Quo Vadis GOP?

[Josquius]

So I guess GOP is permanently lost now? Anyone who stands up to Trump is being purged.

On the bright side he's not a young man.
Just have to hope there's a succession war between his kids.

[Syt]

[Syt]

So Lynn Cheney gets kicked from GOP leadership for not supporting the stolen election lie.

Meanwhile there seems to be deafening silence regarding Matt Gaetz in the party.

[Berkut]

So Lynn Cheney gets kicked from GOP leadership for not supporting the stolen election lie.

It's obviously bullshit of course, but i cannot manage to muster any sympathy for her.

She chose to support Trump and the radicalization of the GOP even before Trump.

[Syt]

So Lynn Cheney gets kicked from GOP leadership for not supporting the stolen election lie.

It's obviously bullshit of course, but i cannot manage to muster any sympathy for her.

She chose to support Trump and the radicalization of the GOP even before Trump.

Oh, I agree. It's still interesting to see where the party's priorities lie.

[Barrister]

So Lynn Cheney gets kicked from GOP leadership for not supporting the stolen election lie.

It's obviously bullshit of course, but i cannot manage to muster any sympathy for her.

She chose to support Trump and the radicalization of the GOP even before Trump.

I don't think she's looking for sympathy, but honestly how can you not look at Liz Cheney and admire her just a bit?

She's doing that rarest of things in politics - taking a principled stand.  She could very easily just shut up and go along with the Big Lie.  But she won't, and it's costing her politically.  All because it's the right thing to do.

[Berkut]

So Lynn Cheney gets kicked from GOP leadership for not supporting the stolen election lie.

It's obviously bullshit of course, but i cannot manage to muster any sympathy for her.

She chose to support Trump and the radicalization of the GOP even before Trump.

I don't think she's looking for sympathy, but honestly how can you not look at Liz Cheney and admire her just a bit?

She's doing that rarest of things in politics - taking a principled stand.  She could very easily just shut up and go along with the Big Lie.  But she won't, and it's costing her politically.  All because it's the right thing to do.

Where were those principles four years ago? Five years ago?

The GOP has become so poisoned that someone EVENTUALLY taking a principled stand on something as basic as respect for democracy is seen as some kind of incredibly brave and principled move?

If everyone takes a shit on the floor, one person declining is not really anything to find all that amazing. What is amazing is that everyone else went along with it.

[DGuller]

I'm a believer in being pragmatic.  If everyone except one person is shitting on the floor, and that one other person is merely pissing on it, then I'll back the pissing person for a while.  If I want to reduce the number of shitting people, then I'll have to ally myself with the pisser rather than complain impotently about the universal lack of control over bodily functions. 

You need to have different levels of response for different levels of behavior, if you want your response to have any chance of influencing the behavior.  That is true even if the best observed behavior is still pretty unacceptable in the absolute sense.  Giving every student an F doesn't make you tough, it makes you irrelevant.

[Syt]

So I was wondering what's going on with Gaetz in the meantime. Looks like he's holding rallies with Marjorie Taylor Greene in Florida: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/07/reps-greene-gaetz-push-trumps-grievances-america-first-message-florida-rally/

[Barrister]

Berkut, don't make perfect the enemy of the good.

Yes, I'd like al GOP politicians to take a stand against the Big Lie.  But instead they've all gone silent on the topic, or are furiously promoting it.  Cheney is the only one vocally reminding people that the former guy lost fair and square.

And at real personal cost.  She's lost her leadership position and is almost certain to be facing a vigorous primary challenge next year.

[Jacob]

Yeah, I'm willing to give Liz Cheney some respect for that. She is orders of magnitude better than someone like Lindsey Graham, for example.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, I'm willing to give Liz Cheney some respect for that. She is orders of magnitude better than someone like Lindsey Graham, for example.

Yeah - and ultimately she is defending the legitimacy of the last election which is pretty important and stands in contrast to most of the rest of her party.

Now that might be a bare minimum, but it's one of the rest of her party failed to meet.

[The Brain]

I won't argue for her death penalty at Nuremberg, but she gets no respect from me.

[alfred russel]

Yeah, I'm willing to give Liz Cheney some respect for that. She is orders of magnitude better than someone like Lindsey Graham, for example.

Interesting choice because Lindsey Graham also voted to certify the election results.

Which is a telling example. It is probably an oversimplification to portray Liz Cheney as making a tough but principled vote and that cost her a leadership position. There is also an element of Cheney representing the old GOP, quite literally of Bush/Cheney, and the vote being one indication of that but not the only one.

Graham made the same vote in the Senate, but has leaned hard into the new direction of the party. The blowback he gets is from his pre November 2016 resistance to Trump and promotion of immigration reform, not from voting to certify the election.

[Barrister]

Graham is the case that shows you what this is all about.

Lindsey Graham has broken from Trump from time to time.  He's on record saying mean things about Trump.  He voted to certify the election.  But now, right now, he sucks up to Trump.  And that's all Trump really wants.

Liz Cheney has a long history of backing Trump.  She's voted with Trump repeatedly.  But now, right now, she won't lie to defend Trump's baseless claims.  Which apparently means she has to go.