, the Heritage Foundation, project 2025, the NRA, palantir, cambridge analyitica, twitter, Zuckerberg, bezos, and many other funded and powerful institutions are behind every individual congressperson. So you're not talking about a decision that is made individually. Republicans for all of their flaws, act with a great amount of solidarity, which is what makes them powerful, they are able to punish anyone that breaks that solidarity, and for many GOP people who are also criminals protected by their position, the punishments could even be quite severe if they forgo the protection of party by dissenting. The only meaningful act of dissent that even comes to mind was John McCain who was dying.
- ninkendo 2y ago
  > There's no way that the broader Republican constituency is going to ignore this fact, regardless of Trump. There’s no such thing as the broader Republican Party. It’s just Trump now. It’s like when a CEO packs a board with his friends and family, you don’t expect that board to keep the CEO in check. In addition, Trump is a cult-like leader. His supporters will never, ever, ever break from him. They could lose every last penny, it wouldn’t matter. They’d blame the democrats. Trump is infallible and to question that is to attack them personally, they are unable to separate themselves from him at this point. This is not hyperbole, it is an observation of fact for the last 8 years. He has never lost supporters. Everyone that has bet on him losing support from congress or his base, has been hilariously and spectacularly wrong, every single time. (Including me… I used to be pretty hooked on Trump news in his first presidency, thinking “this will surely sink him” after every single scandal. I still want to believe it’ll happen. But I know now it never will. You can only be wrong so many times before you realize it’ll never happen.) The only realistic path to checking Trump is a massive blue wave in 2026 from pissed off (non-Trump-base) voters. But that’s 2 years away.

by duxup 2y ago

I think the catch is that for the GOP it's an all Trump party. If you're not with Trump you're out anyway ... so even from the start opposing Trump means your out, regardless of an election.

zozbot234 2y ago

This can change very quickly, though. Everyone right now is hearing the "giant sucking sound" of the economy going down the toilet due to entirely self-inflicted damage. There's no way that the broader Republican constituency is going to ignore this fact, regardless of Trump.

duxup 2y ago
I agree to some extent, but many of the independent voices in that party have been discarded in favor of others. Even in the early days of Trumps first term they struggled for weeks to shutdown Obamacare and … just gave up as they couldn’t legislate. It’s a party that by design is missing leadership.
hayst4ck 2y ago
I don't really think it can. I think it's wrong to view the GOP as a party of elected officials. The GOP has elected officials, but Fox news/Rogan/etc, the Heritage Foundation, project 2025, the NRA, palantir, cambridge analyitica, twitter, Zuckerberg, bezos, and many other funded and powerful institutions are behind every individual congressperson. So you're not talking about a decision that is made individually. Republicans for all of their flaws, act with a great amount of solidarity, which is what makes them powerful, they are able to punish anyone that breaks that solidarity, and for many GOP people who are also criminals protected by their position, the punishments could even be quite severe if they forgo the protection of party by dissenting. The only meaningful act of dissent that even comes to mind was John McCain who was dying.
ninkendo 2y ago
> There's no way that the broader Republican constituency is going to ignore this fact, regardless of Trump. There’s no such thing as the broader Republican Party. It’s just Trump now. It’s like when a CEO packs a board with his friends and family, you don’t expect that board to keep the CEO in check. In addition, Trump is a cult-like leader. His supporters will never, ever, ever break from him. They could lose every last penny, it wouldn’t matter. They’d blame the democrats. Trump is infallible and to question that is to attack them personally, they are unable to separate themselves from him at this point. This is not hyperbole, it is an observation of fact for the last 8 years. He has never lost supporters. Everyone that has bet on him losing support from congress or his base, has been hilariously and spectacularly wrong, every single time. (Including me… I used to be pretty hooked on Trump news in his first presidency, thinking “this will surely sink him” after every single scandal. I still want to believe it’ll happen. But I know now it never will. You can only be wrong so many times before you realize it’ll never happen.) The only realistic path to checking Trump is a massive blue wave in 2026 from pissed off (non-Trump-base) voters. But that’s 2 years away.