Can we stop calling Trump Cultists "Conservatives"?

[Pototan]

I keep hearing that the anti-aid to Ukraine Republicans are "Conservatives". They're not Conservatives.

Conservatives believe in smaller government, lower taxes, a strong military and the rule of law. 2 out of 4 doesn't make you a Conservative.

Ronald Reagan was a Conservative. George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney are or were Conservatives.

These Trump MAGA Cultists are closer to the description of traitors than to Conservatives.

I disagree with the Conservatives I've listed here on many issues. But I respected their opinions. They sometimes lied (weapons of mass destruction) that made me work and stand against them. But I never questioned their love for America and its Democracy.

The Trump MAGA Cultists are a danger to American and the world. But they are not Conservatives.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

1. Seconded.

[elleng]

2. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Been saying that for YEARS!

They are RADICALS, and misfits!

[niyad]

57. I prefer the word "reactionary". "radical", from "radis", basically means getting

to the root of things in order to fix or improve them. NOTHING "radical" about these wilful destructionists at all.

[Cha]

3. I don't... the articles

that come out about them always do that and it's just a long ass word that has nothing to do with the Fascist Putin Puppets.

[dalton99a]

4. The only thing they conserve is Donald Trump and his fascism

[lastlib]

5. Agreed.

The cult is reactionary, authoritarian, and at its core, fascist. They do not subscribe to the American Declaration of Independence's credo of equality, liberty, and democracy. They are grievance-driven against those who are different from them.

[Blue Owl]

6. Self Servatives more like

Misguided self servatives if they think the fat man is gonna help them in any way

[lastlib]

7. I once posed a question to a number of folks who called themselves conservatives....

The question was: What do "conservatives" want to "conserve"? The answers boiled down to:
1) Wealth for the wealthy;
2) Power for the powerful;
3) Comfort for the comfortable;
4) Poverty for the poor;
5) Weakness for the weak;
6) Affliction for the afflicted.

So I am still a liberal progressive.

[Mr. Evil]

28. In other words,

maintaining the status quo and an unwillingness to accept change.

[lastlib]

38. Not even maintaining the status quo.....

but bending further in their direction. So the wealthy get wealthier, the poor get poorer, the weak get weaker.....

[Mr. Evil]

46. Yes, so true.

That is a point we all can witness each and every day.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. MAGA closer to Joe McCarthyism, Roy Cohn, and

Robert Taft. And the 3 founders of John Birch.

[Pototan]

10. Even Joe McCarthy would not have...

Last edited Fri Apr 19, 2024, 10:41 PM - Edit history (2)

...taken Russia's side in an international conflict.

They're closer to Father Coughlin, Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford and the Nazi sympathizers from the Thirties.

[TxGuitar]

12. But he would've voted Trump

See Barr, Bill

[Pototan]

21. He no doubt would have voted for Trump

I never said that Joe McCarthy wasn't an asshole and his sidekick, Roy Cohn both weren't a danger to Democracy.

Trump is worse.

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Point taken

[spike jones]

23. One of the John Birch Society founders was the guy that owned the makers of Junior Mints.

maybe his name is Robert Welch.

[B.See]

9. I stopped calling them conservatives back in 2016,

when they rejected a slew of Republican candidates to rally around the most venomous, hate spewing, rabble rousing BIGOT of them all.

I'd long suspected who and what they really were. Then came Obama's Presidency, their 'Tea Party', Trump and all the rest.

So, nice to know I was right about 'em ALL ALONG.

[markodochartaigh]

41. In 2015 the Republican party was

going to have a brokered convention to choose another candidate. But because Trump was so wildly popular with the authoritarian 80% of their base that they could not win without him, they put party before country and chose Trump. Many of them realized exactly what they were doing. Some of the party leaders, Bushes, Cheneys, Romney refused to support Trump even though he was their party's nominee. This was unprecedented. They knew that a democracy has to have at least two viable parties committed to democracy, and that by putting an authoritarian in charge of their party there would only be one viable party committed to democracy. They knew that until another viable party committed to democracy is formed democracy in the US will be one election away from extinction.

[TxGuitar]

11. Nope

Conservatives vote Trump. He's the ultimate extension of what conservatism is. Never let them off the hook for him.

[Pototan]

22. Well, I would describe Liz Cheney as a Conservitive

and I'm going to bet she won't vote for Trump. As well as most of the Bush family, the McCain family, Mitt Romney and many other well-known Conservatives.

[TxGuitar]

48. Yet she voted something like 100%

With Trump while she was in the House. Conservatives aren’t our friends and there was never a time when they were.

ETA the same goes with the Lincoln Project. Who do you think gave us Palin?

[Pototan]

49. Well, if we're going to win this thing

we're going to need former Republicans to vote for Biden to replace the votes we're losing from our coalition.

A Conservative vote for Biden is better than a progressive vote that stays home, or worse yet, demonstrates against Trump's only viable opponent in an effort to embarrass the President.

