Exclusive: Dozens of former Bush officials leave Republican Party, calling it 'Trump cult'

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



Mon, February 1, 2021, 6:14 AM
By Tim Reid

(Reuters) - Dozens of Republicans in former President George W. Bush's administration are leaving the party, dismayed by a failure of many elected Republicans to disown Donald Trump after his false claims of election fraud sparked a deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol last month.

These officials, some who served in the highest echelons of the Bush administration, said they had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen.

But with most Republican lawmakers sticking to Trump, these officials say they no longer recognize the party they served. Some have ended their membership, others are letting it lapse while a few are newly registered as independents, according to a dozen former Bush officials who spoke with Reuters.

"The Republican Party as I knew it no longer exists. I’d call it the cult of Trump," said Jimmy Gurulé, who was Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Bush administration.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-dozens-former-bush-officials-111446506.html

[Siwsan]

1. Perhaps trump* has triggered a 3rd party - the Republican Independent Party, aka RIP

[mopinko]

6. i like it.has a nice ring to it.

[Auggie]

10. +1

[Mike 03]

17. +2

[mountain grammy]

22. Perfect!

[lastlib]

28. The cult remnant should be named the "Unrepentant Republikan Party"--URP.

[reACTIONary]

35. +10 nt

[WheelWalker]

39. DUzy!!!

[MaryMagdaline]

2. But they were all fine with Carl Rove swift boating John Kerry

Band aids anyone?

[Aviation Pro]

3. Tots and Pears

Would be more appropriate.

[theneworiginal]

31. And pardoning Tom Delay. Oh, and, test driving Trump's playbook.

Politicizing the FCC to keep everyone on message. Threatening dissent ("there oughta be limits on freedom" GHB) Being above the Law, like, say, shooting someone in the face without accountability. And, lest we forget, co-opting military leaders to lie us into war--a shout out to Colon Powell who appears confused about his objection to tRump Tactics of today. I could go on...


Spare me, Assholes. You are hypocrites of the lowest order. We are reaping what you sowed.

[MaryMagdaline]

33. Perfect compilation of their lawlessness and hypocrisy

[crickets]

45. Spot on.

Welcome to DU, theneworiginal!

[Coventina]

4. when you've lost the Bushco. Evil Empire.....

I guess you've proved your incompetence?



Sorry, but, not sorry.....these guys get no credit for any sort of "principles."

[Turin_C3PO]

8. It just shows how terrible Trump

and the current Republicans are that they can’t keep the loyalty of a band of war criminals. I’m fine with them speaking out against current Repubs but I don’t want them on our team, trying to drag us rightward.

[AllyCat]

15. Right? How bad are they that even the Bush Crime Family and their accomplices

don't want to stay? No tears here. And no trust either.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

47. Exactly.

Just like Steve Schmidt & other LPers who are excellent allies in opposing Trump, I don't believe they'll have run far enough away from the Right to be the kind of Dem (if any of the others even become Dems) who will support truly progressive policies.

[UpInArms]

5. Whatever the republicans do,

Doesn’t really matter ... they are the cult of death

[efhmc]

12. My favorite hashtag. #GOPTrumpDeathCult

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

7. It's a distillation process...

Evaporating the “sane” leaving the pure crazy.

[Harker]

19. Good use of quotation marks.

Sanity is merely relative.

Pushing the envelope has been their play for so long that it's starting to turn back on them.

[sarge43]

9. Too little, way too late

Band Aids, yellow cake, Katrina, etc?

[flibbitygiblets]

32. Kids in cages, bounties on US troops

They were cool with that too

[sarge43]

34. Those most of all, plus over 400K dead Americans.

As long as they were 'winning', that's all that mattered.

[eShirl]

11. They just now noticed.

[Wounded Bear]

13. Meh, what are they actually gonna do to combat Trump?

If all they do is make some petulant declaration of separation from the party, who cares?

Will that take any voters away from the crazies running the party now?

[Cosmocat]

14. This is NOT good

The party is ceding itself to the crazies.

This is really the worst case scenario, you would like to have seen the trump wing break off into a third party.

What is happening now is that 95% of the party will be calcify around the Greene lunatics.

For all their big talk, they are spineless POS ...

[JI7]

18. Most of the party has already been far right extremist with supporr for Trump

these people need to join with Democrats to defeat them.

They need to destroy the Republican party as it is now before they can change it.

[Cosmocat]

20. That is the only hope - whether they like it or not the choice is binary

Steve Schmidt gets it - he fought it a bit trying to support the Starbucks guy, but he got there. Registered D, said he knew there were things he would not agree with the Ds on, but that the choice is us (reason, decency, the concept of a democracy) vs them (a freakshow chrisofascist authoritarian state).

