Republican senator: 'I’m out’ if GOP becomes party of David Duke, Donald Trump

[nadinbrzezinski]

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Tuesday vowed to give up on the GOP if Donald Trump wins the party’s presidential nomination.

“Let’s first recognize that the Republican Party is just a tool, as all political parties are,” he told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe."

“I signed up for the party of Abraham Lincoln, not the party of David Duke, Donald Trump,” Sasse continued, linking the white nationalist with Trump’s White House run.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271257-senator-im-out-if-gop-becomes-party-of-david-duke-donald

The video is amazing... Sasse has called the media (and Joe by the way) for how they have treated Trump... I have to admit this, I like the way this guy in calling the media.

Oh and for those really paying attention, we are seeing a likely collapse pf a party, or best case, in 10 years a party realignment.

[RandySF]

1. They say that now.

But let's see what happens after Cleveland.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Do study the evolution of parties

and party realignments... that is what you are watching in real time.

Once the dust settles, there will be a masters or phd thesis in this, and also there is a chance that both parties will not survive as they exist today... if not outright go away.

This is scary shit, but fascinating as well.

[JFKDem62]

8. Seems like the GOP is ending and the Democratic party is splitting in two. nt

[TM99]

13. Looking that way.

The neoliberals will be joined by the moderate Republicans and neocons solidifying the shift to the right of the Democratic national party.

The progressive left will leave and a viable third party will become its home. Small extremist rightist parties will exist including the Tea Party.

It has happened before in US history, and it will happen again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yes, that is what it looks like

and we may be in for a hell of a crisis.

[Firebrand Gary]

33. I have great faith.

I think our party is going to come together, although its going to be a tougher for one of our dem camps to rally around the other for now. That being said, we're so close rebalancing the judiciary-we will come together.

I do think we should be very cautious however, I think you're right that there is a crisis coming. I can't remember a time like this and I'm getting old.

Have a good week my fellow DU'r!

[davidn3600]

36. That's not necessarily the problem

If the GOP breaks up...where will the moderate Republicans and neocons go? Where will the establishment Republicans go? If they go to the Democratic party, they will pull the Democrats to the right of center. You will end up with a bunch of Jim Webb type Democrats.

It might not happen this year. But 1 or 2 election cycles down the road these people will win primaries as Democrats. And they will begin to influence our party's platform. This will then cause civil war and dysfunction within our party. That's how the realignment begins.

We sort of need the GOP to stick together to keep those people over there. Otherwise....the Democrats will be the next party to fall apart.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. This process has been underway for

Over a generation now.

[JFKDem62]

41. Yes The GOP fostered its ultraconservative wing and now it is blowing up their party.

Boehner had to resign because of the Frankenstein they invented.

What the Blue Dog Senate Democrats did to Obama during the Health Care Act debate was atrocious.

So the parties have been shifting about for some time.

[JFKDem62]

44. The biggest crisis is on the GOP side, and it has been a long time coming and well deserved.

They sold their soul to the devil and the bill is now due.

The GOP has some big decisions to make.
They refused in the past to denounce the insanity and evil, and now is the time to do so.

They may at long last have to eject the lunatic right wing fringe or lose their party.
They seem to be having a hard time accepting what is happening, or taking any responsibility
for events, so the chances for a reasonable prudent correction seem slim. Hence the fireworks.

The Dem discord is much less dramatic and less damaging. But yes a deep divide exists between
the conservative and liberal wings of the party. I think Trump may prove to be the most important
catalyst for unifying the Democrats. We may have to fall in line to defeat him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. The discord in the dem side is sub-rosa

But just as serious

[JFKDem62]

47. My .02: The Dems are NOT going to blow apart their party like the GOP is now doing.

We still have an intact leadership (Obama), and a moral core that unites us.
We also will unify against Trump.

I do believe that Bernie will be the nominee and win the GE.
This will move the party left.

America has to move into the 21st century and it will.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. Or the party will end up splitting as the

Void on the right continues on. The neoliberal Wing gets a new name, or keeps it. It really does not matter. The left will join others and get a left wing party. This process has happened before. Once the failure of one party led to the civil war.

I personally do not feel that these forces can easily be stopped by a single man.

[JFKDem62]

50. Yes that is an option, as I said, it does feel like the Dems are splitting in two.

But I just don't feel a major blow up like with the GOP.
And I feel more unity and cohesion. As I said, we have a moral core and an admired leader.

