I’m looking forward to seeing how many Congressional Republicans want to lose votes with independents next November because they’ve decided to make excuses for anything and everything Trump has done. Maybe they can try out that Mike Pence logic of being firmly for the rule of law except for when Trump is the one breaking the law.
I’m trusting Jack Smith to have a very sordid story to tell about this case. Ultra MAGA Republican Elise Stefanik is my rep and I’m pretty sure she’d still win in a general. She has a Normal Republican opponent, tho. I hope that’s something happening in other districts. I’d love to see some of these extremists losing to Normies.
Stefanik managed to invoke George Soros after the Bragg indictment. We’ll see what defense she and the others can come up with for indictments to come.
Soon enough the Defendant-In-Chief will learn that there is nothing "fake" about the federal investigation into his hoarding classified documents when he has to show up at an arraignment.
The (in)famous Trump quote about shooting someone on 5th Avenue and not losing a single vote was truer than probably even he thought that it was. He will get indicted again, and probably more than once (the documents case, and in Georgia). Yet, I have zero doubt--none whatsoever--that this will shore up his support among Republicans. He will cruise to the nomination. Yes, I understand that many "independents" don't like him, but that's where the voter suppression laws come into play. He just needs to win enough of them to flip a few states, and he'll become our Il Duce.
Do you think it is possible to conduct an anonymous secret poll of all Republican Governors, Senators and Congressmen and ask them to rank their top 2 candidates?
Who has the gravitas and trust to even carry out such a poll and how can they be identified and encouraged to do so?
Is there a way to ensure would it be secure without leaks of individual details? Could they (whoever it is) use something like Incogneato or some other anonymous feedback mechanism?
Would these elected officials be inclined to participate if they could be assured of anonymity?
It is very possible that the majority of these elected officials will not choose Trump through this mechanism.
That would not eliminate the 35% diehard Trump supporters but it could provide more concrete data that the Establishment is not pro-Trump.
But man oh man would it be revealing. I really do think most Republican elected officials -- outside of the House Freedom Caucus -- are rooting like hell for legal or health reasons to disqualify him from running again. So, an anonymous poll would likely reveal that.
But, I think that the current Republican party is *still* afraid of Trump in some meaningful way. They are worried what the base will do if they are seen as abandoning him.
Chris, at what point does the GOP leadership dump Trump? Hoping once leadership denounces Trump, it will trickle down to others. They know he’s a loser and has one indictment, another one likely and perhaps more. Nixon lost leadership and that is what sunk him and Nixon resigned. I agree that Trump will most likely get the nomination, his hard core base will never leave him. I also agree that the independents will most likely not vote for him, or enough anyway. With that being said, I thought the same in 2016 and we know how that turned out. It’s hard for me to imagine enough people voting for him after January 6th. If everything else he did, didn’t make a dent in his support, surely January 6th would. Nope. It’s really frightening to think how much worse this can all get, either win or lose. This country may not know what may occur, votes matter.
I am just not sure who in GOP leadership is the one who stands up and says "No more!"
McCarthy already made his allegiances clear with his trip to Mar-a-Lago after 1/6. McConnell seems entirely uninterested in wading into that morass. Ronna Romney McDaniel? I don;'t think so.
There's just a real paucity of people in the party that are in a position to say "Now is the time where we turn on Trump."
What GOP leadership? The RNC is run by a Trump toady. The House is “led” by a Speaker afraid of his caucus. The Republican Senate caucus is practicing the art of not seeing anything, because its members are afraid of their voters. The de facto leaders seem to be the House “Freedom” Caucus.
Congressional Republicans can’t rid themselves of Trump until they, en masse, say he lost in 2020 fair and square. They all have to say it and probably include an apology for having taken part in the lie.
If they do it one or two at a time they get picked off like Cheney and Kinzinger. It might cost them in the short run, but it’s the only way to purge themselves of Trumpism.
It’s going to hurt more because they’ve waited so long.
That's right. There is safety in numbers for sure. But I don;'t see them doing so -- mostly because there are a chunk of Republicans (yes, still) in the House who don't think Trump lost in 2020.
Agree! It’s all SAD! It amazes me that these are members of congress and afraid of a bully. They’d rather kiss the ring and put the country 2nd. It’s disgusting and repulsive.
