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Zorro

(15,691 posts)
Sat Dec 21, 2019, 04:12 PM Dec 2019

Fear and Loyalty: How Donald Trump Took Over the Republican Party

By the summer of 2017, Dave Trott, a two-term Republican Congressman, was worried enough about President Trump’s erratic behavior and his flailing attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act that he criticized the president in a closed-door meeting with fellow G.O.P. lawmakers.

The response was instantaneous — but had nothing to do with the substance of Mr. Trott’s concerns. “Dave, you need to know somebody has already told the White House what you said,” he recalled a colleague telling him. “Be ready for a barrage of tweets.”

Mr. Trott got the message: To defy Mr. Trump is to invite the president’s wrath, ostracism within the party and a premature end to a career in Republican politics. Mr. Trott decided not to seek re-election in his suburban Detroit district, concluding that running as anti-Trump Republican was untenable, and joining a wave of Republican departures from Congress that has left those who remain more devoted to the president than ever.

“If I was still there and speaking out against the president, what would happen to me?” Mr. Trott said before answering his own question: Mr. Trump would have lashed out and pressured House G.O.P. leaders to punish him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/us/politics/trump-impeachment-republicans.html

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Fear and Loyalty: How Donald Trump Took Over the Republican Party (Original Post) Zorro Dec 2019 OP
Cowards. If enough people have stood up against this POS, they wouldn't be in this position ... SWBTATTReg Dec 2019 #1
They should have said - Fuck Trump! n/t RKP5637 Dec 2019 #2
They should have stood up to the reptilian trump .. CatMor Dec 2019 #3
This is the sentence that made my stomach clench srobertss Dec 2019 #4

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
1. Cowards. If enough people have stood up against this POS, they wouldn't be in this position ...
Sat Dec 21, 2019, 04:15 PM
Dec 2019

of having to support a worthless so called president. It simply goes to show all that the republican party has lost its way, have lost any compass direction of what's right and what's wrong. Pathetic.

CatMor

(6,212 posts)
3. They should have stood up to the reptilian trump ..
Sat Dec 21, 2019, 05:18 PM
Dec 2019

from the beginning. It is their fault they let it come to this. They all made a pact with the devil and nothing good will or has come of it. Hope they all pay for it someday.

srobertss

(261 posts)
4. This is the sentence that made my stomach clench
Sat Dec 21, 2019, 08:02 PM
Dec 2019
“He has a complete connection with the average Republican voter and that’s given him political power here,” said Representative Patrick McHenry, Republican of North Carolina, adding: “Trump has touched the nerve of my conservative base like no person in my lifetime.”[/

What a strange reality Trump lives in where his every impulse comes down to controlling other peoples loyalty. But it has worked like a charm. If you want to stay in office he gives you no choice. I’m surprised more Senators aren’t retiring, but I’m sure Moscow Mitch is very busy talking them down.

I’m still pondering the Daily Show segment where Jordan Klepper interviewed supporters at a rally. It was amazing to see him go back and forth with them on impeachment. Not in a challenging way, but just to see if they realized how crazy it sounded to say “read the transcript”, and in their next sentence admit that they hadn’t read it. https://m.


Who knew that 30-40% of the country thought like this.
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