Yes, Hillary and Obama felt they had to pivot right to get anything done, but it didn't really work out well.
Also the times have changed and establishment candidates with ties to the 1% are going down.
The electorate is now ready for a female president but they no longer trust establishment candidates.
So Hillary missed her window of opportunity 8 years ago. No candidate could hold a candle to Obama's
superb political acumen. So the schism is there in the Dem party but I do not see the violence, hatred and evil
that we are seeing from the GOP.

But yes, a very possible scenario is that the GOP goes belly up.
The reasonable Repugs (if there are any) and the Hillary faction unite.

The right wing lunatic fringe forms a Hitler Party or whatever they want to call it.

A true left wing party forms.

And yes of course, make no mistake, this has nothing at all to do with individuals.
They are just the symptoms of a huge societal shift.
The dynamics we are seeing would have happened no matter who was on stage.

We are moving into the 21st century for real.
And it is going to happen fast.

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. The right already has a functional party

It is the tea party

[JFKDem62]

52. What do you think will happen with the GOP?

What do you see happening to them?
Will the tea party take over the party or split off?

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. IN my view the same fate as the Whig party

This year might be their last nominating convention. Best case 2020

[JFKDem62]

59. I agree totally. The GOP as we know it, is done. nt

[JFKDem62]

60. The US is at a major crossroad. Do we continue to fall into third world status

governed by an oligarchy?

Or do we become a civilized, equitable society where children can be educated,
see a doctor when ill. Have clean food, air, water. Decent roads and bridges.
And children can go to school or a movie and not be gunned down.

It is really up to us to decide what kind of country we want.
To evolve, mature and join the 21st century or not.

[Albertoo]

27. Yes, it's starting to look like Germany

Trump = AfD
GOP = CDU
Hillary = SPD
Bernie = die Linke

[revbones]

2. I'm sure Hillary will try to move the party ever further to the right

to accomodate him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. That is exactly how party realignments happen

actually, with the rise of new coalitions and the abandonment of the old coalition, This process has been going on for at least a generation, if not longer.

[revbones]

7. So the choice is

Vote for Hillary and move the Democratic Party even further to the right taking the place of the Republicans

Or

Vote for Bernie and move it slightly left from where it's drifted.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Or as this evolves, one party might collapse

the other will take the place of the GOP as business friendly and another labor party will rise. This process will not be solved this election. It might take a decade for the dust to settle. The last time this happened we also had a civil war. The next to last, the whigs rose, after two cycles.

[revbones]

11. Or we could avoid that and all vote Bernie.. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Bernie will not stop a process that has been ongoing for a generation

the best that will happen is slow it down... in the corridors of academia there are many things that are now talked about that are damn scary.

(And some HRC supporters think I support bernie blindly because argle bargle, no I just call them on the propaganda, but I have the very long view of history. I predicted this over a decade ago, when Bush was POTUS on this site. mInd you, not Bernie, this process)

[RandySF]

5. You know, Bill Maher had something interesting to say.

A few years ago, Obama was taking flack for moving to the center, and Maher posed the question whether the Democrats were forced to because the Republicans had become the "straightjacket party".

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. He is not the only one saying that

political scientist have been talking of this in pretty stark terms.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

42. Never let let an opportunity to trash Republicans get in the way of trashing Hillary

It's now the new DU way of living.

[revbones]

43. We're not competing against them yet

And Hillary is sort of Republican anyway - does that count?

[brush]

62. Bingo! Never get in the way of the opposition self-destructing by fanning the flames of your own . .

Last edited Mon Mar 14, 2016, 02:13 PM - Edit history (5)

destruction. But that's exactly what we're doing here.

We're yelling, "Hey, look at us, look at us, we're spitting too. Hey, over here, look at us."

God people, give it a rest. We've seen that movie already — the pumas in '08, and btw, in '64 when the dixiecrats left (thank God) — and the party survived both insurgencies.

IMO we should not be fanning these flames when the repugs are falling apart and SCOTUS nominations that will shift the liberal v conservative balance of that court to the left or right for the next 30-40 years loom large. That is not progressive or smart.

By all means start a party of the left, I mean really do it, not just be a keyboard warrior hurling invective towards the only stop-gap we have to a repug party that wants to return us to the Jim crow-anti-woman-anti-gay-anti-safety net-anti-everything 1950s, maybe even the 1850s. Perhaps it will lead to a move away from what we have and towards a parliamentary system of more than two choices.

