NEWSWEEK: "The GOP's Low Point Is Now"-How Trumps Politics Will Gut The Republican Party For DECADES

[kpete]

HOW DONALD TRUMP'S POLITICS WILL GUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR DECADES



.........

The GOP’s low point is now. In the eight years building up to this election cycle, the party has made foolish, self-destructive decisions that showed contempt for voters who are not traditional Republicans. The birther nonsense—contending that Barack Obama is not an American—was subtly, and sometimes explicitly, encouraged by Republican politicians. Conservatives are now acknowledging that the effort was, as Republican Senator Jeff Flake said, “a fantasy.”Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak was more blunt in a series of tweets. He bemoaned the rise of Trump and tied it to the birthers. “We knew Obama wasn’t born in Kenya. But for some conservatives, we liked seeing Obama being forced to answer questions and provide documentation.… Republicans had a chance to do the right thing, and many passed. Many Republicans didn’t want to offend their base, which despised Obama for taking the country far left. But the base was wrong.”

The enterprise was built on racism, and minorities throughout the country know it. Add to that the GOP’s refusal to fix the Voting Rights Act to address concerns raised by the Supreme Court, its grotesque efforts to gerrymander congressional districts on what the courts have found to be intentionally racial lines, and its pumping up of another fantasy of your base—voter fraud—that courts have also found is designed to make it harder for minorities to vote, and the message is clear: People in the fastest-growing demographics are not welcome in the Republican Party. In fact, they are an enemy that must be stopped.

..............

Trump’s appeals to hatred are having a huge effect, even on children, according to 5,000 teachers polled by the Southern Poverty Law Center about the state of racism in schools. Read these quotes: “My students are terrified of Donald Trump,” says one teacher from a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims. “They think that if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.” In Oregon, an elementary school teacher says her black students are “concerned for their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies.” In Tennessee, a kindergarten teacher says a Latino child, who has been bullied by classmates telling him he will be deported, asks every day, “Is the wall here yet?”

..................

Which leads back to my original question, Mr. Speaker: What is the Republican Party today? What is it you’re endorsing in this campaign? If you believe the GOP stands for racism, xenophobia, protectionism, nuclear proliferation, torture, war crimes, the reckless use of military force and fanboy support for a powerful and conniving dictator who threatens America, then please proceed. But I am sure you support none of that. Do the right thing, Mr. Speaker. Withdraw your endorsement of this dangerous man. Do not put the futures of my children and yours at risk. Stand up for what the Republican Party has historically believed and condemn Donald Trump.



MORE:
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/donald-trump-will-gut-republican-party-494306.html

[Bill USA]

1. I certainly hope so. No party so richly deserves it.

[ffr]

2. Tell me, how we can turn this into reality!

GOTV perhaps? Impress upon every democrat in existence how important it is to have a stake in our country's future perhaps? Register democrats and get them to the polls, in line with GOTV? Show enthusiasm towards democratic candidates whenever possible, especially in front of other prospective voters?

[vlyons]

4. We just keep struggling forward and tell the truth

We must also stand with minorities because, "we are stronger together!" We need each other. Make no mistake, the GOP is a vast criminal enterprise. It worships the accumulation of money and power at any cost to people and the environment.

[DonCoquixote]

3. This will be lovely if it pans out, BUT

We can never underestimate the foolishness of the American people, nor the lows that the GOP will sink to to win. As much as I hate to say it, just because Tony Scaly is not here to tip the SCOTUS does not mean there will not be tricks, especially since our Media has less honor than a Bangkok brothel. The very fact that Trump has managed to do as well has summoned forth the sort of people than even the GOP would have kept locked in the attic; the Breitbarts, the Alt-Right, the Klan; these folks now know they can taken as seriously, even more seriously, than any Black person with double digits of Ivy League diplomas. And let us not factor in that now Russia knows they can stir both the extreme right and extreme left into a whirlwind.

Yes, I do place Jill Stein in the same kettle as Ann Coulter, because both of them think the only thing keeping them from hearing a chorus of "we knew you were right all along" is a little thing called the destruction of civilization. One may pretend not to enjoy atrocities, one may not even bother, but both want to the country burn.

So, what is the answer...? yes, we can enjoy victories when we get them, however, we can never allow ourselves to think the right wing will admit it is beaten. It does not help that the Rich will spend everything they have to purchase every tonic they can to heal their half dead fighting cocks, who do not even realize their master plans to dump their body the half-second after their usefulness expires. It also means that we need to always remind our "leaders" on the left that we are warriors, NOT gamecocks (or game hens) to become soup. That last comment is aimed at those who keep saying the chorus "can we please stop criticizing (insert blank) now!) No, because A) you will move the goalposts to some blessed day that will never come and B) IN many case our criticism of Democratic candidates has kept them from doing stupid, self-destructive things.

