I hadn’t heard of it before. According to the Beast it was supposed to be the right-wing alternative to Pod Save America. Guess it didn’t quite work out that way…
waaaaah - I entered the political area for power and ego strokes - not questions!
2 Likes
It’s been especially bizarre hearing NPR and others having Jonah Goldberg on as the person representing the reasonable, sane conservative view. The guy who wrote “Liberal Fascism”.
1 Like
you said it better than I did
they don’t need to wake up from it - they’ve known all along since McConnel refused to support Obama in releasing the info about the Russian connection in 2016. They know he breaks the emoluments clause and accepts bribes since jan 2017 - there is no waking up for them -they are committing treason every day by keeping 45* in office
1 Like
The real story is that Schultz is being advised by McCain’s former campaign strategist. WTF?! Why does anyone consider Schultz to be a threat to Democrats at all? Yes, I know he SAYS he’s a threat to Democrats, because he’s an “Independent” who claims he hates both sides because he only hates Democrats and doesn’t want to defend the Republicans he reliably votes for and agrees with on all the major issues. And he doesn’t like Trump personally.
But Trump’s not the problem. Republicans are the problem. The only harm Trump causes is when he sells our foreign policy out to his foreign debtors. But he can only do that because Republicans let him do that and they let him do that because of all the harm they can do by having any Republican in the Whitehouse. Trump’s not the disease. He’s just one of the symptoms. Modern Republicans are so diseased that anyone who helps them is part of the problem; including Schultz.
1 Like
Oh, what a giant baby. He and Matt Whitaker make a good pair. Like bookends.
The strategy, apparently, is to go after the Democratic candidate. Schultz’s path to the Presidency is to paint the Democrats as too “extreme” and “dangerous” and “unable to defeat Trump.” And then set himself up as the only one who can really deliver us from Trump. He’s going after the 56% or so who insist that they will not vote for Trump, as they are the largest single group of (potentially) persuadable voters. He’s certainly not going to get the Trump voters.
Which is why when they pretend that they aren’t acting as “spoilers,” they’re lying their asses off, as their entire strategy depends on Schultz taking away votes from the Democratic candidate. And that’s not even taking into consideration the damage this could cause the Democratic candidates in the downstream races.
I so want you to be right about that. It’s just so difficult to believe that any Republican who climbed aboard the Dogwhistle Party train with eyes wide open, knowing that Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Atwater, Falwell, etc. were driving, would be shocked – shocked! – to find its entirely-predictable logical conclusion would be Trump.
I’m all for redemption, and welcoming anyone into the Big Tent, regardless of their past wanderings in the desert, but (at the very least) these “strategists”, who were supposed to be the visionary talent leading their party to a sustainable future, showed abysmal judgement in their previous life’s work on The Crazy Train.
Maybe I’m just too cynical. With very few fleeting exceptions, Republicans have never failed to disappoint. (John Dean may be the last “former” Republican in whom I have faith.) So, like I said, I hope you’re right, but I’m awfully doubtful about any Republicans (current or former) at this point…
3 Likes
The idea that Schultz’s candidacy in a typical three-way race for the presidency can only be that of a spoiler and is guaranteed to re-elect Trump is obvious. Too obvious. We all see that. There is no chance in the world that that just hadn’t occurred to Steve Schmidt.
So, yeah … maybe he’s really a secret pro-Trumper as some have suggested and this is his bombshell after a couple of years setting it up. Or maybe he’s thinking that the 2020 race won’t be like any other in our experience. Trump being Trump, he surely won’t drop out, no matter what Mueller and the reaction to the Mueller report reveals … So there is a chance that such a three-way race would not feature the usual scenario of two party nominated viable candidates plus one spoiler. If an unelectable Trump runs against a democratic socialist Democrat, the conservatives are going to wish they had a voice, whether or not they had their own electable candidate.
1 Like
I actually think there IS a difference, and its important to draw the distinctions. At some point there is an election and you can either (a) say that going along with Trump is worth it and let your vote/actions/advocacy directly (for republicans) or indirectly (stay home, vote third party) show your support for Trump or (b) say that the damage that Trump is doing to the World/Nation/Party is too great, and you would rather the Democrats, even a “radical leftist” like Sanders/Warren get in. One view is that there are a few termites in the basement that need to be fumigated, but perhaps not now since you are going to have a big dinner party and don’t want to rock the boat, the other is that the republican party needs to be burned down to the Ground, and start from scratch .
Jen Rubin is clearly in the second category, and while it appeared Steve Schmidt might be with her, what today’s news/his support for Schultz shows is that he is actually in the first category.
We can argue about where the others fit in (Rick Wilson, like Jen Rubin seems to have pretty firmly argued for voting out the republican party, I don’t think Steele or Scarborough or Wallace have gone that far) but they are not all in one boat. And speaking of which, Eric Erickson who has been trying to pretend he is not in the mud with Trump for the last two years jumped in the pit today. As we get closer to 2020, a lot of republicans are going to have to chose sides, and later pay the price for their choices.
3 Likes
Fact: Smart people WANT to defend their policies and opinions. Dumb people only want to be on the attack and get angry when someone asks them to defend their own positions.
Asking how a 70% tax rate hurts the economy is only a trick question because it’s wrong. And the real problem is that conservative economic policies are based upon personal morality, not economic theories. It’s all about how the tax code affects individual citizens based on the bizarre theory that everyone hates taxes and will base all their life choices on how to pay the least amount in taxes; even if they make far less money overall.
Schmidt was offended at having to defend this because it can’t be done. But that’s why he’s a political consultant and not an economist; because he’s probably right on the politics of the 70% tax rate, but wrong on the economics.
1 Like
What an asshat. I respected this guy briefly in 2017 and 18, I can only admit I was wrong.
So grateful to you, go2goal, for boiling this story down to its essential point. And for being so utterly predictable. All political news is about Democrats in Disarray.
3 Likes
I think your analysis is 100% correct in saying that he could only take electoral votes away from the Democrat. But even then, he has no chance of winning unless the universe looks very different in 18 months from the way it does now. Because it won’t be enough under the most optimistic scenario to get him to 271.
Is it wrong that I have always kind of liked Steele? I think he has always been an old school Republican who got the joke and never a Tea Party loser, it was telling that Boehner picked him up when the RNC gig was untenable. Rubin and Wilson are also pretty OK in the same way. I expect to go back to agreeing to disagree with them at some point, but I think they are honest about the rot in the GOP and not just in the executive. I still think we need voices to our right that are reasonable, so I appreciate them for what they are. Steve Schmidt though, fuck that guy.
2 Likes
I’m not accusing co conservative pundits of engaging in projection when they throw the “snowflake” label at liberals. I’m just pointing out that most conservative pundits are snowflakes.
1 Like
The thing is that him and Jordan are still Republicans.
And Republicans still believe that they are better suited to rule and decide than Democrats. And that Reagan was the greatest even though they know he was a senile old man amenable to corporate manipulation. And things like Bolton and Abrams etc. They just want the iron glove to have a soft outer coating.
Burn the GOP down past the root cellar.
1 Like