In an election, math is more important than philosophy.

[NanaCat]

53. So much nonsense, I don't know where to start

The Lincoln Project people aren't responsible for Palin being a VP candidate. None of them played a leading role in bringing her to the attention of McCain--and, yes, Steve Schmidt counts as one of the people who wasn't pushing for her, at least not before the end of August. That he's responsible for making her the candidate is a lie of the worst and dumbest order.

Really. You know why?

Because John McCain--and ONLY JOHN MCCAIN--elevated Tundra Twit to the national stage because he chose her as his running mate.

Nobody else made that choice. He did. So sick of idiots refusing to hold that self-serving scumbag responsible for a choice only he made--or could make. Unless you want to say that the man was so weak and pliable that he just did what his handlers told him. Do you really want to go there?

No. Then stop blaming others for a decision that only John McCain made.

[TxGuitar]

60. So I'm an idiot, and a liar of "the worst and dumbest order" I guess

Last edited Sat Apr 20, 2024, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Nice ad hominems.

The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, I'm sorry and the Lincoln Project people would turn their sights straight onto Biden and Dems if Trump was out of the picture.
Schmidt was part of the campaign, and according to an article in the NY Times:

It was Mr. Schmidt who first championed Sarah Palin as Mr. McCain’s running mate, a bold move, he told Mr. McCain, that could win him the White House. Instead, her selection was widely viewed as one of the most calamitous political judgments in modern presidential politics. By the time Mr. McCain conceded, Mr. Schmidt himself feared that his role in that campaign would leave an indelible scar on his reputation.

So yeah, he had a hand in it.

The main point to my post though was these are not nice people we're dealing with here--Schmidt, Liz Cheney, etc. They're not part of our party, they are against most of our positions, and would happily gut SS, Medicare, etc if their wing of the party was in power. We shouldn't normalize them on this site.

[Autumn]

13. Why not? They are fucking conservatives.

Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush, John McCain are fucking dead conservative assholes . Mitt Romney George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are very quiet fucking conservative assholes. Conservative are no better than Maggats, they gave birth to that movement. Fuck them that's what Trump supporters are. Conservatives.

[Scruffy1]

33. Well said. n/t

[Think. Again.]

14. The self-imposed "conservative" label has always been...

...a lie to cover for the theft, racism, anti-social and malicious efforts and intentions of rightwingers.

"conservatism" is a farce for corrupt, evil people to hide behind and get fools to believe they mean well.

[BlueTsunami2018]

16. They're straight up theocratic fascists.

The American Taliban.

[TxGuitar]

17. How is this on DU?

And why are people agreeing? Trump is who conservatives are at their core. Every single one. This post on DU and the support it has is shocking.

[Stargleamer]

18. Traitor and Conservative aren't mutually exclusive terms

and many of them (not all) are other things as well: racists, haters, fascists, transphobes, etc.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Completely agree.

Reagan, for example, supported immigration, was extremely tough on Russia ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" ) and supported President Clinton's Assault Weapons Ban. The MAGA cult is just the opposite - and, most important, they do not support this democracy. And they are willing to support a criminal defendant who attempted to overthrow it.

[mahina]

20. All day! There is nothing conservative about them... The word has no meaning if

Donald Trump and for that matter George W. Bush embody it. They added trillions to the debt for tax cuts for billionaires!

Democrats keep mopping up, their gigantic economic catastrophes one at a time, from Clinton Obama to Biden. Imagine how much better things would be if they didn’t keep burning our economy and our environment down. Anyway. Rant off… but this is my fight song. I politely call out every time. I hear the word conservative used to refer to Republicans that don’t earn it which today is all of them. One comment section at a time, one letter to the editor at a time, one one on one conversation at a time.

[TBF]

24. maybe not conservatives - but the republican party has been taken over by them

Last edited Fri Apr 19, 2024, 08:23 PM - Edit history (1)

and it's about time they own it.

We've got lots of well-off Texans here in the suburbs in Houston who will profess in conversation that they don't really care for Trump, but when push comes to shove they are at the ballot box voting for him. So, I don't have a lot of grace for this perspective. They are going to have a heck of a time revamping their party after this, and I'm not helping them do it.

[ancianita]

25. Absolutely. But MEDIA won't. WE DEMOCRATS ARE THE TRUE CONSERVATIVES. We're conserving

democratically run elections, separation of church and state, the environment, good governance, health care, Americans' drug costs, America's infrastructure, America's economy, Social Security, human rights, bipartisan legislation, and most of all DEMOCRACY!

We're the most conservative party in America today.

[nakocal]

26. Actually conservatives believe is lower taxes for the wealthy

and nothing else really matters to them.

[Permanut]

27. We need a "Rec 100 times" button.

[GB_RN]

29. Regressives

For years, that’s what I’ve been saying we should call the entire GOPQ. And it fits with the (R) behind their names. You know, D to go forward, R for reverse.

