The GOP: Not What It Used to Be

[Ozlsn]

I'm not sure whether to start a thread about the convoys or not, there are so many threads it kind of fits into but not sure which is best.

[Becky]

11 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

I'm not sure whether to start a thread about the convoys or not, there are so many threads it kind of fits into but not sure which is best.

Right?? I told my husband “Somebody is financing this spectacle.” 

[Ozlsn]

9 minutes ago, Becky said:

Right?? I told my husband “Somebody is financing this spectacle.” 

I'm looking for more evidence, but seriously... would anyone be surprised?

[apple1]

4 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

I'm looking for more evidence, but seriously... would anyone be surprised?

THAT. I also would not be surprised, but we have to see evidence publicly to get it stopped.

[GreyhoundFan]

[Cartmann99]

From his website:

Quote

Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.

Charlie, honey, a government program to help young people buy homes is the exact opposite of what you claim to believe in.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

2 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

From his website:

Charlie, honey, a government program to help young people buy homes is the exact opposite of what you claim to believe in.

If he had a moustache, I would swear he was “Evil Charlie Kirk” a’la “Evil Cartman”. 

[WiseGirl]

Psychopath is an apt description. 

 

[Xan]

1 hour ago, WiseGirl said:

Psychopath is an apt description. 

 

With Maddie Cawthorn, the entire world of FreeJinger seems to coalesce.  Fundies!  His parents home schooled him like the Duggars, the Rods, etc.  They instilled authoritarianism from early on and didn't teach him to think.  You end up with someone with no knowledge, no judgment, and a big old chip on his shoulder.

I started really paying attention to fundamentalists when I saw how they were purposefully trying to run as many people for political office as they could.  They honestly do want to take over our country.  They think that, if they have enough children, they can make up for the migrants, gays, people of color, and secular women in the workplace.  They can outbreed us and take over.

They don't care how mean and dumb those fundie politicians are.  See:  Maddie Cawthorn.

[apple1]

2 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

Psychopath is an apt description. 

 

Then I suggest a move to North Korea. I hear they have that type of dictator.

[GiggleOfGirls]

1 hour ago, Xan said:

With Maddie Cawthorn, the entire world of FreeJinger seems to coalesce.  Fundies!  His parents home schooled him like the Duggars, the Rods, etc.  They instilled authoritarianism from early on and didn't teach him to think.  You end up with someone with no knowledge, no judgment, and a big old chip on his shoulder.

I started really paying attention to fundamentalists when I saw how they were purposefully trying to run as many people for political office as they could.  They honestly do want to take over our country.  They think that, if they have enough children, they can make up for the migrants, gays, people of color, and secular women in the workplace.  They can outbreed us and take over.

They don't care how mean and dumb those fundie politicians are.  See:  Maddie Cawthorn.

 

Basically yeah. 
 

So… let me tell y’all a bit about the homeschooling community that helped create him. 
 

They love him. They LOVE HIM. They are loudly proud that he came from their community. They’re also one of the strictest groups I’ve come across re: their (Christian) statement of faith for folks who want to officially join their organization. 
 

I’ve talked at length with some young adults (MC’s age and a bit younger) who grew up in the area and they’ve told me the same things — MC is absolutely revered by the Christian homeschool and (general) conservative communities here. 
 

And I’m sure none of the above is surprising to most of you, but for anyone who was wondering, yeah, they love him and are proud they spawned him. 
 

Again I find myself being thankful for FJ because I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to avoid specifically Christian homeschool groups like the plague, but FJ helped me understand why I felt so icky about those kinds of groups.

 

Also a reminder that, due to gerrymandering, MC “represents” a large portion of super-blue Asheville, which is horrifying.

[WiseGirl]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[47of74]

Mittens doesn't think much of his fellow Republicans

Quote

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Sunday blasted his fellow GOP members who attended a White nationalist event and those who support Russia President Vladimir Putin as the country invades Ukraine.

"Look, there is no place in either political party for this White nationalism or racism. It's simply wrong ... it's evil as well," Romney told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." "(Rep.) Marjorie Taylor Greene and (Rep.) Paul Gosar, I don't know them, but I'm reminded of that old line from the 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' movie where - where one character says, 'Morons, I've got morons on my team.' And I have to think anybody that would sit down with White nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points."

The comment from Romney follows criticism from Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican, of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona for speaking at the America First Political Action Conference that took place in Orlando, Florida and was organized by White nationalist Nick Fuentes. Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, also a Republican, criticized Greene and Gosar. Greene spoke at the event in person and Gosar, who attended the same conference last year, appeared through pre-recorded remarks.

"As Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling," Cheney tweeted Saturday. "All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now."

