Judging by news articles, the Republican Party is apparently "being destroyed".

[HughBeaumont]

Although I'm kind of confused.

Last I checked, they run the House (and barring a massive deprogramming of rural and suburban voters, I don't see that changing any year soon), the Senate, the media, The Supreme Court (well, at least they DID until Scalia inconveniently died), corporations, religion, economics, state governorships, state legislatures, congressional districts, etc. etc. etc.

Oh, and their reality-TV, CEO carnival barker, openly racist, sexist and birther candidate is a serious contender for President.

So, is this an "any day now" glacial long-term destruction we're talking about or is it a right-away destruction . . . ?

I'm just not sure. Facts kind of contradict the narrative. I don't think Americans are as sick of Republicans as pundits SAY they are.

We hate them . . . . buuuuuuuuuuuuut we can't QUIT them. Is that right?

Either way, America is NOT going to survive "Republican control of All Three Branches", so it better wise up sooner rather than later.

[yourpaljoey]

1. The Republican Party is as it has always been

It is not being destroyed.
The Dem Party is cause for concern.

[bemildred]

2. It is being taken over by a new set of buffoons. Not the first time either.

That's what happens when you do a poor job of governing.

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. Creating a narrative to sell drama is a ploy to keep people watching commercials or buying

advertisements by media.

[Arugula Latte]

4. Like a cancer, it has also spread and taken over most of the Democratic party.

The D's are now what the Republicans were 20 years ago, and the R's are just openly crazy-ass Fascists.

[HughBeaumont]

8. ^^THIS^^

Like I said in another thread, Debbie Disasterman Schultz is the greatest gift to Republicans since Joe Lieberturd.

When is the Democratic Party going to ACT like the Democratic Party again? Repub economics are Repub economics no matter WHAT side employs them.

Everyone be like "Why you so angry"? Because I thought America would grow up by now. I thought America would look at what Dumbya and Reagan REALLY did and never again put corrupt shits like that in office. Instead, we're getting more idiotic and right wing. We're doubling down on messers Rothbard, Hayek and Mises instead of social Democracy.

[DetlefK]

5. Emphasis on "being".

Trump is damaging the republican brand, threatening vulnerable republican seats in the senate. Enough to possibly flip it.

Odds are good for a Democrat becoming next President, which means the GOP will lose the Supreme Court.

Odds are good for a Democrat becoming next President, which means the GOP will lose the election. Which means that the GOP will inevitably draw the conclusion that Trump wasn't conservative enough and that the GOP needs to move even more to the right.

They only have the House until 2020. If the Democrats focus on winning in 2020, they can use the 2020-census to undo the redrawing of districts of 2010 that made fair House-elections impossible.

[Bucky]

11. Trump has alienated minorities, women, economists, the military... AND he's almost even in the polls

But sure, go on telling yourself that Clinton is better at rebranding her negatives than Trump is. Go on smugly believing the election is easily going to go our way.

[DetlefK]

15. It doesn't matter how strongly people like or dislike a politician.

People who worship Trump have one vote each. Republicans who gave up and decided to tolerate him have one vote each.

People who worship Clinton have one vote each. Democrats who came over from the Bernie-wing and decided to tolerate her have one vote each.



No matter how much people like or dislike you, it only matters in terms of vote.
The people who barely tolerate Clinton, will they be more or less likely to vote for her the better they get to know her?
The people who barely tolerate Trump, will they be more or less likely to vote for him the better they get to know him?

[Bucky]

16. It's pretty astounding what people will change their tolerance levels to accommodate.

[Jackie Wilson Said]

6. They are going to come out stronger by opposing Hillary, assuming she wins the nomination.

When Drumpf wins the election, well he has to technically steal it to win it but when he does, the moronic assholes will pretty much destroy everything.

We deserve it, we have poisoned the planet and it is time for us to go.


(We actually have a chance to not do any of this, but certain groups of people are hell bent on making sure Hillary is not supported which will result in this)

Hey, maybe we get lucky, Bernie wins and then the you know who's wont sit out the election. But they plan on punishing us if he doesnt.

[IDemo]

7. The Republican Party has been declared dead and buried many times

And each time it pops out of the grave like a ghoul in a horror flick, looking worse than ever and out for blood.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Ed Wood had it right.

Plan 9 from Outer Space was the REAL instruction manual, not 1984.

[CobaltBlue]

17. IDemo—The Democratic Party is the gift which keeps giving to the Republican Party.

[Bucky]

10. Excellent points

They are not going to implode in 2016. That's always been a silly prediction, based on social liberal elites' (like network pundits) inability to get their minds wrapped around tribal Red State thinking and resentment. The Republicans' corporate owners are too invested in the profits GOP control of Congress yields them.

They do have some long term demographic problems. Their voting base is getting smaller. But they're hardly without more tricks up their sleeves. Every cycle they come up with new and increasingly divisive wedge issues. Trump is showing them how to use the corporate-lobbyist-corruption argument against Democrats. If Clinton wins, by 2020 they'll probably own the antiwar vote (Trump's isolationism is just a foretaste of where that's going). They still have gerrymandering and ALEC's lockstep control of several state legislatures. They still have a disproportionate representation in the US Senate.

[KG]

12. the political narrative is still being driven by the GOP, has been since 1980

[MisterP]

13. look at the first two polls

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster#2016-general-election
a Clinton vs. Trump election’s paradigm is a run between two parties/candidates, Sanders vs. Trump is who can best represent the 70-90% whose agreed-upon needs have been locked out for some decades

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Politically they are massively unpopular

Their policies- to the extent they have them- are unpopular with the majority of the public and they never seem to have anything new to offer. However, they seem to be able to maintain power by bending or breaking rules in terms of gerrymandering districts for optimum electoral advantage and restricting the amount and types of people eligible to vote (mostly those people who won't naturally vote for them) while ensuring maximum turnout for their candidates at local, state, and federal levels. Once in power, they find other ways to insulate themselves and their policies from the rigors of Democracy. Some Democratic and left-wing voters share some of the blame for not remaining active and energized outside of Presidential elections and not voting in every.single.election, sometimes out of apathy and sometimes out of anger. Thus, sometimes the Republicans win just by showing up. It DOES seem like, at least at the moment, that the Republicans are having a much more difficult time winning a national election for POTUS as the candidates they run just suck- and they are being forced to adopt extremist positions to win the primaries that they can't easily walk back in the general. That all being said, it is never wise to write a political obituary until the corpse is stone cold, which is the mistake that some of us obviously made after 2008.