#the gop

[tomorrowusa]

« A better kind of Republicanism is not possible as long as most of the party genuflects to Trump. This means the victory of the odd moderate conservative here or there will not change things. A little hardball in pursuit of the power needed to defeat Trumpism is not hypocrisy. It’s a necessity. »

— E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the Democratic strategy of encouraging the nomination of unelectable MAGA extremist Republicans to make it easier for moderate Democrats to defeat them in the general election. At the Washington Post.

The Republican Party of old is dead. This ain't your grandmother's GOP but instead is a totalitarian cult centered on a blathering con man. It is more interested in conducting an eternal culture war than in effective governance.

Every GOP office holder is a pillar holding up Trump. Many of them won't even admit that Trump lost because to do so would defy the cult. They have willingly relinquished the power of rational thought. A party like that has no business in a democracy.

[scretladyspider]

“The suit centers on Lorie Smith, a website designer who does not want to provide her services for gay weddings because of her religious objections.

In 2016, she says, a gay man named Stewart requested her services for help with his upcoming wedding. “We are getting married early next year and would love some design work done for our invites, placenames etc. We might also stretch to a website,” reads a message he apparently sent her through her website. In court filings, her lawyers produced a copy of the inquiry.

Web designer’s US supreme court case could trample LGBTQ+ rights, advocates say

But Stewart, who requested his last name be withheld for privacy, said in an interview with the Guardian that he never sent the message, even though it correctly lists his email address and telephone number. He has also been happily married to a woman for the last 15 years, he said. The news was first reported by the New Republic.

In fact, until he received a call this week from a reporter from the magazine, Stewart said he had no idea he was somehow tied up in a case that had made it to the supreme court.

“I can confirm I did not contact 303 Creative about a website,” he said. “It’s fraudulent insomuch as someone is pretending to be me and looking to marry someone called Mike. That’s not me.

“What’s most concerning to me is that this is kind of like the one main piece of evidence that’s been part of this case for the last six-plus years and it’s false,” he added. “Nobody’s checked it. Anybody can pick up the phone, write an email, send a text, to verify whether that was correct information.”

Key document may be fake in LGBTQ+ rights case before US Supreme Court, The Guardian, by Sam Levine

[daddysakic]

It’s FINALLY over

[decolonize-the-left]

When I think of Boomers I think of how Rebel Without A Cause was their Big movie and how the main character's rebellion & reason for being angry stemmed from an overbearing mom and a "pussy" of a dad who let the mom tell him what to do.

And now I'm thinking about the rage white american men have about their lives being so easy.

Like how much rage do you need inside of you to sit around imagining scenarios where it's justifiable to kill someone else? And how easy and boring was life for you that you'd imagine killing someone would make you the family hero and not just deeply traumatizing you and your family?

They all "I have a right to defend my property/my family hurr" but lbr, they don't give a shit what's being stolen or who else is at risk. It's not about the stealing. Or about the threat. They're just as happy to fire at you over a stolen tissue as they are to fire at you for assaulting a family member.

Because it's about the justification of being able to kill someone. It's about fulfilling their rage fantasy. Not about family or property.

Rage at what?

Idk. Maybe that they grew up thinking they'd be John Wayne and James Dean or Bruce Wayne defending white damsels and instead grew up to be just like their dads. Raising kids they hate with a wife they hate while working a job they hate for a life that doesn't give them any sense of purpose at all. Maybe it's that nobody ever needed them to be John Wayne. Maybe it's that now John Wayne is seen as just another racist white guy and there was never anything special about him (or the people who idolized him). Maybe it was the realization they were Never going to be James Dean, that daddy didn't give them enough attention and they'll Never get to make up for it by playing hero either. And maybe it's that they have no real reason to be so full of rage in the first place, they lived an average, safe life (never even been robbed, ha).

And yet.... The rage. The rage that has them taking that safety and boredom for granted... Wishing that something would happen, that someone would finally need to be saved so This White Man can save them. So he can prove that he is special and daddy was wrong about him and how he's Better than dad cuz he'd kill someone if he had to. His dad's a pussy. Everyone was wrong about him, he is special. He is.

You just gotta wait til he's robbed or something, then you'll all see how special and useful and threatening to the system he is.... It's too bad he's had super safe life, y'all have no idea the kind of lion this man Really is inside.