Elaine, I think the fundamental flaw in your thinking is assuming that Trump has ANY integrity or ANY interest in doing what’s best for the country. While I honestly hate to say this about Nixon, given how much of a paranoid sleazebag he was, he did at least know enough to do “the honorable thing” and resign, as it was best for the Party and the country not to be dragged through an impeachment that clearly would have led to a conviction and removal from office. Further, the Republican Party is nowhere near what it once was: we had honest disagreements about policy and serving the people, but it was always clear that they loved “country before party”. That simply can’t be said now. Holding onto power, whether via voter suppression laws and racist gerrymandering or stacking the courts with far-right ideologues instead of thoughtful jurists, is clearly all they care about. And while Democrats aren’t angels, there simply isn’t an equivalence...
The especially hilarious irony, to me, is that the federal statute providing that mishandling of classified materials disqualifies you from federal office was signed into law by... Donald Trump. i
It was part of the post-2016 theater amidst all the “lock her up” chants to reinforce the message that Hillary should’ve not been eligible to serve as President.
Now we come to find out that the word that was most important to them in that chant was “her.”
"The cumulative weight of the allegations against Trump do, at some point, become too much for some number of Republican voters to tolerate. They decide to jump ship and go looking..."
In essence, how much legal weight can he carry before he topples over? Everyone has a breaking point...Trump is getting closer to his.
Mark that is a very good point -- and one that I think the rest of the GOP field is banking on. And it COULD happen! But, I would have said one indictment would have been a problem for Trump -- and it wound up being a good thing for him, politically speaking.
It's one thing to get indicted for hush money payments to a porn star, and quite another to be indicted for threatening our national security by hoarding classified documents. The first case is sordid and sleazy, but the second case is official business.
I'm known in my circles for being a realist, and I'm getting the sense that Trump won't make it to the general election...too many speed bumps on the path to the nomination.
I’m looking forward to seeing how many Congressional Republicans want to lose votes with independents next November because they’ve decided to make excuses for anything and everything Trump has done. Maybe they can try out that Mike Pence logic of being firmly for the rule of law except for when Trump is the one breaking the law.
I’m trusting Jack Smith to have a very sordid story to tell about this case. Ultra MAGA Republican Elise Stefanik is my rep and I’m pretty sure she’d still win in a general. She has a Normal Republican opponent, tho. I hope that’s something happening in other districts. I’d love to see some of these extremists losing to Normies.
Stefanik managed to invoke George Soros after the Bragg indictment. We’ll see what defense she and the others can come up with for indictments to come.
Soon enough the Defendant-In-Chief will learn that there is nothing "fake" about the federal investigation into his hoarding classified documents when he has to show up at an arraignment.
The (in)famous Trump quote about shooting someone on 5th Avenue and not losing a single vote was truer than probably even he thought that it was. He will get indicted again, and probably more than once (the documents case, and in Georgia). Yet, I have zero doubt--none whatsoever--that this will shore up his support among Republicans. He will cruise to the nomination. Yes, I understand that many "independents" don't like him, but that's where the voter suppression laws come into play. He just needs to win enough of them to flip a few states, and he'll become our Il Duce.
Do you think it is possible to conduct an anonymous secret poll of all Republican Governors, Senators and Congressmen and ask them to rank their top 2 candidates?
Who has the gravitas and trust to even carry out such a poll and how can they be identified and encouraged to do so?
Is there a way to ensure would it be secure without leaks of individual details? Could they (whoever it is) use something like Incogneato or some other anonymous feedback mechanism?
Would these elected officials be inclined to participate if they could be assured of anonymity?
It is very possible that the majority of these elected officials will not choose Trump through this mechanism.
That would not eliminate the 35% diehard Trump supporters but it could provide more concrete data that the Establishment is not pro-Trump.
What do you think of the above?
Ha! No.
But man oh man would it be revealing. I really do think most Republican elected officials -- outside of the House Freedom Caucus -- are rooting like hell for legal or health reasons to disqualify him from running again. So, an anonymous poll would likely reveal that.
But, I think that the current Republican party is *still* afraid of Trump in some meaningful way. They are worried what the base will do if they are seen as abandoning him.
Remarkable but true.
