Sunday, September 1, 2024

Easy Sunday: Republicans, back before Trump

If you voted for Ronald Reagan or either Bush for president, why are you a Republican now?

You are better than that. Aren't you?

Reagan and the Bushes were respectful and conscientious. They appealed to Americans' best instincts and values. Trump appeals to their worst.

Take a look at Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in a 1980 debate. See what a Republican used to be.

YouTube: three minutes

The GOP fell to Trump's level. Back in 2016, when Ted Cruz attempted to be known as a "TrusTED" truth-teller, this is his analysis of Trump. He said Trump says wildly crazy things. He said that Trump is a pathological liar. Watch a bit of Cruz and see how prescient he was.

YouTube: four and a half minutes

A dozen  years from now I expect Republicans will look back and try to whitewash or minimize this era of Trump. They will see it as a summer thunderstorm that came and went. They will dismiss it as a moment of popular excess, like enacting Prohibition or the McCarthy era. 

Republican voters could have chosen Nikki Haley. Instead they chose Trump. In a dozen years they will say, "That wasn't really us." But for now, it is them.



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8 comments:

Low Dudgeon said...

I remain a Republican for the reasons I became one originally as an 18 year-old—history, conceptions of human nature, foreign policy.

The progressive worldview of (as I see it) collectivist leveling, ethical relativism, and pathologizing of the West is never for me.

Not only is Trump not bigger than the party, he is himself only a latter-day and nominal Republican, by idle, opportunistic happenstance.

I supported Ted Cruz as our best candidate in 2016. As noted in this post, at one point the scales fell from his eyes on Trump. They will again.

Mike said...

The old GOP is forever gone, replaced by cultists who don't believe in facts, put party before country and pander to White Christian Nationalists, their new base.

Ed Cooper said...

It will take a skilled surgeon to detach Cubanadian Cancuns lips from The Convicted Felons ample fundament.

Peter c said...

Go back even further to 1972.McGoven vsNixon. I had a bumper sticker on the back of my car that featured a big tongue with the caption Lick Dick. We got’em in 2 years.

M2inFLA said...

Conservativism for me, not liberal or progressive.

I don't donate to any party.

My vote goes to the candidate who better supports my worldview.

Unfortunately, our candidates lately have more negatives than positives.

The center will determine the outcome.

Sure, many things about Trump bother me a lot. That said, there are many things he does well.

As for Harris, her definition of a 60 minute first interview as a candidate delivered 16 minutes of word salad. I was in no mood to have a salad.

Mike said...

Everybody know that Trump is a convicted felon with more indictments outstanding for his attempt to overthrow the government. Then there’s his racism and misogyny. Of course, there are some things he does well, such as lie a lot and call people stupid names.

It’s too sad seeing Republicans, many who probably imagine themselves to be rational, willfully ignoring his criminality and personality disorders to justify voting for him. The fact is, they are worse than Trump because without them, he’d just be a common criminal.

Mike said...

I see that Trump's standing has risen in the polls by 0.1%. Republicans must have liked the disrespect he displayed in Arlington National Cemetary.

Ed Cooper said...

Cast my first Democratic Vote for George McGovern, and still believe he'd have gotten us out of Vietnam with less trauma than Tricky Dick.