Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Roy Moore are making it increasingly difficult for a moral person to be a loyal Republican.
On Tuesday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake wrote a $100 check to the campaign of Doug Jones, the Democrat contesting the Alabama Senate race against Republican Roy Moore. The latter stands accused by several women of predatory sexual behavior committed while they were teens.
“Country over party,” Flake tweeted.
His critics reject that formulation. They insist that Flake is motivated by a desire to seem virtuous, or to win support from the mainstream media, not by patriotism. But I am less interested in whether Flake is acting for country, or some other motive, than in what he is acting against and why that angers his detractors.
If his critics were staunch partisan loyalists the matter would be simple.
But I suspect that, in many cases, they follow the logic of an article en led, “BREAKING: Traitor Jeff Flake Just BRAGGED About Donating to Doug Jones,” on the website Truth Feed News:
The Establishment GOP traitor and anti-Trump shill, Jeff Flake, has drawn the ire of Americans everywhere yet again, with a new and inflammatory tweet. The disgraceful “Republican” Senator tweeted a photo of a donation he made to Democratic candidate Doug Jones, the opponent of Judge Roy Moore, merely due to the fact that Moore is favored by the Trump administration. “Country over party,” said Flake’s odious tweet, but real conservatives know that the RINO Senator is anything but a Republican, and has more in common with the Democrats.
This is but one illustration of a pervasive dissonance in Republican politics. On the one hand, all manner of pejoratives are applied to party leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell; on the other hand, Republicans who defect from voting with them are traitors. The coalition’s insult of choice remains RINO, or Republican in Name Only. Yet they rally around a president who repeatedly changed parties in recent decades, and Stephen Bannon, a self-described Leninist eager to “ -slap the Republican Party.”
Tea-party senators recently elected in an anti-establishment wave are now RINO cucks. Populists purport to dislike nothing more than disloyal politicians, yet their champion is arguably the most disloyal man in the United States.
Donald Trump was disloyal to two wives. He invited Bill and Hillary Clinton to his third wedding; repeatedly went on TV to lavish praise on Hillary Clinton; and then, when she got in the way of his ambitions, he began standing in crowds of thousands of people encouraging chants of,“Lock her up.”
He withheld health care from his ailing infant nephew during a family dispute over an inheritance. He fleeced Trump fans credulous enough to patronize Trump University. He stiffed subcontractors and strategically used bankruptcies to screw creditors. For ratings, he gave a shock jock permission to call his daughter “a piece of ass.” He has betrayed almost everything to which normal people feel sacred loyalty. Most recently, he even opposed Roy Moore’s Senate candidacy before supporting it!
....
Hillary Clinton called them deplorable; they are fighting back by embodying that stereotype. Now, traitors aren’t those who fail to ally with or actively break from the Republican Party; traitors are those unwilling to embrace depravity with them. It’s a test of loyalty. Republicans must join Bannon in championing Roy Moore and savaging Mitt Romney, knowing the latter is the better man, for the same reason gang initiates might be ordered to slug an old lady as she leaves church.
Such is the fate of all who join in enterprises with Trump or Bannon at the top: A moment comes when one must either become complicit in depravity or exhibit disloyalty. The Republican Party chose depravity—and now, so must all non-traitorous members.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...alty-depravity
GOP is reaping what it sows.
70%+ of Repug voters STILL support Trash
and a large majority STILL believe oligarchy's tax cut will stimulate the economy (and/or trickle down works)
The Atlantic article is too theoretical, as if the Repugs pols gave a about loyalty or depravity.
The ONLY priority for the Repugs is obeying the dictates of BigDonor, WHATEVER satisfying BigDonor entail, like cutting homeless vet housing, like killing 10Ks of Americans by denying them healthcare, etc.
Here's the thing:
The people who voted for Trump don't care about that . They saw economy burdened by increasingly accruing massive amounts of debt, a welfare system that was no longer a safety net but a way of life, & a ty, stagnant economy. The guy proved to be a savvy businessman & so people thought he could get the job done.
All this other stuff is stupid.
"The guy proved to be a savvy businessman"
proved?
The 35% base doesn't care about that either. He passes a wildly unpopular supply side tax bill when OK and IN are still fresh in people's minds. That floor has not budged. It's pure tribalism.
All the dems have to do for the next two cycles is present candidates that are mildly appealing to moderates and campaign against the Cheetos. Those midwestern swing voters that voted for him in 2016 are going to be gone.
Says someone in the Party of Franken, Conyers, Clinton, Ted Kennedy, ...
Franken and Conyers were forced to resign. Compare and contrast to the GOP.
Bringing up people from 30+ years ago and acting like it is relevant now is adorable.
Party of Hastert throwing salt at anyone
Oh there are plenty more those are just the most prominent. And who weren't punished. There is also a lot more evidence against Conyers, Franken, etc.
You were bringing up 30+ year old examples to prop your nonsense. You're full of .
And you cannot discuss what the evidence in the cases is with specific examples much less make that claim.
Nice wishcasting though.
So now, his party is going to pass a tax cut that is going to add massively to the debt, not do anything about the welfare system but give away money to rich people, and will, in all likelihood make the economy ty and stagnant.
He was never really a "savvy" businessguy, he just took checks from whatever ing dodgy source he could, and conned people out of money.
He conned his way to the presidency, and went from being a ty business guy, to a really really ty president.
The morons who think he is doing a good job have the heads in the sand. Not my problem, but neither do I have to be kind about it.
My 401k has never been happier
Sure. Now that you have your whataboutism out of your system, what do we do about President Pussy Grabber and Pedo Roy?
Dow Tripled under Obama, and name anything that Trump has done that has actually affected the economy. Go on, do tell.
More depravity, please
Remember Repug Congressman Mark Foley?
The Page Who Took Down the GOP
https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...hastert-213378
Following William of Ockam's heuristics:
NOTHING matters to the Repug s, not the law, not science, not ethics, not morals, nothing except enriching the oligarchy, and esp if that includes punishing the non-oligarchy.
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