Also - why the fascination with Cheney et al? Human nature. Jesus even claimed God was prone to it - see the parable of the prodigal son.
I do think again there is a bit of a truth in the ‘not a conservative’ argument - at least from a conservative viewpoint. The fact that the minimal government credo only helped those already powerful was very obvious to the left, but probably what water is to fishes to the wealthy, white, straight Christians on the right.
These are the people who are loyal to the system because the system is loyal to them. They don’t want radical change. And Trumpism, project 2025 is (for them) way too radical.
What fucked over these ‘John McCain’ Republicans is their small government policies of keeping the rich rich and the poor poor were really unpopular, so to get the votes they needed they turned to the religious right and dog whistles to white identity politics.
So for a while it was good, they stayed rich and powerful, everyone else was broke working 3 jobs, and white Christian people were now being constantly fed rage bait about Muslims and Welfare and unwed mothers, just so they would turn up every election and vote Republican.
They could even flatter themselves a little, at not being ‘those kind’ of republicans, they understood evolution! They had gay friends!
Then a candidate showed up who was willing to foreground the racism and the religious nuttiness, and he was wildly popular. Sure this was annoying - but they were ‘the adults in the room’. They got some stupendous tax cuts - enough to make Gary Cohen ignore the swastikas daubed on his daughter’s school locker. *
It was only when Trump threatened the System - the Constitution and the Rule of Law that they had all done so well out of, that they crossed the Rubicon. Because they finally twigged this guy could start another Civil War. They were the direct beneficiaries of the founding fathers, the constitution and the ‘liberal republic.’ If it’s overthrown they could lose more than just a tax break.
*True story. Dad of the year! Cohen said after Charlottesville that his daughter had had a swastika spray painted on her school locker. He stated he thought long and hard about resigning when Trump made his ‘good people on both sides’ statement.
Then he thought about how horribly unfair the rate of Corporation Tax was in America, and all those poor suffering companies, so he just lay back and thought of passing the tax bill. What a hero.
Thanks Jonathan once again and love the attention to Ballard. If a Utahan was seriously worried about underage sex abuse he could have just put gas in his van and tooled around the state investigating polygamist compounds of his fellow mormons.
Thank you, Jonathan, for your long excellent rant on these republicans who are speaking up against the carnival barker but are not helping to rid their party of the maga representatives and those who aren't speaking out publicly against same circus clown but are helping to keep same magas imbedded in Congress. Yeah Dick Cheney is voting for Harris. That's only 1 less strike against him. There are many more strikes I won't easily forget and neither should anyone else.
TBH the one thing that could put a dent in the Harris enthusiasm is Dick Cheney showing up at your door to canvass for MVP.
So even if he was 100% stoked, excited, wild to go pound some pavement for Kamala I’m sure they just distracted him with some fresh kittens to eat and a compilation VHS of Russian/IDF/ISIS torture Telegram.
I don't trust *anyone* who still identifies as Republican. They may deplore trump but they haven't changed their retrograde policy stances.
Also - why the fascination with Cheney et al? Human nature. Jesus even claimed God was prone to it - see the parable of the prodigal son.
I do think again there is a bit of a truth in the ‘not a conservative’ argument - at least from a conservative viewpoint. The fact that the minimal government credo only helped those already powerful was very obvious to the left, but probably what water is to fishes to the wealthy, white, straight Christians on the right.
These are the people who are loyal to the system because the system is loyal to them. They don’t want radical change. And Trumpism, project 2025 is (for them) way too radical.
What fucked over these ‘John McCain’ Republicans is their small government policies of keeping the rich rich and the poor poor were really unpopular, so to get the votes they needed they turned to the religious right and dog whistles to white identity politics.
So for a while it was good, they stayed rich and powerful, everyone else was broke working 3 jobs, and white Christian people were now being constantly fed rage bait about Muslims and Welfare and unwed mothers, just so they would turn up every election and vote Republican.
They could even flatter themselves a little, at not being ‘those kind’ of republicans, they understood evolution! They had gay friends!
Then a candidate showed up who was willing to foreground the racism and the religious nuttiness, and he was wildly popular. Sure this was annoying - but they were ‘the adults in the room’. They got some stupendous tax cuts - enough to make Gary Cohen ignore the swastikas daubed on his daughter’s school locker. *
It was only when Trump threatened the System - the Constitution and the Rule of Law that they had all done so well out of, that they crossed the Rubicon. Because they finally twigged this guy could start another Civil War. They were the direct beneficiaries of the founding fathers, the constitution and the ‘liberal republic.’ If it’s overthrown they could lose more than just a tax break.
*True story. Dad of the year! Cohen said after Charlottesville that his daughter had had a swastika spray painted on her school locker. He stated he thought long and hard about resigning when Trump made his ‘good people on both sides’ statement.
Then he thought about how horribly unfair the rate of Corporation Tax was in America, and all those poor suffering companies, so he just lay back and thought of passing the tax bill. What a hero.
Thanks Jonathan once again and love the attention to Ballard. If a Utahan was seriously worried about underage sex abuse he could have just put gas in his van and tooled around the state investigating polygamist compounds of his fellow mormons.
Thank you, Jonathan, for your long excellent rant on these republicans who are speaking up against the carnival barker but are not helping to rid their party of the maga representatives and those who aren't speaking out publicly against same circus clown but are helping to keep same magas imbedded in Congress. Yeah Dick Cheney is voting for Harris. That's only 1 less strike against him. There are many more strikes I won't easily forget and neither should anyone else.
TBH the one thing that could put a dent in the Harris enthusiasm is Dick Cheney showing up at your door to canvass for MVP.
So even if he was 100% stoked, excited, wild to go pound some pavement for Kamala I’m sure they just distracted him with some fresh kittens to eat and a compilation VHS of Russian/IDF/ISIS torture Telegram.