Jonathan Bernstein over at Bloomberg argues that it really isn’t….
He points to the media saying the same thing about past Republicans , only to see their disappearing , and their influence going with them out the door….
Hmmmm?
Well…
I agree with Bernstein who agree’s with …Elizabeth Drew’s “Washington Journal: The Events of 1973-1974,”
(Both use Siro Agnew as a prime example)
While Donald Trump occupies center stage?
Republicans lawmakers in Washington DC don’t really like the guy….
They have gone their own way against him on things…
And most are resentful that they have to pretend they agree with the guy on some things they really don’t….(He adopted their party and stole their supports from them and use that support to beat down on them just as he did during the 2016 GOP nomination race)
Once Trump trips once to many times and decides he needs to go back to his old job and leave the spotlight?
I agree that Republicans will most probably go back to pre-Trump times actions…
I’ve been re-reading Elizabeth Drew’s “Washington Journal: The Events of 1973-1974,” as one does in these times. As people may not recall, the scandal that took down Vice President Spiro Agnew peaked just before the Saturday Night Massacre. Agnew resigned on Oct. 10; the court ruling that precipitated the tapes crisis between Richard Nixon and Archibald Cox came down on the 12th, the same day Gerald Ford was nominated for vice president; and Nixon fired Cox on Oct. 20.
What’s striking is Drew’s analysis — which I think reflects the conventional wisdom of the time — of Nixon’s reaction to Agnew’s growing legal troubles before his resignation. The vice president, she says, was a favorite of Republican conservatives:
The President appears to be trapped by, and somewhat frightened of, the Vice-President. Reporters’ conversations with with White House staff members confirm this. The President is said to be worried that the Vice-President will turn his constituency against the President … Richard Nixon selected Spiro Agnew as his running mate in 1968 in order to build a certain constituency, and kept him on the ticket in 1972 because Agnew had succeeded in doing so. Now that Nixon is in trouble, he needs Agnew’s constituency.
Drew went on to say that Agnew “appealed to the anger and discontent in America” and “articulated grievances” against the news media and others. All true — except it turned out that when Agnew resigned in disgrace, it wasn’t “his” constituency at all. He was just borrowing it, and once he resigned, Agnew immediately faded into irrelevance while the constituency marched on.
It wasn’t his. It wasn’t George Wallace’s. It wasn’t, and isn’t, anyone’s — not even Ronald Reagan’s. It’s certainly not Sarah Palin’s. And I’m fairly sure it’s not Donald Trump’s, either….
image…talkingpoointsmemo.com
Well for the time being it is Donald Trump’s party. Case in point: Mike DeWine, former Ohio Senator and AG now running for Governor is running ads attacking his GOP primary opponent for failing to endorse Trump in 2016.
I don’t recall DeWine being anything but a mainstream conservative in the Senate. If mainstream Republicans are insisting on fealty to Trump I’d say it’s his party for the foreseeable future. If you want to defeat Trumpism you gotta defeat Republicans. Plain and simple.
Agreed Scott….
He adopted and stole it in broad daylingt and is now pimping it to his advantage…
Again?
I do NOT think he will change things in the end….
You cannot steal things that are offered to you on a silver platter.
And, he has already changed the Party in his image, but that was always his image to begin with. Trump just put it all on heat.
Yes. The GOP base was much like Trump before Trump came along. It had to have been or he eouldn’t have won. It wasn’t Trump’s intellectual arguments that stirred passions or changed people’s minds. It was his style that the GOP base craved, which was consistent with the political positions that the GOP base has been espousing for years.
Of course.
James wants desperately to believe however that Trump in some manner “hoodwinked” these poor gullible Republicans.That they “really” didn’t want him .They were suffering from something like “temporary insanity” or something.
Cow Manure.
They knew exactly what they were getting and ,despite the efforts of James and others to pretend otherwise?
The Like it!
Correction Jack….
GOP lawmakers….The party…
Those poor gullible Trump supporter would probably do ANYTHING Trump wanted…
But yea…
I maintain that as soon as he leaves the stage?
The party ‘system lords’ will go right back to their own way as they actually HAVE been doing ALL ALONG…
We view things different from time to time Jack….
Yea, I would compare this phenomenon to the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’
Gullible? No, actually the majority of Republican voters have now found someone who is just like they are and who speaks the same racist language. Notice, Trump’s approval numbers go up every time he attacks immigrants, a sports figure, or gets into a nasty exchange with any person of color on his twitter feed.
