The GOP Died at the Border Wall

The GOP is dead. Long live the GOP.

Think pieces like this are fluff to drive intellectual liberals and conservatives to click and generate ad revenue. I would challenge anyone to actually define what the GOP stands for other than "beat the DNC." Bush was anything but a fiscal conservative. Romney wasn't much of one either. McCain, maybe, but he would probably sign anything as long as it increased military spending. Not to mention he had to pull in ol Palin to say all the stupid stuff he couldn't bring himself to say that would get him elected. And then Trump. Well there is an entire thread dedicated to that trainwreck of a man.

Aristophanes said:

You [demagogues] are like the fishers for eels; in still waters they catch nothing, but if they thoroughly stir up the slime, their fishing is good; in the same way it's only in troublous times that you line your pockets.

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They (and I think this goes to politicians in general) have determined that selling hope is no longer the way to get elected. What incentive is there when you can split the populace and rake in oodles of money. Republicans outpace Democrats in party fundraising Even if there was someone willing to tap the breaks on restricting freedoms, spending, and whatever other practices that just aren't typically thought of GOP principles, who in their right mind would want to do that? The money train is rolling full steam ahead.

I think in 2018 you aren't going to see anyone trying to "save the GOP" or "get it on track." If anything it will be more politicians willing to say whatever is needed to appeal to people's basest instincts. If there is anything the GOP learned from 2016, it seems that the grand unifier for GOP candidates is being "not a Democrat." 2016 is a perfect roadmap for what happens when you get a bunch of typically non political people motivated and energized enough to actually take part in politics. That fervor and energy doesn't go away when their candidate loses in the primary. It isn't terribly hard to redirect it from being energy for a candidate, to energy against a candidate, principles of the standard bearer be damned.

It's really easy to forgive someone their foibles when they are running against satan herself and the only thing worse than voting for a terrible candidate is voting for satan. It's the false equivalency thing to the extreme. Everyone wants to say that all political decisions are picking the lesser of two evils. When you honestly look at someone and are willing to call them evil, and not just evil, but truly see in them the biblical version of evil, it tends to skew reality.

chanson78 said:

The GOP is dead. Long live the GOP.

Think pieces like this are fluff to drive intellectual liberals and conservatives to click and generate ad revenue. I would challenge anyone to actually define what the GOP stands for other than "beat the DNC." Bush was anything but a fiscal conservative. Romney wasn't much of one either. McCain, maybe, but he would probably sign anything as long as it increased military spending. Not to mention he had to pull in ol Palin to say all the stupid stuff he couldn't bring himself to say that would get him elected. And then Trump. Well there is an entire thread dedicated to that trainwreck of a man.



They (and I think this goes to politicians in general) have determined that selling hope is no longer the way to get elected. What incentive is there when you can split the populace and rake in oodles of money. Republicans outpace Democrats in party fundraising Even if there was someone willing to tap the breaks on restricting freedoms, spending, and whatever other practices that just aren't typically thought of GOP principles, who in their right mind would want to do that? The money train is rolling full steam ahead.

I think in 2018 you aren't going to see anyone trying to "save the GOP" or "get it on track." If anything it will be more politicians willing to say whatever is needed to appeal to people's basest instincts. If there is anything the GOP learned from 2016, it seems that the grand unifier for GOP candidates is being "not a Democrat." 2016 is a perfect roadmap for what happens when you get a bunch of typically non political people motivated and energized enough to actually take part in politics. That fervor and energy doesn't go away when their candidate loses in the primary. It isn't terribly hard to redirect it from being energy for a candidate, to energy against a candidate, principles of the standard bearer be damned.

It's really easy to forgive someone their foibles when they are running against satan herself and the only thing worse than voting for a terrible candidate is voting for satan. It's the false equivalency thing to the extreme. Everyone wants to say that all political decisions are picking the lesser of two evils. When you honestly look at someone and are willing to call them evil, and not just evil, but truly see in them the biblical version of evil, it tends to skew reality.

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what should we expect with a 24/7 puke funnel providing conservatives with a daily (evil) boogey man for all of the things they don't like for the last 25+ years.

cleek's law said:

Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily.

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but both sides, amirite?

Both parties now embrace identity politics. One party is the party of straight, cis-gendered, heterosexual, christian white males and their supporters. The other party wants to displace and in some cases destroy the previous group.

Both of the parties are dead in terms of effectiveness at governance. Neither has any real leadership capacity. Neither has any real motivating factor to vote for them. Both just live off the hate that grows towards their opponent while in power then parlay it into an election season victory every few years.

pcfixup said:

Both parties now embrace identity politics. One party is the party of straight, cis-gendered, heterosexual, christian white males and their supporters. The other party wants to displace and in some cases destroy the previous group.