 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by 47of74
cleaning up some firefox dumb forincatery

[47of74]

And now this 

Quote

Maryland authorities are looking for whoever is responsible for vandalizing a Ukrainian cemetery.

Broken headstones can be seen just a few steps into the St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church Cemetery in Baltimore. Myron Skyrczuk was the first person to make the discovery.

“All those over there,” he said. “Here, they snapped. They knocked everything in the back down.”

The damages include headstones broken, toppled over, and urns that were shattered.

Probably the work of some fuck stuck who bought into all the Fox/GQP lies about Ukraine. 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Audrey2]

I hope that in both the midterm elections and even in the next presidential election especially if Trump is the nominee that the Democrats really hit hard on the fact that Trump and several other well-known (I refuse to call them prominent) Republicans have openly supported Putin again and again over these last five years.

[Cartmann99]

Been a while since I thought about Scottie Nell Hughes.

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why the GOP agenda will grow even more extreme in the coming years"

Quote

Some Republicans in the Senate have been arguing lately about how explicit they should be about the agenda they’ll pursue should they win control of Congress. While some suggest promoting “Contract With America”-style bullet points, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says this is unnecessary and risky, potentially opening the party up to attacks.

But the GOP has an agenda, one that’s quite clear if you’re paying close enough attention — which most Americans aren’t. It matters greatly, not only for what they would do between 2022 and 2024, but more importantly, what will happen should they take both chambers of Congress and the presidency afterward.

Consider, for instance, McConnell’s latest obsession: too many kids who have enough to eat during the school day.

As part of pandemic relief passed by Congress in 2020, the Agriculture Department funded universal free lunch in schools. Rather than having a complex system in which some kids paid for lunch, some got reduced price meals, and some ate for free, schools could just feed everyone. It made for less bureaucracy and better-fed kids, at a time when the country was economically stressed.

The waivers that made this possible were later extended, but they’re set to expire at the end of June — and now McConnell and other Republicans are resisting extending them further. “McConnell is not budging,” said one person close to the negotiations.

While you can argue that the Trump era saw a partial retreat in the GOP from Paul Ryan-style attacks on the safety net, the impulse to literally take food from the mouths of children is still there — and will surface whenever Republicans have the chance.

Why go there? Their most common argument they make is that it’s just too expensive, and they’re seeking budget cuts. I’d remind you that Congress recently passed a $768 billion bill to fund the military for a single year, which Republicans enthusiastically supported. So they have zero credibility to complain about high spending; they support spending on some things and not others.

If Republicans do win control of one or both houses in the midterms, we’re likely to see a lot of this type of effort to chip away at social spending wherever possible. Sometimes, it will be for political reasons, but often, such as in this case, it will be a reflection of their sincere beliefs about what government should and shouldn’t do.

We’re also likely to see a repeat of a pattern that was evident when the Republicans took over first the House and then the Senate when Barack Obama was president. To satisfy the voters who elected them, they have to hold show votes on issues that matter to their base, even though those bills will be filibustered or vetoed. But in the process, they frustrate those same voters, who want results.

So, if and when they finally take the presidency as well — as in 2016 — they will really have to deliver. We saw that with the Affordable Care Act: After holding more than 60 failed votes to repeal the law while Obama was in office, they had to follow through once they had all the power. Fortunately for the country, their last attempt in 2017 was a disaster, and collapsed when Sen. John McCain refused to vote for repeal.

How much the appetite remains in the party for that particular act of destruction is unclear, but Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) recently said during a radio show that he still hopes to repeal the ACA. Whatever they do, they’ll have to show the base that they’re sticking it to the libs and moving ahead with a conservative agenda.

There’s another key part of this dynamic that wasn’t present before: State-level Republicans have gotten so extreme and aggressive that they may have created a new set of expectations that congressional Republicans will have to satisfy.

When your state representatives are essentially outlawing abortion, banning books and passing “Don’t Say Gay” bills, you may not be satisfied unless your member of Congress is willing to go just as far. Which will put pressure on congressional Republicans — but unlike those at the state level, they won’t be able to put their agenda into law.

That is, unless and until they take over in 2024, at which point they’ll have to follow through on all the radical policy changes they said they wanted but were stymied by President Biden from enacting.

Which means that should we find ourselves there three years from now, the Republican agenda will be a secret to no one — and its audacity will make your head spin.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

13 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Working against the interests of his own people?  Has she been sharing Mike Lindell and Junior's blow?  The man has been an incredible leader and has refused to just hand over Ukraine to Putin (which is what I suspect low rent Stacey Dash wants to see happen.)  She can fuck all the way off with her bad mouthing Zelensky.  

