After the Senate’s vote to keep Donald Trump from the Oval Office, House Judiciary Committee chair Jerrold Nadler told The New Yorker, “It never occurred to me that an American political party would degrade itself to an authoritarian political party where anything goes, no matter what….
I never thought an American political party could get as bad as now, where they completely don’t care how bad the crimes are.”
Nadler should have been paying more attention. Like him, many liberals, moderates, and of course, never-Trumpers continue to invest themselves in a narrative that posits that a once patriotic party dedicated to conservative principles and the rule of law was just recently corrupted by its fealty to the lies, lawlessness, and racism of its pathological president.
Unfortunately, that’s a fiction. Yes, Trump is the most openly dishonest person ever to occupy the White House. But as far as modern Republicans go, he is, in some ways, the most honest. He says and does in public what Republican presidents have been doing in secret for more than half a century.
Many of us are shocked by the brazenness with which Trump and company sought to enlist foreign powers—Russia in 2016, Ukraine this past summer—to undermine our democracy to help with his campaign.
But this is basically what Richard Nixon did in 1968. Armed with Henry Kissinger’s secret leaks from the Paris peace talks, Nixon urged South Vietnam, through a surrogate, to refuse any peace offerings negotiated by Lyndon Johnson’s administration because he would give the country a better deal if he was elected president. (He didn’t.)
Johnson knew this in real time but, like Barack Obama regarding Trump and the Russians, decided to keep quiet about it. And so Nixon won, and American soldiers and the Vietnamese paid the price.
The “Christian right” is the backbone of the Republican Party. Christians of all stripes — from Catholics to Protestants and evangelicals — consistently (and often overwhelmingly) vote Republican.
The core tenets of the modern Republican Party, however, are at stark odds with biblical scripture.
Over the last four decades, few priorities have consumed the Republican Party more than economic policies that benefit the ultra-wealthy.
The Ronald Reagan presidency, in particular, ushered in an era where corporate bottom lines took precedence over fair wages for American workers.
The rise of the Reagan-Republican ethos, which preaches the elevation of shareholder profit over virtually all other considerations, directly influenced decades of outsourcing of American jobs to countries with vast pools of cheap labor.
Ditto for union-busting and the adoption of job-killing automation in pursuit of maximum profit.
These factors, unsurprisingly, decimated the American middle class. Moreover, Presidents Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump all pursued radical tax policies that overwhelmingly — if not solely — benefited a small group of exceptionally wealthy Americans at the expense of the working and middle classes.
Republican policies favoring the ultra-affluent, however, stand in stark contrast with biblical scripture. The Bible’s condemnations of the wealthy and the accumulation of riches leave zero room for ambiguity.
For many conservatives, the 2016 election has been a surreal nightmare. This was a year when a Republican with a powerful conservative message should have been able to ride the public’s frustrations with the Obama years to the White House.
And then came Donald Trump, a bombastic real-estate developer and TV star with no discernibly conservative agenda. Not only did many Republican voters cheer him on, but GOP elected officials fell in behind him.
To put it mildly, this election cycle has revealed serious fault lines and weaknesses on the right, and the Republican Party will be working to make sense of it all for years.
But for conservatives—I mean those who champion some version of the difficult balance of traditionalism in the moral arena, market mechanisms for addressing our economic challenges and American strength in a dangerous world, all bound by a limited-government constitutionalism—this sorry year’s lessons have one overarching implication:
We can no longer treat the GOP simply as our own.
Over the past three decades, conservatives increasingly fell into the habit of taking the party for granted as a vehicle for advancing our views, and taking the Republican electorate for granted as steadfastly conservative.
This understanding of the party drove the evolution of a series of policy litmus tests for candidates—commitments on taxes, health care, welfare, education—that were supposedly required to win the allegiance of the GOP’s activists and voters.
But this “conservatism” for politicians became not a worldview but an agenda almost frozen in amber, locking in place a 1980s-style policy program even as the nation changed around us.
Rather than applying timeless principles to new problems, we held fast to the increasingly anachronistic policies to which the party was already committed.
Did you see how many of these idiots are "not believing” the election results, how many of these idiots are not planning to get the vaccine; bad news, there’s no fixin’ going on, no back to “normal.” This party is permanently idiot.
You don’t want to forget or you will make that mistake again. The neo-liberals in the Democratic party are also to blame. They need to be removed from the Democrats.
Cheapskate0 almost 4 years ago
So true.
kaffekup almost 4 years ago
Your party left you.
There’s plenty of room even for a big guy like you in the Democrats’ big tent.
braindead Premium Member almost 4 years ago
It is now the Party Of Trump.
No exceptions permitted!
William Robbins Premium Member almost 4 years ago
What was the Whigs’ mascot? You can join him in his retirement home.
Silly Season almost 4 years ago
After the Senate’s vote to keep Donald Trump from the Oval Office, House Judiciary Committee chair Jerrold Nadler told The New Yorker, “It never occurred to me that an American political party would degrade itself to an authoritarian political party where anything goes, no matter what….
I never thought an American political party could get as bad as now, where they completely don’t care how bad the crimes are.”
Nadler should have been paying more attention. Like him, many liberals, moderates, and of course, never-Trumpers continue to invest themselves in a narrative that posits that a once patriotic party dedicated to conservative principles and the rule of law was just recently corrupted by its fealty to the lies, lawlessness, and racism of its pathological president.
