Where do the Republicans go from here?

[Grifman]

I've been thinking of starting this thread for a while and the election is still out there, but I've already seen some discussion of this in other threads and I've thought the topic deserved its own. And win or lose, the Republicans are going to have to make some decisions about their future - will it be full on Trumpism, or will saner heads prevail? And what do they do about a base that actually cares more about Trump than the party itself.

I'll start with a couple of articles. The first is Republican Senator Ben Sasse finally going public and saying what we knew almost every Republican leader was thinking:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/p ... trump.html

That's one path, a repudiation of Trumpism (cowardly though it was a this point when it appears the s*** is going to hit the fan). Can the party leaders save the party from itself?

But there are others. One would be fully embracing the insanity, an alliance of MAGA world and Qanon:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/1 ... ent-429739

So where do the Republicans go? Can reasonable conservatives reclaim their party? Or have they created a monster, a base so radicalized by FOX News and conspiracy theories and so far removed from reality that the old Republican Party no longer exists? Even with a Trump defeat, I can see the base flocking to Donald Trump Jr as their next savior, regardless of his electability in a general election. And if Trump wins, I'll bet right now that he's the nominee in 2024 - the Trumpist cult/base would demand it.

So what will the Republican Party do? What does their future hold?

[Skinypupy]

Isn't that basically this thread?

[LawBeefaroni]

They can pray that the MAGAbase breaks off into a Trump party or just detached from all reality and they are able to rebuild the party from the ashes.

[Grifman]

Regarding going all in on Qanon:

Kelly Loeffler touted and endorsement of a Qanon candidate and likely House member:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/1 ... ent-429635

Susan Collins gives money to Qanon candidates:

https://mainernews.com/susan-collins-ba ... gislature/

[Paingod]

A more interesting question arises in whether or not they continue to close ranks and gerrymander the US political map despite consistently being in the minority.

I love that they rail against having DC and Puerto Rico become states, like they'd automatically come in Blue - and like the US was founded with 50 states to begin with and has never grown.

[Grifman]

Isn't that basically this thread?

Heh, I guess it is, didn't see/think of that. The last post was back in Aug so it wasn't very high in the thread list but my bad.

My bad, people can feel free to ignore

I'll post my thoughts there.

Everyone, ignore this thread, I've moved my post to the other one.

[Jaymann]

It reminds me of when the Tea Party took over the GOP. My guess is they will be emboldened by the Supreme Court debacle and double down on the deplorable base. I sincerely hope they try to run another Trump in 2024 who savages Cruz, who to me is a real threat.

[YellowKing]

I have yet to see the Republican party moderate in the face of defeat. In fact, we know the exact opposite is true. They've doubled down on the extremes every time they've been ousted. I expect more of the same.

If Don Jr or some other of his ilk isn't immediately floated as a 2024 contender, I'll eat my #MAGA hat.

Anecdotally, I've got several #NeverTrumper friends who have almost completely embraced moderate Democratic policies. While I don't know that any of them will go so far as to change party affiliation, many of them have expressed an intent to never vote for another Republican in the party's current condition.

[malchior]

Anecdotally, I've got several #NeverTrumper friends who have almost completely embraced moderate Democratic policies. While I don't know that any of them will go so far as to change party affiliation, many of them have expressed an intent to never vote for another Republican in the party's current condition.

This is going to be the macro problem I allude to in the other thread. How do you keep a #NeverTrumper and #AOC fans happy in the same party?