Kiss the ring.
"It would be a shame if something terrible happened to that nice Republican career of yours."
Two weeks ago my U.S. Representative Cliff Bentz, a Republican, announced that he endorsed Donald Trump and supported his election. Bentz spoke to my Rotary club meeting on Wednesday. He didn't address that endorsement, and I didn't ask a question about it in the question-answer period. I thought it would inevitably have come across as a "hard question" from a Democrat. It would be inhospitable in that Rotary situation, where I am a 43-year member of that club and he is our guest speaker.
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| Bentz |
After the meeting I heard from two different club members friendly with Bentz, each sharing a supposed explanation for Bentz' Trump endorsement. One told me that he had heard that Bentz had been threatened with a primary opponent if Bentz didn't endorse Trump right away, and Bentz buckled under that threat. That might be accurate. Who knows?
Another club member said there was no threat of being "primaried." It was just that Bentz knew he would need support from fellow-Republicans on issues of importance to his District. An early public endorsement of Trump would solidify Bentz's position on the GOP team. It might mean better support from fellow Republicans for maintaining dams on the lower Snake River, or protecting timber harvests on Bureau of Land Management lands, or any of the other issues of interest to the Congressional District. That explanation, too, might be true. Who knows anyone's real motivation?
What we know for sure is what Bentz did. He endorsed for election a man who orchestrated an effort to overturn the 2020 election by pressuring people in seven states to sign false affidavits claiming to be duly-elected electors. He then pressured his Vice President to use those documents to justify discarding the votes for Biden, allowing Trump to retain office. None of this is a secret. Bentz joined other GOP leaders by hopping onto the Trump train anyway, and did so when there were still GOP alternative candidates.
Here is where we don't need guesswork: Bentz acted in an environment of pressure to show loyalty to Donald Trump personally. Trump is calling out RINOs. Trump published this warning on his Truth Social platform:
Nikki "Birdbrain" Haley is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our Country. Her False Statements, Derogatory Comments, and Humiliating Public Loss, is demeaning to True American Patriots. Her anger should be aimed at her Third Rate Political Consultants and, more importantly, Crooked Joe Biden and those that are destroying our Country - NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL SAVE IT. I knew Nikki well, she was average at best, is not the one to take on World Leaders, and she never did. That was up to me, and that is why they respected the United States. When I ran for Office and won, I noticed that the losing Candidate's "Donors" would immediately come to me, and want to "help out." This is standard in Politics, but no longer with me.
Trump finished with this:
Anybody that makes a "Contribution" to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don't want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!
The Oregon GOP used to be a diverse party. Republican Senator Mark Hatfield opposed the Vietnam War. Republican Senator Bob Packwood supported abortion rights. Republican governors Tom McCall and Vic Attyeh were moderates. Trump has ushered in a new era of party discipline and loyalty. If you aren't with Trump, you aren't a Republican. You would be on the outs. Trump is purging the party of people of independence or weak loyalty. It isn't enough to support Trump-initiated policies. One needs to support Trump personally.
It is happening right in the open.
At a critical time following the 2020 election Republicans in key positions -- in the military, in the Justice Department, in the White House counsel's office, in the cabinet -- said "no" to Trump when he tried to carry out illegal acts. Those people won't be there in his next administration, and they wont be in Congress, either.
Republicans cannot reform themselves. They are afraid to buck the team. It will take an election. When Trump is clearly marked as a "loser" the Republicans will find their courage.
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19 comments:
If Trump loses again, he will announce his run for 2028 just to keep his grip on the Republican Party.
So-called conservatives are telling us how tired they are of hearing the same old tune about their presumptive nominee. They know what a traitorous criminal he is but feel they need to fall in line, like Bentz. So now they’re trying to convince themselves that Jan. 6 was instigated by the FBI like good little MAGAs and we keep reminding them how batshit crazy they are. Why can’t we all just learn to say Sieg Heil?
I say so-called conservatives because real ones, like Liz Cheney and Michael Luttig know that Trump belongs in jail, not on the ballot.
The idea that Trump wouldn't accept money from someone who donated to Nikki Haley is laughable. He's the type of guy who wouldn't leave a solitary penny on the street. He's definitely not going to be saying "No" to money when the Haley campaign inevitably folds and her donors want to come back to him.
On a different note, Cliff Bentz is a typical Republican representative. You'd like to hope he's at least personally turned off by Trump, but for the sake of keeping his career going he can't dare do anything that doesn't seem 100% supportive of Trump, such as an early endorsement. Our 2nd district down here after all is strongly "Trump country" unfortunately.
The only thing that will stop Trump is for him to lose the election. Unfortunately it’s not the number of votes but where the votes are. It comes down to 6 states: Nevada,Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. It’s seems wrong that my vote doesn’t really count, living in Washington as it’s a sure thing he will lose here. Maybe a surprise will happen and Texas or Florida will provide a shock.
