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Tuesday, January 14. 2020

The establishment Republican Party is not coming back.

Steve Hilton:



This is the Trump Revolution: Pragmatic, non-ideological. He approaches issues as a problem-solving businessman.


It's actually a revolution in ideas and it goes way beyond foreign policy. He is combining the best of traditional conservative ideas with positive populism, appointing conservative judges and leading the way on criminal justice reform, cutting taxes and boosting family leave.


Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 14:01 | Comments (12) | Trackback (1)

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The establishment GOP has been generally useless since the time of Bush I.
#1 Abelard Lindsey on 2020-01-14 14:23 (Reply)
I hate to break this to you, but the establishment GOP still own the cash register.
#2 Mark Matis on 2020-01-14 14:33 (Reply)
yep and that establishment cash register is largely funded by conservatives who think the democrat politicians that want the same thing as establishment republicans are bad. the only thing that will save the freedom of the american people is if they return to being americans that believe in American principles and values and stop being republicans and democrats. when are conservatives going to wake up to the fact that there isn't anything bad about a democrat that makes a republican good.
#2.1 tommy mc donnell (Link) on 2020-01-15 08:15 (Reply)
He's only getting away with this b/c he can wrest the narrative away from the MSM for a bit.

Conservatives have needed another Great Communicator for 3 decades.

But if the GOP or Conservative Inc actively oppose the next one, and give us more bumbling buffoons like Quayle or GWB, then the drive left will continue.
#3 DrTorch on 2020-01-14 14:34 (Reply)
Are you sure this is the new and improved version? I thought in the old days our government/political people came from the business/farmer class and were not interested in social warfare/engineering but profit and a well functioning system.
#4 Judith on 2020-01-14 15:33 (Reply)
60,000,000 people voted for Trump. Similar numbers voted for Romney, McCain, Bush, Dole, etc. The overlap among them is enormous. Not all who voted for Trump loved him, nor do all of them hate the others.

Some of these wonderful new voters are the people who gave us Obama by staying home or even voting for him.

Changes at the top are significant and signal changes in direction, approach, and methods. But masses of people are not like kayaks. They are more like ocean liners. It is very natural for people to treat these changes in direction as indicators of massive realignments, but it is seldom true. Trump brought in more new voters than he scared away. Since then, he has convinced his doubters and half-hearted supporters a good deal. But he still has lots of voters who wish he would take the opportunity to shut up more often.

There's a lot of people who get called 'establishment Republicans" here who voted for Trump and support him from their elected offices now, who still don't like the way he acts towards others, finding it unnecessary. Donald Trump will not win a single district without those people. Not close. That is not ideology, that is arithmetic. The fact that so many people who support Trump seem to actively enjoy kicking their allies in the balls is not a sign of health and reason. It's a sign you prefer that to winning elections.

I admit, it may be mostly people who comment on conservative sites who have this attitude, and it may not be as widespread as it appears.

Just as an example, Chuck Grassley would be considered establishment Republican, wouldn't he? He has thanklessly labored in the vineyard long before DJT came on the scene. Have some perspective.
#5 Assistant Village Idiot on 2020-01-14 15:51 (Reply)
The ideology reaches far beyond republican vs democrat and is better recognized as authoritarian vs free will and transparency. The Epoch Times has an excellent interview with Diana West that I think will reorient minds to this idea when she breaks down the ideology of the Russia, Russia, Russia collaborators.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/how-communist-ideology-infiltrated-americas-security-agencies-fueled-spygate-diana-west-3203116.html
#5.1 indyjonesouthere on 2020-01-14 17:55 (Reply)
"... The fact that so many people who support Trump seem to actively enjoy kicking their allies in the balls is not a sign of health and reason. It's a sign you prefer that to winning elections."

I don't know what you mean by this AVI, exactly, in particular 'allies'; I am guessing that you mean, political allies, within the US political sphere. In my observation, Trump never punches first, but also does not easily allow a slight to pass; I think we oft-times don't get to see the opening provocation right away. Trump has been attacked as much from the establishment R's as he has from the left, except that the former are often much stealthier because they are intended to betray personally, not be opposed politically. I don't think any substantial part of Trump's supporters would rather not win out of glee for the spectacle of attacks. I think that Trump believes this style of communication is essential - it's the only way in which he controls the messaging and counters the media's relentless spin. It doesn't bother me a bit that he doesn't let it slide. I think he has successfully gained control of the Republican Party this way.

