After all of this, and who knows how much more yet to come, the Republican Party is still the party of Trump; no platform, just Trump.
That fact is more frightening than the pitiful little man himself.
No Trump.....and GOP falls into the void. A vicious and deadly competition between minor "wannabes" follows and it spirals out of control with ambition fighting hate.....and they still represent "nada", nothing other than their own desire for power; the people are cast only in the role of useful idiots. If they are in power this is a grave problem, if not.......... So it's a question of the time needed to take Trump out of the running and the will of the people to get out there and vote to protect their rights regardless of the obstacles and fight to win back control of their lives and their government. The Dems have essentially got till October this year to cut Trump off at the knees permanently as a sweep by GOP in the partial elections would doubtless shut down the Jan 6 committee and any DOJ action.
My fear is Ron DeSantis stepping into the void. He has gotten nuttier and nuttier, and the FL Republican dominated legislature giving him everything he wants.
it'll be like fighting cocks with spurs attached to their ankles, vicious dogs wailing in the night. Neither De Santis, Pompeo or whoever that is currently visible on that side has any chance of dominating any more than a minor faction....severely lacking in the charisma stakes if nothing else. These people can hardly be termed "sensible". There will no longer be any incentive to gather round one or the other when one might win oneself. There are no prizes for being the one that serves the dictator rather than being the one that dictates as those serving are useful but expendable....and their lives are often short.
I often come back to Putin's story of the death of the first Tsar 1000 years ago when it took the mutual slaughter of 17 pretenders to the thrown befor a surviving "champion" emerged.
The cockfight has already begun. And many social media posts are fanning the flames. For the first time, polls (I hate polls) show DeSantis below the top two leading Dem contenders for FL Governor. However, DeSantis is sitting on a mountain of cash with no competition and the Dems will spend scarce dollars to win the primary with nothing remaining to fight DeSantis in an expensive media market. But I do hope you are correct!
I believe what DeSantis is doing is not sustainable. HeтАЩs тАЬactingтАЭ crazy but unllike TFG, he lacks the (crazy)gene mutation.Although it will certainly get worse here in Fl before it gets betterтАж.
Yes. It was the State that put our Orange Co. Health doctor on Admin. leave for a memo wondering why the folks in his public health office were refusing vaccination. Other County health officials have reported on the increasing consolidation of power into Tallahassee-- more and more has to be approved by the State.
Wow! I knew nothing about that! Right on! DeSantis should be committed. What a nut.. but you are right...there's zero charisma in that confederacy of dunces..NOBODY!? Cruz!?!? Please say he doesn't stand a chance.. and dear lord... I keep thinking that Josh Hawley is waiting the wings..but also I have a feeling that something is going to comet about him re: January 6th... would LOVE TO SEE THAT! I would pay anything for front row seats!
ItтАЩs unquestionably over for Trump politically. The SCOTUS decision re the archives is the beginning of the end for him as future President and possibly as a free man.
IтАЩve read a ton of negativity about the MSM. ThereтАЩs truth in some of it, but I often think itтАЩs a little hysterical. Now watch them. They will be like ferrets, pulling out more and more damaging information. Their sources realize how exposed they are, and will be talking freely, either in fear or resignation.
But the real credit goes to this dogged, brilliant select committee. They are saving America. I hope, for maximum explosiveness, that their public hearings are sooner rather than later. A repeat of the dull thump when the Mueller Report fell is not to be repeated.
The real interest now lies in watching the DOJ. Are they going to clamber on the bandwagon now? Unless they act the far right masses are going to simply plug their ears and repeat ad nauseam, тАЬI canтАЩt hear youтАЭ, as each new revelation drops.
What happens after the bombs stop dropping on the Republican Party is a matter of intense interest. The current version is going to be eviscerated and Nature hates a vacuum.
Eric, IтАЩve said it before and IтАЩll say it again, you are a breath of fresh air. YouтАЩre also (effing) brilliant.
When itтАЩs difficult to see the forest for the trees, itтАЩs nice to have a satellite view from Canada (Eric) and Paris (Stuart) and Merida and Ecuador and Spain etc. etc.
