A blunt message about who is conning whom in the aftermath of the 2020 elections.
“If you put your faith in President Trump’s claim of a presidential election stolen through massive alteration of votes through the use of voting software, and in the legal skills of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, I am sorry to tell you that you have been conned.” - N. Review
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[Mark_Smith]Nope. Retire Trump. I’m done. I will not vote for Trump if he runs again. New blood, please.
Complete Trump family purge from GOP!
Oh, come on! The GOP, including many former Never Trumpers, have spent the last several years proving by their actions that any vocal criticism of Trumpism is shallow cowardice. Trump ain’t going anywhere, and most of those within the GOP who are now openly calling for his exile will, in short order, deny ever calling for his exile as they continue to kiss the ring of their party’s new leader in hopes that he will notice them and toss some crumbs of attention their way. Unless the GOP develops a backbone, expect more QAnon stupidity to dominate the mid-terms and the 2024 Presidential election. If not Trump, someone like Jenna Ellis will be the nominee. The deal with the devil has now come due.
2024 is a ways away. Much could happen. Possibilities…
- Trump is able sustain a sizeable chunk of loyalists, effectively dividing the GOP and ensuring Democrat dominance for at least another election cycle.
- Trump is increasingly marginalized as his power to “carrot and stick” politicians into dancing to his tune diminishes. Granted, there hasn’t exactly been a boatload of courage on display over the last four years, but even the timid “trying to have it both ways” segment of the GOP (that has known what Trump is all along but has been too afraid to speak up) will be much freer to break loose once Trump is out of office. Some of them will “courageously” speak out against Trump now that it will cost them far less.
- Trump continues to dominate the right wing narrative (but not the party machinery) to the point that elected officials contintue to be afraid to push back, and so the attitudes and values and impulses (note absence of “principles”) of Trumpism continue to dominate the GOP—thus ensuring Demcratic dominance for at least another election cycle.
- Trump actually decides to quietly retire from public life and political influence. (Don’t hold your breath.)
- Soberminded, persuasive, articulate leaders rise up in the GOP and build a new coalition that is able to win back principled conservatives while also mollifying the Trumpists enough to mostlyl unify the party and possibly see some success against Democrat dominance.
Then you have a whole separate set of variables: What if Biden is a colossal failure as president? I don’t think it’s likely, though we could certainly see the economy tank. What if Biden loses his health or his life and VP Harris becomes Pres. and is a colossal failure? …. so lots of things could happen to even out the scales in 2024, even if the GOP remains dominated/split by Trumpism.
An unpleasant reality in all this is that Trump didn’t rise to power in a vacuum. The impulses and emotions that put him in power, and whatever notions were in the mix, are still out there—and I have no idea how that problem can be solved. On the bright side, these kinds of political/social moods tend to—like all moods—come an go on their own. It may simply go out of fashion as large numbers of drama-addicts get bored.
I do know this much: Trump has demonstrated that he does not know how (or have much interest in) to win over critics or undecideds. He knows how to pander to a base and stoke already-ignited flames of political passion. He’s not going to win large numbers of new followers. So, at best, he keeps things going inside his bubble. The bubble may be large enough to dominate GOP for a while, but not forever. A ‘movement’ that can’t win anyone over is certain to eventually fade. It just could take a long time… or possibly not.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I have great respect for Aaron Van Langevelde in Michigan. Giving thanks for all the “small” people and places keeping our system resilient and de-toothing the Big Stories peddled by demagogues trying to skirt law to hold on to their power…
“We must not attempt to exercise power we simply don’t have,” declared Van Langevelde, a member of Michigan’s board of state canvassers, the ministerial body with sole authority to make official Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. “As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men.’ This board needs to adhere to that principle here today. This board must do its part to uphold the rule of law and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.” Dispatch
I’m hopeful that we’ll see a similar sense of duty and law in Wisconsin when the recounts are done.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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