The headlines of today deal with strong scent of Donald J. Trump permeating the Grand ole’ Party….
Some want the stink to go away….
Most are unable resist it….
That….Even if they know they should resist it….
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is trying to hold together a party that Donald Trump might want to tear up
Over the past four years, McDaniel has grown so close to Trump that some Republicans feared her judgment could be impaired by friendship, even as his presidency was imploding and the prospect of him becoming a disruptive force for the party in his post-presidency seemed certain. Her silence or milquetoast criticism during some episodes — his incendiary comments on race, disparaging women’s appearances, promoting policies that separated the children of undocumented migrants from their parents, and labeling the news media as an “enemy of the people” — have made her one of Trump’s most visible enablers, according to her critics. Her allies say it is a more complicated picture.
She chooses her words carefully when contemplating how he might influence the tenor and shape of the party, a delicate question for a partisan stalwart clamped in a vise between Trump’s enormous Republican fan base and nervous establishment figures who would be relieved if he faded away. As Trump’s Senate impeachment trial approaches, some RNC members are leaning on her to at least acknowledge the former president’s direct role in inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, rather than steadfastly denying that he meant to inspire the riot.
Trump’s role in the party during his post-presidency “is going to be up to him in a lot of ways,”….
“The verdict is clear: The vast majority of Republicans will stand firm with former President Trump. The next phase is clear, too: Republicans are rallying around a common grievance that big government, big media and big business are trying to shut them up, shut them out and shut them down,” Axios reports.
“The post-Trump GOP, especially its most powerful media platforms, paint the new reality as an existential threat. This means political attacks are seen — or characterized — as assaults on their very being.”
Moderate Republicans Say party Headed for Disaster
“The Republican Party is riven by internal tensions, and moderate voices fear it is headed for disaster at the hands of the far right,” The Hill reports.
“The centrists’ worry is that the party is branding itself as the party of insurrectionists and conspiracy theorists. This spells catastrophe for the GOP’s ability to appeal beyond a hardcore base, they say.”
Embracing Trump While he Tears Apart the GOP
“Three weeks ago, Donald Trump was radioactive, even in the top quarters of his own party. Now, those same Republicans are convinced they can’t live without the energy he gives off, even if it proves toxic,” Politico reports.
“The GOP is engaged in a delicate dance to keep Trump and his base of voters in the fold while not seeming too beholden to him. Without Trump’s cooperation, the party fears losing a fundraising giant just as it pivots to a midterm cycle in which it hopes to regain majorities in each chamber of Congress.”
I enjoyed Cheney’s response to Matt Gaetz coming to Wyoming to attack her. She said something like “Men who come to Wyoming don’t usually wear makeup”.
Since Wyoming is a pro-family state, I wonder if Matt Gaetz brought his adopted son with him on the trip to score some political points?
Trumpback Mountain?
Let me briefly state that my comment is somewhat sarcastic.
I am not a Gaetz fan and noted when the story appeared that he seemed to be misrepresenting someone as his “adopted son” when it would have been far more accurate to describe his role as more of a family friend/mentor/quasi big brother, that stretched back several years into the other man’s childhood. I said that Gaetz should be criticized for trying to use the term “adopted son.”
Of course someone else on here inferred without any sort of evidence that the relationship was of a sexual nature, which would have made Gaetz a child molester.
In my view, that sort of allegation was out of line, and it should be remembered that accusing a politician you do not like of being a child sex predator is very Q-Anon.
I don’t think that anyone was accusing Gaetz of being a child molester. Nestor Galban apparently was living with his biological father until he turned 18, at which point he moved in with Matt Gaetz. Since 18 is the age of consent, even if there is some sex going on, it would be legal.
I do not have an opinion of Gaetzs relationship with Galvan. It might be similar to that as a big brother.
Makeup Matt supposedly dated Nestor’s sister when he was 12 (Nestor not Matt).
