General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAfter Trump, Where Will Republicans Go?
That was a question asked of me in response to a recent OP, wherein I talked about taking our country back from Trump-humpers.
The answer is simple. Republican voters will go where they always go, i.e. wherever theyre told to go by the PTB in their party.
Ive written before about how the GOP has spent decades cultivating the easily-led: low-info voters, low-IQ voters and, most particularly, Evangelicals. The reason for this strategy is obvious on its face. Those who are easily manipulated, completely unhindered by intelligence and pesky facts, will simple-mindedly cast their votes for whoever theyre told to vote for.
The proof of this is most apparent with the Trump-humpers who identify as Christians. They were convinced by their RW pastors that a lying, adulterous, self-declared pussy grabber was chosen by God to lead the nation. They were told to ignore his past a past full of cheating people out of their money, running a fake university and a phoney charity along with his sleazy kids and his nude model wife. And they did so.
The PTB in the Republican party effortlessly convinced their easily-led adherents that Trumps business failures were actually great successes, his never-ending litany of lies were merely exaggerations, or mis-speaks taken out of context, and that his racism, xenophobia, disdain for anyone who opposes him, and his downright cruelty are signs of patriotism and love of country.
So when Trump goes down, where will his followers go? They will go where they are led. They will be told any number of things by their puppet-masters, and they will swallow it whole. Depending on how Trump goes down and there are several strong possibilities as to how that will happen the Trump-humpers will be told that he was a good man who broke under the stress of the job, or he was led astray by evil-doers, or he wasnt who we thought he was we were misled, just as you were now lets move on.
After all is said and done, the GOP will simply downplay the disaster that was Trump, and eventually pretend he never happened. They will come up with a shiny new idiot to get behind, their paid-for Christian pastors will lead their flocks to his side, and the Trump-humpers will start humping their newest idol right on key, predictable as always.
As the case to impeach Trump gets stronger and the evidence against him becomes more indisputable, watch for the PTB in the GOP to start distancing themselves from what they know is a sinking ship. They wont yell Abandon ship! but they will start getting into the lifeboats, hoping to save themselves and their party before the Trumptanic goes down. And the easily-led, brain-dead Trump-humpers will be right behind them.
RandySF
(58,884 posts)JDC
(10,128 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,608 posts)as an atheist I will say KARMA will nail him but I hope it is karma that is worse than "Hell".
olegramps
(8,200 posts)As I and many on this board have screamed: The Republican Party is a criminal fascist organization that is intent on establishing an authoritarian government in conjunction with the rule of billionaire oligarchs. It is not something new, but what they have been pursuing since the Nixon presidency under the so-called Unitary Executive Theory which is supported the Federalist Society appointed judges who are now dominating the courts and hold the highest legal position as Attorney General of the United States.
Response to olegramps (Reply #47)
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BumRushDaShow
(129,062 posts)TexasTowelie
(112,220 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,062 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)When he goes away, he won't give up that megaphone. He can't, he's addicted to it. As far as the "Republican Party," your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Steve King will run for president. He has all of the same "ideals." But the MAGAts will still be MAGAts, and Trump will find a way to keep them on the hook for Trump merchandise, probably "rallies," anything he can soak them for.
Cosmocat
(14,565 posts)From this disaster, IF we can get him out, that he fractures the R party ...
CrispyQ
(36,470 posts)He's never had so much attention in front of such a big audience. It's like crack cocaine for him. He will be jonesing bad when he's out of office, cuz Trump Network will never get him the attention one gets being POTUS. We think he's a blathering idiot now...
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)of this is,Bush/Cheney=Who what ever. One of the greatest economic disasters in our Nations History.
Trump,what's a Trump?
LonePirate
(13,424 posts)hatrack
(59,587 posts)He's more like an ambulatory clothespin with a bad case of the mumps.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)including a JD.
With the RW media machine behind any GOP candidate, it would be foolish to take him lightly.
hatrack
(59,587 posts)Let them be dropped off on the icecap in January, so that they can get down with their rugged individualist, bootstrapping selves, I say.