[Efilroft Sul]

16. Just two sides of the same mobbed-up coin.

Let the two mobs bring each other down.

[Cosmocat]

21. That isn't going to happen

Cause they will default the common enemy - us.

There simply is too great of a mass that has been sucked into the freakshow.

They are a SMALL portion of the "right" side of this country.

This is a us vs them moment.

Either they are with us or they are with them.

[Efilroft Sul]

24. I remember Bush supporters calling us traitors for not supporting W's ginned-up invasion reasons.

And Team Bush did nothing to lower the rhetoric in 2002 and 2003. I'm not one to forget that, nor forgive them for the loss of all the blood and treasure suffered in Iraq. In short, the enemy of our enemy isn't necessarily our friend.

[Cosmocat]

37. Same here my friend

It of course means nothing now, but I still remember and hold a grudge for all the assholes who slagged up for ENABLING THE TERRORISTS! when we called bullshit on Iraq.

The ginned up enough nationalism to get Bush II reelected, then slunk back into their holes, only to reemerge as the "Tea Party" when we were so vile as to pass THEIR FUCKING VERSION of health care reform.

And, for good measure, I remember Nwet Gingrich and all the asshole like Joe Scarborough who got swept into congress in 1994 and spent the next 6 years crawling up Bill Clinton's ass, desperately trying to find something to take him down before impeaching him for ... lying about a blow job. Oh, the vapors the likes of Lindsey Graham had over how that was the biggest threat our country has ever seen ... Now of course.

I saw this was where we headed way back then ...

[NNadir]

23. I believe that we do need a sane opposition party and I hope a new party will form from...

...the disaffected.

When our ideas are challenged in a sane manner, defending them causes the ideas to strengthen.

I am a Democrat, something of which I am proud, but I am not dancing in the streets because of the on going self destruction of the Republican party. Of course, the opposition party I'd like to see would be that of Gerald Ford, one that existed a long time ago.

It is ironic that the last American political party to self destruct was the Whig Party - which had been the party of Abraham Lincoln - and it also fell apart because of racism, a racism far more virulent than the racism that defines the modern Republican party of course, that being slavery.

The Whigs were notable for their support of government funded infrastructure, something that is anathema to modern Republicans, whose entire existence has now boiled down to racist craziness.

Putin must be dancing with joy.

[Escurumbele]

25. An investigation must take place, these people have been compromised

They act scared, you can see it in their faces, when they speak, they are trembling inside. What did trump and the Russians do to these people to make them so afraid? I don't buy the "base" stuff, they are scared that a lot of dirt is going to be outed and they may even face jail time.

What did trump say/do to Lindsey Graham to make him take a U-Turn only after a game of Golf? It was definitely not trump's selling skills, we know he has zero, something was said that day to Graham that the next day he became an official lap dog for the buffoon.

INVESTIGATE!

[trc]

26. So much pearl clutching,

but they will still vote for republicans at all levels. Won't make any difference at all.

[Thekaspervote]

27. Let the exodus continue!!

I find it interesting the little Kevin says they are poised to regain the house in ‘22...yet you are driving everyone away...good thinking kevie!!

[Cosmocat]

38. Honestly, the math looks very troubling

They made gains this cycle, they only need a few seat to flip it.

They are losing a very nominal number of the party - most are perfectly fine with it and just as angry and determined as before.

Meanwhile, mid term, after a huge GOTV to win the presidency, what do dems do ???

Not show up.

[Midnight Writer]

40. Yep, I look for them to come back big in 2022. We can't be complacent.

[c-rational]

29. It took them this long - Shame on them. They think they deeserve some praise now?

[Ferrets are Cool]

30. You know you're in trouble when followers of a War Criminal leave your party.

[BobTheSubgenius]

36. Nice PR gain, but I'd be excited if they could turn "dozens" into "millions."

Even 100s of 1000s.

[bronxiteforever]

41. The GOP is a dumpster fire. Can't govern competently, zero ideas

to lead the Country & a combination of the vilest party leaders in modern history. The only things left are rage demons, Nazis and Qanon shamans. The suburban vote may be lost for a generation if we are lucky.

[sakabatou]

43. And yet, they'll still vote with Republicans anyway

[Cosmocat]

46. YEP ... cause LIBERALS, COMMIES, BABY KILLERS, FLAG BURNERS, ETC.

The biggest problem BY FAR is going on a half a century of them skull screwing the country to thing we are the spawn of satan.

[NealK]

44. The repukes should have done that or something else...

when Newt Gingrich started to gain traction. He was one of the first to be such a nasty prick.