Retiring GOP rep: 'I don't understand' the 'hold that President Trump has over' Republican leaders

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Retiring GOP Rep. Francis Rooney (Fla.) said Monday that he doesn't understand the unquestioning loyalty some of his fellow Republicans have for President Trump.

In an interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto, the Florida congressman responded to questions pertaining to why more GOP lawmakers haven't come forward to acknowledge former Vice President Joe Biden's (D) projected victory in the 2020 presidential election amid threats of legal challenges from the president.

"There will be books written about this hold that President Trump has over a lot of the Republican leadership and base, and I don't understand it," Rooney said Monday.

"It was never that way with previous Republican leaders, and I think the peaceful transfer of power is a critical element of our democracy," he added.

Link to tweet

?s=20

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/retiring-gop-rep-i-dont-understand-the-hold-that-president-trump-has-over-republican-leaders/ar-BB1aQcEe?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=DELLDHP

Kompromat?

[grumpyduck]

1. Rasputin or Svengali resurrected?

Or are they just a bunch of cowards?

[C_U_L8R]

2. "It was never that way with previous Republican leaders". Name one.

It's always been that way. Republicans instinctively supplicate themselves to their alphas and strongmen.

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. Nixon?

Back then, there were moderates, even liberals elected as Republicans to Congress. Legislation moved with coalitions of Democrats and Republicans beating back the conservative wings in both Parties. Today's Republican Party has morphed into an ideological rubber stamp for R Presidents and an automatic obstructionist vote for D Presidents.

[ananda]

3. Trump definitely has something on Cruz and Graham.

No question

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Your one word comment was exactly what I was going to post.

Great minds think alike!

[SlogginThroughIt]

5. Hey pal your party has been heading this way for a LONG time!

Welcome to reality. We been here a while already.

[Newest Reality]

6. I would venture that...

As I have said before, the GOP is a dying party in many, many ways. They know that internally and the demographics support it.

They are desperately trying to hold onto power in any way the can and look to anyone who can wrest it from the people legally or otherwise.

In a way that is good, because their policies are ALL out of line with the needs of the country and the people. It is just a matter of being cornered rats that is at issue and a major concern.

[RobertDevereaux]

7. So tell us, RETIRING GOP Rep. Francis Rooney ...

How many times did you vote with the Democrats BEFORE you retired?

Asking for 74 million friends.

[gratuitous]

18. Retirement apparently cures Republican lockjaw

It's an amazing phenomenon.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. They are terrified of losing his idiot voters.

It's not so much Trump as his supporters.

[octoberlib]

27. This. It's all about keeping their seats and their power.

Which makes me wonder if Trump would have refused to hold an election and declared himself Emperor for the next 20 years , would they have said a damn thing? As Jason Johnson said yesterday, we were in a really precarious situation.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

28. Yeah, I'm not sure most of them would fight it...

... or even speak out, the cult of voters has become so extreme now!

There were probably some wealthy industrialists in Germany, who supported the Nazis because of their fear of communism, who later regretted it.

[Clearly fogged in]

9. Me either

I don't understand the hold trump has over Republican leaders or cognitive bias. It's all the same to me.

[Jarqui]

10. Kompromat

I strongly suspect that

[NCDem47]

11. He's bullied, bribed and blackmailed them all!

Trump was given the keys to teh country and has access to all sorts of secrets.

[palustris]

13. Maybe this has something to do with it

I remember something like this happening and just picked the first source I found on google.

DNC emails got all the publicity and WikiLeaks page, RNC emails not so much even though they too were hacked. Russians kept them for leverage maybe?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/12/10/report-russian-hackers-had-rnc-data-but-didn-t-release-it

[crickets]

20. I've often thought so.

I do wonder what in the world was on the RNC servers that was that bad. Also, there have been piles of Russian Mafyia rubles thrown at certain representatives over the years. It all comes back to money and power, and blackmail can be a powerful thing.

[malaise]

14. The Con knows all the skeletons in their closets

That or he bought them out -I'm betting on the former

[BComplex]

15. Kompromat? Exactly. And lots of it.

The money the republicans took from Lev and Igor and their contacts didn't come without a little bit of blackmail...or in this instance, most likely blackvideo.

[malaise]

17. Holy Shit - we posted at the same time

[BComplex]

19. Great minds.....

[JHB]

16. He didn't notice how subservient Republicans were to Rush Limbaugh?

Any Republican pol who mentioned Rush in any manner that fell short of high praise and it got reported was on his show the next day, two tops, trying out for the Olympic backpedaling team.

This has been going on for a quarter century, and it's all transferred to Trump.

And that's even before getting into the demands of their funders and any kompromat on them.

[rustysgurl]

21. So now that he's leaving

he starts wondering how this shit went down ??? He didn't seem too concerned before when HIS party was looting and pillaging.

You're a day late and a dollar short, Rooney.

[crickets]

23. +1

[apnu]

22. In a word: Fear.

They're afraid of Trump. They're afraid of Trump's base. They're afraid of the agitated and weaponized Tea Baggers. They are afraid of their own people and allies.

From outside that tent, its easy to see. From inside the tent, I'd expect its easy as well. But then I remember, everybody in the conservative tent isn't all that bright to begin with. How else can they live with so much hypocrisy and mendacity? How else can they not see the glaring contradictions of their own polices, unchanged in 40 years, and still think not only does all that work, but has been working all this time.

A person who can't see that certainly won't see that their party is one of fear and grievances.

[Alacritous Crier]

24. It's absolutely got to be...

kompromat.

There's no other explanation.

[bluestarone]

25. we've seen how ugly lying bastards they are, and if WE see it,

RUSSIA has seen LOTS more!!! THEY are owned badly, and in the end we WILL see it ALL too!!

[SWBTATTReg]

26. I don't think it's information of some kind used to hold these thugs in check, I personally ...

think that they're cowards. That's it. And people want this idiots to be their leaders?

[BainsBane]

29. Maybe he doesn't have a hold

Maybe they simply share the same contempt for democracy?

[stillcool]

30. Wow, he stood up against Trump?...

and his fellow Republicans! Don't know how I missed it, should have been huge news. The same party doing the same crap, for over 40 years, and he doesn't understand.