And those BIPOC are wrong too, nobody had it harder than him, they just need thicker skin. When he was little he had to walk 3 blocks in the snow just to reach his bus stop and he didn't complain about it being unfair. That's right, he's dealt with the world being unfair, too. People these days just don't know struggle. And why wouldn't dad just drive him anyway? It wasn't that big of a deal, it wasn't even that far out of the way, he shouldn't have been walking in the snow when daddy could drive him instead >:(

[rhirhidamiengurl666]

[thecovenhouseco]

If conservatives ever complain about Drag or Trans people, ask how many times they laughed at Big Mamma’s House, Mrs Doubtfire, Madea or White Chicks. Orrrrr Ask them why they supported Trump even after this

Or maybe ask them why they supported The Man who said “Transgenderism” needs to be eradicated even after this

Or maybe ask them about this

They’re a bunch of lying hypocrites who simply want control. Fuck the GOP.

[thingstrumperssay]

[burnitalldownism]

George Washington wore powdered wigs, makeup, leggings, and heels.

The GOP would cancel George Washington in a second. Ditto for all the “founding” fathers.

[uboat53]

In the wake of Kanye West (or Ye) expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler and multiple figures and institutions on the right having to rapidly cut ties with him I think it's time we examine the way racism and antisemitism have infiltrated the right-wing of our country and the Republican Party in particular. Consider this a LONT RANT (TM).

BACKGROUND

In case you missed it, Kanye West went on Infowars recently and expressed his open admiration for Adolf Hitler. However, this is really only the far end of a journey that has seen him express opinions about Jewish control of business, entertainment, and politics, wear symbols associated with white supremacy like a shirt that said "white lives matter", and express other dog-whistle opinions that match those expressed by other figures on the political right.

That same period has also seen major figures and institutions on the political right and in the Republican Party embrace West including pundit Tucker Carlson, former President Donald Trump, and even the Republican side of the US House Judiciary Committee.

SPEAKING IN CODE

So here's the question, if you believe that a cabal of "globalists" are scheming with George Soros to take over the world, overthrow American democracy, and implement some kind of tyranny, is that racist?

Well, on the face of it, you might be tempted to say "no", but the answer is, in the vast majority of cases, actually "yes". Here's how that actually works.

"Globalist" may sound race-neutral, but it's not. It's meant to sound like a term that refers to people who want to put the interests of other nations ahead of or at least equal to that of the United States, but its history is far darker than that. It actually refers to an ancient conspiracy theory known as "blood libel". In this conspiracy theory there is a world-wide cabal of Jews who are enacting rituals that include blood sacrifice around the world in order to bring about the downfall of... well, it varies, but it's certainly not portrayed as a good thing.

One of the key giveaways here is the use of George Soros, a Jewish Holocaust survivor as the personification of this idea. Why George Soros and not any other wealthy liberal? The decision is not by accident.

All of this is what is known as a "dog-whistle", which refers to a racist statement that is meant to be heard as such by other racists but not by the average listener. Dog whistles in recent American history have included "state's rights", "welfare queens", and "international bankers". And you don't need to take my word for it, here's former Republican strategist Lee Atwater discussing the strategy that allowed Nixon to win the South in the 1968 election, the first time a Republican had ever managed to do so:

"You start out in 1954 saying 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968, you can't say 'nigger' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like 'forced busing', 'state's rights', and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now, you're talking about cutting taxes. And all those things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites... But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me - because obviously sitting around saying saying 'we want to cut this' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'nigger, nigger'."

Source

Words like "globalist" and "George Soros" and even "new world order" are the new dog whistles.

REDEFINING RACISM

One of the key things that the modern right and much of the Republican Party has done of late is to basically deny the existence of dog whistling despite it being a well known and well documented phenomenon. Basically, in their formulation, racism can only be racism if a person EXPLICITLY says something that cannot be denied as racism.

It's no longer enough if a person only uses words that could, technically, mean other things or advocates for policies that would harm the interests of minorities; in this Republican world the only people who are racists are the ones who explicitly tell you that they are racists.

In this world, someone can use coded words which are known and documented to be used by racists, can support policies that are known to disproportionately and negatively impact minorities, and even pal around with people who ARE acknowledged to be out and out racists and still not be considered racists themselves. The list of people who fit this criteria include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), former President Donald Trump, popular pundit Tucker Carlson, popular entertainer Alex Jones, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to name a few. You'll also note that these aren't fringe figures, many of them hold significant power both within the party and within the nation.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Well, it's fairly straightforward. It means that the Republican Party is full of people who may or may not be racist, they just haven't said the magic words yet to be branded as such by the party. Kanye West did not become racist the moment he spoke of his admiration for Hitler, he was a racist already, but it was only once those magic words were spoken that he was actually acknowledged as such.

