So Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff,

[Cyrano]

remains suspended in space until he looks down and realizes there's nothing under him, and only then does gravity kick in.

At this moment, the Republican Party is hovering, but at some point reality will kick in. They are living in a crazed denial of political gravity and will be unable to escape the consequences. But until they fall, they are a great danger to democracy and they might just take us crashing down with them. History provides us with many examples of what the near-term future could bring.

The derangement inflicting them has been there for many decades, but it took a madman to unleash it and bring it out into the open. So here we are with an unrepentant madman, an incredible number of people believing that Dems drink blood and eat babies, and many others trying to bring about their dreams of fascism. If the Republicans can implement their many voter-suppression plans, they could just take over the congress in two years. That can't be permitted to happen.

Right now, Democrats are holding the levers of power and must use them to their fullest. The twin viruses of Covid and Republican madness must be defeated. Sanity must be restored. The alternative is unthinkable.

[CTyankee]

1. Great allusion! I used to laugh myself silly at those moments...

[North Shore Chicago]

2. A good visual analogy.

Very nice.

[CatWoman]

3. K, R

[Irish_Dem]

4. I agree, Dems are at a critical juncture right now.

The times call for bold, innovative action.
With an acknowledgement that the GOP is corrupt, ruthless and racist to the core.
We must act accordingly.

[empedocles]

5. Applying the allusion to traitortrump, it does feel so weird, that despite

the 57 majority guilty of incitement votes, numerous active cases, tons of obvious law-breaking on video - trump, for now, casually plods around his golf greens.

[At least they could soon subpoena trump on the green]

[Hortensis]

6. We're winning so far. I was just thinking, though, that the RW beliefs and

practices of the past 40 years are long institutionalized now. Not the latest crazies, but just what has become a normalized extreme conservatism and opposition to liberalism.

Whole generations have built successful, prosperous careers and businesses around it, whole institutions and societies formed around those who work in them. Younger generations grow up expecting to fill the cushy positions held open for them and attend colleges that provide schools of thought designed prepare them. Law students are encouraged to style themselves as conservative because that's where the good (lucrative) jobs are. Hugely profitable media, legal, and lobbying machines were built to support it.

That's not all going to just disappear. It can't. They're going to fight to maintain their power and prosperity, with or without continued belief that they'll prevail and purge liberalism and progressivism from government.

On the plus side, we can see the right has gone too far from the backlash among their own, which will force change -- over time. Like Big Petroleum's finally moving investment to sustainable energy after decades of fighting it. Assuming we continue to prevail and they continue to lose critical power, adjustments of attitudes and goals among the institutionalized right will happen for the same reasons, but let's just hope a lot faster.

We can't smash and force change on people who hold powerful offices and can win elections, but we can help weaken their support by growing confidence in future wellbeing among Americans. People happily discussing where to go on their annual paid vacation leave are a lot less likely to want to kick over the bucket (with our teeth in the way) than those who don't get one or can't even afford to stay home.

[Cyrano]

7. They've been a minority for the past 40 years, but

were able to grab power through gerrymandering, voter suppression, "losing" ballots and so much more. And now that they've lost federal power, I fear that they will go into overdrive using these tactics and inventing new ones.

You're right in saying they aren't going to disappear. But they must be treated as a minority with a voice and not as a socially privileged class. After all, California has about 40 million people, Wyoming has a dozen or so people, yet both states have two senators. I know that passing a constitutional amendment to change this is impossible. But we can't let them go on stealing the reins of power and then abusing that power, as well as abusing the freedoms to which all are entitled.

We know that gravity kicks in with Wile E. Coyote. Hopefully, evolution will kick in and even speed up a bit for today's extremists.

[Hortensis]

9. Well, power's a real thing. I see no point in wishful thinking that

relies entirely on Democrats doing "something" that'll strip it away from the Republicans. Only those who vote can do that, and they've decided for now. We'll be up to bat again November after next.

Currently Republicans are half the senate and a large minority that must be considered in the house. Both current gerrymandering and the EC are real, so wish that away on one hand and spit on the other and see what comes of that. Republicans control 23 state governments outright (Dems 16) and control the legislatures of 7 others (Dems 3). That's real power.

On the plus side, evolution has been kicking in -- not as a result of Democrats treating them as if their numbers didn't deserve to have power but because of Republican Party depravity/devolution. That drove some who've always voted Republican to temporarily become part of a Democratic Party alliance. They helped elect a Democratic president and take 4 senate seats away from the Republicans.

We need the Pubs to drive away more of their voters, of course. And they show every sign of continuing to do just that, even doubling or tripling down on scariness.

Itm, we're already doing a lot right, including keeping that door wide open and laying out a nice banquet of common goals inside.

[Thekaspervote]

8. Great analysis..thx!