Obviously Matt liked Nestor more than the sister.
Six years later Matt, in a fit of anger, announced he has a son (one that he never legally adopted) in an argument about children of color. Hey, I’ve got one too.
The conventional thinking on the Hill: Matt is competing for the Denny Hastert award!
“May I introduce you to my associate Nestor?”
Hastert was apparently a serial child molester.
I have no reason to believe that Gaetz ever molested this boy. I read recently that Gaetz is now engaged to a relatively young woman, only seven older than Gaetz’s adopted son. I wonder how Gaetz’s fiancé gets along With Nestor? Inquiring minds want to know.
Gaetz is weird.
First, may I suggest you drop the word apparently from the Hastert description. Denny was paying hush money to several men he had molested when they were young wrestlers he had coached. That’s a fact, then Denny went on to become Speaker. As time went on there is some evidence that the Republican leadership had knowledge of this scandal.
Second, Matt is indeed weird and lots of gay staffers on the Hill have said he gives them the creeps, like when Mark Foley would demand hugs from his young male staffers.
Finally, while Matt is dating someone he appears to be always dating someone, and Nestor is now of legal age.
The assumption that Matt is a little light in his loafers isn’t verified but it’s far from much of what people believe about Hillary and children in a pizza parlor or Jewish lasers starting California wild fires.
So, until proven otherwise I, for one, think that Matt is not only a little kinky but that he wears the wrong shade of foundation.
Gaetz is not only dating someone; he apparent got engaged to a much younger woman in late December at Mar a Lago. Jeanine Pirro snapped a picture so we have proof. Gaetz’s son was not in the picture.
I assume that Gaetz is still with his adopted son as He said Galvan is the light of his life,
Well people can be more than one thing right Zreebs, and someone can have one than one light of his life I would suspect.
But, if I had a dollar for every gay man I have known in my life that either was dating a woman or engaged to one at some point I would be able to finance a very nice lunch at my favorite San Francisco restaurant if it actually opens again.
Matt is simply weird and part of the Republican cult of Trump. But, he and folks like Gym Jordan and others are also dangerous.
I don’t think it is a stretch to think that they have been lying about politics for so long that it is only natural to lie about their personal lives. Or simply deny what is staring them in the face.
Does anyone doubt that Gym Jordan didn’t know that young wrestlers were being molested at Ohio State and simply looked the other way?
Perfect training for a future career as a Republican politician.
Matt Gaetz was the only person to vote against an anti-human trafficking bill that passed the senate unanimously and 418-1 in the House. And Gaetz was rated zero by the Human Rights Campaign.
Maybe it is just me, but he comes off as the Trumpiest of all Trumpists. He looks and acts like like a southern evangelical preacher. Matt Gaetz is just really weird.
I have a brother but neither of us refers to each other as “the light of their life.”
QAnon believes in some incredibly outrageous things.
I don’t have reason to believe that Gaetz is a child molester, And there may be a good reason why 1Nestor Galvan left his biological father to be with Gaetz at age 18.
But Considering how offended CG gets when someone accuses him of something, isn’t it a little ironic that he compares Keith to a QAnon supporter for believing that Gaetz adopting Nestor at 18 sounds suspicious. QAnon believes that Biden drinks baby blood.
As in There Will Be Blood ?
Remember that Alan Simpson (whatever you might think of opinions or actions) came from Wyoming, and he’s never seemed to be one who takes heed of this kind of pressure from outsiders.
He (rightly or wrongly) was against recurring deficits before and after opposing recurring deficits was cool.
From Political Wire:
Once Trump left office, some Republicans claimed the party would return to normalcy. That’s the bet Sen. Mitch. McConnell and Rep. Liz Cheney apparently made when they tried to cut Trump loose after he incited the riot at the Capitol.
Trump is now in charge of nothing. He can’t sign tax cuts. He can’t appoint judges. He can’t repeal regulations. Trump literally has nothing of substance to offer Republicans, and yet the vast majority the party sticks with him.
