This is getting ridiculous. How many times do I have to say I love it when they eat their young. The freakin’ election isn’t even a week old, the balance of power in the US House isn’t even decided yet, and already the anti Trump and pro Trump forces are gearing up for a battle that will be like a scene straight out of Braveheart.
Far right Trombie cretins like Laborious MYG are already spouting shit about how Kreepy Kevin McCarthy will never be House Speaker unless Greene gets to stand next to him, shove her hand up the back of his shirt, sit him on her lap, and turn him into Howdy Doody. The Freedom Caucus looks at him as a traitor to the cause. These idjits are dangerously close to playing with the kind of fire that allows the Democrats to pick 1-3 sane GOP House members, and get Nancy Pelosi elected Speaker. Don’t laugh. Those moderate House members got elected because their constituents wanted them to compromise and get shit done. It could happen if everything breaks right.
In the Senate, a group of Trumptards including Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley want McConnell to hold off on the conference leadership role votes scheduled behind closed doors on Wednesday. They blame McConnell for the Senate debacle. McConnell has never had a leadership challenge in 20 years, but he has one now. The nub is that McConnell is still the Minority Leader, and the leadership votes won’t take effect until January 3rd, when the new congress is sworn in. If McConnell already has the votes, it behooves him to take the votes on Wednesday and cement his role. If he delays the vote, that’s a strong signal he’s in deep trouble with his caucus.
But now, let’s move on to the really fun stuff, 2024. Right now, every GOP pundit, campaign staff, strategist, and donor who wants a possible career in a post Trump GOP is taking to the FUX News airwaves, and calling for either Trump to fall on his sword, or for the GOP to oust him and move forward towards 2024. Of course Trump will never do this if it’s not in his own self interest. Fuck the GOP, Traitor Tot has sheeple to fleece of their hard earned simoleons. And if he gets in, and it looks like he’s losing? I’ve said it before, Trump is like Hitler in his Berlin bunker in 1945. If Trump can’t rule the GOP, he’ll bolt and start a 3rd party campaign and burn the whole thing to the ground.
But who’s the alternative? According to GOP internal polling it’s Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis. GOP state convention and CPAC straw polls show that a significant number of GOP voters want Trump, but without the Trump baggage. And that’s where DeSantis comes in. He has all of the far right lunacy, but he keeps it under a bushel basket instead of touting it with a bullhorn.
But therein lies the problem. The 2016 and 2020 base Trump voters voted for Trump precisely because of the baggage! Trump has a natural charisma, and that natural racist, sexist, burn it down, Damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead style was what attracted them in the first place. While soft GOP voters may have soured on Trump’s bullshit, his solid 30% base isn’t going anywhere. Trump’s over the top antics are a feature, not a bug.
But what about Pissantis? The more moderate GOP loves him! Fuggedaboudit. The only thing that these schmucks have seen is positive press coverage on OAN and FUX News of his antics in Florida. And he looks like the answer to a prayer. But nobody in the nation has seen any more than select sound bytes shown on far right media. And that’s all based on his far right, Christian nationalist, whack-a-mole programs than his actual personality.
And that’s where the wheels fall of the DeSantis presidential bus. While Pissantis has elevated his national profile with his televised antics, he hasn’t done anything else. He hasn’t gone around the country setting up a national donor base, he hasn’t made major speeches in early primary states, or many states at all. Which means that he isn’t generating any enthusiasm among possible campaign workers or volunteers. Basically, he just looks good on paper.
Like I said, Trump got elected on national name recognition, grassroots fundraising and natural charisma. Please, take my word for this. I’ve spent about a year and a half putting up with more of Ron Pissantis’s bullshit than is good for me mental health to keep y’all informed. In real life, the man has the persona and personality of a turnip. He is by nature a craven sycophant, after all, sucking up to Trump is how he got where he is. His actual personality puts him on a par with actor Charles Grodin.
This is why I said that it doesn’t really matter which side comes out on top of the GOP civil war in 2023, if either does. Trump. Can’t. Win. He’s a 4 time loser if you include the two midterms. The sane GOP knows it, and that’s why they’re on their hind legs to get him out of there. But DeSantis has the charisma and personality of Gerber baby food in person. If they ditch Trump, you really think Pissantis is going to inflame the GOP base, and carry Trump’s former voters over to him? I don’t see it. And if it’s not Trump, and it’s not Pissantis, just who the hell is it? Cruz? Lee? Hawley? Abbott? This cluster fuck may well be the best chance Mike Pence is ever going to have to unite the sane GOP behind him and restore sanity to the GOP. But don’t count on it.
Yeah, it’s going to be pure Game of Thrones shit for the rest of the decade for them. And the probable winner, I maintain, is their own homegrown Cersei Lannister, Liz Cheney AKA the only Republican left who knows how to play the long game.
What about the states? And by that I mean party control in state houses in November 2024. There have been a couple sighs of relief over some S.o.S. candidates getting defeated but if more state legislatures are or became ‘pube strongholds, we’re looking at a very bleak scenario regardless of who eats who’s young. We saw ‘pube legislatures create their very own little slates of electors in 2020–I hope nobody thinks that will never happen again. In fact, now that the idea is so firmly planted in their empty skulls, I’d say we’ll see more of it in 2024.
**Eye roll** He said, ignoring the fact that not ONE statehouse chamber got flipped this midterm, the first time that’s happened since 1934.
Didn’t get flipped. Does that mean there are more democrat controlled state houses then because there had been more ‘pube controlled ones.
Michigan legislature got flipped to Dem, first time it hasn’t been Rep like forever.