Thank you Eric, very kind of you to say. Back in the spring you said something I will never forget: тАЬWhen I see Roland, I read Roland.тАЬ ThatтАЩs a gift I will not soon forget.
Intense infighting. Existential crisis. The white supremacy advocates on the side of democracy (Cheney, Romney et al) vs. the white supremacy advocates on the side of extremism, of breaking all the rules to form a new Confederacy (Trump alliance, incl. Putin).
We may get three parties, or even four if the Dems can't hang together. The stranglehold of congresscritters is astonishing. Aside from the obvious two, there are NO R voices raised in even cautious rejection of these new findings, i.e., having the military take over voting machines.
Not one dissenting vote.
Are they all truly that callow?
Abandoning all integrity for position, dollars, racism, power-over?
This demonstration of fealty is frankly disgusting and IMHO, requires more than the best Scotch to burn it out of my mind.
The mid-term vote is going to be fraught with peril, suppression, rejection, chicanery--and I'm thinking there will be a severe shortage of staff to solve problems and challenges, although an over-abundance of white poll-watchers. Ever so grateful to live in a mail-in voting state! Just got a ballot for a local election--made me SO happy!
Very plausible. But how do you think it plays out? I think it could be protracted and thereтАЩll be at least metaphorical blood on the floor.
If those on the si of extremism are to rule, it will have to be those not sharply distracted by their own legal appearances. There will need to be an infusion of new faces and they will have to keep the Trump movement alive, at a point when millions are ready to move on. Personally I think this faction is in extremis now.
The other side is going to scramble initially for people to fill roles. They have zero traction now, and in fact the midterms will see a whole new crop of eager beavers in the running only because they were crazier than anybody else with an (R) beside their name.
Defining what a sane Republican is will be the source of the infighting you talk about. I think this will take a long time.
All of which leads me to posit that a) if Merrick Garland gets his act together and b) the revelations donтАЩt dry up in an unsatisfactory way, then the midterms could be a blowout - for the Democrats.
Of course itтАЩs hard to predict the pace at which things will unfold. The House Committee, at this moment, faces an unforgiving deadline. A corrupt Supreme Court could deliver some kind of delay. The battle could rage on.
But I say that without much conviction, even given the heartache of the last few years. I think the tide is turning savagely on an evil and stupid cabal. Finally.
My question is - why do Americans always go so far when they gin up enthusiasm? They have seen the abyss and peered at it with fascination. They have poked at it over and over. And now because a few patriots held, they are (finally) about to draw back, many with the deepest reluctance.
ChurchillтАЩs comment that, тАЬAmericans always do the right thing, but only after exhausting every possible other optionтАЭ, is proven grimly sanguine once again.
TrumpтАЩs demise politically has been predicted often, but never is. ThatтАЩs whatтАЩs so scary about this revelation. HeтАЩll claim he knew nothing about it, never saw it. Absent an eyewitness or 2, heтАЩll be believed.
And Trump the sacreficial martyr will inspire each of the fighting cockerals seperately. It'll will not unify.They'll privately say "good riddens" while showering him with praise and trying to pull his "mantle" towards them as the "natural" successor.
I am so sad about what seems to be the likely outcome in the mid-terms..is there any chance of turning it around into? If the 'Committee' really nails a couple of these criminals, and Matt Gate and Gym Joker get pulled off the street, and al the kings men start to fall...could that change things?
The pattern of R behavior goes back to the тАЬKnow NothingsтАЭ (at least). So I suspect that тАЬTrumpismтАЭ merely let them enjoy their worst proclivities openly. What we must hope for is this Democrats donтАЩt fall into some of their past follies in an attempt to return to permanent power (IтАЩll mention тАЬTammany HallтАЭ here in the name of тАЬbalanced reportingтАЭ ЁЯдк)
The Know-Nothings, the former Whigs (business wing) and the abolitionists (the now-extinct progressive wing) were what the GOP was created from in 1854. Now the Know Nothings run it.
Whether we should fear Trump or the GOP more is a conundrum. I fear them both, but the GOP is steadily nearing its long-term objective of turning back the clock to Beaver Cleaver's America. They are the Eddie Haskells of our time.
Well, that would be ambitious of them. I hope the rest of us would draw the line well before that, though I have hoped for a lot of things in my 69 years that I haven't got.
