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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican 'unforced errors' threaten path to Senate control
WASHINGTON (AP) As the prospect of a red wave grows, a series of Republican missteps including recruiting stumbles, weak fundraising and intense infighting is threatening the GOP's path to the Senate majority.
Arizona's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey dealt his party its latest setback late last week by announcing he would not challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly this fall. His decision, which leaves no obvious front-runner in a crowded Republican primary, disappointed Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and his allies who had spent months privately encouraging Ducey to run.
But the GOPs shortcomings extend well beyond Arizona.
Republican candidates in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada are struggling to keep pace with Democratic fundraising. Recruiting failures have dashed GOP hopes in reach states like Maryland and threaten a prime pickup opportunity in New Hampshire. And a recent plan that would raise taxes on low-income Americans and seniors, released by the Republican Senate midterm chief, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, is putting GOP candidates in a difficult position across states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-unforced-errors-threaten-path-to-senate-control/ar-AAUHBRA
Please continue to do what you're doing Pukes.
Walleye
(30,723 posts)LymphocyteLover
(5,601 posts)LymphocyteLover
(5,601 posts)or better ideas for whatever concerns centrists and left-leaning voters care about.
padfun
(1,780 posts)nt
crickets
(25,896 posts)Silent3
(15,018 posts)I hate depending on the intelligence of the average American voter to keep authoritarian demagogues out of power.
Cartoonist
(7,298 posts)I don't know how to fix that.
NoRethugFriends
(2,195 posts)Cartoonist
(7,298 posts)I can deal with fluctuation, but this is ridiculous. I also don't buy the notion that it's Biden's fault, but that's what the repubs will say.
localroger
(3,605 posts)...and as a practical matter hasn't really existed since before 1980. It's just finally become impossible to ignore.
What was once the Republican Party might be called the Business Right Party. These are people with comfortable wealth and a strong interest in the status quo not changing. They became the Party of Lincoln because in the Civil War they represented the business interests of Northern trade and manufacturing concerns. They were supported by most Northern businessmen and most individuals who didn't like slavery, even in the South.
But starting with the Gilded Age wealth began to concentrate in fewer and fewer hands, a trend which accelerated into the 20th century, and the memory of slavery began to recede. The BRP/GOP began to realize they eventually wouldn't be numerous enough to win a fair election, so they moved to recruit new members by allying themselves with less wealthy persons who were afraid of losing what privileged status they had left. These people had numerous reasons for feeling threatened, and moving into the 1970's the GOP began to puff up their numbers by pretending to be concerned about moral and religious issues too. Of course this was all a scam as the people really running the BRP only cared about amassing more wealth for themselves, but these new GOP voters didn't understand that.
There was always a danger of these non-BRP GOP'ers splitting off, but Trump finally realized that danger by trading the dog whistle for a foghorn. These non-BRP people -- let's call them the Conspiracy Loon Party -- finally realized that the BRP does not represent their interests. The thing is the CLP hasn't formally split from the BRP, but they're much more like two separate sub-parties within the GOP than traditional ideological wings. The BRP still controls much (but not all) of the money, but the CLP has a lot more voters.
And the CLP has simply stopped listening to the BRP, so they now dominate GOP primaries. But neither the CLP nor the BRP has enough voters to win a general election in most of the country, a fact the BRP understands (it's why they courted the CLP's ancestors after all) but which the CLP doesn't seem to care about.
Eventually one of these groups will have to admit it is no longer part of the GOP -- my money is on the BRP but it's not a sure thing -- and they will formally become a new party, and the one that is left will keep the GOP brand. Elements of the BRP are already trying to insinuate themselves into the Democratic party (which has its own similar mirror-image history) and they've had limited success, which explains where people like Sinema and Manchin come from.
But at the moment the reason the GOP is losing ground in what seems like its moment of greatest power is that the CLP is forcing its candidates onto general election tickets regardless of whether they have a chance of winning a general election, and the BRP can no longer stop them. This applies strongly to the Presidency and the Senate, but less to the House because House districts can be small enough to be dominated by CLP-leaning voters. But it's already lost them several important races, including the two Georgia Senate seats, and if the trend continues (which it surely will) there won't be enough ways to suppress and rig the vote to keep the GOP afloat.
PatSeg
(46,804 posts)of the modern republican party. This should be its own op so more people can read it.