Tag: GOP in Trouble

The Republican Party’s Proven Losing Strategy

Buck Banks

“You’d better be spending a lot more time developing an economic agenda that benefits working people than re-litigating a lost presidential election. The question is, how long will it take the Republicans to figure out that driving out heretics rather than winning new converts is a losing strategy right now?”

— GOP pollster Whit Ayres, quoted by the New York Times

Dr. Democrat: The GOP Will Do Itself In, Just Be Patient

Buck Banks


Dear Dr. Democrat,

I have very mixed feelings about cheering on the end of the Republican party. Not because I don’t want to see it shrunken and changed, but because I don’t see encouraging signs of declining power. I think the country is experiencing what we in Florida have gone through for years, which is minority rule based on gaming the system.

Republicans have gotten so good at this that it’s all they need to stay in power. They don’t need to convince the electorate of their rightness, they don’t need to win hearts or minds, they just need to keep suppressing the vote that would go against them and playing to their base. And if they all stick together, as McConnell has trained them to do, they not only win, they keep all the power and make all the decisions.

We got rid of Trump, maybe, but we are still in trouble. The work we still need to do is crushing and I don’t know if it’s even possible to succeed at it.

Please give me some encouragement that all is not lost.

Worried in Wakulla

Dear Worried,

I think you’re right on all counts, but I also see the Republican Party as weak and crumbling, which may be a product of my learned environment. But it’s difficult to operate politically for very long based on lies, which was the point of Tom Nichols’ recent piece in The Atlantic.

One of their biggest runs before now were the GOP’s anticommunist witch hunts. They started in the House around 1947-48, moved to the Senate in 1950 and then were obliterated with the “Have you no sense of decency?” episode in June 1954. A tremendous amount of damage was done in those few years – even though the lies were not promoted from the White House, either by Truman or Eisenhower (unlike Trump). And they didn’t have Fox News.

My point is, something will happen that will expose them or pop the bubble, but it’s going to have to be something irrefutable that even Fox, et. al., can’t ignore or spin – something like a Bush-Katrina moment that brings them down.

Crushing them at the polls would be a start. I thought we were going to do it last year, but … SOCIALISM! Thanks, Bernie and AOC.

I might sound like Paul E. Anna here, but I really believe it can’t last.

Sincerely,

Dr. Democrat

Schiff: GOP Not a ‘Functional’ Party

Buck Banks

“Sadly, it has already become essentially a cult, not just of QAnon, but a whole range of conspiracy theories orbiting around Donald Trump. Which of course is a disaster not only for the Republican Party, but is a disaster for the country. We really rely on two functional parties for our system to work, and right now we don’t have that.”

— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told CBS News that the Republican Party has “become essentially a cult” in recent years, evident from its embrace of President Trump and controversial figures such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Kinzinger Uncomfortble with Greene Ovation

Buck Banks

“I don’t like to reveal a ton of conference details, but she stood up and kind of gave a bit of contriteness, but then it pivoted to ‘they’re coming after you next.’”

— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told CNN that it was “disappointing by a factor of 1,000” to see Republican colleagues give Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) a standing ovation after she apologized for her past controversial remarks.

More than 10,000 Arizonans Quit the GOP in January

Buck Banks

10,000

“More than 10,000 Arizona Republicans left the party in January — a historic month marked by the insurrection of the US Capitol, an impeachment trial, and the censure of three prominent Republicans,” the Copper Courier reports. “Most former Republicans — 6,750 — chose to forego any party affiliation, while 1,374 switched to the Democratic Party and 1,108 opted for Independent.”