But hey, let's be smart about it and I will even work for it too as my progressive/left bona fides are strong. I will not however, participate in any short-sighted movement that will help the repugs win the White House and make the upcoming SCOTUS appointments.

Look at the Green Party, they've been around forever and still can make any real traction other than running a no-chance candidate for president every four years. And I'm saying that to say, it takes hard work time, not just during the presidential, to build a visible, viable party structure that has a network of workers and funding to field a full slate of candidates with real backing for president, Senate, House, governors, state reps, county and local reps, etc. It takes time so why keep hyping this imagined dem party split at this time before the crucial November election?

[tinrobot]

57. Hilliary is a politician, Bernie is an idealist.

The politician counts votes. This time there will be lots of votes towards the center and center right. If she can put herself up as the 'mainstream' candidate, she can dominate the center and push the Trump wing off a cliff.

The idealist doesn't compromise as much. He invigorates like-minded voters for higher turnout, but is also willing to leave votes on the table. This strategy requires high turnout from the faithful.

I'm honestly not sure which strategy is better this time out. Strange times, indeed.

[rpannier]

6. Been that way for a while now

Nice try attempting the high road Sasse
Your party has been that way for over 2 decades

[Wilms]

35. He thinks his hangover was caused by other people drinking.

His wjki page left me queasy.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. DOOOoooooo ITTTttttttt

[Hydra]

16. We're seeing tectonic shifts in both parties

It wouldn't surprise me if as you have suggested we see 3-4 parties rise out of these splits.

Business
Labor
Conservative
and Possible Socialist

I don't think it will be a bloody process- I think it will be a simple opt-out of what we are doing now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. For all four to be viable

we need to get rid of the winner take all system though, encoded in the US Constitution

[Hydra]

18. *Nods* Something is going to happen to make that possible

Because what's happening now is not going to work...but then again, I think there are more votes for labor available if the party is actually fighting for the little guy- maybe they can do over 50% by themselves?

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. I think we are entering into a deep crisis

Americans tend to reform things only after those.

[progressoid]

32. Yep. Things are going to get interesting in the coming years.

[Wounded Bear]

34. But we don't have a "winner take all" system...

we have a system which gives the minority party enormous power to throw wrenches in the machinery. In parliamentary systems, the party that wins (or the coalition, as it were) has free reign to form the gov't and cabinet and pretty much can do what it wants.

In our system that doesn't work and the Repubs have been exploiting that for many years, especially since the '94 Contract on America days. The Far Right has developed enormous momentum and inertia and getting things to move leftward will take enormous amounts of energy and vast amounts of patience.

Sure, there are fractures in the parties, but their demise is being a bit over-hyped right now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. We actually do

Last edited Mon Mar 14, 2016, 10:35 AM - Edit history (1)

Read the constitution.

And they have been exploiting it. They are also behaving as if we were a parmamentary system, which we are not. Gerrymandering is part of the problem. Proportional representation is but one of a few fixes to this incidentally. What CA did, with a citizen Commision to draw districts is just futzing on the edges

[white_wolf]

26. What would be the difference?

Just curious, but what do you envision as the differences between a Business party and a Conservative party? And a Labor and Socialist party? Unless, it was an actual revolutionary Marxist party, but most of those don't consider elections as something worth taking part in anyway.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Well business and conservative

Have a somewhat similar agenda. But n the US these are two legs of the R coalition. The business folks want free trade, less labor laws, friendly business environments, less regulations.

Your conservatives are your social religious types.

Labor in the US would not be a Marxist party. Don't be silly. A social democrat party with strong labor. Unions are paramount. Social safety net. Socialist would be to the left of that. And imo in a balanced system like conservatives should be less strong

[white_wolf]

65. Thanks for the clarification

And I didn't think a labor party would be Marxist. I was actually referring to the socialist party in that one. Either way, I think a system like that would represent people better than the current big tent we have now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

67. For that winner takes all

Need to go

[Person 2713]

19. Rip van winkle much Sasse ? Where ya been your party has been this way a long time

[melman]

21. He also refers to Trump as a "New York liberal" several times

So that should be a clue as to where this dude is coming from.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Yeah, but party realignments or collapses start like this

[brush]

69. I noticed that phrase too, but was he talking about Trump or Hillary and Bernie as they . . .

both have New York backgrounds?

