"We Lost the Battle for the Republican Party's Soul Long Ago." -Stuart Stevens

[DemocratSinceBirth]

After Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential race, the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, commissioned an internal party study to examine why the party had won the popular vote only once since 1998. The results of that so-called autopsy were fairly obvious: The party needed to appeal to more people of color, reach out to younger voters, become more welcoming to women. Those conclusions were presented as not only a political necessity but also a moral mandate if the Republican Party were to be a governing party in a rapidly changing America.

Then Donald Trump emerged and the party threw all those conclusions out the window with an almost audible sigh of relief: Thank God we can win without pretending we really care about this stuff. That reaction was sadly predictable. I spent decades working to elect Republicans, including Mr. Romney and four other presidential candidates, and I am here to bear reluctant witness that Mr. Trump didn’t hijack the Republican Party. He is the logical conclusion of what the party became over the past 50 or so years, a natural product of the seeds of race, self-deception and anger that now dominate it. Hold Donald Trump up to a mirror and that bulging, scowling orange face is today’s Republican Party.

...


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/opinion/trump-republican-party-racism.html

[Bettie]

1. It was never our battle

it was the battle the Republican party chose not to fight.

At every turn for my entire adult life, they have chosen hate over everything else.

Straight, white, "Christian" men over all. Patriotism based on myths and white supremacist ideals.

I see people I once thought were decent people and I realize that they've always been this way, but they chose to hide it because it wasn't socially acceptable to be so open about their hate for those who aren't exactly like them.

Now, that orange thing has given them explicit permission to be their true selves. To show their endless well of hate proudly and loudly.

The Republican party made a decision to cultivate these people at the expense of humanity and decency.

This was their choice.

[lagomorph777]

3. "We" means Stuart Stevens (the author) and his fellow pukes.

And yeah, he recognizes that if they ever had a soul, that was a very long time ago.

[Bettie]

4. I just figured that they never even

tried to fight the battle.

Last good republican I can think of was before my time.

They choose hate. Every. Single. Time.

[Wounded Bear]

11. The "last good Repub" was likely Eisenhower...

[luvtheGWN]

13. Perhaps that's because Ike was apolitical.

He was asked to run by both parties. Not sure why he chose the wrong one, but he did a lot of good things for the country. Probably the worst thing was choosing Nixon as his running mate (although he probably had very little say in that choice).

[ProfessorGAC]

39. As Elected POTUS, Probably.

Ford was a decent guy, and not a mouth foaming ideologue. But, he was never elected.
There were some decent senators since Ike.
Here from Illinois, Dirksen, & Percy were, by today's standards, moderate democrats.
I'm sure that until the Atwater influence and the hard right turn of the gingrichians, other states had some decent Rs in Congress.
But, you're right; that ship has sailed.

[agingdem]

2. there's the false assumption Republicans ever had a soul

Father Coughlin, Henry Ford, Joseph McCarthy, Nixon>>> David Duke, Dick Cheney , Mitch McConnell, Jim Jordan, Bill Barr, Stephen Miller, Donald Trump...and the list goes on...I dare you to find a soul among any of them...

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. George Romney, Pete McCloskey, Jacob Javits, John Lindsey, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel and others

I'm not claiming there were ever a whole lot of them, nor that they were anywhere near perfect, but they weren't all as craven as most of today's lot. Of course some like John Lindsey, and even Pete McCloskey eventually left the Republican Party, as did Charlie Crist and David Jollie much more recently.

[agingdem]

10. that was then...today they'd be called Democrats

Crist Jollie Wilson Conway..were instrumental in electing the very congress critters they're working to oust now...while I am delighted they've seen the light I can't help but wonder if they hate trump more than they hate Democrats...

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. In some cases they would be called Democrats now, and in Crist's case now he is one

But not in all cases. Some come closer to being better described like today's Never Trumper type Republicans, or legitimate Independents who some day would gravitate toward a new centrist political party if one forms to overtake the current Republican Party. Many of them do though, as you point out, have serious political sins to atone for.

[delisen]

19. Father Coughlin moved to the left of Roosevelt.

He started out as a Roosevelt supporter but then went further against big banking and was very pro worker.

He was anti semitic but I think otherwise did not have much in common with corporate Republicanism.

The Democratic Party of that day was in a coalition with the Dixiecrats.

[agingdem]

28. so you're defending Coughlin and his screaming anti-semitism...

that's like saying Bull Connors was a really good guy except for his ultra segregationist KKK thing...yes, I know he was a Democrat...still not ok

[delisen]

32. Pointing out facts is not defending. You were wrong on the facts

[DBoon]

35. Corporate Republicans now exploit modern day Coughlins

They figured out they could keep their privileged position and insane wealth by channeling white anger

[vlyons]

5. How many times does the GOP have to crash the economy and run up the deficit to figure out

that they are bad for America? Then there's shredding the safety net that helps with feeding families and controlling rents. Plus trashing the environment and leaving the polluted mess to get cleaned up with taxpayer money, while they lie, cheat, and steal to avoid paying taxes. Plus all their stupid, pointless foreign wars.