All I have to do is think for a minute at the institutionalized insults implicit in the actions of the FISA courts, the Mueller investigation, the persecution of Gen. Flynn, the ongoing Impeachment and the idea that the Dept of Justice could find nothing prosecutable about having Top Secret Classified information on an unsecured home server - while lesser people rot in jail for the same offense (only less serious). Or of rivers of foreign cash streaming in for Pay-to-Play at the Clinton Foundation, Graft Services Division, also unprosecuted. Selective non-prosecution of clearly relevant crimes; selective non-coverage of clearly relevant news events - or any other of myriad institutional malfeasances that have washed past us in the past few years, a river of shit.

Then I think about Trump paying nearly 100% for his own presidential campaign in 2016, now donating his salary to good causes, now recognizing our true allies overseas and doing something in the Middle East that will transform our role in that part of the world. And our actual allies are reacting. By their actions - not their rhetoric - I see that they have respect for Trump's policy objectives. When I see that, and think of that river, I'm ready for another round of appreciating Trump. Not as a Fan Boy. He does what he says and he's getting things done and he's keeping his promises to a very respectable degree, given the efforts to stop him, an ongoing unrelenting harassment from both parties.

All I have to do is think about all that while I'm watching the Democrat candidates campaign. And I'll tell you, the sentiments I have for Trump on the one hand, the candidates on the other: There is a vast gulf separating them, bigger than the widest part of the Grand Canyon. There is no reasonable case that I could rationalize where I wouldn't vote for Trump. Because we're not just voting for President.
#5.2 Aggie on 2020-01-14 21:50 (Reply)
I'm like everyone else, I suppose, because I sometimes wonder why he picks fights, or starts jabbering about someone, when there doesn't seem to be any percentages in it.

But, I do love that he fights, and it seems to have rubbed off (especially Lindsey Graham; hurrah for Graham 2.0). Does anyone think that any other Republican would have stuck with Kavanaugh during his confirmation? Bush, McCain, Romney, and their ilk would have tossed him overboard at the first sign of trouble. Trump stuck with him, and the rest of the party followed.

I'm down for having a big-tent, so establishment types are welcome. Again, I get some of their discomfort with some of the behavior. The Never-Trumpers, on the other hand, are a lost cause, and seem to have morphed into the blue-dogs of old (which I never thought the neocons were that far from to begin with). I like winning elections, and getting 25% of what I want is infinitely better than eating any of the poop the left tries to shove down our throats.

End of rant.
#6 Hoss (Link) on 2020-01-14 16:27 (Reply)
It is not the insulting which is key, but the standing firm, which I much admire. In the example of the Kavanaugh nomination above, Trump was not insulting, but instead clear in his praise of his nominee. It worked as well or better than insulting Carly Fiorina's face or Ted Cruz's wife, I think.

Not all his "fighting" is rude or insulting, and I have no objection to that. Pushback is not only allowed but encouraged. But the admiration of Trump very quickly spills over into wild generalisations against other Republicans, including condemnation of people who have been fighting in the trenches for years while those who sat out against Obama were too busy complaining. I recall arguing with people all the way back to 1992 who were going to stay home because their vote was too holy to be sullied with candidates they deemed unworthy. So thanks for Bill Clinton. Thanks for Barack Obama.

Plenty of other American presidents have managed to be good leaders without insult.
#7 Assistant Village Idiot on 2020-01-14 22:55 (Reply)
No other Republican presidents since Reagan have held their own against a united and hostile media. Should he be able to do it without insults? I'd like to think so, but I haven't seen anyone succeed in the last 30 years. I no longer feel as confident as I once did giving him advice about what would work better. He's getting results I can't spare. If I have to choose between the insults and the catastrophic policies his enemies would impose on me if he weren't stopping them, I guess I opt for the insults. They may be irritating, but they're not nearly as harmful to me or to my country in general.
#7.1 Texan99 on 2020-01-15 10:33 (Reply)
As a species, Republican politicians tend to be remarkably inept. Should they, during the forthcoming impeachment circus, fail to stand by their man it will most likely be the end of that party. Folks who would otherwise vote for Trump will just stay home on the first Tuesday in November.
#8 Chazz on 2020-01-15 11:31 (Reply)

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