Backseat Driver
(4,392 posts)Trudeau's gonna grant asylum; sell it off? Heck, by the time "it's time" to crush the GOP asunder, under Speaker Pelosi, that island is likely to be a tropical 5G beach paradise full of floating ocean flotsam - climate change, anyone? Time in a BHA/BHP bottle? Elephants on what's left of the icecap? From there, they may be able to see Greenland and demand to vote absentee while demanding the Chosen One honor the right to bare arms or at least modern "harpoons" and obstruction representation? Now this a true blubber-chewing fantasy, and I've not much choice but to be patient on her strategy, but Tick tock!
mcar
(42,334 posts)and think, and how to react. This will not change.
Initech
(100,079 posts)After all this is the party that gave us Joe Arpaio, Roy Moore and Brett Kavanaugh. After Chump is gone, there will be the usual round of people who complain he wasn't conservative enough. The typical circular firing squad will commence battle, they will nominate someone worse who will get a sizable percentage of the vote, because liberal derangement syndrome, and we'll back in the same place in 2024 without a damn lesson being learned. It's the circle of shit and it screws us all.
Thekaspervote
(32,771 posts)While slipping a knife in the backs of americans
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Putin again, no doubt. Leningrad Lindsey seems like a good prospect. Vlad must have some good compromat on him. It only took one golf game with tRump to make him into a tRump ass-kisser.
ConnorMarc
(653 posts)I suspect they'll try to pretend Trump DIDN'T happen.
Just like they were in full-blown PUBLIC support of GWB, until they weren't.
Then suddenly everybody always had reservations about him.
Trenzalore
(2,331 posts)The answer has always been lower since Eisenhower left office.
We will one day compare Donald Trump as sane to the rhetoric coming out of Republicans.
lastlib
(23,239 posts)He would be the only one lower than tRumpski, and he's an experienced GOP operative.
patphil
(6,180 posts)As is his boss, Putin, and the leaders of North Korea, and China, and a whole lot of other leaders/members of governments around the world.
There are lots of satans...probably a million or more in physical bodies on the earth right now, along with maybe 2 billion devils and demons.
Just look around at the state of humanity.
The bible says 1/3 of the angels fell from heaven. That was millennia ago, and they have been very successful at recruiting since then. Maybe as much as 40% of the world's population are dark ones, or dark one wannabe's.
Humanity is a slow motion train wreck that is happening right now.
Time to pull the emergency brake cord.
Patrick Phillips
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Weve seen it happen again and again.
C_U_L8R
(45,003 posts)Just go away. Far away.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,349 posts)uponit7771
(90,346 posts)... make Red Don at minimum a political martyr.
calimary
(81,300 posts)LOVE it, Nance!
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,010 posts)Honestly I don't expect them to recover but then I've been wrong before.
CaptainTruth
(6,592 posts)FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)kentuck
(111,098 posts)etc.
The Re;publican Party would be fractured. Their challenge in the future will be trying to find someone that they can all agree with as a candidate? It will not be easy.
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)True Blue American
(17,984 posts)John is gearing up already, claiming to be the good,sane, Christian man that never supported Trump in the first place!
Then Buckeyes elected DeWine to replace him. Abortion bill shot down in Court. After getting booed of the stage in Dayton, saying the people are angry and they have the right to be, proposed minor gun laws.
Then here comes Gym Jordan saying, Wait, let is not be hasty!
Mike Turner
Suddenly changed his mind, came out for gun laws. Scratching head! Oh,yeah,his daughter was in the Oregon District, had to run for her life!
defacto7
(13,485 posts)I just don't think it will be that simple. There will be those who will demand that Trump was wronged by the left and will strike out in retribution with Trump and his needy oligarchs trumpeting the charge. The oligarchs have too much to lose in this game where they've won so much ground. They have the means to make the struggle messy and long and will push forward even if it's by destructive means. Trump will finally be brushed aside, the new demigod will rise and her/his followers will foolishly keep stumbling forward pulled by the reigns of plutocracy.
We had better not become complacent. Vigilance is key.
tirebiter
(2,537 posts)They think Putin is gods gift.
procon
(15,805 posts)Trump's ignominious finale. The pundits, commenta, and party leaders will cry foul. The unified chorus will be chanting "rigged", concocting some leftist conspiracy that undermined their idol. Blame the Dems.
