Alas, even 25-30% is too much for a stable democracy. Any government needs support of at least 20% of its constituency, and it can afford only up to 20% obstructing it.
It is about half of those who voted on 2016 and 2020... which represents about a third of the population (R) and a third (D). The non-voters are the silent majority.
In this, the Republicans have laid bare one essential fact about their party: it is not the likes of Romney, McConnell, Graham, or any other official that own it.
It's the billionaires behind them that do; the Mercers, Kochs, and Icahns. Those billionaires are why there are no institutional barriers to the hostile takeover of the party that Trump represents, because billionaires abhor any barriers at all to their wishes and demands. It's not a bug; it's a feature. Trump, for all his bluster, was very attentive and obedient to their whims, so they will not countenance any serious counter-coup against him. They can whip the institutions into line to enforce that.
The Democrats have the opposite problem- they've laid so many institutional barriers that they believe themselves invulnerable to any change whatsoever, and their most conservative, most entrenched faction holds sway over those barriers. Thus they are going to lose their entire next generation of candidates and voters, who are further left and tired of the party's contemptuous truculence against the change they need.
The Republican Party has lost the battle the Democratic Party has won, but in both cases it augurs poorly for their longer-term wars.
“...have a distinct white conservative Christian worldview they seek for national politics.”
“seek”
Political Scientists constitutionally unable to use the words ‘racist and fascist’ when called for have no business writing about the Republican Party in 2023.
“They don’t see this as a temporary madness; they see this as the movement that put them in charge and actually cares about the things they care about.”
And Therein lies the rub. The Republican Party won’t abandon Trump, he is the party. What the party stands for? No one knows, least of all the MAGA mob.
They are United more for what they are against, than anything they stand for, which right now is essentially owning the libs.
The same group says, “they’d rather be Russian, than a democrat. Think about it? They see Russia as a white nation, ruled under a strong man. The MAGA mob is constantly told that democrats are evil and destroying this nation. Ironically, they consider democrats more of a threat to their way of life, than turning this nation into an authoritarian, fascist dictatorship. Let that sink in.
Republican leaders are ignorant and continually conflate socialism with communism, the latter which only exists in theory. Or they are deliberately misleading their flock.
They don’t understand that every nation on earth practices a form of socialism including the US. Or that both communism and socialism are both political and economic systems of government. Democracy is a political system. Capitalism is an economic system. Socialism can coexist under capitalistic conditions, although in practice, the west practices a hybrid system called a social democracy. And free markets already exist in socialistic societies. Think Denmark and Sweden.
This piece corresponds to my observation of the evolution/transformation of the R party over the last 50 years. I'd add only an historical note: that nativist/populist strain in U.S. politics seemed to be associated with the D party (via its Old Confederacy wing) up until the Dixiecrats' migration to Republicans after WWII and then Nixon, who sealed the deal in 1968 by embracing, elevating, and demagoguing on behalf of the so-called "Silent Majority."
I think only 25-30% of the country would view his being in prison to be illegitimate. That's disturbingly high, but it's not a 50/50 situation.
Alas, even 25-30% is too much for a stable democracy. Any government needs support of at least 20% of its constituency, and it can afford only up to 20% obstructing it.
I agree with this analysis. But it is NOT HALF THE COUNTRY. More like 25-30%.
It is about half of those who voted on 2016 and 2020... which represents about a third of the population (R) and a third (D). The non-voters are the silent majority.
In this, the Republicans have laid bare one essential fact about their party: it is not the likes of Romney, McConnell, Graham, or any other official that own it.
It's the billionaires behind them that do; the Mercers, Kochs, and Icahns. Those billionaires are why there are no institutional barriers to the hostile takeover of the party that Trump represents, because billionaires abhor any barriers at all to their wishes and demands. It's not a bug; it's a feature. Trump, for all his bluster, was very attentive and obedient to their whims, so they will not countenance any serious counter-coup against him. They can whip the institutions into line to enforce that.
The Democrats have the opposite problem- they've laid so many institutional barriers that they believe themselves invulnerable to any change whatsoever, and their most conservative, most entrenched faction holds sway over those barriers. Thus they are going to lose their entire next generation of candidates and voters, who are further left and tired of the party's contemptuous truculence against the change they need.
The Republican Party has lost the battle the Democratic Party has won, but in both cases it augurs poorly for their longer-term wars.
No way is he bowing out. His only way to circumvent the legal system is a pardon
“...have a distinct white conservative Christian worldview they seek for national politics.”
“seek”
Political Scientists constitutionally unable to use the words ‘racist and fascist’ when called for have no business writing about the Republican Party in 2023.
“They don’t see this as a temporary madness; they see this as the movement that put them in charge and actually cares about the things they care about.”
And Therein lies the rub. The Republican Party won’t abandon Trump, he is the party. What the party stands for? No one knows, least of all the MAGA mob.
They are United more for what they are against, than anything they stand for, which right now is essentially owning the libs.
The same group says, “they’d rather be Russian, than a democrat. Think about it? They see Russia as a white nation, ruled under a strong man. The MAGA mob is constantly told that democrats are evil and destroying this nation. Ironically, they consider democrats more of a threat to their way of life, than turning this nation into an authoritarian, fascist dictatorship. Let that sink in.
Republican leaders are ignorant and continually conflate socialism with communism, the latter which only exists in theory. Or they are deliberately misleading their flock.
They don’t understand that every nation on earth practices a form of socialism including the US. Or that both communism and socialism are both political and economic systems of government. Democracy is a political system. Capitalism is an economic system. Socialism can coexist under capitalistic conditions, although in practice, the west practices a hybrid system called a social democracy. And free markets already exist in socialistic societies. Think Denmark and Sweden.
Just some thoughts.
30% of the country in a country of 400 million people with access to as many weapons.
Buckle up people.
He also won’t bow out; he is using all the indictments as campaign moments.
Yeah, the nativist faction goes back to Wallace, at least. But the Master Blaster coalition of Establishment and Populists broke apart with Palin.
Well done.
This piece corresponds to my observation of the evolution/transformation of the R party over the last 50 years. I'd add only an historical note: that nativist/populist strain in U.S. politics seemed to be associated with the D party (via its Old Confederacy wing) up until the Dixiecrats' migration to Republicans after WWII and then Nixon, who sealed the deal in 1968 by embracing, elevating, and demagoguing on behalf of the so-called "Silent Majority."