[RDANGELO]

5. This is what Fox News and right wing radio has done to the Republican Party.

It's not really about policy anymore. It's about the other people. They view society in terms of groups of people opposed to one another.

[trusty elf]

6. music to my ears

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[Chakab]

7. I really don't understand any of the articles in this vein. They are going to have control of the

House in perpetuity due to gerrymandering.

Remember that the Republicans still control the majority of the state houses across the country and will be in position to draw districts favorably again after the next census due to the ineptitude of the DNC and the DCCC on the state and local level.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. No. When gerrymander fails, it fails big. Seize state houses for perm indep district commissions. nt

[CrispyQ]

18. There's a helluva lot of red to turn at the state level.

Dems have not put nearly as much effort into state races as the repubs have.

The Trouble For Democrats That’s Not Spelled With a Capital T-R-U-M-P
While the party has been making history at the national level, it's losing ground in the states.

BY KATHY KIELY | JULY 27, 2016

http://billmoyers.com/story/trouble-democrats-thats-not-spelled-capital-t-r-u-m-p/#.V5kEcNTzHwE.facebook



snip...

Since 2010, in contests for state House and state Senate seats, Democrats have racked up a net deficit of 913 seats. Republicans now control 68 of the nation’s 99 state legislative chambers, a historic high. Of the 31 states where one party enjoys a “trifecta” — holding the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers — Republicans are in charge in 22.

snip...

“In 2010, we gave away the House of Representatives for a decade,” Rathod said, referring to the congressional redistricting maps, redrawn after every new Census. In most states that’s done by legislators, and in most states Republicans controlled the process. The result are district lines that are so favorable to Republicans that many experts believe it will take another redistricting for Democrats to even have a prayer of regaining the House speakership.

snip...

In Rathod’s opinion, Democrats have only themselves to blame. Even though both President Obama and outgoing Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz started out as state legislators, “The Democratic Party has effectively ignored down-ballot races,” he says. The situation has become so dire that Politico reports the president will campaign for state legislative candidates this fall. He has a lot of catching up to do. Republicans “have made smart and large investments in both state races and infrastructure building that has allowed them this historic control of state legislative chambers and policymaking at the state level,” Rathod says.

Prior to the 2010 cycle (the elections that would determine which party had the upper hand in the redistricting of state legislative and congressional lines that followed that year’s census), Republicans launched an effort to target state legislative races that would maximize the party’s control over the redrawing of district lines, a process overseen (and now bragged about) by the Republican State Leadership Committee.

[Emilybemily]

8. Except ...

The Repuke party IS racist. They were never going to have a "big tent" where all Americans are welcome.

[hibbing]

9. this again?

As I always post in response to articles like this, until we control more state houses let alone Congress, this vile putrid party is far from dead.

Peace

[Cryptoad]

10. I have said all along,,,,

we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the GOP forever,,,,, move over wigs make room for the GOP

[smirkymonkey]

11. I really hope they are right, but I am afraid the republican base is not dealing in reality.

They are filled with fear and hatred and no amount of logic or reason is going to sway them to abandon their campaign to destroy anything they see as "other".

[pamela]

13. Nah...they'll go lower.

I always think they've hit their low point and they always find a way to go lower. Always.

Everyone keeps appealing to Paul Ryan as if they think he's the lone voice of decency in the party. What has he ever done to show he has even an ounce of decency?

[kairos12]

14. None of this will move the rethugs. They are permanently on the crazy train.

[kentuck]

15. If there was ever a time for Democrats to be over-confident, it is now...

If we care for our country and our way of life, it is important that we stand guard against tyrants.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. They wore their hoods proudly

and have "berobed" themselves gladly because they are "in charge" as post #9 noted.



I.e., they control far too many states (legislatures and/or govenorships) and that is what impacts people most directly and immediately. And it is also what impacts federal elections because they make sure they are running states during census years and get to draw the congressional lines that impact the state for a decade.

And this is something that has to be drilled into people. You can't just vote every 4 years for Presidential elections. You need to vote EVERY year (whether for federal/state/local elections).

[Maven]

17. "Republicans didn’t want to offend their base, which despised Obama for taking the country far left"

Even when they're trying to sound reasonable, they're totally delusional.

[eShirl]

21. I thought they despised him for Presidenting While Black?

[niyad]

19. may it be so

[liberalhistorian]

20. Good riddance!

This has been a long time coming and they've created their own Frankenstein, finally, after their decades of bullshit. They and their "policies" deserve now to sink down into that ocean of bullshit FOREVER. They've fucked up the country enough.