What this means is that you have a lot of people who share language with racists, who share policy ideas with racists, who even share dinner tables, conversations, and ideas with racists, and who may themselves someday be "revealed" as racists if they say the right words are making policy and laws that affect the entire country. The Republican Party has decided that the risk of allowing racists to make policy is acceptable in order to not have to address questions of racism that are even the slightest bit difficult, only acknowledging racism in the most obvious and impossible to deny cases.

CONCLUSION

After having used coded language for decades to gain the support of people with racist ideas and intentions, the Republican Party and the right side of American politics as a whole have decided to refuse to acknowledge it. In doing so, it has empowered racists to take key positions within the party and impact national policymaking as long as they avoid saying a narrow and specific set of words.

Kanye West is not the first, nor will not be the last conservative "revealed" to the movement to have been racist all along long after everyone else had realized it; the Republican and conservative policy of not acknowledging any of the known indicators of racism has left it in a position where racists can easily infiltrate the movement and the party to positions of high influence where they can then propagate racist policies and ideas across the nation at large.

Not all Republicans are racist (I maintain that I know several of them who are not and such blanket assertions often miss nuance in any case) but the party has a racism problem. The only way forward is for it to remove the blinders that prevent it from even acknowledging the existence of racism until it is far too late and to start the painful process of clearing out all of the members, including powerful members, that it has allowed in its ranks.

I'm pretty confident this won't happen, so we're probably going to see this happen again and again for quite some time. For better or for worse the Republican Party has decided to be a haven for racists for the foreseeable future, it's time that the country at large acknowledged it even if the party won't.

[loweffortartist]

Help is on the way

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[mike luckovich]

* * * *

The demise of the GOP.

September 22, 2023

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

          The media is in rapture over the resignation of Rupert Murdoch, but the most significant story of the day was Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s inability to bring a defense spending bill to the floor of the House on Thursday—the third such failure in two weeks. See Politico, House GOP erupts as McCarthy fails to move Pentagon bill.

          The power of the Speaker lies mainly in their ability to control the progress of legislation through the House. Absent that power, the Speaker’s office is ornamental—a fascinator on the head of Congress. Kevin McCarthy is all feather and no hat.

          The collapse of the Republican Party in the House mirrors the collapse of the GOP as a national party, no longer capable of winning the popular vote in presidential elections. The GOP has not won the popular vote in a presidential election in two decades—and has won the popular vote only once in the last three decades (George Bush in 2004).

          The GOP is a failed party at the national level, especially in the House. It is no longer a political party. It is a loose federation of fiefdoms, each run by a petty tyrant who maintains power by transactional graft, shifting alliances, and animal cunning.

          None of this means that we can assume victory or relent in our efforts to defeat every Republican in every election henceforth. But it is worth a moment of reflection and introspection on our part. I hear from readers every day who are concerned about the supposed dysfunction and weak messaging of the Democratic Party. I believe that misperception is based on the asymmetry inherent in a two-party system in which one party is dedicated to the truth while the other views deceit as its business model. It is easier to create a soundbite if you are not constrained by the truth.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one party seeks to achieve consensus for the common good while the other inflames grievance to secure votes in gerrymandered districts.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one seeks to preserve the rule of law while the other views it as an impediment to power.

          That asymmetry is inherent in a two-party system in which one party recognizes that lasting progress is the incremental product of thoughtful planning and careful execution while the other measures success in soundbites-per-minute on Fox News.

          When McCarthy’s third attempt to bring the defense bill to the floor collapsed, he declared a recess and sent members of his party home for the weekend—five business days before the government would shut down in the absence of a budget. McCarthy appears to have surrendered to the chaos of his warring federation of tribes.

If there is a way out of the mess caused by the demise of the GOP as a governing political party, it will involve a bipartisan solution in which a handful of Republicans cross party lines to protect millions of Americans from the devastating effects of a government shutdown.

          The demise of the GOP is no cause for joy; it calls us to create a stronger Democratic Party that can rise above the chaos of the failed Republican Party. That challenge—and much more—is on the ballot in 2024.

[daddysakic]

11 and counting

[rachelbethhines]

My main goal in life is to

1. Own my own home.

My second goal in life is...

2. to outlive the Republican party and dance upon the ashes of their graves

Fortunately, these two goals do not run counter to each other. ;)

[animentality]

[mysharona1987]

The French really don’t fuck around.

[thingstrumperssay]

“It’s a mental health issue!”

*Proceeds to destroys any means of getting help for mental health issues*