What is the future of the Republican Party?

[TGHusker]

14 minutes ago, knapplc said:

And we all know what trump does with all the cash his ignorant supporters give him...

 

Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors’ Cash for Future

Former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party leveraged false claims of voter fraud and promises to overturn the election to raise more than a quarter-billion dollars in November and December as hundreds of thousands of trusting supporters listened and opened their wallets.

 

But the Trump campaign spent only a tiny fraction of its haul on lawyers and other legal bills related to those claims. Instead, Mr. Trump and the G.O.P. stored away much of the money — $175 million or so — even as they continued to issue breathless, aggressive and often misleading appeals for cash that promised it would help with recounts, the rooting out of election fraud and even the Republican candidates’ chances in the two Senate runoff races in Georgia.

 

What fraction of the money Mr. Trump did spend after the election was plowed mostly into a public-relations campaign and to keep his perpetual fund-raising machine whirring, with nearly $50 million going toward online advertising, text-message outreach and a small television ad campaign.

 

Only about $10 million spent by Mr. Trump’s campaign went to actual legal costs, according to an analysis of new Federal Election Commission filings from Nov. 4 through the end of the year.

 

Far more is now sitting in the coffers of a new political action committee, Save America, that Mr. Trump formed after the election and that provides him a fat war chest he can use to pay advisers, fund travel and maintain a political operation. Mr. Trump’s new PAC had $31 million in the bank at the end of 2020 and an estimated $40 million more sitting in a shared party account waiting to be transferred into it.

 

Mr. Trump’s extraordinary success raising money came mostly from grass-roots and online contributors drawn to his lie that the election result would soon be somehow wiped away. Only about a dozen donors gave $25,000 or more to one of Mr. Trump’s committees after Nov. 24. (The lone six-figure donation came from Elaine J. Wold, a major Republican donor in Florida.)

 

“Sophisticated donors are not dumb,” said Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor who has supported Mr. Trump in the past. “They could see through what Trump was trying to do.”

 

 

 

 

I think this applies

[knapplc]

These people from inside the party saying these things... these are alarm bells.

 

They've been sounding since 2008. It's time the party's leaders started listening to the people instead of crafting some dystopian messaging system. That's only going to work for so long, and then what? The Dems just waltz in and take everything?

 

Listen to these people. This is not the path.

 

 

[Scarlet]

7 hours ago, knapplc said:

These people from inside the party saying these things... these are alarm bells.

 

They've been sounding since 2008. It's time the party's leaders started listening to the people instead of crafting some dystopian messaging system. That's only going to work for so long, and then what? The Dems just waltz in and take everything?

 

Listen to these people. This is not the path.

 

 

We've already seen the playbook.  Lie about election results, incite an insurrection, subvert democracy, and then suppress the right to vote.  

 

A small tent approach to politics isn't  sustainable but if democracy is thrown out the window it can last for generations.  It's a strategy bankrupt on ideas by definition but long on corruption as we've witnessed.  

[TGHusker]

12 hours ago, knapplc said:

These people from inside the party saying these things... these are alarm bells.

 

They've been sounding since 2008. It's time the party's leaders started listening to the people instead of crafting some dystopian messaging system. That's only going to work for so long, and then what? The Dems just waltz in and take everything?

 

Listen to these people. This is not the path.

 

 

I remember after Romney lost to Obama in 2012 how the GOP was going through a lot of 'soul searching' or so we thought.  Maybe what they saw in their soul was darkness and they doubled down wt Trump.  Regardless, as you note, the GOP has had many years to correct itself.  To me, it seems to be forever lost, it needs the deepest psychotherapy to get rid of Trumpism and all it contains.  It has placed itself in the position to lose many elections if it doesn't change.  If by chance, it wins in 2024 due to the Dems doing something dumb, it will only prolong the disease - as the 2024 candidate will be Trump or a Trump clone based on current trends.

 

The GOP doesn't need all new policy positions but they do need a change in culture.  The policy positions that need to change is to be more inclusive - to broaden their tent by reach more people - that often means being more compassionate in their policies.  We are seeing the 'trickle down' no longer works and the GOP needs to meet the common voter at the place of their need and not at the place of their fears.   The GOP message has been fear driven over the past 2 election cycles. 

 

[Enhance]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

I remember after Romney lost to Obama in 2012 how the GOP was going through a lot of 'soul searching' or so we thought.  Maybe what they saw in their soul was darkness and they doubled down wt Trump.  Regardless, as you note, the GOP has had many years to correct itself.  To me, it seems to be forever lost, it needs the deepest psychotherapy to get rid of Trumpism and all it contains.  It has placed itself in the position to lose many elections if it doesn't change.  If by chance, it wins in 2024 due to the Dems doing something dumb, it will only prolong the disease - as the 2024 candidate will be Trump or a Trump clone based on current trends.

 

The GOP doesn't need all new policy positions but they do need a change in culture.  The policy positions that need to change is to be more inclusive - to broaden their tent by reach more people - that often means being more compassionate in their policies.  We are seeing the 'trickle down' no longer works and the GOP needs to meet the common voter at the place of their need and not at the place of their fears.   The GOP message has been fear driven over the past 2 election cycles. 

Agree with much of this. The GOP, for too long, has pandered to some of its lowest common denominators, people that aren't very representative of many conservatives but are still regularly positioned as being the faces or core support base of the Republican party. It's ultimately what caused to me stop being a true Republican about a decade ago. Too much of their marketing strategy and policy making is cemented in exclusivity and callousness.

 

To a lot of more moderate folks like myself, they often seem to care way more about telling me the importance of carrying a gun around and why employers should be able to fire trangender people than talking to me about small business over-regulation or ineffective social programs.