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in part, they want the straight, cis-gendered, heterosexual, christian white males and their supporters to stop trying to (using god as an excuse in many cases) treat them like second class citizens.

Jon said:

I see it as not the GOP is dead as they won't win elections but the GOP is dead as in they've sold out all their ideals and no longer the party they claim to be

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that had happened in large part by the late 90's/early aughts

Jon said:

I see it as not the GOP is dead as they won't win elections but the GOP is dead as in they've sold out all their ideals and no longer the party they claim to be

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This is how I read it as well.

Jon said:

I see it as not the GOP is dead as they won't win elections but the GOP is dead as in they've sold out all their ideals and no longer the party they claim to be

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I think that is a fair assessment. And that is how I read it too. However, having a title of "The GOP Died at the Border Wall" is click-bait.

There are 31 members of the Freedom Caucus within the GOP, this is its founder. These kind of people are dangerous to our country.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meadows_(North_Carolina_politician)

Jon said:

I see it as not the GOP is dead as they won't win elections but the GOP is dead as in they've sold out all their ideals and no longer the party they claim to be

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I kinda took it as both. They're dead in future elections, especially among millennials, because they've sold out. Among younger voters they cannot be trusted. The same is also true of the Democratic Party just to a lesser extent. Again, I'm suggesting this among younger voters not in general terms.

ETA- I know the article doesn't mention younger voters. Just commenting on how this article might help explain current trends among voters.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jon said:

he is from the district that hid Eric Rudolph effectively for a half a decade, so no surprises there.

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Republican Governor Samuel Kirkwood of Iowa used his office to protect Barclay Coppoc, a member of John Brown's terrorist gang. This was not a case of a criminal being protected by the people of a district, the protection was done by an officeholder in his public capacity. And then northern voters gave his party the White House.

Wasn't there already a post on here about the democratic party being dead? Can't both be true please?

DzynKingRTR said:

Wasn't there already a post on here about the democratic party being dead? Can't both be true please?

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I'm all for blowing it up. Both sides are pretty worthless. I just have a little more disdain for one than the other.

We're headed for a civil war anyway. It is just a matter of whether it will cause WWIII or be caused by it.

The GOP has been declared dead in print so many times that - just like crying racism every time they beat the Democrat for the White House - it has become another version of "the boy who cried wolf."

Remember when the election of Obama was the end of the GOP, along with his having both houses? I'm sorry, but all one has to do is look at the results: they own the White House, both Houses of Congress, the vast majority of state legislatures and governorships, and for that matter even the SCOTUS to a certain degree.

If the Democrats win the House in 2018 (the Senate is a virtual impossibility), we will be treated to stories again about how this is a sign of the impending doom of the GOP (you know, the same one that has just died time and again - what are they, kittens with nine lives?).

Of course, like most things: none of this is that simple in any direction. Trump didn't win "because" he was a Republican, he primarily won because: a) whatever insanity attached to him - and boy is there a lot - he offered 'change' in some form from the representative of the incumbent Obama admin; b) he ran against the one candidate on the planet whose 25-year rep of being untrustworthy destroyed any argument of "but he's lying."

The problem we have right now is that the two parties keep winning seats basically by being perceived or seen as "less bad" than the other one. And the problem a third party creates is that if it becomes viable then the only way it can win (and I'm speaking locally here) is by spending years depriving one party of the seat by taking more votes from Party A than from Party B, which only strengthens the hold of Party B. That's where you find a party locally willing to adapt enough positions from the third party to be competitive.


The Republicans do have a long-term problem that they have not yet settled in 150 years - the party has never sorted out specifically their vision of the proper role of government. The Democrats over time have decided to control everything except how many abortions you have and who you marry. The problem is that most Americans fall in between those areas.

Reports of "the GOP is dead" are like reports of "the Alabama dynasty is over." The only available evidence to validate it actually proves the opposite.

As far as values espoused, well, political parties survive long-term by abandoning old values for new ones as the stream flows differently. I'm not advocating it, I'm just pointing out its reality. I'm one of those the GOP left long ago, mostly when it marched into fiscal irresponsibility under GW Bush.

I have, for the most part, voted Republican at the national level since I became eligible to vote. Nixon twice, Ford, Reagan once, GHW Bush twice, Dubya once. The other times I either abstained or voted Democrat. In all those cases the candidate I voted for I perceived to be the more honorable and qualified person. History proves I was duped along the way.