Defining the 21st Century Republican Party?

[Octavious]

So on my way home some psycho was setting up a Trump rally in the Quick Check parking lot to my left. To my right was a guy on a bike with black lives matters on the back of his outfit. I wonder if they could be friends?

[malchior]

Gaetz is now claiming that a DOJ official was trying to extort him for $25M or they'd 'smear his name'. He also claimed his father was wearing a wire and working with the FBI to flush them out. He is demanding the FBI release the "tapes" to clear his name.

[Skinypupy]

Gaetz is now claiming that a DOJ official was trying to extort him for $25M or they'd 'smear his name'. He also claimed his father was wearing a wire and working with the FBI to flush them out. He is demanding the FBI release the "tapes" to clear his name.

[malchior]

There is a bit of a major inconsistency about the Gaetz's totally sane claim. He claims the extortion scheme has been playing out over the last 'few weeks'. However, the announced investigation was greenlit by Barr who resigned in December.

[Holman]

Innocent until proven guilty but Gaetz is 100% asshole either way.

Earlier today Gaetz was reported to be considering leaving Congress for a media position at Newsmax. I assume we're just a few hours from even Newsmax throwing him under the bus.

[malchior]

Sure he is innocent until proven guilty but he has been caught lying in the past. This appears to be a major whopper of a lie even if the allegations are untrue. I half expect the Newsmax story might be fabricated or overblown too. Maybe he knew the NYT story was coming and tried to get out in front but some detail caught him off-guard. In the end, the timing of all this breaking news looks bad for him as well.

[Skinypupy]

This Gaetz tweet (which was creepy AF to begin with) has aged well.

[Defiant]

This Gaetz tweet (which was creepy AF to begin with) has aged well.

[Isgrimnur]

Depends on what part of Florida he's talking about. There's plenty of oldsters around. Now if he's talking Orlando, yeah...

[Isgrimnur]

Thanks, Ballotpedia!

[YellowKing]

A Republican creeping on underage girls? Grab my fainting couch! Anyone who's as obsessed as these guys are at pointing fingers at the left for sex trafficking are surely doing it themselves. I've been saying it all along.

[Holman]

Totally the denial you make when the claim hasn’t even entered the news cycle.

[malchior]

I just watched more excerpts of this. This has to be one of the most time compressed political meltdowns we've seen in years.

This morning: Gaetz says he might retire from the House and work at Newsmax.

Afternoon: NY Times breaks story about DOJ investigation into his relationship with an underage girl

Early Evening: Gaetz rants about convoluted extortion scheme related to the investigation and drags his father in.

Slightly later: Goes on Tucker Carlson to implicate himself, turn Carlson into a witness potentially, and essentially throw a grenade in the fire.

[Isgrimnur]

Couldn’t happen to a guy with a more punchable face.

[Jaymann]

Couldn’t happen to a guy with a more punchable face.

He interned under Bob's Big Boy.

[pr0ner]

LOL.

[Kraken]

Despite criticism, Charlie Baker still gets high marks.

His overall approval rating is 67%. "Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said they approved of Baker’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, though he got lower marks — 58 percent approval — for the vaccine rollout in particular, the poll shows."

Charlie is a Republican in a deep-blue state, and I'm among the majority who thinks he's a good governor.

Baker’s popularity, Paleologos said, is “an unprecedented statistical phenomenon that he’s maintained after being in office for such a long period of time.”

Notably, Baker got higher marks from Democrats than Republicans, as some in his own party have said his restrictions on business go too far. Women, as well as Black and Hispanic residents, approved of Baker at higher rates than men and white and Asian residents.

If the GOP has a future, Charlie Baker is pointing the way. He's the reason I haven't jumped on the "I'll never vote for any Republican ever again" train. If he runs for another term, Democrats will be hard-pressed to find a better candidate.

[Pyperkub]

Yet another GOP Politician unloads on what the 21st Century GOP has become.... *after* retiring and years too late to do anything about it but whine:

In the 2010 midterm election, voters from all over the place gave President Obama what he himself called “a shellacking.” And oh boy, was it ever. You could be a total moron and get elected just by having an R next to your name—and that year, by the way, we did pick up a fair number in that category....

...Some of them, well, you could tell they weren’t paying attention because they were just thinking of how to fundraise off of outrage or how they could get on Hannity that night. Ronald Reagan used to say something to the effect that if I get 80 or 90 percent of what I want, that’s a win. These guys wanted 100 percent every time. In fact, I don’t think that would satisfy them, because they didn’t really want legislative victories. They wanted wedge issues and conspiracies and crusades.

[pr0ner]

[El Guapo]

I feel like a resolution to tell Ted Cruz to go fuck himself would be the single easiest way for Biden to score a massive bipartisan victory.

[Kurth]

Despite criticism, Charlie Baker still gets high marks.

His overall approval rating is 67%. "Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said they approved of Baker’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, though he got lower marks — 58 percent approval — for the vaccine rollout in particular, the poll shows."

Charlie is a Republican in a deep-blue state, and I'm among the majority who thinks he's a good governor.

Baker’s popularity, Paleologos said, is “an unprecedented statistical phenomenon that he’s maintained after being in office for such a long period of time.”

Notably, Baker got higher marks from Democrats than Republicans, as some in his own party have said his restrictions on business go too far. Women, as well as Black and Hispanic residents, approved of Baker at higher rates than men and white and Asian residents.

If the GOP has a future, Charlie Baker is pointing the way. He's the reason I haven't jumped on the "I'll never vote for any Republican ever again" train. If he runs for another term, Democrats will be hard-pressed to find a better candidate.