I fear the evangelicals the most and I've had that concern for a very long time now. Maybe two decades? NPR had a story about a week ago where a minister said words to the effect, we love Trump and, if he's gone, we'll find another just like him.
I grew up in that evangelical world but I was a high school science need and left them mentally over Evolution. I left completely with the war in Vietnam in college.
Yet the people I grew up with cared about others and felt that Roe vs. Wade was correct.
What changed? Leadership that just wanted power and money. Same as GOP since Nixon.
With you there on that science class and learning how to think. They were quite threatened by a teenager whose questions they could not answer.
The evangelical world lives by rote; it is all powerful narrative and hypocrisy with deeply conflicting principles and a characteristic absence of rational reason. The over-arching patriarchal control gives rise to the comparison to other fundamentalist terrorist groups like the Taliban.
Faith, or belief in the absence of evidence, is a founding principle as is sacrificing in this life for the promise of another, unseen afterlife. The opiate of the people, for the control of the people. Mass delusional system.
I was an evangelical Christian in the 70s to early 80s, in Texas. They were all a fairly liberal group of folks back then. Fox News and politicians playing them for votes has damaged them beyond repair.
Many analyses by knowledgeable investigators connect the rise anti-abortion sentiment among white evangelicals with exploitation of endemic racism in those quarters by evangelical leaders seeking to expand their political influence.
Kelly, you may well be correct in that fear-there are some Evangelicals who are conflating that birth control is the same as abortion. Where do you think women of childbearing age will be if that fantasy comes true? Gilead?
тАЬSometimes it appears that we're reaching a period when our senses and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be approaching an Age of the Gross. Persuasion through speeches and books is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action.тАЭ
The 1950's had a lot higher tax rate, plus businesses paid well enough that June could could stay home & do housework in pearls & heels. The GOP needs to take off their rose tinted glasses about that period of time.....of course, many of them were children in the 50's. Whole different perspective.
Now is the time to have the courts intercede and overturn the anti Constitutional crap created by those who would kill American democracy in favor of those enslaved by the great deceiver.
Unfortunately the judiciary has been co-opted by the Federalist Society and it's dark money. They could easily do their jobs and follow the Constitution and the belief in Federal Supremacy. IMHO, they've been making an awful lot of decisions that give the states their rights instead of following the Constitution.
Crucial fear/factor, Lynell. We know from personal experience a small fraction of the MAGA people. I wish that reporters were so embedded. We need ways of reaching each other. I know it seems formidable as the wall of hate seems so high and wide. There need to be ways of lower that wall and making it more porous.
After all of this, and who knows how much more yet to come, the Republican Party is still the party of Trump; no platform, just Trump.
That fact is more frightening than the pitiful little man himself.
No Trump.....and GOP falls into the void. A vicious and deadly competition between minor "wannabes" follows and it spirals out of control with ambition fighting hate.....and they still represent "nada", nothing other than their own desire for power; the people are cast only in the role of useful idiots. If they are in power this is a grave problem, if not.......... So it's a question of the time needed to take Trump out of the running and the will of the people to get out there and vote to protect their rights regardless of the obstacles and fight to win back control of their lives and their government. The Dems have essentially got till October this year to cut Trump off at the knees permanently as a sweep by GOP in the partial elections would doubtless shut down the Jan 6 committee and any DOJ action.
My fear is Ron DeSantis stepping into the void. He has gotten nuttier and nuttier, and the FL Republican dominated legislature giving him everything he wants.
it'll be like fighting cocks with spurs attached to their ankles, vicious dogs wailing in the night. Neither De Santis, Pompeo or whoever that is currently visible on that side has any chance of dominating any more than a minor faction....severely lacking in the charisma stakes if nothing else. These people can hardly be termed "sensible". There will no longer be any incentive to gather round one or the other when one might win oneself. There are no prizes for being the one that serves the dictator rather than being the one that dictates as those serving are useful but expendable....and their lives are often short.
I often come back to Putin's story of the death of the first Tsar 1000 years ago when it took the mutual slaughter of 17 pretenders to the thrown befor a surviving "champion" emerged.
