Republicans who have refused to bend to Trump insist the GOP can be rebuilt – but if he wins, all bets are off
The former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney “hopes to be able to rebuild” the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. Mitt Romney, the retiring Utah senator and former presidential nominee, reportedly hopes so too.
Among other prominent Republicans who refuse to bow the knee, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is running for a US Senate seat in a party led by Trump but insists he can be part of a post-Trump GOP.
Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair turned MSNBC host, advocated more dramatic action: “We have to blow this crazy-ass party up and have it regain its senses, or something else will be born out of it. There are only two options here. Hogan will be a key player in whatever happens. Liz Cheney, [former congressmen] Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh – all of us who have been pushed aside and fortunately were not infected with Maga, we will have something to say about what happens on 6 November.”
If Trump loses, I don't know that there will be a Republican party. The top people all hate each other and the only thing that unites them is brown-nosing Trump. They will tear the party apart all trying to replace him.
I have to think there's something going on behind the scenes to organize a schism in the GOP, no matter what happens in this election. I think it's unlikely that Liz Cheney and people like her will be able to wrest control of the current Republican party away from the fart sniffers, so they're going to have to split and make a new party.
The outstanding question is "Why haven't they done this already?" Maybe there's just not enough solid support to pull it off ahead of the election, surely because there are a lot of people who are sniffing the farts out of fear, and they don't want to burn that bridge yet.
Pay real close attention after this election. Lindsey Graham is going to show his other face again, and a whole bunch of other politicians will, too. Yes, there needs to be a path to redemption, but that path is going to have to include resignation for the likes of Graham, Vance, McConnell, anyone who supported Trump, then very much didn't, and then supported him again. Such people cannot be entrusted with elected office.
so they're going to have to split and make a new party.
They know if they split off, they will lose the party forever. Voters will never switch, they need the Republican brand. This isn't about 4 years later, this is about long term.
Trump brings out the crazies to the primaries like no one else. This is why the old school just keeps their head down, they're just waiting for Trump to bow out and hopefully the crazies eventually stop showing up to the primary.
The Democratic party will become the new right wing party. The question is whether the Republican party will survive in a new hyper fascist mode, or a real left wing party will pick up the pieces.
My hope is for the latter, but realistically it'll be the former.
The entire Republican base will just vote red all the way down no matter who is in the ballot so I don’t think there is a scenario where the Republican Party ever dissolves. They could run a monkey for state senate in red districts and it would win office.
I'm saying the Republican party itself will fracture into more than one party. I just don't see them uniting without a cult of personality at this point.
We don't have to have a two-party system. There's no law requiring the Republican party to stay together. It's just in their best interest to do so. I don't know that they'll care about what's in their best interest after Trump. They'll be too busy tearing each other apart, something they've wanted to do since 2015.
You say that but how do you unite extremist and moderate views? You don’t, it’s unsustainable. So no the party won’t fail to exist but if it fractures enough, it will take time to reform. A pretty long time.
I used to see it that way but now? I doubt it will be that simple. So what if Trump is gone and no other republican leader can fit his shoes? Do they even have to?
Maybe it can be even more beneficial for the republicans to have a dead Trump. They can finally have complete control over his thoughts, his brand, image, his idealogy. With ai technology they can insert a nostalgic idealized version of Trump that he never was. More charismatic, more cohesive, malleable, and eternal. A figure like Jesus, like Mlk, like founding fathers. Who cares the real trump is dead? You can do anything with a base that is so hopelessly lost.
Somehow no other Repub is that shameless or that willing to behave like a schoolyard bully. The secret sauce is a guy who will say bigoted dictator shit out loud while doing an endless and uninterrupted parade of scandals.
I don't know why they are unable to reproduce it since the party is full of shamelessly corrupt bigots who should in theory be willing to try. I guess looking like a complete dipshit hurts their pride, whereas Donald is an actual dipshit so it comes naturally.
As long as there is a large concentration of a anti-education, anti-intellectual, and nationalistic brained people in easily gerrymandered areas there will probably always be a conservative party. The GOP has been playing their hateful scared brains like a fiddle for a good four plus decades, and they won't go quietly into the night.
Maybe if we didn't have a poorly planned two party system they'd have far less actual power.
I would be a bad Star Trek moderator if I didn't quote Jean-Luc Picard:
There will be a time when you will need to remember that no matter how bleak or unwinnable a situation, as long as you and your crew remain steadfast in your dedication, one to another, you are never ever without hope.
It really won't be hard. Both sides (the trumpet and the old school) know they need the Republican brand to win. They'll have a primary and then they'll do what they do best: fall in line.
Trump happened because large segments of US voters feel disenfranchised and resentful, as they feel they have been left behind and that their lives have been made worse by the policies of the political establishment and experts. If said political establishment and the experts want to end the Trump movement and prevent something similar from happening again, they're going to have to address the concerns of dissatisfied voters. I don't really think either party knows how to go about doing that.
