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Post by goldenbucky on Aug 29, 2018 13:47:40 GMT -5
"Republicans once believed in limited government, fiscal restraint, support for the defense and national security establishments, family values, and a strong American role in maintaining global order. More than that, we were the party that believed in logic and prudence over emotion. Our hearts were perhaps too cold, but never bleeding.
Today’s Republicans, however, are a party of bellowing drama queens whose elected representatives blow up spending caps, bust the deficit, and attack America’s law enforcement and national security agencies as dangerous conspirators. Their leader expects banana republic parades, coddles the Kremlin, protects violent men in positions of responsibility, and overlooks child molestation. The rank-and-file GOP members who once claimed that liberals were creating a tyrannical monarchy in the Oval Office now applaud the expansion of the presidency into a gigantic cult of personality....
But for now, I really am a Republican In Name Only, because I actively want to see the Republicans defeated — soundly — in 2018 (and in 2020, if the president is not primaried out of his seat). Where I was once unaffiliated but quietly cheering on conservatives, I am now a member of a party I want to see cast into the political wilderness for a few years — or longer, if that’s what it takes to break the fever.
In terms of party loyalty, that makes me a pretty lousy Republican. On the other hand, I might argue that I am in fact a better Republican than the opportunists on the White House staff and Capitol Hill who have left the party but refuse to give up the name.
...for the near future, the GOP losing is the only way to win."
At least we can see that there are SOME principled Republicans.
He also has some thoughts about the fate of the GOP - something I wonder a lot about. He thinks it can be rescued. Either way, I think he is right about what has to happen in the midterms this year.
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Post by Old Badger on Aug 29, 2018 13:57:33 GMT -5
"Populism looks powerful from the outside, but it rarely succeeds in holding power. It is not a belief but a reflex, one that fades away once the hard work of governing looms. It’s a great vessel for expressing anger. It’s not very good at keeping the lights on and delivering the mail."
Exactly right. Which is something the populists of the left (so-called "progressives") need to learn, too. Bernie would be little better than Trump in the Oval Office, and for the same reasons.
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Post by Old Badger on Sept 7, 2018 8:43:51 GMT -5
Michelle Goldberg highlights the corrupt bargain between Trump and the GOP: "But realistically, barring a last-minute outbreak of conscience from two Senate Republicans, Kavanaugh will soon sit on the Supreme Court. He will owe his elevation to Trump, who is in effect an unindicted co-conspirator in a campaign finance crime that helped him achieve his minority victory. There’s every reason to believe that Kavanaugh will shield the president from accountability or restraints on his power. Yet even Republicans who think Trump is a menace are desperate to confirm his judicial pick. What we have here, in miniature, is the corrupt bargain Washington Republicans have made with a president many of them privately despise. They know Trump is unfit, but he gives them tax cuts and right-wing judges. Those tax cuts and right-wing judges, in turn, strengthen the president’s hand, buying him gratitude from rich donors and potential legal cover. Republicans who participate in this cycle seem convinced that the situation is, and will remain, under their control. "On Wednesday, as you likely know by now, The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed by a senior Trump official headlined, 'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.' It was revealing, though not necessarily in the way the author intended. We already know that many of Trump’s closest aides hold him in contempt. What’s fascinating is how this official, who describes the president as amoral, anti-democratic and reckless, rationalizes working for him regardless. 'We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous,' the official wrote, adding, 'There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.' This is the quintessence of the Trump-enabling Republican. He or she purports to be standing between us and the calamities that our ignorant and unstable president could unleash, while complaining, in the very same op-ed, that the media doesn’t give the White House enough credit... "If Kavanaugh weren’t confirmed, it would be a profound blow to Trump, and not just because he would look weak and disappoint his evangelical base. Without Kavanaugh, Trump wouldn’t be assured of a conservative majority on the Supreme Court if and when it rules on him and his administration. With Kavanaugh, the tie-breaking vote on the Supreme Court will be a right-wing apparatchik chosen in part for his deference to executive power. A vote for Kavanaugh is thus a vote to give Trump a measure of impunity. Republican senators who know the president is out of control have a choice — they can maintain a check on his ill-considered autocratic inclinations, or solidify right-wing power on the Supreme Court for a generation. It’s obvious which way they’ll go. Maybe they’ll tell themselves having adults in the room at the White House makes it O.K." linkBasically, we now have "inside" confirmation of what has been apparent from the start: Trump is a dangerous lunatic unfit for any office, much less the Presidency. In just over a year and a half he has weakened our system of alliances, endangered the world's economy, and undermined democratic institutions, all to a degree that would have been unimaginable before November 2016. Yet, Republicans who clearly understand this existential danger are willing to accept the risks in exchange for lower taxes on corporations and the well-off, a bit more spending for weapons, and some deregulation (especially on environmental rules). Even if you agree with the substance of those policies, is it really so important to have them today that you are wiling to endanger the world order and our own democracy to achieve them? The lack of perspective, the pettiness of purpose, and the rationalization of evil are simply stunning. History will not be kind to today's Republican leadership. |
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