This “adopted” bullshit is getting very old, another example of James making a silly offhand comment and then refusing to admit he was wrong. Very much like his constant refrain that Bernie would make Hillary a better candidate, or that the Brits would work Brexit out. Wrong on both counts.
I know that a committed Republican like Corey is loath to admit his Party is filled with racists, actually controlled by racists, but I cannot see why a Hillary supporter would cling to the silly idea that the Republican Party is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. This wasn’t a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, they were all too happy to give their nomination to this Orange racist piece of shit.
Republican primary candidates all over the country are competing to see who can out Trump their opponents. Republicans in Congress are protecting him from investigations as I type this, and appear to be willing to let him fire the special counsel if it keeps his Administration operating for a little while longer. Trump’s agenda is their agenda, anti-environment, anti-civil rights, isolationist, and pro-rich folks.
Republicans are putting their party over the country, as Trump is putting his business interests (and illegal activities) over the country. They are partners in crime. They need each other to continue this scam on the American people. And the smart Republicans are getting out (see Paulie Ryan). But, they are getting out, instead of fighting for what is right and protecting the rule of law.
Trump is doing lasting damage to both his Party and democracy in general. His ill-informed, racist, and uneducated Republican supporters will follow him anywhere he tweets, and have no respect for the rule of law or tradition. The damage he has done will take years to fix. And, like Nixon’s Southern Strategy will be with us for years to come.
I agree that a lot of present Republican officeholders don’t like Trump and ocassionally will even mildly criticize him , but, smartly they refrain from major criticism (unless they are not seeking re-election like Flake and Corker,for example.)
Why?
Simple.Its bad politics.
The reason some of us refer to it as Trumps party is due to the fact that rank and file Republican voters overwhelmingly support him and Republican politicians and candidates “get” that as per Scott’s example.
The bottom line is that nothing is forever in politics and loyalty and popularity can be quite fleeting.
He took over the party in what felt like a flash, after numerous polls showed him immensely unpopular among rank and file Republicans and he can lose the party in a flash too, despite what those Republicans now say about him in polls.
“Could”
“Might”
Or might not.
What’s for certain is that right now,today?
Yes it is very much Donald Trumps Party.
And Elizabeth Taylor and Larry King were at times certain all their marriages would last forever.
Trump will catch them
This is hysterical. The entire Republican establishment is defending and deflecting for Donald Trump and are clearly committed to making sure nothing happens to his Presidency (did anyone hear what Mitch McConnell had to say today?).
And still with the adopted bullshit. The Congressional Republicans even told Nixon to get out of Dodge and retire to California. But, no such visit to Orange Donnie. I guess Trump is more of a Republican than Nixon ever was — they won’t mess with him.
Hope springs eternal for our Republican apologists here. But, no sign of those Republicans giving up on Trump. They may have to come up with some more excuses why the seems to be total silence on the Hill about their “Great White Hope.”
Contrast the Republicans’ reactions to Donald Trump now to those they had half-a-century ago to Barry Goldwater after 1964.
A large part of the party followed Ronald Reagan (elected Gov. of Calif. in 1966) as Goldwater’s standard bearer (“no pastel shades”); a comparable if not larger part preferred candidates —such as Governors Rockefeller (N.Y.), Romney (Mich.) and Rhodes (Ohio) — who took a more-moderate tone; and the party eventually unified around a candidate who’d not only worked very hard for GOP candidates of all stripes in the 1966 mid-terms but could make plausible appeals (or at least be acceptable) to both factions: Richard Nixon.
Of course, the big difference between 1964 and 2016 is that Goldwater lost in a historic landslide, taking with him dozens of Republican Congressmen, governors and lesser officials, while Trump squeaked through at the same time that many once-vulnerable down-ballot Republicans also squeaked through (e.g. Roy Blunt in Mo., Ron Johnson in Wisc., Pat Toomey in Pa, Rob Portman in Ohio, Todd Young in Ind.)
Could we be seeing a 1964ish repeat DSD?
Despite Jack’s insistence…
I have pushed the concept and view that Trump may have a high approval form supporter around the country…
But the system lords of the party DO NOT feel that way….
The fear could melt away in 2 seconds if the November election do turn out to be a Democratic tsunami in Congress and in State houses…