GOP isn't cracking and FOX News is still all in for Trump

[Johnny2X2X]

All this talk on here around the Impeachment forcing FOX and some Republicans to waver in their support of Trump is premature. The GOP is still all in with Trump. FOX still spews his side 24 hours a day. Picking out a random Rep who said Trump shouldn't have said something, or a 20 second clip of a FOX anchor questioning Trump is folly.

The impeachment Inquiry has hardened GOP and FOX support of Trump, not softened it. All of these threads are not telling the story. The Republican Party is no closer to doubting Trump than they were before the story. That's why the Democratic Party must take their time and have public hearings around impeachment that show the public how clear this case is.

Impeachment is a political process, seeing the political winds honestly is a key to being successful.

[NewJeffCT]

1. Chris Wallace and Shep Smith

have been pretty tough of Trump this past week.

[Arazi]

4. They've never been Trumpers

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Unfortunately

both of them have pretty much been "counter" for awhile now (notably because Shep and Juan Williams, and more recently Wallace, are supposedly the "balance" that Faux claims to have).

If ever the loons on the Faux and Friends freak show ever start cracking, then you know the lifeboats have been readied.

[True Blue American]

8. They both present facts

Hannity, Carlson, along with DeGenova are the liars.

Still laughing at Geraldo going to whip the whistle blower. Funny if it was a 5 foot women.

Word of advice men. Never take on a 5 foot woman, she is usually a fighting machine!

[NewJeffCT]

10. LOL

my ex-wife was a 5 foot tall woman and human cannonball - I learned early on to argue with her.

[True Blue American]

13. I thought

That would hit with someone!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. That's the sane wing of Fox News. It's a very, very lonely place.

Sometimes Juan Williams and Andrew Napolitano show up to visit them, but other than that, there's really no one else.

It continues to exist for the sole purpose of maintaining the Potemkin Village image of Fox supposedly being "Fair and Balanced", a slogan so disingenuous it was dropped as an official tagline.

[Arazi]

2. Agreed. Republican Twitter is now even more hardcore #Traitor as far as I can tell

[Iliyah]

18. There could be approx. 1 million or so trolls from

other countries bombarding social media in favor of t-rump.

[RKP5637]

3. Cult behavior is very difficult to change. n/t

[spanone]

5. Let them all go down together...

[CatWoman]

7. at this point in time, exactly what did you expect?

it hasn't even been a week yet.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. I expected this

My point is that every other thread here right now is trying to give the sense that the GOP is fracturing and FOX News is blinking because of this scandal, the opposite is actually true.

The focus should remain on the general public though.

[Moostache]

27. The "general public" is too worried about getting that I-Phone 11 to care...

I have less than zero faith in the general public to amount to anything more than non-voting imbeciles. We have less than 65% turn out in presidential elections and far less than that for mid-terms and off-year elections...for local offices? Hell, in some cases people can be mayors or school board officers with a few hundred votes TOTAL...

I would never place faith in the general public to do anything other than idle navel gazing and an occasional belch...

[Johnny2X2X]

29. What I am talking about is this

Get the public on board with impeachment and the Senate will follow. That's the only way. the Republican Senators have to see that their jobs are on the line if they do not hold Trump accountable.

Personally, I think this might have another desired effect. Trump is losing his mind right now, he's going to get more and more extreme and force the Senate's hand eventually.

[gratuitous]

21. The inquiry hasn't even started yet, just announced

Some people are really determined to get that cart in front of the horse for some reason. We're in the first strides of a marathon and the report of the starter's pistol is still reverberating.

[CatWoman]

30. word!!

[Mike 03]

9. Maybe so. I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

McConnell and the Senate GOP behaved uncharacteristically last week, voting to release the Complaint and shutting down Trump's declaration of State of Emergency for wall funding. THere's also some indication that people in Trump's inner circle are turning on each other. So I'm going to remain hopeful for another week or so.

[Hortensis]

12. I don't expect the Republican leaders and the giant power blocs

they represent to "crack," or anything like. They could be forced to accept a setback, but not easily. They intend to get and keep control of our nation. If they decide their best path includes replacing Trump they will. If not, they won't.

If we Democrats can persuade the nation Trump should be removed from office, that would also help remove a major problem for the RW powers. The base might even be persuaded to accept the new leader they have ready for them gladly.

[True Blue American]

15. Moscow Mitch is closing the Senate!

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/mitch-mcconnell-announces-senate-will-close-until-2021-for-repainting

[Hortensis]

16. Lol. If it'd work, he bulldoze it.

[kentuck]

14. It would be tempting to just impeach him immediately and send it to the Senate..

...and let them handle it.

They would accept responsibility for the continued threats and insanity of Donald Trump.

[customerserviceguy]

19. It's Trump's base that gives him this power

Separate him from that base, and they all go down.

Nancy Pelosi missed a golden opportunity. When Trump called her to "work something out" on impeachement, she should have taken him up on it. She should have asked for immigration reforms, and when the news came out about that, his base would feel very betrayed that he'd give up on his signature issue just to save his own ass.

Yes, the Speaker would have been reviled here for it, but once Trump's base turned on him, she could crow that she had tricked him into his own political demise. She'd be seen as the genius that she is, to have gotten him into the trouble he's into today.

[Johnny2X2X]

22. I thinbk he offered gun control

And it barely got mentioned in the news.

[customerserviceguy]

23. Two reasons for that

First, Fox News knew it would separate him from his base, and they don't want that. Speaker Pelosi turning it down made it a moot point.

Second, the rest of the media didn't believe Trump could deliver it, so there was no reason to pursue it. Major mistake on their part.

[tman]

20. I've been shaking my head at the amount of wishful thinking

on this board lately.

People need to sober up or another Trump term is VERY possible.

[customerserviceguy]

24. Agreed

There are only three possible GOP nominees for next year:

1) A damaged Trump, what we have right now.

2) A vindicated Trump,

3) Somebody other than Trump, who will look reasonable and sane just simply by comparison with Trump.

Which one do you think I want our nominee to run against?

[ooky]

25. Totally expected.

I predicted last week when the Ukraine story broke that this is what they would do. The main thing I liked seeing though was some M$M Sunday show hosts pushing back hard on their lies, such as Tapper did with Jordan. That's what needs to happen if public opinion is going to be swayed enough in our direction.

The Republicans don't have anything else in their playbook. They are held hostage by the MAGAts they created, who they need to keep in their corner to have any chance of making it to 2020 with any chance of winning still possible. They really have no choice but to continue to lie, so they sent their best liars out to the Sunday shows.

[EleanorR]

26. Actually they are cracking, but because they are cowards

Because they are cowards they are cutting and running rather than speaking up or staying to fight the madman.

[GusBob]

28. I Fox were around during Watergate........

although there were folks in the Nixon WH who did come forward

[TidalWave46]

31. Individual personalities seem to be writing narratives.

It's understandable but it doesn't make for good predictions or understanding of what we have in front of us.

We are about to witness a group of people who have been calling for impeachment for months, who have taken Pelosi to the mat, now pushing the mantra that Republicans won't break ranks.

Said group can't comprehend past the very last news story they read. They have no patience and everything is black and white.

The opposite of your argument is also true. All of this talk about how the GOP won't move is premature.

[stopbush]

32. Self-identified Republicans make up 23% of the population.

Faux News is a cable news channel that caters to that 23% and a few others.

Your point?