[BigRedBuster]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

I remember after Romney lost to Obama in 2012 how the GOP was going through a lot of 'soul searching' or so we thought.  Maybe what they saw in their soul was darkness and they doubled down wt Trump.  Regardless, as you note, the GOP has had many years to correct itself.  To me, it seems to be forever lost, it needs the deepest psychotherapy to get rid of Trumpism and all it contains.  It has placed itself in the position to lose many elections if it doesn't change.  If by chance, it wins in 2024 due to the Dems doing something dumb, it will only prolong the disease - as the 2024 candidate will be Trump or a Trump clone based on current trends.

 

The GOP doesn't need all new policy positions but they do need a change in culture.  The policy positions that need to change is to be more inclusive - to broaden their tent by reach more people - that often means being more compassionate in their policies.  We are seeing the 'trickle down' no longer works and the GOP needs to meet the common voter at the place of their need and not at the place of their fears.   The GOP message has been fear driven over the past 2 election cycles. 

 

Agree.  I think what happened in 2012 was that the party was not wanting Trump.  But, the base was.  So, the base voted him in against the party's wishes.  Now, that is actually how it pretty much should be.  However, how do you fix the base wanting someone who is so incompetent and destructive to the country?

 

Personally, I think it gets back to the media they consume and the people who control that.  But, again, I'm not sure how you fix that.

[BigRedBuster]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

The GOP doesn't need all new policy positions but they do need a change in culture.  The policy positions that need to change is to be more inclusive - to broaden their tent by reach more people - that often means being more compassionate in their policies.  We are seeing the 'trickle down' no longer works and the GOP needs to meet the common voter at the place of their need and not at the place of their fears.   The GOP message has been fear driven over the past 2 election cycles.

I agree.  Here's the problem the GOP has had with two major issues facing the country.

 

Healthcare is way too expensive and doesn't reach everyone - GOP doesn't want single payer plan but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

 

Gun violence - GOP doesn't want gun regulations but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

 

It's a common theme.  They scream "socialism" and create fear around Democrat's ideas, but fail at coming up with solutions themselves.

[Enhance]

8 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Personally, I think it gets back to the media they consume and the people who control that.  But, again, I'm not sure how you fix that.

Huge challenge, and I don't think there's a fix for it outside of continuing to encourage people to educate themselves and consume multiple content sources. But, that mostly comes down to the individual.

 

We have people on this board who effectively share blog posts to back up their claims, or Twitter threads by someone with 1,500 followers, while simultaneously dunking on places like the New York Times or WaPo. It's a bizarre mentality. But, if it's happening in a small place like Huskerboard, chances are the problem is much worse on a larger scale.

[Archy1221]

31 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Agree.  I think what happened in 2012 was that the party was not wanting Trump.  But, the base was.  So, the base voted him in against the party's wishes.  Now, that is actually how it pretty much should be.  However, how do you fix the base wanting someone who is so incompetent and destructive to the country?

 

Personally, I think it gets back to the media they consume and the people who control that.  But, again, I'm not sure how you fix that.

Trump didn’t run in 2012

[Archy1221]

25 minutes ago, Enhance said:

We have people on this board who effectively share blog posts to back up their claims, or Twitter threads by someone with 1,500 followers,

Blog posts and tweets with embedded links to mainstream articles   
 

 

26 minutes ago, Enhance said:

dunking on places like the New York Times or WaPo

Is The NYT and WAPO infallible?  By the amount of major corrections coming from those two opera during the Russia scam I think not.  It’s bizarre that people get upset for calling those egregious mistakes out.  

[TGHusker]

30 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I agree.  Here's the problem the GOP has had with two major issues facing the country.

 

Healthcare is way too expensive and doesn't reach everyone - GOP doesn't want single payer plan but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

 

Gun violence - GOP doesn't want gun regulations but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

 

It's a common theme.  They scream "socialism" and create fear around Democrat's ideas, but fail at coming up with solutions themselves.

Yes, the GOP can keep its head in the sand while fa$ting out 'guns', 'boarder',  'Muslim', 'socialism', etc out their b@tt and they remain in the past.  The country has moved on - there are new real needs and for the party to be competitive, they need to be at the forefront of offering viable alternatives.  They can scream Obamacare all they want, but they never came up with an alternative when they held the WH and all of Congress.  The same is true of guns, abortion, etc - you just name the topic.  Talk and appeal to fear (the lowest common denominator) or act and come up wt creative solutions to real needs.  The GOP too often do the former and not the latter.

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Yes, the GOP can keep its head in the sand while fa$ting out 'guns', 'boarder',  'Muslim', 'socialism', etc out their b@tt and they remain in the past.  The country has moved on - there are new real needs and for the party to be competitive, they need to be at the forefront of offering viable alternatives.  They can scream Obamacare all they want, but they never came up with an alternative when they held the WH and all of Congress.  The same is true of guns, abortion, etc - you just name the topic.  Talk and appeal to fear (the lowest common denominator) or act and come up wt creative solutions to real needs.  The GOP too often do the former and not the latter.

I wonder when we will see their infrastructure bill. 

[Archy1221]

49 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

 

Healthcare is way too expensive and doesn't reach everyone - GOP doesn't want single payer plan but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

They passed Legislation in the House on this 

[Archy1221]

50 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Gun violence - GOP doesn't want gun regulations but has completely failed at introducing a new idea to fix the problem.

How about enforcing existing laws to start.  If you REALLY want to put a dent into gun violence, if that is what the true outcome is all about, all legislation should be geared at handguns, yet it seems most Dem legislation is geared towards long guns. 

[TGHusker]

6 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I wonder when we will see their infrastructure bill. 

Oh yes, that long promised bill that Trump said he could work wt the Dems on. 

 

  I guess the Dems will have to come through on that one.