It's really weird that this happened to the "Party of National Security and Patriotism."

[DetlefK]

The Republicans always used the meme that they know economy better than the Democrats.
Then came 2009 and the recession.
And then came 2016 and the republican base elected somebody who represents neither the republican establishment nor the democratic establishment.
They elected Trump as the "candidate of economy", but the Republican Party has lost its reputation as the "party of the economy."

The Republicans always used the meme that the Democrats are weak peaceniks and that only they know how to protect the country.
And they were playing this by rooting for war.
Now they are the ones playing dumb when it comes to foreign meddling into the US election.

The Republicans always used the meme that the Democrats don't really love the US, that only the Republican Party has patriotism.
And they were playing this by cheap jingoism.
Now they are the ones being accused of colluding with a foreign government and getting in the way of investigations.



So...
* The republican voters rejected the well-known republican economics for Trump's vague promises.
* The Democrats are now the national-security hawks. Meanwhile the Republicans suddenly want to play cozy with a geopolitical rival, for no reason whatsoever.
* The Democrats are insisting on investigations to cleanse the US of the taint of a compromised election. Meanwhile the Republicans want the people and the media to just forget all the suspicious events and move on with their lives as if none of this ever happened.


Trump has already said, he wants to run for re-election in 2020. What will he run on? He won because Clinton was the establishment-candidate and he was the anti-establishment-candidate. But now he's President.
- Trump cannot run on being the outsider who's gonna shake up Washington. He is Washington.
- Trump cannot run on protecting the country from scary foreigners if the russian topic isn't settled.
- Trump cannot run on loving the country when the Democrats point out the cover-ups and his ties to Russia.
- Trump cannot run on the economy, because his economic policies are neither republican nor democratic and nothing of note will ever get passed.
- Trump has made fantastical, impossible promises how great his healthcare-plan will be. Good luck running on that.



And good luck to the Republicans: Mitch McConnell has said that Trump's policies are the republican policies. Good luck untying themselves from this pseudo-human disaster.

[unblock]

1. that's because they're not. they're the party of convenient and appealing lies.

they've never really been in favor of national security. anyone with half a brain can see that we're way, way overpowered for mere national security.

they're in favor of government largesse to big defense contractors who then give them a cut in the form of campaign contributions.
they're in favor of military adventurism to support our corporations' overseas profit opportunities who them given them a cut in the form of campaign contributions.
they're in favor of intimidation of domestic opposition in order to preserve their own power.
they like patriotism (not to mention christianity) only because it's a cheap and easy way to herd the sheep.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Republicans love their big self-important god-fearin' country-lovin titles

that mean exactly the opposite of what the words say.