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

[Shirley]

This is why she is beloved, because her life is so relatable. Who hasn't had to drive to home to see if their ex threw their shit in the pond?

WINDSOR, Colo. — On a recent February afternoon, Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) campaign manager walked into a coffee shop for a gathering of the Pachyderm Club, a local Republican group, and spoke briefly on behalf of his candidate. Boebert wasn’t there herself; she was back in her old district, figuring out whether her ex-husband had thrown her belongings into a pond.

That morning, Boebert had driven to her old house to retrieve the last of her things from a farmhouse on their property, which she’d moved into as their marriage began to fall apart. He still lived in the main house and, according to Boebert, when she called him ahead of her arrival he told her she could find her stuff “at the bottom of the pond.” That turned out not to be true, but he had removed her stuff and put it into a storage trailer without her consent, she said. Boebert called the police and got a temporary restraining order.

This one just oozes rubepublican "family values". We won't be seeing her signs out in the Empire any more.

Why are the good ones always already taken?

[twocoach]

This is why she is beloved, because her life is so relatable. Who hasn't had to drive to home to see if their ex threw their shit in the pond?

WINDSOR, Colo. — On a recent February afternoon, Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) campaign manager walked into a coffee shop for a gathering of the Pachyderm Club, a local Republican group, and spoke briefly on behalf of his candidate. Boebert wasn’t there herself; she was back in her old district, figuring out whether her ex-husband had thrown her belongings into a pond.

That morning, Boebert had driven to her old house to retrieve the last of her things from a farmhouse on their property, which she’d moved into as their marriage began to fall apart. He still lived in the main house and, according to Boebert, when she called him ahead of her arrival he told her she could find her stuff “at the bottom of the pond.” That turned out not to be true, but he had removed her stuff and put it into a storage trailer without her consent, she said. Boebert called the police and got a temporary restraining order.

This one just oozes rubepublican "family values". We won't be seeing her signs out in the Empire any more.

Why are the good ones always already taken?

Being "already taken" doesn't seem to be a hurdle to getting with Boebert.

[KUTradition]

but she’s got trump’s vote!

[jfish26]

This is why she is beloved, because her life is so relatable. Who hasn't had to drive to home to see if their ex threw their shit in the pond?

WINDSOR, Colo. — On a recent February afternoon, Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) campaign manager walked into a coffee shop for a gathering of the Pachyderm Club, a local Republican group, and spoke briefly on behalf of his candidate. Boebert wasn’t there herself; she was back in her old district, figuring out whether her ex-husband had thrown her belongings into a pond.

That morning, Boebert had driven to her old house to retrieve the last of her things from a farmhouse on their property, which she’d moved into as their marriage began to fall apart. He still lived in the main house and, according to Boebert, when she called him ahead of her arrival he told her she could find her stuff “at the bottom of the pond.” That turned out not to be true, but he had removed her stuff and put it into a storage trailer without her consent, she said. Boebert called the police and got a temporary restraining order.

This one just oozes rubepublican "family values". We won't be seeing her signs out in the Empire any more.

Is this from that ridiculous WaPo reacharound job?

[jfish26]

So, Trump is now making a campaign promise to "take all federal funds away from public schools that require vaccines" of any kind.

And in Flurriduh, the state surgeon general has, facing a measles outbreak, "advised parents that they should decide for themselves whether to vaccinate their kids or remove unvaccinated students from schools. He did not follow federal recommendations to urge parents to vaccinate their children against measles or quarantine those who may have come in contact with the virus."

So, in short, Trump tried to hide Covid for political reasons.* And since he can do no wrong in the eyes of his cult, we are now actively making kids less safe and hurtling back toward goddamn polio times.

* The zone has been SO flooded with shit these last ten years, and our collective psyches so altered by the world being turned inside out, that we sort of lose track that in a very real sense, this utter abdication of duty was the MOST serious misdeed of Trump's life. Pre-, during and post-Presidency.

[Shirley]

So, Trump is now making a campaign promise to "take all federal funds away from public schools that require vaccines" of any kind.

And in Flurriduh, the state surgeon general has, facing a measles outbreak, "advised parents that they should decide for themselves whether to vaccinate their kids or remove unvaccinated students from schools. He did not follow federal recommendations to urge parents to vaccinate their children against measles or quarantine those who may have come in contact with the virus."

So, in short, Trump tried to hide Covid for political reasons.* And since he can do no wrong in the eyes of his cult, we are now actively making kids less safe and hurtling back toward goddamn polio times.

* The zone has been SO flooded with shit these last ten years, and our collective psyches so altered by the world being turned inside out, that we sort of lose track that in a very real sense, this utter abdication of duty was the MOST serious misdeed of Trump's life. Pre-, during and post-Presidency.

Who could have ever imagined that stupid people like Trump could convince stupid people like Randy to think he and they know more about vaccines and infectious diseases than smart people who have studied the subject their entire professional lives?

Other than being an incredible learning experience for the current and next generation of health care workers about diseases they've read and heard of but never seen or treated, and a stone cold gift for Democrats who are relying on the contrast between something, themselves, and arguably insane, i.e.,Republicans, to help them win in November, a lot of children are going to suffer morbidities and mortalities needlessly, at a time in their lives when they are particularly vulnerable. And their parents, the people they rely on to protect them, will be culpable.