They used the same tactic often enough and it never fails to find willing believers of the fantasy.
NanceGreggs
(27,815 posts)If Trump is taken down by irrefutable evidence that he's been under Putin's thumb all along (and I think we all agree that evidence exists) the Republican PTB will have no choice but to feign shock - after which they will lead their sheep to some other idiot's pasture.
I, for one, believe that there is documentary proof of Trump's collusion with the Russians in his financial records - which is why he is fighting so hard to keep them from being exposed. If and when that happens, all the denials, all the cries of 'rigged', and all the conspiracy theories in the world won't be worth a thing.
True Blue American
(17,984 posts)Down fall. That is clear why he fights so hard. Barr, Mitch and most of the others know it, too.
I agree with Nance, the money laundering is the key.
Polybius
(15,423 posts)They will win again by 2028. The country has a short-term memory.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)This may never end
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)I want black copters descending with giant swarms of Jack-Booted Lesbian Blue Helmets led by Hillary Clinton, confiscating their gunz, sweeping them all up, putting 'em into gender and political re-assignment camps, turning 'em gay, aborting their babies, and making them swear eternal fealty to The One And Only God George Soros, Affirmative Action, and fighting Climate Change ...
Hekate
(90,708 posts)roamer65
(36,745 posts)RandiFan1290
(6,235 posts)Allowed to win by the deep state to make them look bad.
moondust
(19,988 posts)The NSP will make them feel really, really special and superior staring at Fox News all day while the "lessers" are out "bringing home the bacon" and making them rich. The good life. Abe would be so proud.
JHB
(37,160 posts)world wide wally
(21,744 posts)They will vote for whoever opposes women's rights, gay rights, and minorities.
NBachers
(17,117 posts)Firestorm49
(4,035 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)will be somebody like Jacob Wohl, Alex Jones or James O'Keefe
Nasruddin
(754 posts)They will pump the remains full of silicone and antibiotics, wire it with animatronics, and it will go on and on forever.
He will be even better than before. Speech recognition and related AI will enable him to produce endless streams of his characteristic nonsense. The nonsense will adapt to changing conditions and allow his handlers to continue the grifting unobserved. As technology improves new versions of supporting structure body parts will be grown in vats from cloned cells.
struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)Perseus
(4,341 posts)I looked it up and can't find something that would make sense in the context of the OPED
Thank you
ariadne0614
(1,730 posts)TryLogic
(1,723 posts)Pretty accurate I would say.
0rganism
(23,955 posts)when big daddy Trump goes away eventually (and i don't think it will be soon, despite his patently unhealthy lifestyle), there's lots of little Trumps waiting to get a piece of that pie, and lots of Americans who will think they're Greatness incarnate.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)And that narrative appeals to them.
TheRealNorth
(9,481 posts)But I know we won't be that lucky.
Grins
(7,217 posts)Never mind, here it is:
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-name-is-ozymandias.html
kiri
(794 posts)Does anyone else think Trump will abandon Pence?
Pence brings nothing of value now; Trump already has Indiana and evangelicals locked. Trump has no loyalty.
Trump needs a VP who will bring in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
After all his ass-licking, it would be neat to see Pence break down in tears!
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,412 posts)There are always new and up-and-coming right-wing GOP politicos. Maybe somebody like Josh Hawley from Missouri, a spooky right-wing Dominionist who got elected to the Senate over Claire McCaskill last year? Tom Cotton? I don't really see the GOP moderating anytime soon, if ever. Trump has moved them so far off the ledge that I don't see them changing direction anytime soon, if ever.
What I'm also wondering is, where are the Never Trumpers going to go, once Trump is vanquished? Will they fold back into the GOP and get back to their only slightly-less-scummier-than-Trump political ways- or will they find themselves without a party to go back to? They might vote for a Democrat for President, especially a more moderate one, just to get rid of Trump, but they will probably vote Republican in downballot races and not stay with us for the long-term to support whatever Democrat they help elect.
aka-chmeee
(1,132 posts)with Feyd Rautha. Casting Call?