I'm 73, and I have NEVER EVER voted for a Republican.

[Cosmocat]

15. SO THIS!

I was out of college in the early 90s, knew they were insane and full of shit and have had heart burn for the last three decades.

WTF this country relentlessly indulges them is beyond me.

The list never ends, beyond what you noted.

FUCKING IRAQ, etc.

[Ponietz]

25. Greed and hate -- nothing but

[vlyons]

27. Greed is rhe main motivator

People with delusional beliefs that they too can achieve the American dream of becoming a millionaire. That their worth as a human being is directly proportional to their wealth. Well as the old saying goes, "Ya can't take it with you." We Buddhist believe that the only thing you take with you is your mind. Which if it's filled with greed, envy, hatred, and anger, you'll just perpetuate another life not much different from the last one. Maybe worse, but certainly full of suffering.

[Cosmocat]

37. There is a small portion in that regard IMO

I know some and they actually tend to be most reasonable ones by and large.

I spent my life fighting it, know in my heart this was the case, but there is now simply no denying that the primary heart string for people who get on board with them is hate - hate of those who are different from them, people of color, women, LGBTQ ... 95% of the time and time and time and time again support things that work against their own best interests.

Just pure hatred in their hearts has to drive it.

[Blue_true]

40. I believe that the main component is fear.

I live in the South. What drives the White people that I know to mindlessly vote republican is fear of the future. I live in a county where most of the people are lower middleclass or poor, including Whites. Many Whites here live paycheck to paycheck and would benefit enormously from Democratic Party platforms on health care and education. But they vote for republicans like robots, and get set farther back. The thing that drive their vote is fear of losing the societal advantages that Whites as a race has enjoyed for a few centuries here in the South. They can’t envision a world where people work in harmony and everyone’s boat get lifted.

[Cosmocat]

42. YEP

thanks for sharing your understanding of your community.

That jives with what I see, too.

I think your assessment is pretty much it for the real mass of voters who keep the republic party in a position to do so much damage.

[delisen]

33. Will happen until we put people before an economic system

[C_U_L8R]

6. "I ain't coming down"

Clearly too much acid in the kkkool-aid

[UpInArms]

7. Anyone who has believed any of the republican bs

Has never read The Clean Air Act

The only correct word in the entire bill is “Act”.

They are a sham party of lies and utter corruption.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

9. Did they mean once since 1988? nt

[DIVINEprividence]

14. Whoever wins the center wins the majority

The question is always can a center left coalition hold together with the natural tension between the moderate and more liberal wings of the party. In 2016 Democrats fractured and Trump seized the middle. Now the Republican coalition has fractured as the right wing of the party has driven moderates and independents out and Biden is winning the center and right now it looks like a blue tsunami. Will this center left coalition hold post Trump? It will be a challenge. To hold a majority means the more ideological wings of a party have to be willing to get 70% of what they want which is better than zero which is what you have when you are in the minority.

[Yavin4]

17. There is no center.

The majority of Americans are progressive. It's a sign of how weak our democratic institutions that the will of the people is suppressed.

[Ponietz]

26. Yes, the middle is a myth

[TommyCelt]

16. Great line...

"I feel like the guy working for Bernie Madoff who thought they were actually beating the market."

[NewJeffCT]

18. The attempt to reach out to minority voters went out the window in 2005

after Bush Jr got re-elected. Bush Jr made actual efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters and had appointed people of color to his cabinet - Powell, Condi Rice, Alberto Gonzales, Elaine Chao, etc. Maybe the GOP policies weren't great for minorities, but at least they made the effort to appeal to non-white voters.

Bush Jr received 44% of the Hispanic vote in 2004 and 43% of the Asian vote:
https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-2004


However, right after that, Republicans in the House rebelled in large numbers over the Bush version of DACA and amnesty and it has been basically an appeal to whites only since that time - that gave us Palin in 2008, the Tea Party in 2009/10 and Trump in 2016.

[Marcuse]

20. The Southern Strategy of Lee Atwater and his convicted felons has gone national.

[certainot]

24. rw radio was essential for finally implementing that strategy - see comment below

it took them national

[Historic NY]

21. So the only option is for them to cheat to win....

which they been doing for decades

[cayugafalls]

22. Trump has thrown our country back 70 years and exposed the fact that racism never left,

it just went underground. Even then, racism was not completely underground as the system supports were and are still in place and the country was ruled by white supremacist.

Trump has exacerbated the divide and it will take decades to quell the surge in racism that has now been brought to the surface.