Chris, at what point does the GOP leadership dump Trump? Hoping once leadership denounces Trump, it will trickle down to others. They know he’s a loser and has one indictment, another one likely and perhaps more. Nixon lost leadership and that is what sunk him and Nixon resigned. I agree that Trump will most likely get the nomination, his hard core base will never leave him. I also agree that the independents will most likely not vote for him, or enough anyway. With that being said, I thought the same in 2016 and we know how that turned out. It’s hard for me to imagine enough people voting for him after January 6th. If everything else he did, didn’t make a dent in his support, surely January 6th would. Nope. It’s really frightening to think how much worse this can all get, either win or lose. This country may not know what may occur, votes matter.
I am just not sure who in GOP leadership is the one who stands up and says "No more!"
McCarthy already made his allegiances clear with his trip to Mar-a-Lago after 1/6. McConnell seems entirely uninterested in wading into that morass. Ronna Romney McDaniel? I don;'t think so.
There's just a real paucity of people in the party that are in a position to say "Now is the time where we turn on Trump."
Thank you, Chris
What GOP leadership? The RNC is run by a Trump toady. The House is “led” by a Speaker afraid of his caucus. The Republican Senate caucus is practicing the art of not seeing anything, because its members are afraid of their voters. The de facto leaders seem to be the House “Freedom” Caucus.
Very good point!
Congressional Republicans can’t rid themselves of Trump until they, en masse, say he lost in 2020 fair and square. They all have to say it and probably include an apology for having taken part in the lie.
If they do it one or two at a time they get picked off like Cheney and Kinzinger. It might cost them in the short run, but it’s the only way to purge themselves of Trumpism.
It’s going to hurt more because they’ve waited so long.
That's right. There is safety in numbers for sure. But I don;'t see them doing so -- mostly because there are a chunk of Republicans (yes, still) in the House who don't think Trump lost in 2020.
Agree! It’s all SAD! It amazes me that these are members of congress and afraid of a bully. They’d rather kiss the ring and put the country 2nd. It’s disgusting and repulsive.
Elaine...fifty years ago pols still had an allegiance to country over party, and were not unserious media-whores.
No ReTrumplican't leader will stand up to the MAGA-boobwazie.
Whoops...wrong positioning, but still applicable to your comment, Kevin.
Elaine, I think the fundamental flaw in your thinking is assuming that Trump has ANY integrity or ANY interest in doing what’s best for the country. While I honestly hate to say this about Nixon, given how much of a paranoid sleazebag he was, he did at least know enough to do “the honorable thing” and resign, as it was best for the Party and the country not to be dragged through an impeachment that clearly would have led to a conviction and removal from office. Further, the Republican Party is nowhere near what it once was: we had honest disagreements about policy and serving the people, but it was always clear that they loved “country before party”. That simply can’t be said now. Holding onto power, whether via voter suppression laws and racist gerrymandering or stacking the courts with far-right ideologues instead of thoughtful jurists, is clearly all they care about. And while Democrats aren’t angels, there simply isn’t an equivalence...
Very good points, Larry. It’s such a sad state of affairs for the country. We will be in a world of hurt, either way this goes.
Trump needs to not be President ever again.
The especially hilarious irony, to me, is that the federal statute providing that mishandling of classified materials disqualifies you from federal office was signed into law by... Donald Trump. i
It was part of the post-2016 theater amidst all the “lock her up” chants to reinforce the message that Hillary should’ve not been eligible to serve as President.
Now we come to find out that the word that was most important to them in that chant was “her.”
I think you said it best in these words:
"The cumulative weight of the allegations against Trump do, at some point, become too much for some number of Republican voters to tolerate. They decide to jump ship and go looking..."
In essence, how much legal weight can he carry before he topples over? Everyone has a breaking point...Trump is getting closer to his.
Everyone DOES have a breaking point. I thought Trump's would have been a while ago but obviously I was wrong.
Mark that is a very good point -- and one that I think the rest of the GOP field is banking on. And it COULD happen! But, I would have said one indictment would have been a problem for Trump -- and it wound up being a good thing for him, politically speaking.
It's one thing to get indicted for hush money payments to a porn star, and quite another to be indicted for threatening our national security by hoarding classified documents. The first case is sordid and sleazy, but the second case is official business.
I'm known in my circles for being a realist, and I'm getting the sense that Trump won't make it to the general election...too many speed bumps on the path to the nomination.