Atticus
(15,124 posts)known Trump-humpers. THIS is why my communication with Trumpers in my family is limited to a "hello" and a look which says "If you start any political shit I WILL hand you your ass!"
harumph
(1,900 posts)No coming back. I value the insight into human nature gained.
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)Since they tend to favor guns, more of that?
The day of the election in Nov '20 and week after, definitely planning on staying home as much as possible to keep out of the cross-hairs.
I'll vote early, no worries there.
This wait is getting more painful, indeed.
AllaN01Bear
(18,242 posts)evIl minds think alike .
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Louis Gohmert or Steve King.
NanceGreggs
(27,815 posts)... to face re-election in 2020, he'll be defeated. The PTB in the GOP may be disgusting - but they're not stupid.
They wont go with what lost them the WH. They'll back someone whose racism is more subtle - the usual dog-whistles will still be there, but conveyed in more subtle tones.
Thinking that the GOP will double-down on the things that cost them political power ignores just how smart they are. And make no mistake - as dumb as the average Republican voter is, the PTB who are crafting that party's go-forward agenda are NOT idiots.
The next Republican 'fair-haired boy' will be a centrist, someone who plays to a broader audience. They can't re-elect Trump with his 'base', and they know it. And the only way to broaden that base is to appeal to a wider group of voters.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)I read that as a descent into dumbitude.
CrispyQ
(36,470 posts)And make no mistake - as dumb as the average Republican voter is, the PTB who are crafting that party's go-forward agenda are NOT idiots.
The GOP has been playing the long game while the dems have been in reactionary mode. I think some long time dems are having a hard time accepting that their colleagues across the aisle, who they've worked with for decades, have gone batshit mean & crazy.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)With any luck, straight to HELL where they belong.
Cosmocat
(14,565 posts)1) They will get worse, because that has been their trend over the last half century, from Nixon, to Reagen to W to 45, each new version devolves into a more advanced fascist form.
2) IF we can get 45 out of office, it will likely fracture the republican party. You are correct that they spent decades culling their zombie base. BUT, 45 took the whip from them. They don't own "the base" anymore. He does, and he won't just shut up and let it go. He NEEDS them too much, on many levels.
3) You are right that they will immediately try to disown him, and the media will EAGERLY enable them doing that. However, because he will be out of office (and again, that is not a sure thing), his interests will over ride the "party's" interests, as they do now. What we have now is the party in full following him because he is POTUS. He isn't going to to turn into some party loyalist who tries to get other people elected for the party. He will keep his hooks in them and use them to cause general chaos and try to protect him and his grifting clan from prosecution and seizure of their assets. At best, it will be a massive distraction that ties the hands of the party's overall strategies.
IF we don't do the right thing (and endure the shitstorm what will come with it) and give him and his justice, he WILL run again and make no mistake that like the last time, this country is absolutely stupid enough to re-elect him ...
rzemanfl
(29,565 posts)at140
(6,110 posts)EarlG
(21,949 posts)Of all the political norms Trump has blown up since he started running for president, the last one will most likely be the one that says when presidents leave office, they go away quietly.
If Trump loses next year, he is not going to go away quietly. First hell claim he was cheated due to millions of illegal votes. Hell threaten lawsuits and rile up his followers, doing his best to delegitimize his opponent and the process in general. From there assuming that he actually leaves office the perpetual victimhood campaign will begin. He will have lost only because of illegals, hackers, and the deep state. The MAGATs will be encouraged more than ever before to take up arms to right these wrongs, and a few nutcases will inevitably follow through.
Trump knows that millions of MAGATs just loooove him and will kiss his ass and buy his crap from now until eternity. (Hes still selling them plastic straws for $15 a ten-pack!). Hes not going to give up on that after he leaves office. Hes going to be tweeting every day, shitting on the new President, calling in to Hannity and Fox & Friends hes NEVER going away.
Not only that, he will not stop interfering in GOP primaries. He wont give up the power to tell his MAGATs who they should vote for. The fear that GOP politicians feel now when they worry theyll get on his bad side and hell throw a primary challenger at them will still exist when hes no longer president. They will all have no choice but to kiss his ring until the day he dies.
I dont know if the Republican PTB are really going to be able to compete with that. Other than Trump, who even are the Republican PTB any more?