The GOP's problem is, Trump has undone the unification orchestrated by Rove/GWB.

[DetlefK]

GWB "won" in 2000 because Karl Rove managed to get all 3 wings of the Republican Party together: the religious, the tax-cutters, the national-security hawks.

This alliance worked during GWB's reign, because the common enemy islamic terrorism united them.
This alliance worked during Obama's reign, because the common enemy Obama united them.

Except that new wings of the Republican Party appeared:
* The Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, whatever you name it, were now the crazy and rabid part of the tax-cutters.
* Obama-hatred gave birth to a whole new world of conspiracy-theories. The Alt-Right.
* And at the same time the religious wing massively lost influence, because their votes were now expendable and taken for granted. As if they have any other choice than voting republican...



Trump's election has cracked the Republican Party.
* The religious wing is desperately trying to co-opt Trump, to keep up the illusion that they matter.
* The national-security hawks (McCain, Graham...) are disgusted by Trump's incompetence.
* The fiscal conservative wing is now cracked into a moderate wing and the burn-it-down Freedom Caucus.
* The Alt-Right is now in direct competition with the Republican Party for the hearts and minds of republican voters.

There is no common enemy to unite them.
No Obama.
No Hillary Clinton.
And Trump's "my-way-or-the-highway" style of government offers no vision that could attract critics to join him.

[Turbineguy]

1. Well stated.

I felt that Hillary Clinton would be the glue that held them together.

[truebluegreen]

2. I agree.

Without a common enemy they are now shooting at each other.

[iluvtennis]

7. +++

[dchill]

14. Almost literally.

[LiberalLovinLug]

22. I'm worried because I think they know this and may just want to do something about that themselves

I think even now Bannon and co. are planning a new Reichstag.

That or if they hear whispers of plans for a big attack on US soil by ISIS, they'll gladly lay out the breadcrumbs and look the other way.

[truebluegreen]

27. A valid concern imo.

We have to be prepared to counter the hysteria, as we were not on 9/11. This time we have to be ready to throw their incompetence--at best--in their faces.

[mikeysnot]

21. SHit they still bring up Hillary

The Daily show segment was eye opening. They still want to "lock Her Up" for "whatever"...

There is absolutely no reason to try and talk logic to a trump supporter.

Waste of time.

[truebluegreen]

26. There are the dead-enders

(everybody has those, even Dimson Bush) and then there are those who voted for him with reservations. Imo we can reach those...although we may not have to: the tangerine shitgibbon is doing a good job of turning them away already.

[dalton99a]

3. The Art of War:

We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy's few.

[certainot]

13. which is why trump will soon try to start a war, or putin could start something

somewhere soon

[keithbvadu2]

23. A Russian jet buzzed one of our destroyers and Trump did nothing?

Trump's bff Putin has free reign.

[Ilsa]

4. They said when Bannon told the gop hold-outs on

their AHC bill that they had to vote for it, they had no choice, one of the representatives said, "No one has tried to tell me what to do since I was 18. That person was my father. I didn't listen to him, either."

Bannon is toast on Capitol Hill. Only a matter of time before Kushner or Preibus gets rid of him.

[truebluegreen]

11. Further splitting the coalition of deplorables.

I'm guessing the discrediting of Bannon and the elevation of Kushner will not sit too well with the alt-right.

[dchill]

15. I'm not sure Bannon CAN be pushed out...

by anyone but Putin. Think about it...

[calimary]

24. Even then, though, he'll still be trying to

exert influence. He won't willingly climb down from the biggest dream job he's ever dared to imagine. This has been his wet-dream for YEARS, being in a position this powerful and influential and so loaded with possibilities.

He won't give it up without a murderously dirty fight, and I further suspect, once he realizes it's a losing effort, he'd try to take as many of his adversaries as possible down with him.

I'd expect he wouldn't give this up and go quietly. He seems like the type whose mentality is - "if I have to shed blood, YOU'RE gonna shed MORE."

[unblock]

5. i think it's a confluence of factors that have been in the works for quite some time

hate radio and foxnews have promoted bigotry and extremism.

gerrymandering has promoted hyper-partisanship

an irresponsible m$m has promoted, well, self-promotion and angry rhetoric over substantive policy.


look particularly at the struggles the speaker of the house has had for a long time keeping the republican caucus together. ryan's had problems but boehner was non-stop drama trying to hold them together.

some of these problems have been in the works for a long, long time.


the main difference now is that it's gotten a lot worse over the last 8 years and it's not as obvious when you're not the governing party. they were free to pass bills they knew would get vetoed, for instance. now they have to try to write bills that actually work.

