It’s about time someone reached out in public and smacked Republicans. They are so full of themselves as the Party of Trump. The problem with that is forgetting about the people behind the names. Trump is not having a good year, and Republicans are taking the blame. OOPS. From AlterNet:
Friday morning, September. 5, brought a major announcement from Oregon State Rep. Cyrus Javadi: He has officially left the Republican Party and registered as a Democrat. And he plans to seek reelection as a Democrat in 2026. In his column, the former Republican made a similar argument that many Never Trump conservatives — from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough to attorney George Conway to Washington Post columnist George Will — have made: He didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left him.
Ouch. That’s a pretty major thing to say. It’s a perfect attack because the GOP has no legs to stand on. They might commiserate in private, but in public? Oh, no. They won’t go against Trump for *anything*. They should just be dolls, puppets that nod and smile on command from their Dear Leader. They’ve sold their souls to the devil known as Trump. Ick.
Javadi goes on to explain why his “patience had worn thin” with the Republican Party. “Every priority for Oregon’s North Coast, nearly every single one, ran into opposition from my own party,” the state lawmaker explains. “Protecting Medicaid benefits for the nearly 60 percent of children in Tillamook and Clatsop counties? Opposed. Keeping rural hospitals afloat? Opposed. Preserving students’ access to books that reflect who they are? Opposed. Protecting the First Amendment rights of people different from ourselves? Opposed. Not because the policies were flawed. But because helping me deliver for my district didn’t fit the Republican Party’s agenda.”
And again I say ouch. You can’t stay with your party if it betrays everything you believe in. He can’t stay with his party if it does the opposite of what is needed. He can’t stay with his party if it’s just a bunch of people selling snake oil and taking their sucker customers for every penny they have. That’s not governing, except to Trump. That’s bullsh!t. There isn’t a big enough shovel for all that bullsh!t.
Javadi notes that he is being inundated with hate mail, which, he argues, reflects the state of the GOP in 2025. “For months now,” a frustrated Javadi writes, “the Republican Party’s message has been simple: we don’t care what the problem is, just vote no, or else. And for me, that’s a problem. Because I didn’t run for office to be a rubber stamp…. I know many Republicans who still share my values, but the party apparatus is headed somewhere else entirely.” …. I’ve had enough of politics as performance art.”
Best wishes, sir. It’s about more than this. It’s about the dictatorial hold that Trump has on the Republican Party. It’s the sheep that follow blindly along when Trump orders something, no matter what. How can these people keep their souls? How can these people live with themselves when they are ciphers, a pale shadow of what they used to be? I don’t understand them. I just don’t.
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thanks. Ursula
He was perfectly happy with them using dog whistles prior to Trump, but now he objects?
I’m proud of him (as a fellow Oregonian, and now fellow Democrat). Problem is, the more moderate Repubs who leave the party, the more extreme the party becomes.
Oh come on Loha. It’s already there. I suppose it could still get more extreme (or in Trump’s words, “Extremer”) but sheesh! They’re pretty darned extreme NOW, and the moderates are losing hands down. Time to just jump ship and fight from the outside.
You say, “the more moderate Repubs who leave the party, the more extreme the party becomes”. Given the stranglehold The Orange Menace has on the party,
A corollary to your statement is the more extreme the party becomes, and the less their policies meet the needs and desires of the electorate, the worse their results come Election Day. I know, the variable here is the electorate waking up to the party’s failing to act in their best interests, an issue that will hopefully be addressed before the Midterms.
It must have got to a point where the pain of remaining a Republican was greater than the pain of taking corrective action. He’s brave. He’ll continue to do better now that yoke and millstone have been sloughed off, for the better.