The cockfight has already begun. And many social media posts are fanning the flames. For the first time, polls (I hate polls) show DeSantis below the top two leading Dem contenders for FL Governor. However, DeSantis is sitting on a mountain of cash with no competition and the Dems will spend scarce dollars to win the primary with nothing remaining to fight DeSantis in an expensive media market. But I do hope you are correct!
I believe what DeSantis is doing is not sustainable. HeтАЩs тАЬactingтАЭ crazy but unllike TFG, he lacks the (crazy)gene mutation.Although it will certainly get worse here in Fl before it gets betterтАж.
Yes. It was the State that put our Orange Co. Health doctor on Admin. leave for a memo wondering why the folks in his public health office were refusing vaccination. Other County health officials have reported on the increasing consolidation of power into Tallahassee-- more and more has to be approved by the State.
I was glad to see the editorial from Florida Today stating Dr. Pino should be reinstated ASAP.
IтАЩm sure Scott Maxwell will weigh in !
IтАЩm also a retired public health professional. We were required to get a flu shot every year. NO ONE complained.
I agree, Stuart, but I lack your conviction. On the other hand, if DEMs can triumph in November... (2022. 2024 will be too late)
Time is of the essence, David.
Wow! I knew nothing about that! Right on! DeSantis should be committed. What a nut.. but you are right...there's zero charisma in that confederacy of dunces..NOBODY!? Cruz!?!? Please say he doesn't stand a chance.. and dear lord... I keep thinking that Josh Hawley is waiting the wings..but also I have a feeling that something is going to comet about him re: January 6th... would LOVE TO SEE THAT! I would pay anything for front row seats!
I know..me too : (
ItтАЩs unquestionably over for Trump politically. The SCOTUS decision re the archives is the beginning of the end for him as future President and possibly as a free man.
IтАЩve read a ton of negativity about the MSM. ThereтАЩs truth in some of it, but I often think itтАЩs a little hysterical. Now watch them. They will be like ferrets, pulling out more and more damaging information. Their sources realize how exposed they are, and will be talking freely, either in fear or resignation.
But the real credit goes to this dogged, brilliant select committee. They are saving America. I hope, for maximum explosiveness, that their public hearings are sooner rather than later. A repeat of the dull thump when the Mueller Report fell is not to be repeated.
The real interest now lies in watching the DOJ. Are they going to clamber on the bandwagon now? Unless they act the far right masses are going to simply plug their ears and repeat ad nauseam, тАЬI canтАЩt hear youтАЭ, as each new revelation drops.
What happens after the bombs stop dropping on the Republican Party is a matter of intense interest. The current version is going to be eviscerated and Nature hates a vacuum.
Eric, IтАЩve said it before and IтАЩll say it again, you are a breath of fresh air. YouтАЩre also (effing) brilliant.
When itтАЩs difficult to see the forest for the trees, itтАЩs nice to have a satellite view from Canada (Eric) and Paris (Stuart) and Merida and Ecuador and Spain etc. etc.
Thank you Roland. This sounds required, but I mean it genuinely. Your posts display enormous erudition and wit. I delight in them.
Thank you Eric, very kind of you to say. Back in the spring you said something I will never forget: тАЬWhen I see Roland, I read Roland.тАЬ ThatтАЩs a gift I will not soon forget.
All this good news is wonderful...it is also very distracting from doing all WE can do to assure that every single person who is eligible to vote...
VOTES Intelligently...
that is our #1 job here, Eh!?
I second that!
The GOP civil war:
Intense infighting. Existential crisis. The white supremacy advocates on the side of democracy (Cheney, Romney et al) vs. the white supremacy advocates on the side of extremism, of breaking all the rules to form a new Confederacy (Trump alliance, incl. Putin).
We may get three parties, or even four if the Dems can't hang together. The stranglehold of congresscritters is astonishing. Aside from the obvious two, there are NO R voices raised in even cautious rejection of these new findings, i.e., having the military take over voting machines.
Not one dissenting vote.
Are they all truly that callow?
Abandoning all integrity for position, dollars, racism, power-over?
This demonstration of fealty is frankly disgusting and IMHO, requires more than the best Scotch to burn it out of my mind.
