Maybe it’s not accurate to describe Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio as a freshman because he was elected to Congress in 2018, but in all events, he has not been in town very long. That said, he has a terrific grasp of where things are at in his party. Here’s the quote, originally to the Hill on the subject of Liz Cheney, which is being widely republished because it says it all. The Point:
If a prerequisite for leading our conference is continuing to lie to our voters, then Liz is not the best fit. Liz isn’t going to lie to people. Liz is going to say what she believes. She’s going to stand on principle. And if that’s going to be distracting for folks, she’s not the best fit. I wish that weren’t the case.”
So look at what you’ve got, a Republican Congressman who sees the lies for what they are, a loyalty test to Trump — and Trump’s gone. But the irony here, is that Trump would never have been if there had been any kind of real leadership in the GOP at all to begin with. Nature abhors a vacuum. The GOP was a vacuum and Donald Trump, the loudest voice in the room, came in and filled it.
Now, Gonzalez didn’t make clear what he believes Republicans are lying about, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s talking about the Big Lie — the one Trump and his allies are pushing that the 2020 election was somehow fraudulent or stolen despite no proof or even evidence to back up that claim. […]
If you say the election was stolen, contra evidence, or are willing to sit silently by while the 45th President and his allies make a series of false claims about 2020, you’re good to go as an accepted member of the Republican Party.
If you won’t lie about the election — based on objective facts — then you are booed or threatened with being thrown out of the GOP.
The Point: This isn’t how political parties act. It’s how cults (of personality) act.
That is the bottom line. The only question now, is whether some kind of revamped GOP is going to emerge from this wreck, or if the party remains the party of Trump. Or, maybe there will be such a schism that there will be two parties, GOP and Trumper. I don’t even want to think about what that might look like. But again, I bring up certain unpleasant stats, such as 73 million votes for Trump and 711 nay votes against Mitt Romney, on a censure vote, out of a conference of less than 1,500. This level of cultural split is the new normal. This does not bode well. And there is no way that the Big Lie is going to end well.
Trump was less leader and more corporate raider who saw a failing company that he could exploit. Now that he’s gone and what few valuable resources that the GQP had are being stripped, they now have all the same problems with fewer viable solutions to correct them than ever.
I can imagine the huge amount of dark money that floats around has seen fit to slide by the GOP, simply because they don’t have a plan on how to fix the broken roads, bridges, power grid, etc.,.
The biggest money people want returns on their investments, only the Republicans cannot show them a path to profit by installing more Republicans in Congress, only the madness of McConnell is now out there, just more rhetoric and plotting new voter obstructions, tearing down Biden’s popular plans, not much future in that … investments that play well with the public pay better returns, old stiff neck McConnell has nothing to offer … so sad 🙂 🙂
Oh, don’t elevate that Son of A Mitch too much, Darrel. I’ve long maintained that, at best, he was a middle manager who, strictly by default, was the last trace of competent leadership in the GQP. Now that his inevitable decline in health has begun, the party is no longer able to even tread water.
It just struck me that a lot of the public lashing out at corporations of late from this crowd is rooted in them blaming corps for ruining them via the Tea Party. Corporate money, you’ll recall, was a major factor there and no Republican official feels like blaming themselves. So let’s blame the one group of people who allowed them to stay relevant well past their expiration date.
God help us all if they take over in the midterms.
You say that as you plan to do nothing about it.
Jump to conclusions much? Chris said nothing of the sort.
I have neither time nor patience for fretting over worst case scenarios. Neither objectively does anyone else. That’s how you lose or miss the actual threat when it comes…like what Dems have been doing at their worst moments since 1980.
It’s a new day. Past time to start acting like it.
In order for the oligarchy to continue, the present cult will try to end democracy. They have 300 bills across the nation to suppress the vote. They are running fake audits to create a veneer for the big lie. The oligarchs of the south were certainly willing to do it using the poor landless to fight their war. Vigilance. As Jefferson wrote: “any nation that expects to be ignorant and free, believe in something that never was and never will be.”
Here’s hoping the Republican party splits. That will guarantee Democrats win going forward.
They are already split. There is the Trump contingent and the non-Trump contingent. The Trump contingent is bigger, but not big enough to win. And especially with Biden doing so well now, winning over more people.