07-30-2023, 12:10 PM
(07-28-2023, 11:56 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: This is actually a decent topic, as the GOP should have easily picked up the PA and GA seats. GA because Georgia is still a red state and PA because Fetterman was a god awful candidate. Sadly, no one to the right of Mao is going to think the actual intent of this thread is to have an honest discussion on the topic.
I think it's a fascinating discussion as well and speaks to the impact populism can have on our electoral system.
My godfather, much like you is a Republican living in exile on the West Coast. He's 81, a retired Naval pilot and has lived all over the world. When I want a grounded answer about something political, he's the dude I ask. Half Moon Bay Area. He's a very tolerant guy, but he's also very quick to vocalize his disdain for just about any non-social liberal thinking. I asked him about Trump early, and he was unworried. He thought Trump's main goal was to reign in immigration and that he and Sessions at the time would have their hands full enough fulfilling that campaign "promise" to do any real damage otherwise. Now, he does not like Trump as a person, but he's going to vote for him 100 percent of the time vs any Democrat, no questions asked.
Last year I picked his brain about Trump. He got kind of quiet and frustrated. He told me that he honestly hated Trump, but would vote for him again, as said. I asked why and he told me that he hated Trump because his rise to power all but guaranteed that he'd never see another Republican president in his lifetime.
Presidential candidates/presidents become defacto party leaders regularly. DJT is no different in that. Where he does differ is in the psychological grip he has on a huge portion of the GOP base. Party elders no longer matter as long as he's the most visible and popular figure in the party. Strategy means nothing because if it's not his strategy it's not happening. You can't circumvent him because he will certainly turn the base against you. Even if you best him in a primary, which you won't, he'll kill whatever candidate succeeds him on social media as long as he sees fit. He's the most savage and feral campaigner in the history of this country, therefore opposing him is borderline political suicide.
It's a really interesting thing to watch. I agree that both of those seats would likely gone red under a normal GOP leadership scenario. Trump handpicked celebrities such as Walker and Oz (also a carpetbagger), and to a lesser extent Lake. It's what he knows. It backfired badly. There's no way a McConnell run party picks those people. DeSantis, just for a random example, probably has better instincts than that as well. The people pumping in campaign money definitely do.
Trump's presidency broke a lot of cycles, not all beneficial to his party. Midterms are a glaring example. The party can abandon him at their own peril, but they most definitely can not abandon his base.