Unfortunately, that’s a fiction. Yes, Trump is the most openly dishonest person ever to occupy the White House. But as far as modern Republicans go, he is, in some ways, the most honest. He says and does in public what Republican presidents have been doing in secret for more than half a century.
Many of us are shocked by the brazenness with which Trump and company sought to enlist foreign powers—Russia in 2016, Ukraine this past summer—to undermine our democracy to help with his campaign.
But this is basically what Richard Nixon did in 1968. Armed with Henry Kissinger’s secret leaks from the Paris peace talks, Nixon urged South Vietnam, through a surrogate, to refuse any peace offerings negotiated by Lyndon Johnson’s administration because he would give the country a better deal if he was elected president. (He didn’t.)
Johnson knew this in real time but, like Barack Obama regarding Trump and the Russians, decided to keep quiet about it. And so Nixon won, and American soldiers and the Vietnamese paid the price.
~
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-lies-republican-party/
Silly Season almost 4 years ago
The “Christian right” is the backbone of the Republican Party. Christians of all stripes — from Catholics to Protestants and evangelicals — consistently (and often overwhelmingly) vote Republican.
The core tenets of the modern Republican Party, however, are at stark odds with biblical scripture.
Over the last four decades, few priorities have consumed the Republican Party more than economic policies that benefit the ultra-wealthy.
The Ronald Reagan presidency, in particular, ushered in an era where corporate bottom lines took precedence over fair wages for American workers.
The rise of the Reagan-Republican ethos, which preaches the elevation of shareholder profit over virtually all other considerations, directly influenced decades of outsourcing of American jobs to countries with vast pools of cheap labor.
Ditto for union-busting and the adoption of job-killing automation in pursuit of maximum profit.
These factors, unsurprisingly, decimated the American middle class. Moreover, Presidents Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump all pursued radical tax policies that overwhelmingly — if not solely — benefited a small group of exceptionally wealthy Americans at the expense of the working and middle classes.
Republican policies favoring the ultra-affluent, however, stand in stark contrast with biblical scripture. The Bible’s condemnations of the wealthy and the accumulation of riches leave zero room for ambiguity.
~
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/459296-christians-cannot-serve-both-god-and-the-gop
Silly Season almost 4 years ago
For many conservatives, the 2016 election has been a surreal nightmare. This was a year when a Republican with a powerful conservative message should have been able to ride the public’s frustrations with the Obama years to the White House.
And then came Donald Trump, a bombastic real-estate developer and TV star with no discernibly conservative agenda. Not only did many Republican voters cheer him on, but GOP elected officials fell in behind him.
To put it mildly, this election cycle has revealed serious fault lines and weaknesses on the right, and the Republican Party will be working to make sense of it all for years.
But for conservatives—I mean those who champion some version of the difficult balance of traditionalism in the moral arena, market mechanisms for addressing our economic challenges and American strength in a dangerous world, all bound by a limited-government constitutionalism—this sorry year’s lessons have one overarching implication:
We can no longer treat the GOP simply as our own.
Over the past three decades, conservatives increasingly fell into the habit of taking the party for granted as a vehicle for advancing our views, and taking the Republican electorate for granted as steadfastly conservative.
This understanding of the party drove the evolution of a series of policy litmus tests for candidates—commitments on taxes, health care, welfare, education—that were supposedly required to win the allegiance of the GOP’s activists and voters.
But this “conservatism” for politicians became not a worldview but an agenda almost frozen in amber, locking in place a 1980s-style policy program even as the nation changed around us.
Rather than applying timeless principles to new problems, we held fast to the increasingly anachronistic policies to which the party was already committed.
~
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/conservatives-lost-republican-party-yuval-levin-2016-214228
Silly Season almost 4 years ago
Robin Hood – “I understand you wanting to be me, but alas, no.”
A delusional troll like yourself… Nope.
Nor will I be gone Jan 21….
rossevrymn almost 4 years ago
Did you see how many of these idiots are "not believing” the election results, how many of these idiots are not planning to get the vaccine; bad news, there’s no fixin’ going on, no back to “normal.” This party is permanently idiot.
William Robbins Premium Member almost 4 years ago
Now that we’re in “Safe Harbor”, knock wood, lets give some credit to real Republicans who stood up to the bully.
6.6TA almost 4 years ago
Mr. Stantis, nice to see you back in the sunshine!
Bradley Walker almost 4 years ago
He’s the one who’s ready to leave.
See, his trunk is really packed.
PaulKmecak almost 4 years ago
Voters should NEVER forget that Rethuglicans backed Drumpf 100%. Even the ones who “spoke out”, or were “very concerned”. Check their voting records.
The ONLY problem Rethuglicans had with Drumpf is that he said the quiet part out loud.
MichaelSFC90 almost 4 years ago
They have names like McCain, Nixon, Goldwater, and Rockefeller. Nowadays they are called “R.I.N.O.S.”
MichaelSFC90 almost 4 years ago
Did anyone else look at the GOP Elephant and was reminded of the 1963 cartoon character, Twinkles the Elephant?
Rabies65 almost 4 years ago
I don’t want the GOP to “forget.” I want them to recant.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] almost 4 years ago
You don’t want to forget or you will make that mistake again. The neo-liberals in the Democratic party are also to blame. They need to be removed from the Democrats.
mistercatworks almost 4 years ago
Criminal collusion to overthrow an election via frivolous lawsuits should be REAL forgettable.
winston5610 almost 4 years ago
You didn’t leave your party. Your party left you.