Now that trump has said he wants to purge the anarchists and protesters from Portland his agenda is clear, there will be a mass push by his administration to rid the country of any form of thought that is antithetical to his racist ideology. Wherever protesters carry signs that signify unity, freedom from tyranny, freedom from racism and white supremacy, trump and his jackbooted thugs will be waiting to purge the nation of the "threat". Protesters are not only fighting against federal thugs, they are now fighting against emboldened white supremacist militias carrying out the orders of their dear leader.

We are in a fight for America, does anybody doubt that now?

[certainot]

23. analysts like him live in cities and can't see the problem or are often afraid to say it - limbaugh

why 50 years? 30 years is also often referenced and it would be more accurate. reagan was an abberation, getting in with CIA/bush sabotage of carter. then he killed the fairness doctrine in 1987 and they started buying up radio stations and putting limbagu on for free. that coincides with aa 30 year growing record partissanshipp. it coincides with ALEC finally being effective (because with local blowhards echoing limbaugh on national memes they could also coordinate locally/statewide)

then in 90s republican finallly get the house back after decades. then they make total fuck-ups like bush and trump acceptable to get the GOP nominations. and so on

then putin starts horning in, using limbaugh as far back as 2008 to force palin on mcccain and gop establisment. in 2009 a russian hack feeds wikileaks and limbaugh, who creates "climategate" right in time to upend obama at copenhagen (then with some rw /russian trolling they get the left to blame the kochs for it as well as obama for not trying hard enough - like with health care), even though putin had based his whole economy on oil/gas, then 2011 limbaugh pushes GOP and putin's teabags toward debt default (how many republican billionaires would want that), then trump team studies talk radio in 2014 (ask stone's guy sam nunberg, and who paid for it) to help coordinate social media and trump position with the kremlin and to beat GOP establishment candidates in the primaries (limbaugh disses rubio/bush - makes excuses for trump)

it continues to be fucked up that even the lincoln project can't take a swipe at talk radio, while dems and the left continue to ignore it and blame symptoms, and continue the biggest political mistake in history as we head toward elections in which those locally coordinated radio stations will play a critical part in winning election chaos for republicans.

and because limbaugh is croaking and with AI making it really easy to digitize and read and expose rw radio and with 260 llimbaugh stations using black athletes on 87 universities to attack BLLM it's even more tragic that democrats don't take this opportunity to destroy trump/putin's rw radio advantage once and for all

[calimary]

31. Hate radio is IT. And it makes me want to SCREAM that Democrats don't seem to get that -

to this very hour.

The Fairness Doctrine, Equal Time provisions, and and the OWNERSHIP RESTRICTIONS have to be reinstated. HAVE TO BE.

That's one of the first things (if not THE first thing) in my plans in the game I play with myself - "what I'd do if I were President."

I'd sign an executive order bringing those regulations back.

[calimary]

29. His first mistake was believing the GOP even HAS a soul.

The GOP is a non-starter for me, forever and ever amen, as long as they remain anti-choice.

For me, as a woman who demands nothing less than SOLE CONTROL over MY body, anything less is off the table (as well as out of the room, out of the building, out of town, out of the country, and off the planet, and off wandering somewhere else in outer space).

And by now I'm way too old for it to matter about MY body. I'll never get pregnant again. But I resist on behalf of my daughter, my granddaughter, and everybody else's daughters and granddaughters.

[denem]

36. The Republican Party was not always anti-choice.

In Roe, 5 of the 7 justices of the majority were Republicans.

[Hamlette]

30. really interesting side discussion about Wm Buckley from link in article

Buckley was a racist but changed and became one of the leading civil rights voices in the GOP starting in the 1960s. The link talks about Buckley's reasoning when he was a bigot: blacks, being not as advanced (smart), could be easily manipulated to vote for demagogues leading a populist movement which would lead to totalitarianism.

Which was exactly what happened to whites in the GOP, not the blacks Buckley feared.

Good, short read:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/13/william-f-buckley-civil-rights-215129

[bucolic_frolic]

34. The GOPee party lost its soul when Reagan supplanted patriotism with greed and Fundie morality

The old GOP was Main Street GOP with roots in the early 1900s civic organizations that did good things. But their few hardliners over the next 80 years grew hateful of the New Deal and countered with greed and its manifestations - tax cuts, supply side mumbo jumbo, defense spending for their portfolios, and owning the libs' minds, bodies, and souls.

That's it in my view. I can't add another thought to it.

[PlanetBev]

38. That's because you handed it over to the Christian Right in 1980, assholes

Thought you could take on that ballast to consolidate your power. Thought you could control that hydra-headed beast. Sorry, it’s in charge now and it’s got you by the balls.

[spanone]

41. republican party never, ever had a soul.