It’s critical for Democrats to also understand that Trump isn’t an aberration. He’s the logical extension of where the Republican party has been headed for decades. It doesn’t take much squinting to see how a party that once implemented a “Southern strategy” based on racism could end up with an actual white supremacist as its leader years later.
Trump’s final contribution to his party’s evolution was to attempt to stay in power through any means possible. It didn’t work this time but it dangerously showed what might be possible. For a party that has won the popular vote just once in the last eight presidential elections, that’s going to be a useful strategy to try again. It’s almost impossible to imagine the next Republican president willingly relinquishing power.
The Republican civil war is already mostly over. Sure, there will be some divisive Republican primaries and a few attempts to corral the most extreme GOP lawmakers. But the party has chosen it’s direction.
Note the statement about relinquishing power. Republicans on the State level are already looking for new ways to suppress minority votes and reject election outcomes they don’t like.
No amount of what about spin can change what is right in front of our faces, unless of course you are just in denial.
I agree with the too of ur comment Keith…
I think that Trump WILL fade fairly quckly…
Past experience has been that the man fucks up just about EVERYTHING he touches…
I’m thinking this will be no exception…
james, If you agree with Keith’s comment, then why did you say that Trump will fade quickly? As I read it, Keith’s post suggests that Trumpism is here to stay.
The above post has nothng to do with the post above it.
“Agree?”
I’m referring to James post ,not Zreebs.
As often happens ,James has trouble understanding what a post actually says.
James, read what I posted.
‘too’ should read ‘TOP ‘ of ur comment…..
I continue to feel that Trump WILL fade from the GOP scene….
I do N OT agree that Trumpism is here to stay nor do I believe that ‘Trumpism’ is completely about Trump…The Big is just the loudest mouthpiece reminding right-wingers that they do NOT like Democrats and lefties….
I wish Matt Gaetz would go hunting with VP Dick Chenney…
Bdog?
He, he, he
That IS Cold!
For what it’s worth, the New York Times columnist David Brooks lands on the pessimistic side (from his own anti-Trump perspective) of the debate about whether the G.O.P. can recover from being Trump’s plaything — in our own terms, more on Jack’s side than James’.
Judy Woodruff (on the PBS New Hour):
….What’s going on inside the Republican Party?
David Brooks:
Yes, first, if it was my party, I’d be running it a hell of a lot better than they’re doing right now.
(LAUGHTER)
David Brooks:
So, what’s happening is, there were a couple days after the Trump — January 6, then when Trump left, where I thought the party was really going to shake off a bit of Trump, obviously not all, but at least have two wings, at least have a wing that says, Trump was one thing, but we still have our conservative beliefs, and we’re going to try to work with that other wing, and we will fight with the other wing.
But, as far as I can tell, the normal wing has collapsed. We have a party right now where you have Mary Taylor Greene. It’s easier to be a Republican and be Mary (sic) Taylor Greene than it is to be Liz Cheney.
And so a normal Republican is — now has her job threatened, and the other one is now taking over the publicity wing of the party. You see the loss. You see Matt Gaetz, the very Trumpy guy, going to Wyoming to run against Liz Cheney, where Rob Portman, who’s a normal human being, a very smart human being, and, frankly, a very good human being, a senator from Ohio, decides to retire, because he can’t get anything done.
Then you see — I’m forgetting his name — Madison Cawthorn, a young freshman from — a Republican, who says — he writes an e-mail to his staff saying: I’m putting all my staff into communications, not into legislation.
And a lot of these Trumpy Republicans, they run for office so they can get on FOX News, not to pass things.
And so what we’re seeing is a party that is, as one person said, on fire, and going, in my mind, in the complete opposite direction, which makes life pretty easy for Joe Biden….
Judy Woodruff:
David, what’s it going to take to fix this?
David Brooks:
Yes, well, I’d like to see an intraparty warfare.