If he was referring to Trump, that throws a whole new wrinkle into how that party is going to go after Trump. I mean who considers Trump a New York liberal?

[felix_numinous]

23. If Republicans have one sane braincell left

they would kick Trump out of the party, and expose him as the violent extremist that he is. His sponsors and the fawning media need to be called out as well for supporting a mentally unstable fascist candidate to lead the country. This is not a game, people.

He cannot be allowed to continue as a mainstream candidate for president.

[UtahJosh]

24. 'I’m out’ if GOP becomes party of David Duke, Donald Trump!

If?

[Initech]

25. DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[yortsed snacilbuper]

28. The rats are leaving the sinking ship!

[tblue37]

29. But Sasse is still the Nebraska Tea Party's guy, so just because he isn't

as racist crazy as some of the others in the GOP, that doesn't mean he is otherwise reasonable about policy and governance.

ON EDIT: Charles Pierce wrote about him a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a42560/ben-sasse-trump/

The Only Republican Taking on Trump Is a Bona Fide Extremist

. . . Sasse is every bit the soul of wingnut chewiness that Ted Cruz is. His Tea Party street cred is unassailable. . . . But, give him this. The man has principles and the man has guts. In Iowa, while most veteran Republican politicians were still dithering, Sasse showed up offering to campaign for any Republican who wasn't Trump. Now, with the likes of Mitch McConnell wringing his hands, and with various conservative thought leaders trying to find a way to surf the Trump wave without cutting eyeholes in their tablecloths, Sasse is hanging his chin out there, and he's almost completely alone.

[exxo1111]

30. I don't get it the GOP has been the party of David Duke for a long time

[Marr]

31. It's about time we had another party realignment.

The establishment Democrats have basically become business-worshipping, 80's Republicans, and the Republicans have let the racists and loons take over.

I'd like to see our Reagan Democrats join the small contingent of sane Republicans, and maybe they can remember to marginalize the racists and lunatics this time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. This one is damn dangerous

But agreed, way past time

[maxrandb]

40. Hey Ben

It alreadyis the "party of David Duke and Donald Trump!

You're a day late and a dollar short

[Phentex]

49. It's got to be so frustrating for them...

I see it in Rubio's eyes. It's got to feel as much as a bad dream for them as it does for us.

[Javaman]

54. Um, senator, it already is. nt

[blm]

55. Carl Bernstein called out the media, too. Said they should focus on the FASCISM rising

and being deemed acceptable in the GOP and with its voters.

Way overdue - many of us have been sounding that alarm for 2 decades.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. Yup

[meow2u3]

58. I think we should have a four party system

My proposal for ideological realignment is as follows:

Labor (left): Bernie
Democratic (center-left, the party that abandoned labor) : Hillary
Republican (center-right, establishment Republican): Sasse, Lisa Murkowski
Tea Party (far right): Kochtopus, tRump.

[LeftishBrit]

61. Wow...

never heard of this bloke, and he may be a complete nutter on most issues for all I know; but he's a rare voice of reason on this occasion!

[yortsed snacilbuper]

63. Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile!

[yortsed snacilbuper]

64. My ancestors came from Durham England,

they were Coal Miners, seeing your handle made me think of them!

[KamaAina]

66. No less an authority on things GOP than Peggy Noonan agrees with you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027669881

[Xolodno]

68. The GOP infrastructure won't go away.

The hard right ideology will be sidelined, but the infrastructure will stay put. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have hard wired themselves in the electoral process and made sure other parties will never rise.

The next census will make "safe districts" even harder and I'm assuming the Democratic Party is planing to raid the state governments so they don't get gerrymandered out again. But the Republicans will maintain the house for a couple of more cycles...then they are out....but they will be rebuilding. They know they are toast with an aging electorate and right wing media that is doing so as well. Realistically, Trump is doing them a favor by confronting their problems now instead of later.

And Sanders has also done them a favor. He's forced the Democratic Party further left. Just as we saw Republicans turn "D" during the "Tea Party"...we will see, probably quietly, some "D" turn "R" to fill the vacuum of the GOP leadership.

The irony of it all, the catalyst was probably the hard right Republicans in their quest to unseat Obama. It backfired.

The country has moved left...and the hard right is kicking, screaming and crying.