Republicans really are headed for that iceberg, and they have no idea

[babylonsister]

Republicans really are headed for that iceberg, and they have no idea
Kerry Eleveld for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Saturday February 13, 2021 · 2:00 PM EST


For the past several weeks, I've been simultaneously consumed with two things: How well the Biden administration seems to have learned the lessons of the Obama administration, and the disintegration of the Republican Party playing out in real time.

And while I've been reveling in the first, the second phenomenon has been simply mesmerizing. In fact, it reminds me of watching the GOP meltdown in advance of the Georgia runoffs and thinking, could this really be happening? Yes, in fact, it was real in Georgia, and now I find myself similarly contemplating the idea that the Republican Party might actually be imploding too.

The supposition has both tangible and theoretical underpinnings, and the tangibles have been presenting for several weeks. The GOP's tarnished image among Americans, an accelerated rate of GOP defections in party affiliation, and a growing discomfort among corporate donors all seem to make recent talks by former GOP officials of forming an alternative conservative party an actual possibility, rather than just the escape fantasy it was in 2016.

In some very concrete ways, this political moment may actually provide fertile ground for the makings of a third party: Exiled leaders who know both the electoral and governance sides of politics, a host of wealthy donors who are ready to pony up for a new venture, and a fresh crop of disillusioned voters who are newly looking for a home.

But a healthy part of my fascination with the prospect of a budding competitor to the GOP stems from how totally oblivious Republican Party leaders are to the potential threat. In fact, the formation of a third party wouldn't even be conceivable but for the fact that Republican lawmakers have so quickly fumbled the potential for a post-Trump reboot. A narrow window had opened—between the Jan. 6 riot and Joe Biden's inauguration—in which it seemed the GOP might finally break with Donald Trump just enough to remain palatable to a swath of disaffected conservative voters. But without getting into all those particulars (or the numerous preceding missed opportunities by the GOP), what is clear as day now is that Senate Republicans seem poised to acquit Trump yet again of impeachment charges after House Democrats explicitly warned them last year that, short of conviction, Trump would surely betray the country again.

"We must say enough—enough!" implored lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff of California on Feb. 3, 2020. "He has betrayed our national security, and he will do so again. He has compromised our elections, and he will do so again."

Naturally, Senate Republicans immediately hit snooze on that prescient warning so they could get back to business as usual. This time around, the same caucus is planning to acquit Trump on charges that are eminently more comprehensible and that some 33 million Americans witnessed with their very own eyes on Jan. 6. The video evidence presented by House managers was both riveting and searing, and Trump’s defense team withered in the harsh light of the indefensible.

All of those factors make the posture of Republicans, whatever they might tell themselves, just so blatantly bogus. In fact, even they are arguing House managers presented such a compelling case that Trump would never be electable again. But somehow those same GOP lawmakers stopped short of making the logical leap that acquitting Trump of such a manifest betrayal might also turn them into political pariahs among a meaningful portion of the electorate (which notably in today’s terms could comprise a very small slice of voters). On the one hand, Trump's transgressions were so egregious that he has been rendered unelectable, they say; on the other, they deem themselves magically immune to any consequences from kowtowing to Trump at the expense of the country.

more...

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/13/2015737/-Republicans-really-are-headed-for-that-iceberg-and-they-have-no-idea

[Hekate]

1. KnR

[MFGsunny]

2. Brilliant analysis. Tragic at the moment, but we are not day-traders ...

... and so while repukes are barely transactional, we must hold firm our values to be transformative.