The mid-term vote is going to be fraught with peril, suppression, rejection, chicanery--and I'm thinking there will be a severe shortage of staff to solve problems and challenges, although an over-abundance of white poll-watchers. Ever so grateful to live in a mail-in voting state! Just got a ballot for a local election--made me SO happy!
Do the Republicans believe that ALL of the poll watchers will be Republicans?
John bruner - Yes.
Sure. They also believe that only R's have guns. Not the sharpest tacks....
Very plausible. But how do you think it plays out? I think it could be protracted and thereтАЩll be at least metaphorical blood on the floor.
If those on the si of extremism are to rule, it will have to be those not sharply distracted by their own legal appearances. There will need to be an infusion of new faces and they will have to keep the Trump movement alive, at a point when millions are ready to move on. Personally I think this faction is in extremis now.
The other side is going to scramble initially for people to fill roles. They have zero traction now, and in fact the midterms will see a whole new crop of eager beavers in the running only because they were crazier than anybody else with an (R) beside their name.
Defining what a sane Republican is will be the source of the infighting you talk about. I think this will take a long time.
All of which leads me to posit that a) if Merrick Garland gets his act together and b) the revelations donтАЩt dry up in an unsatisfactory way, then the midterms could be a blowout - for the Democrats.
Of course itтАЩs hard to predict the pace at which things will unfold. The House Committee, at this moment, faces an unforgiving deadline. A corrupt Supreme Court could deliver some kind of delay. The battle could rage on.
But I say that without much conviction, even given the heartache of the last few years. I think the tide is turning savagely on an evil and stupid cabal. Finally.
My question is - why do Americans always go so far when they gin up enthusiasm? They have seen the abyss and peered at it with fascination. They have poked at it over and over. And now because a few patriots held, they are (finally) about to draw back, many with the deepest reluctance.
ChurchillтАЩs comment that, тАЬAmericans always do the right thing, but only after exhausting every possible other optionтАЭ, is proven grimly sanguine once again.
WOW! Nice Eric! Real nice!
TrumpтАЩs demise politically has been predicted often, but never is. ThatтАЩs whatтАЩs so scary about this revelation. HeтАЩll claim he knew nothing about it, never saw it. Absent an eyewitness or 2, heтАЩll be believed.
yes, yes, a resounding YES~
As Teri Kanefield says, trump supporters LIKE the lawbreaking. Trump may go down but this will make him a martyr.
And Trump the sacreficial martyr will inspire each of the fighting cockerals seperately. It'll will not unify.They'll privately say "good riddens" while showering him with praise and trying to pull his "mantle" towards them as the "natural" successor.
"...to cut Trump off at the knees permanently..." An unfortunate prerequisite for long-term incarceration, Eh!?
figuratively , of course...but if he spent a long time on his knees it would do all of us a lot of good...if not him.
Hey, it would eliminate his bone spurs problem.
Seriously, I love your line of thinking Stuart.
he has already spent a long time on his knees in front of Putin
WhatтАЩs unfortunate about it?
Ahhh... glibness is an essential to sharing in joy, Eh!?
Nice Stuart. Very nice.
I am so sad about what seems to be the likely outcome in the mid-terms..is there any chance of turning it around into? If the 'Committee' really nails a couple of these criminals, and Matt Gate and Gym Joker get pulled off the street, and al the kings men start to fall...could that change things?
Maybe Ann Coulter is right and Trump is over. But Trumpism is still the partyтАЩs lifeblood.
Racism and white supremacy is absolutely the partyтАЩs lifeblood. But tainted figureheads, heroes that are no longer heroes, are expendable.
Roland, donтАЩt you suspect that the Trump тАЬfamilyтАЭ is getting at least a little тАЬexpendableтАЭ treatment from some Rs right now?
On lhy because those who want to get rid of them do it because they want to replace them.
Absolutely - The two analysts on 11th Hour said that the Party has adopted Trumpism. Whether Trump's there or not, the threat remains.