I think part of the reason for that is there's still significant discussion about what has caused so many Americans to become so unhappy with leadership, and you can't really come up with a solution until you correctly identify the problem. I still don't think the experts have a very good grasp on why Americans are upset. Until they figure it out, they can't come up with a solution, and until they come up with a solution, movements like Trumpism are still very possible.
Trump is happening because far right republicans realized after Watergate that if they wanted to get away with crimes in the future, that they needed to have news that presents "alternate" facts that are favorable to their narrative or that would at the least muddy the waters. Roger Ailes his plan worked basically.
Without censoring his appearances, Trump comes across as petulant/weak/selfish/stupid/hateful/... Without censoring his history, republican voters would have known that he was a serial scam artist, serial adulterer, ... Basically without that alternate fact media supporting rightwing skullduggery, there would never have been a president Trump.
Imo it's nonsense to claim that Trump getting elected, is happening because voters are angry because of mysterious reasons that no one can figure out, when those voters are so misinformed that they consistently vote against their own interests and believe stupid conspiracy theories that are being pushed to rile them up against the "other". As long as that many people live in an alternate reality based on lies and hate, there is no helping them. So the challenge becomes: how do you bring them out of it and how do you prevent it from happening again in the future.
it's nonsense to claim that Trump getting elected, is happening because voters are angry because of mysterious reasons that no one can figure out...
That's not exactly what I am saying. It's more that there isn't yet a consensus of what the root problem is. There are a lot of theories, sure, like yours. That's one theory, but, confident though you may be that that is the exact problem, not everyone agrees, or at least they think there's more to it than that.
I think there might be some truth to your theory, but I don't agree with the idea that these people are essentially doing fine, but they've been brainwashed into thinking they're not doing fine. That it's all just a result of some kind of mass hypnosis. That kind of erases the very real problems that many of these people do face.
The new left party that forms in the wake of the Republican implosion will rise out of the growing union movement that is already organizing to address that fundamental problem.
Trump happened because large segments of US voters feel disenfranchised and resentful, as they feel they have been left behind and that their lives have been made worse by the policies of the political establishment and experts.
Plus "and their solution is to oppress outgroups so that, in comparison, they have more status."
I don’t think anyone really hates Jo Millionaire. Jo, the master electrician that lives down the street and employs 5-10 electricians from apprentice to employee-master is a millionaire and contributes positively to their local community. Creating jobs through helping people with their electrical projects, spending in the local economy, etc. And that’s a realistic goal for their apprentices to aspire and work towards.
Unfortunately that’s who republican voters think they’re voting to support.
But they’ve been duped; they’re actually voting to support the Billionaire Aristocrats of the world who pull up the ladder behind them through monetary influence of politics and not paying a damn dime on their ‘income’ (because they’re “borrowing against” their unfathomable hoard).
“They” know why the voters and disenfranchised and that’s their fucking plan—because it keeps them employed and wining and dining fancy with their Aristocrat puppet masters.
I don’t think anyone really hates Jo Millionaire. Jo, the master electrician that lives down the street and employs 5-10 electricians from apprentice to employee-master is a millionaire and contributes positively to their local community.
I think that's true, but some Jo millionaires get rich enough to become part of the billionaire aristocrats. That's the goal, isn't it? Don't most business owners want to grow their business and their wealth, seemingly indefinitely? Maybe that's why the millionaires are such strong supporters of the billionaires: because they ultimately aspire to be among them. Obviously, most won't be able to achieve that, but they aspire to it nonetheless.
It'd be great if any of them had a proper ground game for local elections instead of just popping up every 4 years and only hyping a presidential candidate. They look too disorganized to take seriously.
There are vast political differences between elected officials within each of the two main parties. That’s how the nation compensates for the two party system. Change a party from within -it’s absolutely possible and has been done before- instead of pissing and moaning that your little boutique clique “party” isn’t popular.
Even if he loses this election he'll be a kingmaker behind the scenes for the rest of his life. On top of being the default candidate every 4 years until he dies.
We're gonna be deprogramming these people for the rest of our lives.
Are they going to rebuild or they just trying to migrate and take over the Democratic Party? We have this tendency to assume that this country is going to be two parties just as they are right now for the rest of our time but parties have changed in America many times. Hell, these two parties virtually swap places once. Nothing says it can't happen again.
Are they going to rebuild or they just trying to migrate and take over the Democratic Party?
This is exactly what I think is happening. The result of R destroying itself is somehow turning out to be no political home for progressives and left of them in US politics.
A lot has shifted over time, but the default state of American politics has always been two dominant parties.
That said, I could absolutely see a scenario where an American centrist party forms, still solidly to the right of most Western democracy, but centrist by current local standards, which not only pulls in the non-MAGA Republicans but also moderate Democrats, blue collar Dems from purple states, and once it gains traction and wins a few races, massive support from corporations and lobbies.
They'd win landslide victories over both older parties, especially as progressives and leftists gained greater control of the Democratic party through the flight of the moderates to the new centrist party, which would in turn drive even more establishment Dems to the new party.
