Florida State Seminoles

[eCat]

there a bunch of people that still hang on his every word

but not enough and more are moving away from him every day. His attacks on DeSantis and Youngkin pissed alot of them off.

He couldn't win in the last election against a bumbling moron, I have no idea what makes them think he could win this time - even if they believe the election was rigged or not.

[hedge]

The good thing is, he's going to pull a huge block of repub voters with him if he doesn't get the nomination. And, as you said, he's going to piss off a large (and growing) chunk of voters who are tired of his carnival barker sideshow and prefer DeSantis if he torpedoes DeSantis (which you know he'll do). Either way, he's going to leave the party in total disarray, at least in 2024. No doubt Trump is the worst thing to happen to the republican party since... well, ever. And it's not even close. But hey, you got some Supreme Court justices and overturned Roe (genius move there), so it's all good. Hope it was worth it. It was definitely worth it for the Dems...

[eCat]

well in a sense, he may be the best thing that has happened to it

its just that it going to cause some pain for a couple of elections until the old guard is removed.

no one wants the GOP from 1998 - 2008 to ever represent this country again., but there are still plenty of them in Washington.

Trump may be the reason they go away

[hedge]

Judging by the last 3 elections, no one wants a bunch of MAGA nutcases either. Not where it matters, anyway...

[hedge]

But you'll always have Idaho. And the Dakotas. And Marjorie Taylor Green's district in Georgia...

[DooKSucks]

Here's the thing: 2012 Mitt Romney would have won going away in 2020. Old school, mainline conservatism still works with swing voters. They don't want the cuckoos the GOP brings, and even though the Democrats have their own band if nimrods, swing voters see that the center left moderates still control the Democratic Party for the most part and only pay lip service (albeit a considerable amount) to the extremists and give them (the left's extremists) the occasional meaningless position.

The problem is that the GOP did the same thing with the racists, religious extremists and right wing nationalists until the band of loonies took over the GOP with Trump after Palin got their foot in the door to the control room. So, here's to hoping the same doesn't happen with the DNC...

[eCat]

He probably would have won but he'd never get the nomination

The flyover states conservatives are not going to let a RINO moderate get the nomination. That's done with, I think forever. Romney , Ryan, Boehner, etc are essentially a progressives to them

I hold Palin accountable for ruining the Tea Party. People don't remember the tea party prior to her but it was the real libertarian wing of the Party. Essentially Massie and Ron Paul represent it today.

[DooKSucks]

He probably would have won but he'd never get the nomination

The flyover states conservatives are not going to let a RINO moderate get the nomination. That's done with, I think forever. Romney , Ryan, Boehner, etc are essentially a progressives to them

I hold Palin accountable for ruining the Tea Party. People don't remember the tea party prior to her but it was the real libertarian wing of the Party. Essentially Massie and Ron Paul represent it today.

RINO? Those folks were Republicans before the rest of you showed up. Those folks and the ones who came before them created the GOP. You folks have tried to take it over. The Romney's of the world are the ones who are the true Republicans (i.e. low tax, low regulation, strong defense, small government, etc). Conversely, those folks brought in the extremists to get votes and support by paying lip service and doing token acts, but then the mainline GOP lost control of those loonies and was soon devoured by them.

The Tea Party wasn't a thing worth mentioning until Obama was elected. Palin didn't destroy the Tea Party. The Tea Party fucked itself up with extremists and idiots like her and the Paul's.

[hedge]

[hedge]

That's the republican party today...

[eCat]

Romney isn't nsmall government. A small government guy isn't going to develop health care in the state of Massachusetts that requires every resident to have health insurance and impose penalties on small business if they don't require it.

If that's True republican then, yea, nobody wants them.

[hedge]

Note the timestamp...

I'm not sure when the democratic party usurped the mantle of "party of the elites" from the repubs, but it happened in the blink of an eye. What's funny to me is all those people who were loyal repubs for decades (like Prof, for instance), voting for the "elite" candidates and verily thinking of themselves as such b/c of their party affiliation, now they're trying to pass themselves off as salt of the earth types, just the good ol common man. Which is true of pretty much everyone, of course, but it is odd to note the change in self-perception of a large bloc of the republican party these days.

Of course, there's still the old guard, William F. Buckley wing, many of whom are still in power (and have money, unlike this new breed of repubs), which is why I still say the repub party - as a unified party - is imploding. I can't see the old guard repubs flocking to the democratic party the way the old southern democrats, virtually in one election cycle, switched over to the republican party in the late 60's (I blame the hippies and of course the uppity negroes who were in the process of claiming all sorts of basic human rights, that was a bridge too far for a very large segment of those old southern yellow dog democrats), but given the current state of affairs, the center (if there is one) of the republican party cannot hold...

[eCat]

I think Buckley was the one who phrased them as "above ground swimming pool voters"

[Jungle Rat]

[Jungle Rat]

DeSantis has flags too? Jesus.

[hedge]

Trump is like the only president ever who didn't visibly age while in office. Mainly b/c unlike most of his predecessors, he didn't give a shit about the country or the job, so it was completely stress free...

[hedge]

[hedge]

What's the difference b/w Jim Jones's followers and Donald Trump's followers? Nothing...

[Tree]

He probably would have won but he'd never get the nomination

The flyover states conservatives are not going to let a RINO moderate get the nomination. That's done with, I think forever. Romney , Ryan, Boehner, etc are essentially a progressives to them

I hold Palin accountable for ruining the Tea Party. People don't remember the tea party prior to her but it was the real libertarian wing of the Party. Essentially Massie and Ron Paul represent it today.

Romney is only viewed a RINO because of how radical the mainline GOP talking points and agenda have become. Not even talking about Trump here but how they literally want to deregulate everything and give it all to the billionaires. And anyone who doesn’t want to do that is a dirty socialist. For the life of me I don’t understand why intelligent Republican voters allow this.

[eCat]

I don't agree with your position but you can pinpoint when what you said happened - its when Newt Gingrich started courting the evangelicals in mid 90's.