Impeachmen' 2: Electoral Boogaloo

[Dill]

(02-16-2021, 02:38 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: You know, this just highlights the problem with parties. The party didn't send the Senator to Washington, the people of Pennsylvania did.

(02-16-2021, 03:17 PM)GMDino Wrote: I see it as a problem with the people who lead the parties.  Now I've only be aware of politics since the early 80's but in reading I don't remember being *this* blatantly bad.

And mind you Trump won PA and the republicans still tried to fight the their own rules that they made to change that.

Well, I think it likely that many of those who "lead" the Republican party thought Trump was guilty. But they voted as they did because they worried not only about party censure, but also about "the people"--their people, the ones who voted them into office and overwhelmingly believe the election was stolen.

And I think it quite likely "the people" of many districts did send their Senators to Washington to support Trump at all costs, and NOT to "defend the Constitution." The GOP has become an illiberal, anti-democratic party. It shapes the beliefs of the people who vote for it, but not without considerable help from other illiberal institutions, like Evangelical churches and the RWMM.

But if by "the people" we mean the total population of the U.S., they, on the other hand, certainly thought Trump guilty AND impeachable under the Constitution, and would have been happy if their Senate representatives had voted appropriately.

David Leonhardt has it right. The GOP has figured out how to rule as minority party, especially via control of the Senate, which they largely keep with the filibuster.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/briefing/winter-storm-president-biden-meghan-markle-pregnant.html

Today’s Republican Party is less concerned with national public opinion than it used to be — or than today’s Democratic Party is.

The Republican Party of the past won elections by persuading most Americans that it would do a better job than Democrats of running the country. Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower each won at least 57 percent of the vote in their re-election campaigns. George W. Bush won 51 percent, largely by appealing to swing voters on national security, education, immigration and other issues. A party focused on rebuilding a national majority probably could not stay tethered to Trump.

But the modern Republican Party has found ways other than majority support to achieve its goals.

It benefits from a large built-in advantage in the Senate, which gives more power to rural and heavily white states. The filibuster also helps Republicans more than it does Democrats. In the House and state legislatures, both parties have gerrymandered, but Republicans have done more of it. In the courts, Republicans have been more aggressive about putting judges on the bench and blocking Democratic presidents from doing so. In the Electoral College, Democrats currently waste more votes than Republicans by running up large state-level victories.

All of this helps explain Trump’s second acquittal. The Republican Party is in the midst of the worst run that any party has endured — across American history — in the popular vote of presidential elections, having lost seven of the past eight. Yet the party has had a pretty good few decades, policy-wise. It has figured out how to succeed with minority support.

Republican-appointed justices dominate the Supreme Court. Republicans are optimistic they can retake control of both the House and the Senate next year (even if they win fewer votes nationwide). Taxes on the wealthy are near their lowest level in a century. Democrats have failed to enact many of their biggest priorities — on climate change, Medicare, the minimum wage, preschool, gun control, immigration and more.

Yes, Trump’s acquittal bucks public opinion. But it still might not cost the Republicans political power.