“The Republican Party’s largest shareholders don’t want novel answers to public problems — they want to maximize the returns on their political investments. This leaves the GOP incapable of offering voters credible solutions to contemporary challenges, and thus, requires them to lean on “visceral issues” (a.k.a. white racial panic) to retain and mobilize a mass base. And you don’t need policy wonks to make aging white people feel aggrieved and alienated by intimations of demographic change — racist reality stars are more than capable of fulfilling that function.”
But he, like many others, were just fine as GWB’s brazen marriage of ignorance and incompetence inflicted incalculable amounts of harm on the nation last decade. It just took a grotesque and imbecilic caricature of not only a president but a man to rip that caul away, right?
Sharpe
4263
I have this thought about the late-blooming-never-Trumpers also, but I also have another thought: did the excesses and failures of George W. Bush help set some pre-conditions for the never-Trumpers to realize their party was in the wrong?
Human beings are not Spock-like creatures of pure logic (well, Spock as he was in theory). I think some big sea change ideas for people work kind of like a supersaturated solution and a precipitating catalyst. You can have a purse substrate of GOP affiliation that gradually gets cloudy with doubt and concern, but the solution doesn’t crystallize until you introduce something to precipitate it, at which point, the whole volume rapidly becomes solid. Not sure how good an analogy that is, I think big things like changing your political affiliation or other big changes in POV are gradual rather than sudden, more emotional than logical. YMMV.
Maybe, but it would be easier to believe that if they were clearly repudiating the depredations of Bush the Younger. Have they abandoned their cherished goal of financing taxes for the wealthy by cutting the social safety net? Do they still want to privatize social security, turning it into yet another defined contribution pension plan to plump stock prices? Are they now in favor of a strong government effort on climate change? Have they abandoned voter suppression as a tactic? My own sense is ‘no’. They don’t repudiate any of that. They just don’t like Trump because he’s a crass bore.
magnet
4265
Well, the former Republican in the article Timex posted said he believes in smaller government and lower taxes, but also believes that climate change is a problem. I suspect that most conservative former Republicans would agree, perhaps even including Timex himself.
Wait! I thought his wife handled all the money?
Now, that’s the feel-good story we all needed.
I come here to offer praise and a hearty laugh, supplied by Billy Long, a conservative Springfield, Missouri Republican member of the House.
As you may know, today Sheryl Sandberg (from Facebook) and Jack Dorsey (from Twitter) testified before both the Senate and the House on the scope of bot accounts, fake influencers, etc.
At the house committee crazyperson nazi conspiracy peddler Laura Loomer rose to shout out protests.
And Billy Long–a former auctioneer–swung into action.
This is beautiful.
Good auctioneer are great.
I thought protesting was illegal in Ameristan now? Isn’t that what our glorious leader decreed yesterday?
vyshka
4276
So dickhead that threw his wife under the bus last (? so much shit going on who knows how long its been now) week, apparently was spending the money on other women.
He must have been laying the groundwork for a divorce - getting his wife thrown in jail would make for a clean getaway.
Scuzz
4278
He was just emulating our glorious leader by screwing others on the side. He just couldn’t afford to do it with his own money like Trump can.
Djscman
4279
Wait, was he buying these women Steam games?
