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comment by StillWaters

A very interesting graph. I would almost say "poor Paul Ryan", but can't quite bring myself to it.

Paul Ryan seems to be one of those guys who "Before we used to describe him as young and promising. Now we just describe him as young."

The question the Republicans must be asking themselves though is whether breaking with Trump will sink them even further or whether it will enable them to retake some of their lost ground. The fact that Trump is more popular among their voters than the party per se could indicate the former.

> It's so much easier being wrong together than right alone.

Well said. One of my deepest frustrations with all the elected republicans is that none of them seem to internalize the key role of the offices they have been elected for: to lead the nation. Any leadership role requires the courage to do what is right, even if it hurts you as an individual, giving priority to the nation (or the corporation if in business, or the cause if an NGO, etc).





kleinbl00  ·  2442 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Because of gerrymandering and the political structure of the United States, Republicans have more to fear from a primary challenge on their right flank than they do from a general challenge on their left. It wasn't Democrats that took out John Boehner, it was Republicans.

At some point we'll reach a point where not even the PACs will support this shit, but right now we've got a Republican Senate seriously debating the idea of denying healthcare to 33 million people just so they can get a "win" and make their moneymasters happy. We have an attorney general going balls deep into civil forfeiture. We have a climate change denialist in charge of the EPA and we have a key voting rights suppressionist on a special White House council.

I think this doesn't stop this side of stacked bodies.

StillWaters  ·  2442 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Your reference to the PAC's reminded me of the story I read today of long-time GOP donor Mike Fernandez.

Apparently he left the Republican Party end 2016 due to Trump, and recently a Republican fund raiser made the mistake of asking for a contribution, at which point he replied:

    “All the Republicans who hide behind the flag and hide behind the church, they don’t have the f------ balls to do what it takes. [...] I am out of the political process. Too disgusted, too expensive, too supportive of ego maniacs whose words have the value of quicksand,” he wrote in an email to a Republican fundraiser seeking political contributions.

The cracks are starting to show.

kleinbl00  ·  2442 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I sincerely hope you're right. So far they've lost George Will and Joe Scarborough and I guess Hannity isn't getting the Buckley Award because Chris Buckley said something along the lines of are you fucking kidding me my dad is spinning in his grave.

But I'm not sure how much of the current posse is driven by opportunism vs. idealism. I think opportunism is heavily represented.