I — the problem is, the normal Republicans are so far just taking this lying down. They’re laying low. I think they’re — some of them are afraid of death threats. Some of them just don’t want to get in the way of the Trump train.
But you look at people like John Thune, you look at people like Susan Collins, you look people like Mitt Romney, who’s been a tower of courage, by the way, over the last several months. Somehow, that wing of the party has got to get itself together, so it can stand against the wing that is very proud and loud right now.
And if we don’t have some sort of rivalry over the soul of the party, it’s not only the Rob Portmans of the world who are going to leave it. It’s suburban voters. There are a lot of voters on that side who do not like what happened on January 6, and they’re not going to stay for long.
So, the survival of the party depends on the rallying of what we used to think of as normal Republicans. And so far, they have — they have been — they have stuck their head up here and there, but there’s been no rallying, no organization, not much of a caucus.
And so there has to be at least the fight to defend the party.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brooks-and-capehart-on-bidens-first-full-week-and-the-state-of-the-republican-party
I pretty much agree with Brooks’s analysis here.
Notice Brooks openly is calling for “intraparty warfare.”As he notes the anti Trump side is “taking this lying down.”I’ve referred slightly more charitably to it as “guerilla warfare.”A statement here,a warning there.Thats not going to do it.
Bottom line?We await the “Civil War.”
It’s definitely not happening presently.
Republican Skirmishes ARE few and far between but they ARE OCCURRING….
There don’t appear to be any foot soldiers ready to engage in the field in this war Jack.
How much longer can people deny that Trump is in total control of their Party?
The GOP tried to cancel an election that they lost and they are moving on the state level to do so in the future. They no longer believe in democracy. The Democrats are the only political party that champions democracy in this country.
The only question for the GOP today, do you support Donald Trump? Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ring Thursday. Did Trump ask him to drop to his knees?
The Republicans don’t value Democracy any more, but I suspect there are some third parties that do. I would say Libertarians, but after watching Rand Paul, who knows about them? Justin Amash delivered.
Brook’s analysis is spot on….
As Brooks stated, the intra-party warfare started briefly on January 6, but the Trumpists have subsequently won. McConnell backed off his comments and McCarthy went to FL to apologize.
One might think that afterTrump lost this election in a year that the GOP picked up quite a few house seats that more of the GOP would want to rid themselves of Trump. But that number is currently at most 10% now and it is falling.
Just think how weird it is for Matt Gaetz to go to Wyoming to campaign against fellow Republican Cheney. For what? What does he intend to accomplish and why?
If Trump is in charge of the party now after what just happened, then what is going to make that change in two years or 4 years? And as more people leave the GOP, the Trump wing only becomes stronger.
For CG…
“…I don’t lick anyone’s boots.”
Jacob Monty
Wealthy Texas GOP Donor
Telling CNN why he’s no longer a Republican
Tell that to Ted Cruz. Or little Marco. Or Kevin McCarthy?
Marco Rubio is one of my favorite empty suits.
When I watch him talking ,I can almost hear those famous words uttered by Ross Perots running mate,James B Stockdale at the 1992 VP debate,
“Who am I,why am I here.?”
Is Marco worried about Ivanka running against him?
If she runs?
Yeah he better be!
I don’t see Marco beating Ivanka either.
Marco just likes power. He has No core values. My visceral reaction when I see him is similar to that of when I see Lindsay Graham, just not as extreme.
He, he, he
It’s like they can’t get rid of the stink…
The South Carolina Republican Party Executive Committee has voted to censure Cong. Tom Rice for voting to Impeach Trump.
I bet Rice “learns his lesson”. Or retires.
Censure seems to going around , eh?
My view on censure is it’s nothing….
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Sunday brushed off the state Republican Party’s censure of him as an “action of very little consequence.”
“The party in Arizona has had a long history of discontent. This is just the latest example,” the Republican governor said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”…
More…