Those who expect or demand Corker, Flake and McCain to now become Democrats are missing the point.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

They are Republicans and they are going to continue to do Republican things. They will continue to vote for shitty bills and advocate for some shitty things. Maybe a little behind the curve from the rest of the bunch, maybe not, but that's what you are going to get from them.

Magical thinking aside, they aren't just to turn into Democrats like a flip of a switch.

And I've accepted that fact and I'd encourage you to as well.

Because right now the issue that concerns us perhaps the most is that we have a President of the United States who is mentally unfit and an extreme danger to the country and to the world. As the minority party, we cannot stop him on his own, much as we like.

Alliances for the limited but absolutely vital purpose of removing this menace from office need to be made.

And this is the groundwork that has to be set, and if we can grow from this, we can accomplish this goal. But let's not create unrealistic expectations about these alliances.

Once that goal is accomplished, who knows what will happen. More likely than not, everyone will go their separate ways and the old normal will re-emerge.

Senator Flake gave a speech yesterday. It was an absolutely beautiful, exceptional, and moving speech, and honestly one of the best political speeches I can remember hearing in my lifetime. It was Lincolnian. And that's no exaggeration, and I commend Senator Flake for the speech.

True it was only a speech.

And I'm not going to expect Flake to go into a cocoon and re-emerge as Elizabeth Warren.

That's just not going to happen.

But we've got to get rid of Donald Trump. We have to. And it has to start somewhere. Which entails making alliances with imperfect parties.

And while we can't necessarily trust these guys for anything beyond that, if they can help us rid the nation of a psychopath in the Oval Office, then I'll gladly accept whatever help for its worth.

[DFW]

1. Second the motion

With all the reluctance and sobering pragmatism that entails.

Don't ANYONE expect McCain, Flake, or Corker to vote for ANYTHING that will help minorities, eliminate suppression of voting rights, or resemble a sensible tax policy. Wanting Trump removed as president does not change your political outlook, or where you came from. All that stuff these three said during their campaigns for the US Senate? They still mean every word of it, and it stinks. If Trump goes, it'll STILL stink.

But if their eyes are open enough to the danger we face by keeping this psychopath in office, then by all means let them stay open long enough to do something about it.

[wryter2000]

2. Amen

And we’re not going to save this country by changing a few Rs into Ds. Thinking Republicans need to reclaim their party.

[shanny]

3. They don't make tents that big.

Even if they did put "D"s after their names, I for one wouldn't want them.

[CrispyQ]

4. Are people actually advocating that they should join the Democratic Party?

No! They are not dems! Yes, work with them to rid the WH of this scourge, but then they should go back to the GOP & deal with the rot & hate that permeates their party, which they have cultivated over the past 35 years. You shouldn't just get to walk away from that shit & your part in it. And if this strategy doesn't take the Con out of office, that's all they did. Why aren't they calling out other GOP leaders by name? Ryan? McConnell? Others who are on Bannon's list? Typical repub. We'll see if it leads to anything. I think anyone up for reelection will stay on the Trump train. They know they can't win without the racists & zealots. And what if the Flake seat goes to another Roy Moore? Fuck, it's not even noon & I want to drink.

[Girard442]

5. Imagine there's a house a-fire and a mob gathers around chanting "burn, burn, burn!"

Then, several members of the mob start talking about how maybe starting the fire wasn't a great idea and how the fire is threatening to spread to other houses and destroy the neighborhood. OK, maybe that's progress in the right direction, but at some point, somebody is going to have to actually do something.

If the moderate Republican senators really believe that Trump is an out-of-control-house-a-fire president then they should take some active steps to contain him, like maybe switching their party affiliations to Independent and raising the possibility of caucusing with the Democrats. Otherwise, they're just yadda-yaddaing about the fire while not even bothering to step out of the way of the fire engines.

[frazzled]

9. They are in no way "moderate" Republicans

with perhaps the exception of McCain, and then only at times and in certain areas.

What we all need to understand is that these are conservatives, elected by conservative constituents, and they will retain their conservative policies and perspectives even as they understand the need to oppose the unstable behavior and despotic tendencies of an unfit president. They are merely trying to protect the democratic process and its institutions, for now and for future generations.

We cannot expect them to change their beliefs or their party; we can, nonetheless, respect the fact that they know that the small-d democratic values of a separation of powers, and of respectful and thoughtful behavior in governing have been breached. And that this poses a danger to our very system of government at home and our place in the world.

We can disagree with their political beliefs and actions, but they have done a service by refusing to accede to the basic threats to democracy posed by this madman.

We need to keep all this in perspective.

[frazzled]

6. It was just a speech ... but

there is something about it that hasn't been discussed much. It was not just comments made in a fleeting TV interview, or words dashed off in a tweet, or quoted at random in a newspaper account.

It was a speech delivered on the floor of the United States Senate. And that means it will be set into writing for perpetuity in the Congressional Record. There will be a historical record for future generations that at least one member of the president's party spoke for seventeen minutes on the danger to the nation and the world posed by this unfit, unstable, despotic individual. It was a statement about behavior and about threats to the democratic process and to our democratic institutions. It was not about politics or policy.

So I agree with the op wholeheartedly. This is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, as are his two cohorts. And they will vote according to their beliefs in small government and all the rest. But they still believe in the separation of powers, in the necessity for comity, in the democratic institutions set up by the Founders, and in respectful behavior.

I do not criticize them for their beliefs--even if I disagree with them violently. That's what their constituents, for better or worse, elected them to do. But I do think their refusal to accept the things that are a danger to our very form of democratic government is important. Because if these kinds of behaviors and falsities become the "new normal" in our system, we are doomed, no matter what our political priorities or beliefs may be.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Those guys are all hard-core Republicans. They just don't like it

that Trump is a bratty sociopath who's making the party look bad (and they're right). They want to keep screwing the poor as the GOP has always done, but in a more polite way.

[FSogol]

8. Well said, K&R. n/t

[SharonClark]

10. Who is expecting or demanding that?