[Skittles]

30. LOL

I consider most repukes traitors - they are NOT pro-America

[CanonRay]

31. Radical Nihilists

is closer.

[AllaN01Bear]

32. ding. ding . ding , ding , ding . ding. this . ra oh ra.

[plimsoll]

34. Are they asking for this?

I understand what you're saying and I agree they're not conservatives, but until they ask that people not use conservatives when referring to the MAGA movement you're running interference for the conservatives and letting them off the hook. If they feel the title is being abused they should say something, not liberals. I'll be the first to support them when they do, but until they push back publicly aren't they saying it's OK to call the MAGA movement conservatives?

Sure there are some, but the silence is generally pretty deafening. Probably because they're afraid of the monster they made common cause with.

[Traurigkeit]

35. They ARE Fascists

[Patton French]

36. Other than cultists, I'm not sure what they are.

Certainly not your father’s conservatives.

[barbtries]

37. i just call them republicans.

there are conservative Democrats, but conservatism and republicanism are not the same thing at all anymore.

[Warpy]

39. I haven't called them that since 2016

when I saw how wacky they were getting, aided by Russian trolls of Farcebook.

[KPN]

40. Hear, hear!

[keithbvadu2]

42. Fascists/theocrats but not conservatives.

Those millions of republicans want an authoritarian gov't but they mistakenly think they will be the few thousand elites actually in charge.

Those millions are useful tools for those who will actually be in charge.

One poster called it a 'new social feudalism age'.

[Daylily]

43. The Conservatives don't believe in lower taxes

unless you are rich. Reagan started taxing Social Security. As far as less government, Reagan is also the one who fired the air traffic controllers, and broke the union. Definitely not less government. Conservatives want to be in control and are self serving. They only care about we the people as a means to their ends. There are no Conservatives. I wish people would just do away with that term. Perhaps a better term would be Controllers.

[Pototan]

47. They want to cut taxes and reduce government

They don't want to fund public education, health care or pay workers for their work (against Davis-Bacon and favor right to work laws). but many conservatives (i.e. George Conway) are our allies in this election. They realize this election is not about the issues that have traditionally been a political fight. This election is about Democracy itself.

We need to welcome them into our coalition. At least for 2024.

Remember, our alliance is not that we vote for Trump, but that they vote for Biden.

[H2O Man]

44. Recommended.

They are radicals.

[steelyboo]

45. They are complete Reactionaries

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/rise-of-the-reactionary

This is a good article on it. Essentially the equivalent on the left of the radical. And I think that Conservatives deserve to be lumped in with them for encouraging the bullshit for the last 50 years.

[NanaCat]

50. But they are conservatives

All MAGAs are conservative, but not all conservatives are MAGA.

You're making the mistake of confusing the general term with a specific variant of it.

[CCExile]

51. No. I've watched conservatives my entire adult lif.

What I've seen is a long degenerating slide to where we are now. A continuum, if you will, starting back when Dixicrats were conservative to now. It is the same stuff carried to it's inevitable conclusion, fascism. Sometimes, as group they tone it down, sometimes they crank it up. "States rights", women and POCs as lesser citizens, more Bible, demonisation of LBG..., more power and less accountability for corporations and the rich, deregulation, environmental degradation, admiration of greed, and on and on. All from the right, varying in degree only. MAGAs are the flower.

[Pototan]

52. Have you ever seen a Conservitive

want to end our Demonocracy?

What should we do? Ask them not to vote for Biden?

[Blues Heron]

55. Conservatives are constantly trying to end democracy by blocking people's access to voting

The whole thesis of the OP is nonsense. It reads like the Bush rehab tours we get from time to time. Don’t be fooled. These people are quite evil.

[CCExile]

58. No, but only because they have never been this close.

The "real" conservatives are resigning or not running for re-election. Don't be fooled.

[Emile]

54. I never considered Republicans conservative. Blowing up the national debt

is not conservative. Paying more for health care is not conservative. Etc etc etc

[raging moderate]

56. Radical Regressive Reactionaries.

These Fascists want to undo all the social progress of the last two centuries. They want to impose a rigid punitive deferential delusional social/economic hierarchy, everywhere if possible.

[Model35mech]

59. Reality check... definitions do change. The R right (conservatives) aren't what they were

[Ping Tung]

61. Or, we could use the more all encompassing "Assholes" so none are left out?

Then they could fight each other for the title of "REAL Asshole" or "GREATEST Asshole". At their convention they could vote for the "SUPREME Asshole".

[es466]

62. Excellent topic and OP

Today's Republican party is something all right, but it is NOT conservative. And it no longer has any kind of a platform or belief system --instead of anything as inconvenient as that, there is just a prescribed set of behaviors to be followed (i.e., make sure to be the biggest asshole in the room no matter what the situation).