Dave Wasserman on why Congressional R's keep sticking with Trump

[octoberlib]

It's all about getting re-elected.

Link to tweet

?s=20



The reality is that there's far more electoral downside for most congressional Rs in opposing Trump than sticking with him.

It's the rationalization cycle that, from Muslim ban to Access Hollywood to the Capitol siege, will keep allowing the envelope to be pushed w/ few limits.

[Quixote1818]

1. How about some fucking principles? nt

[Freddie]

2. They're Republicans.

[octoberlib]

3. I agree .And some leadership. Trump will have to be purged from their fucking base before

this ends.

[EarlG]

4. I actually think it's worse than that

I don't think they're just cynically trying to get re-elected. I think they are also insurrectionists, and they agree that the country should be a dictatorship (with them in charge, of course), and that the assault on the Capitol was justified.

[Claustrum]

8. Quite a few of them are highly educated from our best law schools in the world.

They know full well that whatever evidence they have are too weak and wouldn't stand in court. It's one thing to call for investigation and it's completely another to call for overthrowing the result with such weak "evidence". For some, it might well be that they are insurrectionists, but there are quite a few there that are just doing it out of calculation for their ambitions.

[octoberlib]

12. There was a WaPo article that said 600 political scientists

at VDem had classified the Republican party as a far right ,authoritarian party on par with Erdogan's AKP and Orban's Fidesz party in Hungary. This doesn't bode well. Gerrymandering is killing us.

[SCantiGOP]

5. 6 or our 7 Reps in SC are GOP

One is newly elected from a swing district around Charleston, so she is acting so far like a rational person.
The other 5 all voted with Trump, and I have no doubt that if they were heading to a primary today (no idea what the climate will be in two years) that Trump could get any of the 5 defeated with one denunciation.
That is why they will continue to suck up to him, until they sense the winds of change have shifted.

Reminds me of a favorite H L Mencken quote (paraphrased): Most politicians today are totally devoid of principle. It the polls showed strong support for cannibalism, they would stand on stage and eagerly consume human flesh.

[octoberlib]

7. Great post! I saw the Charleston rep on MSNBC the other day, she's the one who beat Joe Cunningham

isn't she? She sounded very rational.

[Claustrum]

10. She sounded very rational until every criticism she has for republicans are done with bothsidism

She couldn't say anything bad about republicans and every time she is about to criticize republicans, she does the "both sides need to calm down with the rhetoric". Whatever rhetoric we have on our side is not even half as bad as what the republicans had done in the last 4 years. So please give me a break.

[SCantiGOP]

11. That district is only about a plus 1 or 2 % lean republican

So she will be fairly moderate, although she did use the old "voting for my Dem opponent is like voting for Pelosi" routine.
Joe is already working to run again in 2022.

By the way, her initial claim to fame was that she was the first female graduate of The Citadel, a wannabe military college that is funded by the state for some reason. It attracts people who are military obsessed or, more often, kids who are sent there by their family because they can't be trusted at a regular college. It is not tied in to any branch of the military, and graduates have no commitment to serve a term on active duty. I understand she stated when enrolling that she wanted to pursue a career in politics, and she thought having The Citadel on her resume would be a plus.

[octoberlib]

13. I'm glad Joe is running again.

[SCantiGOP]

15. I see in your profile you are a "Northerner"

Was hoping you Tarheels would go blue again like 2008. Never expected it to be Georgia.

I'm afraid SC will be very late to the blue party, probably right before Idaho and Utah.

[octoberlib]

16. I actually work in Charlotte but moved not long ago to Rock Hill, SC. I need to change that, lol.

[moonscape]

18. Ahh, Citadel memories. I was a boarder

at Ashley Hall long ago when it was also a boarding school. They would have mixers with freshman Citadel cadets that we were required to attend. Ewww. This was the 60’s and crewcut uniformed guys just weren’t our thing. We’d get reprimanded for hanging around the food table and not mixing.

A friend and I had had enough and hid out vs going. The headmistress came looking for us because they did head counts. Heard footsteps and we both crammed in my closet but giggled, were heard and found out. She opened the closet door and made us go downstairs. Plus we were grounded for a week which was hilarious because we never went anywhere anyway except to King St on the weekend to shop and the movies. That we were still allowed to do!

Yeah, never had a soft spot for the Citadel

[SCantiGOP]

19. I was at USC starting 1969

but we used to come down to Charleston a lot.
Since we had long hair, we would have a lot of Citadel guys asking us if we could get them some weed.
Hope I can get back to Charley Town again once the Trump Plague is past is.

[moonscape]

20. Funny about the weed. I was there a few years earlier

but we all had long hair. No weed though yet . I’ve a number of friends in Charleston from those prep school years and visit when on the East Coast but have been gone about 5 decades now. Great memories though. Loved Charleston!

[Thomas Hurt]

6. re-election and in the end they agree with the idea of a dictatorship...

[kurtcagle]

9. The problem with that

is that this base is more likely to try to create a third party than align with "principled" Republicans again.

This is the same bolus (albeit a couple generations removed) that formed the Dixiecrats in 1968 from the former Democrats and joined the Republicans en masse. Now they've basically pushed the Republicans past the rubicon and there will be a fight for who gets the identity of the resulting GOP party as the two split - the party of Romney or the party of Trump. My guess is that the Romney faction will win, and the Trumpsters will form their own MAGA party, which, like most third party attempts, will fade away as a bad dream.

A point to note: Hitler's failed insurrection landed him in jail, but he ended up serving only two years of his ten-year sentence. He was also in his mid-30s at that point, and was able to portray how he was treated as a form of martyrdom that eventually catapulted into the "unelected" position of Chancellor in 1934. Trump is in his mid-70s, and is showing significant signs of cognitive decline. Hawley and Cruz will likely face censure for their actions, but more importantly, their political careers are probably over at this point regardless - this hit too close to home, at least in the GOP.

[ananda]

14. Since they have no courage and no morals..

they can stick with the party of wrongheaded,
crazy losers.

When, actually, they could leave the party
and stand up for what's right.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Force cons to choose between the Rotting Elephant Carcass party & the MAGA Q God Emperor party. nt