They could run on nothing more than "common sense compromise, unity, and moving beyond the partisan squabbling that has plagued the country for decades", and be successful for at least 3 cycles before they even had to really take up any issues in earnest.
The deep South would stay red, the West cost, new York, and Illinois would stay blue, but I could see all of the mid Atlantic, Midwest, plains states, new England, and Southwest going for a viable centrist party.
For a long few years, national level politics would be absolute fucking chaos.
I'm not sure about New England. New Hampshire and Maine such a party would probably work in, but I am doubtful of any of the rest. MA and VT are two of the most left-leaning states in the country.
After the dictator dies, there is always a battle of wannabes trying to replace him, a map of regional warlords trying to be the next Grand Cheetoh. Hopefully those regional warlords fall into obscurity and sanity prevails
Nope. Assuming that Trump loses (which I had thought was a foregone conclusion, but genocide and stupidity is a hell of a drug).....
People like being on the winning team. And having lost the popular vote three times in a row, Trumpism will start to fade. Republicans will switch to the Democrat party, cementing the current rightwards shift. Imagine the Democrats being pro-border in 2020? 2022?
The only silver lining is that in 8 to 10 years we might actually see a progressive party emerge.
If Trump wins, we get faster genocide plus Fascism at home, so at least there's that to look forward to. Hope you're practicing how to be a straight cis white male Christian because it's going to be a rough time for everyone else.
But hey, Jill Stein won't get that check from Putin unless you vote for her and Cornel West has alimony payments to make.
If trump loses? Yeah. They will. He is already going extra senile and has spent the past eight years proving he can't get downballot candidates elected.
Which will get us back to bush era republicans. Basically buying us maybe another decade until they transition from "we need to fight crime and promote family values" to "let's murder some brown people and enslave women" again.
Within a year or two of Trump dying they will have the party back under control and everyone will be taking marching orders from only the megadonors again.
The only reason the maga nutjobs got tontake center stage was Trump saying the horrible shit out loud with the delivery that some people wanted to hear. The fact that nobody has upstaged him is a good sign that there isn't a similar person waiting in the wings to fill his role.
Not so fast. David Duke was saying the quiet part out loud and he was only a fringe candidate. There’s something else going on here, I don’t know what it is exactly, that makes Trump more marketable.
The only things I can think of is that he has had decades in the public eye, and he’s been presented as smart and successful for most of that time. And bizarrely enough, he reflects a bygone era in America where blue collar union guys had pensions, which were blown away by billionaires like him. And yet, this billionaire known for grift and stiffing his workers, somehow became their champion.
The whole process has opened my eyes to just how much marketing works with a certain demographic.
There’s something else going on here, I don’t know what it is exactly, that makes Trump more marketable.
He is a professional bullshitter who can say anything with a straight face. It works on a large part of the population, because humans are social creatures who want to hear what they want to hear. They want to be told all their problems will be magically solved and are the fault of someone else.
Would be wonderful if Steele only succeeds in creating a center-right party, with the GOP still existing as far-right, giving the Democrats (who now have permission to move left) a leg-up in the future.
The Democratic Party will never move left. If our country exists in a recognizable way in four years, we need to put every Republican on trial, let the Dems be the party on the right, and start a new leftist party. Anyone with an R after their name is supporting a traitor to democracy, and is guilty of treason by association.
Reagan was a product of the shift Republicans had made earlier to help guarantee votes and power. The difference in the GOP then and now was mainly in how much they could say out loud.
How about not having a party that did everything possible to get us to this place. I want what the dems are now to be as far to the right as this country is willing to go.
Until Democrats stop using the threat of a Republican administration to extort our votes, they get to be held responsible for all the Republican legislation they help pass.
Hogan is a great example. I actually wasn't upset when he won his second term as governor, even though I disagree with some of his policies - but in general he did some good stuff for Maryland during his terms. Like getting masks and covid test kits in secrecy so Trump's idiots wouldn't confiscate them, as happened elsewhere in the country.
I'll never forgive him for axing the bike lane on the new Nice Bridge; we're stuck with that decision for at least 50 years now. But, by far, my biggest problem with Hogan is the "R" after his name.
Those third-party organizations are running ads that say things like, "I voted for Hogan, but not this time - we can't let the Republicans gain power in Congress." (Other organizations are noting "scandals" for the other candidate about taking tax breaks to which she wasn't entitled, but they seem overblown. It seems pretty silly coming from supporters of the party of George Santos, Matt Gaetz, and how many others...)
There's a middle ground. The near future of the party is Ron DeSantis and JD Vance, the smoothed down versions of Trump. I don't think that works and someone new will come out fully populist with authoritarian edges, maybe a Hispanic man to help attract the working class beyond just white people, that seems to be the growth opportunity Republicans need and maybe that solidifies Arizona/Nevada/Texas for them while they put all the effort into the Blue Wall and North Carolina.