God...Help...Us...All. Because

this is totally, utterly, fucked up.

I refuse to believe that a majority of the American people are willing to increase their and their family's likelihood of contracting diseases like polio, tetanus, measles, diphtheria, et al, to vote for an ignorant, mentally deficient clown like Trump.

Again.

Do you know anyone who has had diphtheria? Tetanus? Anyone?

There's a reason...

[jfish26]

So, was the patient finally declared dead yesterday? And its intact organs shuffled to various purposes?

[KUTradition]

So, Trump is now making a campaign promise to "take all federal funds away from public schools that require vaccines" of any kind.

And in Flurriduh, the state surgeon general has, facing a measles outbreak, "advised parents that they should decide for themselves whether to vaccinate their kids or remove unvaccinated students from schools. He did not follow federal recommendations to urge parents to vaccinate their children against measles or quarantine those who may have come in contact with the virus."

So, in short, Trump tried to hide Covid for political reasons.* And since he can do no wrong in the eyes of his cult, we are now actively making kids less safe and hurtling back toward goddamn polio times.

* The zone has been SO flooded with shit these last ten years, and our collective psyches so altered by the world being turned inside out, that we sort of lose track that in a very real sense, this utter abdication of duty was the MOST serious misdeed of Trump's life. Pre-, during and post-Presidency.

Who could have ever imagined that stupid people like Trump could convince stupid people like Randy to think he and they know more about vaccines and infectious diseases than smart people who have studied the subject their entire professional lives?

Other than being an incredible learning experience for the current and next generation of health care workers about diseases they've read and heard of but never seen or treated, and a stone cold gift for Democrats who are relying on the contrast between something, themselves, and arguably insane, i.e.,Republicans, to help them win in November, a lot of children are going to suffer morbidities and mortalities needlessly, at a time in their lives when they are particularly vulnerable. And their parents, the people they rely on to protect them, will be culpable.

God...Help...Us...All. Because

this is totally, utterly, fucked up.

I refuse to believe that a majority of the American people are willing to increase their and their family's likelihood of contracting diseases like polio, tetanus, measles, diphtheria, et al, to vote for an ignorant, mentally deficient clown like Trump.

Again.

Do you know anyone who has had diphtheria? Tetanus? Anyone?

There's a reason...

Biden and the dems need to be hammering this point all day, every day

[jfish26]

So, was the patient finally declared dead yesterday? And its intact organs shuffled to various purposes?

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/p ... orsements/

[T]he only two options available for Republican politicians these days are cowardice or oblivion, surrender or impotence.

History will recall Never Trump Republicans as one of the most impotent political movements of our time. Their chief weapon is the Brave Speech followed by the inevitable surrender and/or resignation. It began in the Senate, with people like Bob Corker of Tennessee bailing out. It continued through Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, widely praised for their participation on the January 6 committee, which nonetheless was their last acts as members of Congress. Cheney got crushed for re-election, and Kinzinger didn't bother to run again. The incredibly profitable Never Trump universe of pundits and outrage performance artists has had no apparent effect on Republican voting behavior — e.g. the North Carolina Republicans just nominated Mark Robinson, a Holocaust-denying, election-truthing homophobe who believes in the Lizard People to be the state's next governor, and they did it in a landslide. He's effectively the Republican Party now, not the Bulwark crowd. The surrender is complete.

[KUTradition]

https://apnews.com/article/natalie-clin ... 8a3bba34f1

shame on her, and her supporters…pos

[Shirley]

https://apnews.com/article/natalie-clin ... 8a3bba34f1

shame on her, and her supporters…pos

When hate and division are your goal...

Let me guess, she's a Republican?

[KUTradition]

https://apnews.com/article/natalie-clin ... 8a3bba34f1

shame on her, and her supporters…pos

When hate and division are your goal...

Let me guess, she's a Republican?

“conservative” is the label i think i heard given to her

[Sparko]

Conserving fascism

[jfish26]

Supporting links in post, emphases mine.

March 10, 2024

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.c ... ch-10-2024

As predicted, last week was an important one for the Republican Party.

The Republicans’ rebuttal to the State of the Union on Thursday stayed in the news throughout the weekend. On Friday, independent journalist Jonathan Katz figured out that a key story in it was false. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) described a twelve-year-old child sex trafficked by Mexican cartel members, implying that the young girl was trafficked because of President Joe Biden’s border policies.

Katz tracked down the facts. Britt was describing the life of Karla Jacinto, who was indeed trafficked as a child, but not in the present and not in the U.S. and not by cartels. She was trafficked from 2004 to 2008—during the George W. Bush administration—in Mexico, at the hands of a pimp who entrapped vulnerable girls. Jacinto has become an advocate for child victims and has told her story before Congress, and she met Britt at an event for government officials and anti-trafficking advocates.

