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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhen Trump Goes Down The Hope Is GOP Goes Down With It. Would Be So Nice.
C_U_L8R
(45,001 posts)Not all are dead-enders like Trump. The question is when and when will it be too late (for them)
ZZenith
(4,122 posts)Can I get an Amen?
Amen!
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)As I've written previously:
Democrats must hammer home the message that the rise of Trump (and the enabling of Trump) or someone like him was the inevitable result of 50 years of Republican rhetoric and policy. With an immense amount of help from an irresponsible infotainment industry that chases ratings, promotes false equivalencies, denies responsibility for fact-checking, and often implies that every statement is an equally valid opinion (there are no facts, there are no lies; there are only opinions), all in the name of boosting profits and not upsetting advertisers. It's not enough for a few pundits on MSNBC or CNN to state the obvious.
And the help, of course, of explicitly right wing media (Fox, hate radio, etc.).
When Trump is gone, I guarantee you that the dominant narrative will be that everything is hunky-dory, that Trump was merely a bump in the road. Unless Democrats preemptively establish a different, more honest narrative.
The Republican Party has fomented and exploited racism (including xenophobia), sexism, religious bigotry, jingoism and extreme selfishness for decades. The pre-Trump Republican Party is directly responsible for Trump. They need to own that, which the anti-Trump Republicans who appear on TV or who are retiring from Congress aren't doing--they're all pushing this idea that the pre-Trump Republican Party was just fine. When in reality they need to make drastic changes or close shop and let a new party fill the void.
If Democrats don't start hammering home that message (which, yes, involves taking the media to task via the media...something Republicans started doing decades ago to great success) and take control of the narrative, the post-Trump Republican Party and the media will claim all is well because we've returned to normalcy. As if that's acceptable. As if everything was just fine pre-Trump. As if the Republican Party hasn't long been built upon a foundation of bigotry, greed and lies. As if the Republican Party hasn't long been morally and ethically bankrupt. As if the Republican Party hasn't relied heavily upon race-based gerrymandering and voter suppression. As if the "liberal media" lie of the last 30+ years wasn't bullshit from day one.
It would be a mistake to think the Mueller investigation and removal of Trump and convictions for other Republicans will be enough to destroy the Republican Party as we know it. Memories and attention spans are short. Democrats must establish the dominant narrative, or Republicans will. And repetition is utilized for a reason. It works, and it's necessary. Make Republicans own the monster they've created. The monster isn't Trump but the environment that gave rise to the Republican Party of Trump.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)Thank you.
My words, spoken, written hundreds of times over the last two years.
BlueTsunami2018
(3,491 posts)Nixon should have done them in, they went away for four years and then Reagan nearly ran the table and they stayed for twelve. We all thought W would be the end of them, we had a damn near filibuster proof majority after that fiasco and then the teabaggers came and wiped it all out in two years. And now its even worse with this fucking asshole and a full GOP Congress.
They never go away. Nothing they do is ever bad enough to sink them and nothing we do is ever good enough to keep a majority long enough to make real changes.
They cheat, they lie, they fix elections but none of that would matter if this country wasnt so goddamned stupid as to keep voting for them. They just never die, they keep coming back and theyre worse every time.
This wont kill them. Nothing ever does.
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)They just keep getting worse, are held less accountable, and the country just indulges them more relentlessly.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)Republicons created tRump, enabled tRump, and protected tRump.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)in the Mean time, seems like it will be every 'con for his short term self.