We Lost the Battle for the Republican Party’s Soul Long Ago

[jfish26]

This go here?

Following Trump's lead, republican nativist Christo-fascists now trash the very institutions like the military, FBI, et al, they've been using as props for decades in their quest to corner the "Real American", "Patriotic", "My country love it or leave it" vote, is something to see.

"Ask yourself who is the real enemy", indeed.

It’s very important to understand that consistency - or even basic coherence - is not important to MAGAs. Every single thing must be shoved through the culture war filter. Nothing can simply be what it is.

[jfish26]

[Shirley]

This go here?

Following Trump's lead, republican nativist Christo-fascists now trash the very institutions like the military, FBI, et al, they've been using as props for decades in their quest to corner the "Real American", "Patriotic", "My country love it or leave it" vote, is something to see.

"Ask yourself who is the real enemy", indeed.

It’s very important to understand that consistency - or even basic coherence - is not important to MAGAs. Every single thing must be shoved through the culture war filter. Nothing can simply be what it is.

And serves to reinforce the autocrat's promise that even tho you can't trust the institutions you relied on in the past, "I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution". "...and only I can fix it."

[jfish26]

[Sparko]

Traitoring is a GOP trait.

[jfish26]

Traitoring is a GOP trait.

It’s an anti-American trait.

And, presently, the Make America Great Again folks sure seem perfectly fine courting it.

No disrespect is meant to good people in Waco - which I am confident VASTLY outnumber the bad. But politically (from a national standpoint), Waco means a VERY particular thing, and there simply is NO reasonable person who does not associate Waco with that VERY particular thing, politically.

[jfish26]

This is one of those columns I don't feel great about quoting from - it's worth a read top to bottom. And I hope, if you want to engage on it, you do go read the whole thing.

The Republican Strategists Who Have Carefully Planned All of This

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/opin ... nment.html

Republican leaders are now adopting increasingly autocratic measures, using the police powers of government to impose moralized regulations, turning private citizens into enforcement officers and expelling defiant elected Democrats just as county Republican parties, particularly in Western states, are electing militia members, Christian nationalists and QAnon believers to key posts.

[...]

At the same time, Republican leaders are showing a growing willingness to disempower both Democratic officials and cities run by Democrats if they defy Republican-endorsed policies on matters as diverse as immigration, abortion and gun control.

[...]

Republicans in states across the country are defiantly pushing for the criminalization of abortion — of the procedure, of abortifacient drugs and of those who travel out of state to terminate pregnancy — despite clear evidence, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, that public opinion had shifted in favor of abortion rights.

According to research provided to The Times by the Kaiser Family Foundation, states that have abortion bans at various early stages of pregnancy with no exception for rape or incest include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

An overwhelming majority of Americans of all political persuasions believe there should be exceptions for rape and incest. An October 2022 survey of 21,730 people by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies found overall support for these exceptions at 86 versus 14 percent; among Democrats at 94 versus 6 percent; among independents at 89 versus 12 percent; and among Republicans at 76 versus 24 percent.

[...]

When I asked him why the Republican Party had moved in [the direction of weakening voting rights as opposed to choosing more popular policies] over the past generation, Grumbach elaborated in an email, observing that the two major elements of the Republican Party — “extremely wealthy individuals in an era of high economic inequality” and “a voter base motivated by cultural and demographic threat” — have a “hard time winning electoral majorities on the basis of their policy agendas (a high-end tax cut agenda for the elite base and a culturally reactionary agenda for the electoral base), which increases their incentive to tweak the rules of the game to their advantage.”

Pippa Norris, a political scientist at Harvard’s Kennedy School, argued in an email that contemporary cultural conservatism depends on support from declining constituencies — non-college-educated white people (as pollsters put it), evangelical Christians and other ideologues on the right — which places these groups in an increasingly threatened position, especially in the American two-party system.

“At a certain point, the arc of history, which bends toward liberalism, means that traditional values among social conservatives lose their hegemonic status,” Norris wrote, which “is eventually reflected in progressive changes in the public policy agenda evident in many postindustrial societies during the late 20th century, from the spread of reproductive rights, equal pay for women and men, anti-sex-discrimination laws, passage of same-sex marriage laws, support for the international rules-based world order based on liberal democracy, free trade and human rights and concern about protection against environmental and climate change.”

A consequence of this long-term cultural development for the losers, Norris continued, is a buildup of “resentment at the loss of the hegemony of traditional values and identities.” The problem for the Republican Party, she observed, lies in the fact that “by appealing to their shrinking socially conservative base, the Republican Party has been unable to gain a majority of the popular vote in their bid for the White House in eight of the last nine presidential elections.”

[jfish26]

Here’s an update on the party against the weaponization of government:

[MICHHAWK]

you are churning out the propaganda as if it's an election year. i can hardly wait for next year.

[Shirley]

[defixione]

lmao

[Shirley]

[Shirley]

[Mjl]

Ayn Rand is spinning in her grave

[jfish26]

Every accusation…

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Every accusation…

I swear to God (ha ha) my first thought was - what a fucking bad joke so many people are and religion is - in that they feel they can do anything immoral and if they go to confession and/or ask God for forgiveness all is well and forgiven - at least in THEIR mind.

Then I read this......

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 21648.html

[Shirley]

Every accusation…

I swear to God (ha ha) my first thought was - what a fucking bad joke so many people are and religion is - in that they feel they can do anything immoral and if they go to confession and/or ask God for forgiveness all is well and forgiven - at least in THEIR mind.

Then I read this......

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 21648.html

It's the wash, rinse, repent and repeat of republican hypocrisy, whether you're talking about piously claiming to be the "law and order", "small government", "limited government", "fiscally conservative", or "family values" party", going back for decades.

Having a political party that constantly acts in bad faith is a threat to and drag on American society, that's hard to overstate. America deserves better.

[Shirley]

They sell for $40 new, and for $100 "used", online.

[zsn]

Every accusation…

…….is a confession!

[jfish26]