You know, people keep talking about how drastic the split is in Washington between the Democrats and the GOP. But apparently, that’s all a kumbaya moment compared to the split in the Republican party.
I am not an avid viewer of The View, but I have seen it on occasion, and found it fairly entertaining. The cast consisted of liberals Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, along with a, usually blonde, conservative woman. This included former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s froot-loops sister Elizabeth. The conservative was never dominant, but was capable of presenting a legitimate conservative argument, and giving as well as she got in the back and forth banter with the other two.
The last occupant of that chair was the daughter of iconic Senator John McCain, Meghan. She left at the first of the year. Personally, in the shows I caught a part of, I thought that she was a natural. And since then, the show’s producers have been trying to find a replacement. And failing miserably.
It’s not like they’re looking for some pie-in-the-sky conservative that can jump through flaming hoops or anything. But, being a moderate platform, there are some trip wires they’re trying to avoid. Among them are;
- No “Never Trumper’s”
- No Virulent Trump supporters
- No Q-Anon conspiracy theorists
- No Anti vaccination or mask candidates
It doesn’t seem to me like the producers are looking for a girl in ruby slippers or anything. These seem to be some pretty easy to obtain goals. But they can’t find anybody! With millions of conservatives to choose from, they can’t find a presentable woman with traditional conservative views without any of the attendant baggage!
Welcome to the Party of Trump. Traitor Tot was so divisive to the party that there is no longer any common middle ground! Trump is so toxic that you are either a virulent Trombie, or an equally virulent Never Trumper. The mushy middle have either all become Democrats or independents.
This is what gives me faith, hope, and confidence. While, as a big tent party, we can squabble over details, when the chips are down, I like to believe that we can come together for the common good. But The View’s search is showing that there is no longer any common middle ground in the GOP, and neither camp can win a national election on its own. Keep punching, and keep the faith!
So long as they lack a strong central leader (Trump was never that on his best day), the GOP chaos will continue for some time to come. Assuming she gets run out of office next year (unlikely but possible), maybe they can get Liz Cheney AKA Evil Carrie Fisher?
‘The modern conservative is not even especially modern. He is engaged, on the contrary, in one of man’s oldest, best financed, most applauded, and, on the whole, least successful exercises in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. It is an exercise which always involves a certain number of internal contradictions and even a few absurdities. The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character-building value of privation for the poor. The man who has struck it rich in minerals, oil, or other bounties of nature is found explaining the debilitating effect of unearned income from the state. The corporate executive who is a superlative success as an organization man weighs in on the evils of bureaucracy. Federal aid to education is feared by those who live in suburbs that could easily forgo this danger, and by people whose children are in public schools. Socialized medicine is condemned by men emerging from Walter Reed Hospital. Social Security is viewed with alarm by those who have the comfortable cushion of an inherited income. Those who are immediately threatened by public efforts to meet their needs — whether widows, small farmers, hospitalized veterans, or the unemployed — are almost always oblivious to the danger.’
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) “Wealth and Poverty,” speech, National Policy Committee on Pockets of Poverty (13 Dec 1963)
This bit from H.L. Mencken sums up the current political moment well: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.”
He had a number of biting comments on our country’s politicians and politics – and was equally unsparing of the masses over the kinds of leaders they chose. I’ve always been partial to this quote from him: Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
Thank you for this comment. Ain’t much has changed in the last forty-eight years, has it?
That pretty much says it all!
My wife watches the view pretty regular so I hear about it on a regular basis. They do have a conservative on the panel. Ana Navarro is/was a republican strategist working for Jeb bush among others. What is missing is the blond on the panel. I am thinking this is for the optics of balancing out Whoopi Goldberg on the other side of the couch.
One thing about ‘The View’, it gets talked about and has important guest at times. However, it comes on in the morning when a lot of people are at work.
Perhaps there just aren’t any conservatives that have the umph to defend their positions against anyone that isn’t an Axios, The Hill or FOX reporter. Whoopi and Joy can be Honey Badgers.