The pattern of R behavior goes back to the тАЬKnow NothingsтАЭ (at least). So I suspect that тАЬTrumpismтАЭ merely let them enjoy their worst proclivities openly. What we must hope for is this Democrats donтАЩt fall into some of their past follies in an attempt to return to permanent power (IтАЩll mention тАЬTammany HallтАЭ here in the name of тАЬbalanced reportingтАЭ ЁЯдк)
The Know-Nothings, the former Whigs (business wing) and the abolitionists (the now-extinct progressive wing) were what the GOP was created from in 1854. Now the Know Nothings run it.
I love having historians around
Whether we should fear Trump or the GOP more is a conundrum. I fear them both, but the GOP is steadily nearing its long-term objective of turning back the clock to Beaver Cleaver's America. They are the Eddie Haskells of our time.
I think the Republicans want to take us even further back; to the plantation and the company town.
Well, that would be ambitious of them. I hope the rest of us would draw the line well before that, though I have hoped for a lot of things in my 69 years that I haven't got.
Except, in addition to back slaves they will put the "Dems"out in the fields too.
Over my dead DEM body.
I fear the evangelicals the most and I've had that concern for a very long time now. Maybe two decades? NPR had a story about a week ago where a minister said words to the effect, we love Trump and, if he's gone, we'll find another just like him.
They need to find Jesus.
Jesus would run screaming from them if they tried to claim him
Ditto above!
ЁЯдг
I grew up in that evangelical world but I was a high school science need and left them mentally over Evolution. I left completely with the war in Vietnam in college.
Yet the people I grew up with cared about others and felt that Roe vs. Wade was correct.
What changed? Leadership that just wanted power and money. Same as GOP since Nixon.
With you there on that science class and learning how to think. They were quite threatened by a teenager whose questions they could not answer.
The evangelical world lives by rote; it is all powerful narrative and hypocrisy with deeply conflicting principles and a characteristic absence of rational reason. The over-arching patriarchal control gives rise to the comparison to other fundamentalist terrorist groups like the Taliban.
Faith, or belief in the absence of evidence, is a founding principle as is sacrificing in this life for the promise of another, unseen afterlife. The opiate of the people, for the control of the people. Mass delusional system.
I was an evangelical Christian in the 70s to early 80s, in Texas. They were all a fairly liberal group of folks back then. Fox News and politicians playing them for votes has damaged them beyond repair.
Many analyses by knowledgeable investigators connect the rise anti-abortion sentiment among white evangelicals with exploitation of endemic racism in those quarters by evangelical leaders seeking to expand their political influence.
Fear of diversity and "the other"?
Kelly, you may well be correct in that fear-there are some Evangelicals who are conflating that birth control is the same as abortion. Where do you think women of childbearing age will be if that fantasy comes true? Gilead?
*not a cult* ЁЯШЙ
тАЬSometimes it appears that we're reaching a period when our senses and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be approaching an Age of the Gross. Persuasion through speeches and books is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action.тАЭ
-- Spiro T. Agnew
Ahhh...the good old days, Eh!?
"Don't Look Up".....a not so hyperbolic, seriously unflattering mirror on our society.
The 1950's had a lot higher tax rate, plus businesses paid well enough that June could could stay home & do housework in pearls & heels. The GOP needs to take off their rose tinted glasses about that period of time.....of course, many of them were children in the 50's. Whole different perspective.
Above all, I fear the voters.
Yes. Which is like saying, тАЬAbove all, I fear the voters who are in my family and are my neighbors.тАЬ
Praying such fear becomes the great motivator for more and more to vote intelligently
Access to the vote is already an issue for many.
Now is the time to have the courts intercede and overturn the anti Constitutional crap created by those who would kill American democracy in favor of those enslaved by the great deceiver.
Unfortunately the judiciary has been co-opted by the Federalist Society and it's dark money. They could easily do their jobs and follow the Constitution and the belief in Federal Supremacy. IMHO, they've been making an awful lot of decisions that give the states their rights instead of following the Constitution.
Crucial fear/factor, Lynell. We know from personal experience a small fraction of the MAGA people. I wish that reporters were so embedded. We need ways of reaching each other. I know it seems formidable as the wall of hate seems so high and wide. There need to be ways of lower that wall and making it more porous.
Exactly right!
Can you spell A-D-O-L-F?
It blows my mind that for years now they have had NO PLATFORM...nothing... it truly makes me crazy?! I keep trying to wake up from this!!!