You know, there is something that has been eating at me for 6 long years now. How in the hell did a US political party steeped in honor and tradition for more that 160 years suddenly manage to lose it’s honor, its convictions, and its very soul in such a short span as 6 years? And all at the behest of a moronic, overstuffed, buffoonish poltroon. How is that possible?
I now have my answer. Just a few minutes ago, on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, lifelong GOP strategist Stuart Stevens opened my eyes. Stevens is no lightweight, he is a career GOP strategist who has also run national political election campaigns. But Stevens turned over the keys to the kingdom.
O’Donnell asked Stevens for his response to the GOP rallying around Trump even after the FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago, and Stevens said something akin to, It’s not just disappointing, it’s heartbreaking. But you know what? It’s also instructive. How do you lose your core principles? I don’t believe in UFO’s, and pictures of UFO landings on the internet don’t change my mind. Trump didn’t kill the GOP, he exposed it.
BINGO! Stevens gave me the keystone I had been searching for for so long. Trump didn’t kill the GOP, nor did he corrupt it, he simply exposed it for what it is. And not only that, but exposed it for what it has been for more than 50 years.
Cast your mind back. Back in 1968, Richard Nixon ran as the GOP candidate for President as the Law And Order President. He also ran on the racist Southern strategy to rake in scared, racist white voters. And once he got in, he directly authorized a break in at the DNC at the Watergate complex to give him an edge in the next election. It was all only about the power.
Fast forward to the next duly elected GOP President. Ronald Reagan had a bug up his ass about supporting the contras in Nicaragua. The US congress, fearful of getting involved in yet another central American debacle told Reagan to Fuggedaboutit! Reagan’s response was to secretly sell arms to Iran, and funnel the money to the contras, which at one point had his own advisors fearing impeachment. Once again, it was all about the power.
Now let’s fast forward to 2001, and dung stomping President George W Bush. In the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11, Bush’s first official act was to create a new federal agency, the behemoth Department of Homeland Security. And in order to ensure that the US was never threatened again, he rammed through multiple laws that directly infringed on the civil liberties of US citizens. Come on guys, sing along with Murf! It was all about the power!
Look, I don’t have the time, space, or stomach to chronicle all of the outrages of Traitor Tot against democracy and the rule of law. The Muslim ban, voting rights, child separation at the southern border, civil rights. It was a concerted campaign by a criminal organization to deconstruct our democracy. And please, don’t get me started on the Supreme Court!
But it goes even deeper. Look at the GOP controlled state legislatures. The primary focus of the national GOP in the 2010 Tea Party Revolution was to shanghai state legislatures. After which they gerrymandered themselves into safe reelective cocoons, and then run roughshod ever their own constituents rights to please their voracious insane base. It was all about the power.
Stuart Stevens was right. The GOP sold its soul 50 years ago when it started lusting after power and control, and no longer legislating on behalf of the constituents that elected them. They constructed a Rube Goldberg contraption to keep them in power even if people hated what they did. Even moron GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Moral Majority was a sop to his far right Evangelical base.
Stuart Stevens nailed it to the wall. Trump didn’t kill the GOP, he just exposed them. They sold their souls to Nixon and Reagan 50 years ago, when the decided power and control was more important than legislating. The only question for all of us sitting here today, in 2022 is, What are we going to do about it?
I can only add one thing: W was the true turning point in the Republican party’s destiny. Looking back, the only difference between him and Trump was that he had SLIGHTLY smarter people that he listened to. But they were still inept and their global domination ambitions have been shrinking ever since.
I think it goes back to Nixon, with each succeeding rethug President becoming more and more authoritarian. W was probably when it became obvious to the more observant observers, but I don’t think he was the progenitor of all this.
Bingo.
In my opinion, the Republicans (for the most part) are like a bunch of spoiled brats that don’t want to play nice with the rest of the kids. They’ve turned into a cabal that only supports their big $$ donors and mock any good ideas from the other side of the aisle. They’ve also taken Drumpf as their Leader, which is pretty short-sighted, considering he may be going to jail for a long time, based on the number of investigations that are on-going.
100%
In 1944 the taxpayers were billed for the LaGuardia report, a study of cannabis to determine its safety. Francis Young, the federal judge who reviewed the evidence, stated it was the safest substance he ever reviewed. Fast forward to nixon’s war on drugs, which his man Haldeman later admitted was really a war on the Vietnam War protesters & the black Civil rights activists. The criteria for schedule 1 classification is that the substance must be dangerously addictive, meaning physical & psychological addiction, & have no medicinal use. Cannabis doesn’t meet EITHER criteria but alcohol & tobbaco do. So the first traitor/criminal president places it in schedule 1 thereby criminalizing tens of millions of citizens since 1970 AS POLITICAL OPPRESSION TO THIS VERY DAY!!! Meanwhile Nixon walks on his real crimes pardon by the guy HE appoints as VP. The stockholders of the etoh, tobacco & pharmaceutical companies grow ultrarich, while LYING about the dangers of their products. The Sacklers have made billions while their reps lied about the risk of addiction to oxycontin. Over 100,000 people died just last year due to overdose. The Sacklers are free while potsmokers sit in prison. And we wonder how this culture has become so toxic. When your laws are lies & LEFT ON THE BOOKS FOR 52 years & counting, destroying lives without justification, & the truly guilty WALK & GET RICH & BUY POLITICIANS…well its evil pure & simple. Throw in the half educated, the TV, now internet addicted culture, & voila! You have a nation of chickens voting for the butcher. A truly educated populace, dedicated to social justice, would never have sat on our collective thumbs watching the criminals make the laws that place their crimes above scrutiny, while criminalizing millions of citizens over LIES. We get EXACTLY what we deserve & will until we honor the fucking Truth. Cue up the rationalizations.
loser
The question I have is how did it take 50 years to figure this all out? Been kinda obvious the whole time.
Really? If it was so obvious why is cannabis STILL on schedule 1? In this nation, half the voters are cult members goose stepping down the street to hell, & the majority too goddamn lazy to vote or even UNDERSTAND what they should be correcting with the vote. Of course, in a country where white boys can kill with a military weapon & GO FREE, while a black woman gets killed by the police in her own bed, & not one of the rich & powerful have been arrested for 1/6…well WE GET WHAT WE DESERVE. Trump is a pathological liar yet his party stands behind him AFTER THE INSURRECTION. The only thing obvious to me is the rich play the tune & the rest of us dance to their tune.
Gee Wally, it’s too bad the democrats bought into that nafta crap and sent all of those blue collar democrat jobs to China. Why does it seem like the only REAL democrat is Bernie?
Don’t do the stupid thing & support a Jill stein as an alternative & wind up supporting a fascist like last time. No vote for a Democrat is a fascist vote no matter what you believe.
THANKS AGAIN MURPH .. and you even gave the meme for the low IQ MAGAS to be able to see and read. SHARING …