I'm a conservative, and I view Cliff Bentz as a RINO. Most conservatives have coalesced behind Trump. Further, Bentz recently got a congressional opponent named Jason Beebe from Prineville. Jason Beebe is a hardcore conservative. Bentz was well aware that he was on the outside looking in. Cliff Bentz doesn't stand for anything, and he was afraid of being usurped by Beebe, so Bentz held an elaborate event to announce that he supported Trump. He only did it to try to enforce the notion that he's part of the team. In truth, Bentz is a RINO in the same mold as Mitt Romney, and Bentz could actually lose his next election. I heard Beebe on the radio, and he is a real conservative, and he came-off sounding good. Bentz knows that he is in trouble. Conservatives have left him. That's why Bentz endorsed Trump. He wants the support of Trump supporters, many of whom will support Beebe.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
On one of his first days in Washington, Cliff Bentz tried to disenfranchise the voters in Pennsylvania as part of Republican effort to overturn the 2020 election. Now he has fully endorsed Trump’s madness and lies, but Curt Ankerberg considers him a RINO and Jason Beebe a real “hardcore conservative.” I hate to think what that might mean.
Qliff Bentz is an apparatchik, dull as dishwater and perfect for today's Fascist Republikans. He will do or say anything to keep that cushy job, and has never, imho, had an original idea in his life.
A good friend, here in Medford, who escaped Communist Prague with her family as a teenager, tried to attend the Bentz Meet and Greet day before yesterday, was intercepted by one of his goons and escorted from the building.
That's Bentz, writ large.
He does have somebody running against him, from Prineville named Jason Beebe, whose politics make Bentz look like Jamie Raskin. Beebes raison d'etre is insulting in vile terms any one who disagrees or challenges him in any manner.
Political power comes from the ability to move/motivate large numbers of people. Like it or not, Trump has that ability, and the power that derives from it.
Ignoring it won’t help. Asserting that it should not exist is pointless whining. Reaching out to Trump’s voters with something that responded to their basic concerns might be effective, but judging by what I see in this forum, folks on the left are not even willing to think about it.
Or maybe they’re just having too much fun indulging in the exercise of their talent for invective and snark.
Jason Beebe makes Bentz look like Jamie Raskin or Katie Porter. His comments on his FB page are horrifying, but I suspect Bentz, coward that he is, is already looking over his shoulder.
Mike Steely. Jason Beebe is running for the Bentz Seat.
Check out his FB page to see what Angerberg considers a "hard-core conservative".
Ed Cooper.....are you an asshole, or what?
My name is Curt Ankerberg, you jackass.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
Gee, Curtis, you're almost as coherent as Jason Beebe.
MT has a good point: We should just reach out to those Trump supporters; I’m sure they’d listen to reason. Oh, wait – they’re the folks who believe Trump won the election, that he’s saving the world from a satanic cult of child sex traffickers and that it was Antifa and BLM who attacked the Capitol. Never mind.
Trump has made no secret of his plans to replace government employees with people loyal to him rather than the Constitution, use the DOJ to wreak vengeance on his opponents and create concentration camps for millions of migrants. I’m sure people in the Weimar Republic thought the Nazis would listen to reason too.
Trump and his supporters’ behavior is so inappropriate that describing it sounds derogatory, but the fault is in the behavior, not the description. Invective and snark are just two of their specialties; projecting their faults onto others is a third. In fact, that pretty much sums up Trump’s legal defense: I’m rubber, you’re glue…
There is no need to get curt,,, 😱
Mr Angerburg you certainly present your positions with aplomb and finesse, let alone the prodigeous span of your vocabulary.
I find it amusing how predictably that you rise to the simplest bait and take immediate offense to a sub-juvenile playground taunt technique that Bonespur uses daily.
Your fragile grip slipped again.
MS: So what’s your strategy for keeping Trump out of the presidency?
RE: "MS: So what’s your strategy for keeping Trump out of the presidency?"
I'm a different Mike, aka M2, but I'll pile on.
The strategy for keeping Trump off the ballot simply isn't working. The charges, the indictments, the lawsuits, etc. were all supposed to keep him off. The constant media reminders have kept Trump in the news, but for all the wrong intended consequences.
If only thy had all kept Trump out of the news every single day, and talked more about the issues facing our country, and which candidate could make things better for everyone.
Now Trump is a martyr, and it's not only Republicans who are supporting him, but also tried and true Democrats, and more importantly, the non-D and non-R middle. Given a choice between Biden or Trump, some are choosing Trump rather than neither of them.
That's why I continue to say this will be a never-Trump vs never-Biden race.
The voters will be deciding this race, not the Parties, and certainly not our media.
Trump is a traitorous criminal and aspiring autocrat. Defeating Trump will entail ensuring that more voters care about our republic and its Constitution than don't.
Congress exists to keep the Executive branch in check, not to be its thugs.
Bentz is a coward who wants to destroy this country.
I am so glad I never enlisted in the military. If our elected officials don't care about this country why should our servicemen/women?
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