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why Republicans are excited about a culture war they know they’re losing"

Quote

If you knew nothing about history and were dropped into this political moment, you’d think that the culture war, especially around gender and sexuality, was nothing but a winner for the American right. Given how aggressive Republicans are about it — in the media, in legislation and in the courts — surely their values must dominate our society, with public opinion firmly on their side.

In fact, the opposite is true: The entire history of the culture war is one of conservative loss, retreat and retrenchment. That’s no less true today than it ever was, even as the political salience of the culture war waxes and wanes.

Right now — and likely for the next election or two — we’re in a particularly intense phase of the cycle, in which conservatives become acutely aware not only that they’re losing but that they’re certain to lose even more in the future. But they also know that the fear that inevitable future inspires among their supporters can be mobilized into short-term political victory.

Consider new polling data from the Public Religion Research Institute on LGBTQ rights. For some time, PRRI has asking Americans about same-sex marriage, laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, and allowing businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ people because of their religious beliefs.

The top-line results could hardly be clearer: In the latest data, 68 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, 79 percent support protections against discrimination, and 66 percent oppose allowing service refusals. In every case, the liberal position has grown steadily more popular over time.

The same is true among almost every political, religious, demographic and geographic subgroup. In the past few years, some have moved a tiny bit in the liberal direction while others have moved more substantially.

Even if there’s still opposition to LGBTQ rights among conservatives, that opposition is declining over time. In 2014, 35 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage, while in 2021, 48 percent did.

But to engineer a political backlash, you don’t actually need to win converts to your cause. Often, all you need is to persuade the people who haven’t changed their minds as the world changes around them to get more upset.

Which is what we’re seeing right now. Particularly at the state level, Republicans have successfully convinced their base that their entire way of life is under dire threat from a trans girl who wants to play on her middle school softball team or from the books that are sitting in school libraries.

They’ve successfully translated that anger into a wave of often terrifying legislation, targeting trans kids and their families and censoring classroom discussions that might acknowledge the existence of gay people.

They also have a comprehensive legal strategy involving a steady stream of cases, aimed at a friendly Supreme Court, meant to expand the rights of religious people — almost always conservative Christians — and have the government give them benefits and accommodations and excuse them from anti-discrimination laws.

And they have a conservative media that devotes a good deal of its time to telling their supporters that they are victims of not only grand conspiracies but a world that increasingly rejects their values. And the appropriate response is rage.

So where does this go from here? A recent iteration of this cycle of conservative loss and retrenchment is illuminating. Before the 2004 election, the issue of same-sex marriage became increasingly salient when Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, ordered the city to issue marriage licenses to gay couples; not long after, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it.

Republicans pounced, putting same-sex marriage at the top of the political agenda. That year, 11 states held referendums to outlaw same-sex marriage; all 11 passed. There was talk of a constitutional amendment, and Republicans were positively blissful about the political benefit they reaped by activating what everyone started calling “values voters” (as though being against equality is a “value” while favoring equality is just an opinion).

Yet their victory was temporary. The Supreme Court mandated marriage equality in 2015. None of the societal breakdown conservatives predicted came to pass once gay couples were allowed to marry. It’s barely controversial anymore. Republican politicians may still oppose it, but they know it’s a battle they’ve lost for all time.

Today, few conservatives would claim that the same won’t happen on transgender rights or the other culture war fights they’re promoting. But in the short term, there is still advantage to be gained by stirring up as much anger as possible.

And ironically, it’s precisely because conservatives are losing the long-term argument that they can squeeze out wins in the short term. It’s the sense of being an outnumbered and oppressed minority that drives conservative anger, which can be mobilized into political action and translated to victory at the polls. That’s even more true in nonpresidential elections, when much of the electorate doesn’t bother to vote.

So don’t be surprised if Republicans look at how they continue to lose the fight over public opinion on culture war issues and decide that it’s all the more urgent to deploy those issues this November and in 2024. If history is any guide, it could work. For a while, anyway.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[47of74]

Hell even bin Laden's family is coming out to support the GQP now

Quote

Osama bin Laden's niece Noor bin Ladin offered public praises to Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and Republican Senator Ron Johnson for their roles in defending the pro-Trump mob who rioted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Swiss-born bin Ladin, 35, reached notoriety in the U.S. when in 2020 she did her first-ever interview with the New York Post in which she urged Americans to vote for Donald Trump as, in her opinion, only he could prevent another 9/11

Talking to Steve Bannon on Real America's Voice, bin Ladin called the rioters, some of whom were arrested for having stormed the U.S. Capitol and charged with crimes from assaulting and resisting an officer to civil disorder, "patriots that are being smeared and crushed by the media, by the Department of Justice (DoJ)."

She said that institutions, including the DoJ, have been weaponized to crush all form of dissents against what she called "the regime."

 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

Hell even bin Laden's family is coming out to support the GQP now

 

And Republican's response is: