House Republicans, Terrible Before the Midterms, Are Now Much Worse

[dajoki]

House Republicans, Terrible Before the Midterms, Are Now Much Worse
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/82137

<<snip>>

If you’re going to pick the year everything really began to go sideways for the Republican Party, 1964 will do nicely. That was the year Strom Thurmond and the other segregationist Southern Democrats became Republicans because of the Civil Rights Act. It was also the year Barry Goldwater, another ardent foe of the Civil Rights Act, became the Republican nominee for president. “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!” he bellowed from the convention podium, and the crowd went wild.

Twelve years later, that same crowd met Ronald Reagan at yet another Republican convention, nominated him for president the next chance they got, and we were off to the races. Reagan’s toxic amalgam of Nixon-style campaign racism in the deep South, his embrace of far-right evangelical Christianity and his regulation-crushing trickle-down economic plans built the bridge that carried the Republican Party from Abraham Lincoln and Schuyler Colfax to Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy.

The ball of angry authoritarian hate that is today’s Republican Party is on the verge of becoming even more desperately furious. Deprived of majority power, House Republicans will watch as their president is investigated by every major committee in the building simultaneously. The Freedom Caucus will become more vocal and disruptive, painting the party even further into an extremist corner that will make the 2020 presidential election truly one for the books.

<<snip>>

The rot at the core of the Republican Party reaches outward even as its influence continues to shrink, and soon enough that rot will become more visible than ever. Kevin McCarthy does not have enough political talent or power to control the worst instincts of the worst people in the House chamber, a fact that will become evident each time all the Republican presidential candidates are asked to comment on the latest brute nonsense foisted on the public by the Freedom Caucus.

<<snip>>

[beachbum bob]

1. house GOP might as well stay home, no one is going to give them any power or attention except media

Pelosi should buy cases of baby pacifiers and give out to the GOP

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Remember the party of NO, NO, NO? What's so suprising? This is the party who feels like ...

No one deserves better pay, better health care, or for that matter, anything better? They want us to accept the fact that we're all lazy, we're all criminals, etc.

We already know of their barely disguised hatred and bigotry, which pops out now and then in various ways (such as their 40 legislators objecting to LBGT language in the Mexico/Canada trade agreement recently).

I can't wait until we see (1) Mueller's report (2) An investigation of McCarthy/Ryan comments about their money shenanigans in the hallways of Wash DC. (3) an investigation of the corruption of rump, his family, and his cronies, prosecution of, and conviction of all relevant parties
(4) voter rights fully restored permanently in this country and assurances included that wealth can't take this away in any fashion.

[world wide wally]

3. All Republicans keep trying to appeal to Trump's base.

Sure, the GOP still exists, but it's like trying to smoke their way out of cancer.
It's our job to make sure they never win another federal election for anything.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. It's what they always do

If they win - they see it as a mandate and move farther to the right.
If they lose - they rationalize that they lost because they did not move far enough to the right to motivate their base and - move farther to the right.

It's a positive feedback loop that has been driving the GOP to insanity. The political equivalent to "Moore's Law" - Republicans become twice as crazy every 18 months, constantly doubling down rather than allow even the slightest doubt.

[ewagner]

8. Exactly...

the question for us is: How do we interrupt that loop?

moreover, DESTROY THAT LOOP

[Garrett78]

5. The anti-Trump Republicans who think Trump happened in a vacuum need to read this.

As I've been saying for years now, 50+ years of increasingly cruel rhetoric and policy made the rise of someone like Trump inevitable. This is why I can appreciate Republicans speaking out against Trump while at the same time being deeply bothered by the fact that they still worship at the altar of Saint Ronnie. Sorry, anti-Trump Republicans who appear on MSNBC, but you are complicit. You helped create this monster, by which I mean the Republican Party base. And going from bullhorn back to dog whistle is no solution.

We will see the rise of another demagogue. Trump 2.0 will be more politically savvy, more intelligent and more charismatic. We better be ready.

[yonder]

9. +1. "We better be ready". Exactly.

[duforsure]

6. Everything republicans are doing now

Will only make it easier to retake the Senate next election. They're all helping that happen now to themselves. I guess they learned nothing from this latest election disaster they had.

[ananda]

7. Well, from everything I've seen and heard ..

.. our House Dems are willing and capable of standing
up to the Reep bastards and bastardettes.

[Pepsidog]

10. I was 18 in 1980 and voted for Reagan. I loved his small govt less regulation agenda. I loved his t

tough talk against the Soviet Union. But like I said, I was an 18 year old male going to an elite catholic High School and really ignorant regarding politics. I see my 18 year old self in many young Trump supporters, my 22 year old son included. Ask a Trump supporter why they like him and they will say “he speaks his mind” or “ he does what he says”. Like I was, they have no idea about policy. It truly is a cult of personality. But at least Reagan had a fully formed ideology, Trump is as ignorant as his supporters regarding public policy. As I matured and learned more about politics and opened my mind, I moved more towards the middle voting for Bush after Reagan and them all Dems after that. I saw how Republicans were really only about helping the elite. Trump’s ultimate legacy maybe his incredible ignorance has woken the silent majority of decent Americans and invigorating public debate and knowledge of what the different parties stand for. Trump maybe the last of the RW nutjob party to win the presidency for generations. At least that is my sincere hope. That Trump is a transformational President that ends the Republican myth as small govt, fiscal conservatives. At the very least, the party of ”Family Values” and the ”Moral Majority” is dead. A new period of Progressives will fundamentally change our society once again cleaning up the mess left by the republican party.