Britt’s dramatic delivery of the rebuttal had already invited parody and concern about the religious themes she demonstrated. The news that a central image in it was a lie just made things worse. “Everyone’s f*cking losing it,” a Republican strategist told The New Republic’s Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling. “It’s one of our biggest disasters ever.”

On Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted to replace former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who resigned effective Friday, with Trump loyalist Michael Whatley and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump. They will co-chair the organization and have made it clear their primary goal is to put Trump back in the White House.

Friday night, on Newsmax, Donald Trump Jr. recorded a video announcing that the old Republican Party “no longer exists outside of the D.C. beltway…. The move that happened today…that’s the final blow. People have to understand that America First, the MAGA movement is the new Republican Party. That is conservatism today.”

Just what that means was crystal clear on Friday night, when Trump hosted Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán at the Trump Organization’s Florida property, Mar-a-Lago. The darling of the radical right, Orbán has spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and hosted former Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson, and his policies inspired the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation Florida governor Ron DeSantis has championed.

The right wing’s fondness for Orbán springs from his having rejected democracy and replaced it in Hungary with what he calls an “illiberal state.” Orbán and other far-right leaders working against democracy maintain that the central principle of democracy, equality before the law, undermines society. It permits immigration, which, in their minds, dilutes the “purity” of a people, and it requires that LGBTQ+ individuals and women have the same rights as heterosexual men. Such a world challenges the heteronormative patriarchal world traditionalists crave.

Orbán’s takeover of the press, elimination of rival political parties, partisan gerrymandering, capture of the courts, and control of Hungary’s government are not just ideological, though, but also economic. Corruption and the capture of valuable factories and properties for cronies have allowed Orbán and his allies to amass fortunes.

“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s fantastic,” Trump said on Friday. Trump said that Orbán simply says, “‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it, right? He’s the boss and…he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him.”

On Saturday, Republicans in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, censured Senator James Lankford (R-OK) over his work negotiating the border security measure. In January, state Republicans claimed they had passed a resolution “strongly” condemning Lankford; others said the vote for the resolution was “not legitimate and definitely does not represent the voice of all Oklahoma Republicans.”

Lankford is a far-right senator whom Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tapped to represent the Republicans in the negotiations. House Republicans had demanded the border security measure before they would allow a vote on a national security supplemental bill that funds Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.

Because the Democrats are desperate to fund Ukraine, they were willing to give up things they had never laid on the table before, including a path to citizenship for those brought to the United States as children, making the bill that emerged from the negotiations strongly favor the Republican position on immigration. The Border Patrol Officers’ union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal all endorsed it.

But the House Republicans’ demand for a border measure appears to have been an attempt to kill the national security supplemental bill altogether. As soon as it became clear that there would be a deal, Trump came out against it. He demanded that Congress kill the measure, and his loyalists agreed.

Lankford, who had helped to produce the strongest border measure in years at the request of the nominal head of the party, has now been censured because he crossed Trump.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Biden signed into law one of the consolidated appropriations bills that must be finished to fund the government. The other must be finished by March 22.

Biden has continued to ride the momentum built by Thursday’s State of the Union speech. His campaign has released a number of advertisements, and today he was in Georgia, where the largest political action committees representing communities of color—the AAPI Victory Fund, the Latino Victory Fund, and The Collective PAC—endorsed him and pledged $30 million to mobilize communities of color to vote in 2024.

Give Donny some credit: he is right.

[Shirley]

Today In: Republicans, or

Lying fascists

What a tangled web...

The woman whose story Alabama Sen. Katie Britt appeared to have shared in the Republican response to the State of the Union as an example of President Joe Biden’s failed immigration policies told CNN she was trafficked before Biden’s presidency and said legislators lack empathy when using the issue of human trafficking for political purposes.

[zsn]

GOP motto: Never Let Facts Stand in the Way of a Good Conspiracy Theory!

Also, all the abuse under the cartel took place in Mexico!

[Shirley]

Looks like we better get used to this fascist shit.

March 13, 2024-Donald Trump has formally clinched the GOP nomination that was always his. He has also installed extreme loyalists at the leadership of his party. This means that regardless of the outcome of this year's election, MAGA forces have consolidated control of the Republican Party.

Mitchell Minute 1824-Trump's Continuing Takeover of the GOP

[Sparko]

Will not a lethal virus kill the host? Thus it is so with political parties.

[jfish26]

Looks like we better get used to this fascist shit.

March 13, 2024-Donald Trump has formally clinched the GOP nomination that was always his. He has also installed extreme loyalists at the leadership of his party. This means that regardless of the outcome of this year's election, MAGA forces have consolidated control of the Republican Party.

Mitchell Minute 1824-Trump's Continuing Takeover of the GOP

It's going to be utter demolition downballot, everywhere.

[Shirley]

Looks like we better get used to this fascist shit.

March 13, 2024-Donald Trump has formally clinched the GOP nomination that was always his. He has also installed extreme loyalists at the leadership of his party. This means that regardless of the outcome of this year's election, MAGA forces have consolidated control of the Republican Party.

Mitchell Minute 1824-Trump's Continuing Takeover of the GOP

It's going to be utter demolition downballot, everywhere.

Promise?

And even if it is, who says the fascists will concede?