[Fast Walker 52]

6. good analysis... I hope they break all the way apart, and the pieces are scattered to the wind

[gordianot]

8. Excellent summation.

None of them are in a position to deliver more tax cuts to the ultra rich and oligarchs which was the unifying purpose of the Republican coalition.

[Sunlei]

9. trump hasn't 'undone' anything. If he disappeared tomorrow, Pence can step right in.

He wouldn't even be missed except by the daily freak show fans and his family.

[DetlefK]

12. And Alt-Right and Freedom Caucus would go away and all of the GOP would suddenly be friends again?

The Republican Party has whipped up the base and the result was the no-compromise Tea Party.

Trump has whipped up the base and the result was the no-compromise Alt-Right.

There is no going back. Even if Trump were to die tomorrow of a heart-attack, the crazies would still be around and demand to be catered to.

[Sunlei]

29. nope, trumps just a patsy for the Republicans really 'in charge'

[GliderGuider]

10. Trump's mandate to destroy America includes the destruction of the GOP.

That mandate obviously doesn't come from the American electorate. It's part and parcel of Putin's Duginist geopolitical agenda: to fracture, weaken. destabilize, and isolate America by any and all means available. So far, so good.

[BadgerMom]

16. Read @C_Stroop on Twitter

He has a PhD from Stanford in Russian history. He was raised in evangelicalism but left it. He has some fascinating and rather frightening threads. After reading him, I wish I believed the religious right was diminished. Unfortunately, it seems they've allied themselves with Russian Orthodoxy and the alt-right. It's a devil's brew.

Really, read him.

[certainot]

17. the tea party, freedom caucus, contract on america, etc are all

manifestations of talk radio psyops and their only success comes from their being ignored by dems/liberals/left.

limbaugh and sons will ultimately steer that talk radio base to help putin/trump

he'll be trying to play neutral, take no blame for anything, inoculate the base from coming to the correct conclusions, pretend it's up to the listener to interpret it their own way, and then steer them where they're supposed to go.

i cna't listen any more and it sounds like at this point it's ryan's fault not trump, with the democrats the main culprits

[Kablooie]

18. Sounds like we are ready for the Outer Limits episode "The Architects of Fear"

A volunteer is secretly surgically altered to be alien-like.
He was to land his space ship in Washington and declare to the world that an alien invasion was imminent.
This would create a false enemy and pull all the warring governments together.
The ultimate false flag.

Be wary of any large threat to America right now.


(BTW: The show ended with the "alien's" space ship going off course and instead of landing in Washington, landed in an isolated farmer's field. As he emerged from his ship the farmer shot him. )

[titaniumsalute]

19. It is also easier to preach than to govern

So they preach preach preach about the stuff they will do. Mexican Walls, immigration control, lowering taxes, repeal Obamacare.

Well once they are in office for 2 years there will be an election. If not wall is built (or some little shell of a wall) that won't be good. If taxes aren't lower for the normal working class that won't be good. The immigration stuff has already been very unpopular and a fantasy pipe dream. They didn' repeal Obamacare. None of this will be good for the right wing. Hopefully many of the voters from 2016 will just be exhausted of over promising and under delivering.

[Wounded Bear]

20. It actually dates back to Reagan...

(doesn't anything fucked up about Repubs? )

He started the famous 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not speak evil of a fellow Republican.

Since then, the Party has drifted farther and farther to the right, selling out to religious fanatics and libertarian anti-government assholes who want to burn it all down, but don't say nothing bad about your fellow Repubs!



Until Repubs learn to disagree publicly and coherently, they will remain the disruptive, destructive force that they are now.

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. Good point

[IronLionZion]

28. They need to form a religious conservative party

and a national security party and split their votes. Trump needs to focus his efforts on punishing Republicans who won't join him. He needs to stew about it

[Tatiana]

30. They also did a great job marketing and selling "Compassionate Conservatism."

Of course, we know there is no such thing.

The Trump cabal... their motto is literally "F You!"

[babylonsister]

31. You give him too much credit. dt doesn't have a clue,

and his staff is equally nutzo.

[diva77]

32. seems that the dark money people are at odds with each other n/t