Baker is the real deal. I’d love to see him run for President, but I have a hard time seeing any path there.

[El Guapo]

Despite criticism, Charlie Baker still gets high marks.

His overall approval rating is 67%. "Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said they approved of Baker’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, though he got lower marks — 58 percent approval — for the vaccine rollout in particular, the poll shows."

Charlie is a Republican in a deep-blue state, and I'm among the majority who thinks he's a good governor.

Baker’s popularity, Paleologos said, is “an unprecedented statistical phenomenon that he’s maintained after being in office for such a long period of time.”

Notably, Baker got higher marks from Democrats than Republicans, as some in his own party have said his restrictions on business go too far. Women, as well as Black and Hispanic residents, approved of Baker at higher rates than men and white and Asian residents.

If the GOP has a future, Charlie Baker is pointing the way. He's the reason I haven't jumped on the "I'll never vote for any Republican ever again" train. If he runs for another term, Democrats will be hard-pressed to find a better candidate.

Baker is the real deal. I’d love to see him run for President, but I have a hard time seeing any path there.

I'm worried that he'll run for Senate, and then (if he wins) spend six-plus years abetting Mitch McConnell while joining the Susan Collins Frown Club.

[malchior]

I'm worried that he'll run for Senate, and then (if he wins) spend six-plus years abetting Mitch McConnell while joining the Susan Collins Frown Club.

That for me distills why I won't vote for any GOP member ever again*. Until they are broken we face a world where even the moderates are used to play out the worst version of the conservative dilemma -- an increasingly authoritarian tyranny of the minority. It is unacceptable.

* Ever being a long time since the GOP isn't changing any time soon.

Even McConnell is trending towards full culture war for real, at least since it is becoming apparent that the Chamber is starting to slip out of their grasp as Corporate America shies away from an ever radicalizing GOP. We really do appear to be accelerating to some end game where either the GOP dies or will succeed in destroying our democracy. They are incompatible with liberal democratic values.

[Jaymann]

Mr. Turtle prefers to hijack the country from marginally within the Constitution.

[malchior]

Yeah it's a crazy statement.The man has been at the epicenter of the death of our politics for decades and really you get a look behind the mask here. He is anti-American values at his core. Corporations using their free speech rights to advocate for tax breaks is ok but advocating for voting rights is not. In the end, the guy realized he lost the 'reasonableness' battle after his impeachment speech, weeks later he shed his skin, and is remaking himself anew in Trump's image. It's gross.

[malchior]

Uh...this might be bad.

[Isgrimnur]

I would love to see them attempt to define it.

[Holman]

Uh...this White be bad.

FTFY

[$iljanus]

Uh...this might be bad.

Wow, white folk sure can be uppity...

[Zarathud]

Somebody remind Mitch McConnell that it’s his fault corporations are people with free speech rights to give money freely for political purposes. Too bad for him the market now has to take into account consequences other than tax cuts.

So bite me, Mr Turtle.

[raydude]

Uh...this might be bad.

Wow, white folk sure can be uppity...

They're not sending their best.

[YellowKing]

"Traditional American way of life" is code for "Straight white male Christian way of life."

[Isgrimnur]

"Traditional American way of life" is code for "Straight white male Christian way of life."

I want to hear them say it.

[LordMortis]

Somebody remind Mitch McConnell that it’s his fault corporations are people with free speech rights to give money freely for political purposes. Too bad for him the market now has to take into account consequences other than tax cuts.

So bite me, Mr Turtle.

^^^^^^

Warning them to stay out of politics after courting billions from the shadows is puppies.

Demanding the market decide everything but the things he and the people who vote for him don't want the market to decide is unconscionable.

Worst American of my lifetime though it turns out the last president has given him a run for his money and may yet exceed him, even if McConnell opened the door and invited him in, thinking he could and his feral dogs could be controlled.

[Alefroth]

The GOP as a cultural minority may have oversized political influence because of an unrepresentative senate, but I think corporations are showing they are realizing where the true majority is.

[El Guapo]

The GOP as a cultural minority may have oversized political influence because of an unrepresentative senate, but I think corporations are showing they are realizing where the true majority is.

They have different constituencies - they have to avoid alienating consumers in the marketplace as well as avoid alienating current / future employees too much. I also suspect that there are plenty of Mitt Romney-style Republicans but very few out and out Trumpists among corporate leadership.

[Jaymann]

The GOP as a cultural minority may have oversized political influence because of an unrepresentative senate, but I think corporations are showing they are realizing where the true majority is.

And while Democrats aren't likely to scrape the cupboard bare with insane corporate tax cuts, they know who butters their bread.

[El Guapo]

The GOP as a cultural minority may have oversized political influence because of an unrepresentative senate, but I think corporations are showing they are realizing where the true majority is.

And while Democrats aren't likely to scrape the cupboard bare with insane corporate tax cuts, they know who butters their bread.

And generally speaking, chaos isn't great for business.

[malchior]

And generally speaking, chaos isn't great for business.

Definitely. Our useless media might have mostly forgotten the 1/6 insurrection, but I think the business world saw the abyss. I also think to your point about employees is spot on. They have increasingly had to deal with employee uprisings since the kids are not alright. There are definitely illiberal tendencies there that the business leaders have to balance in the workforce. Delta for instance changed its tune quickly amidst reports theat internal staff had a meltdown over the neutral stance their PR tried to take on the GA voting law changes.

[Jaymann]

Democrats need to pound out the message that voter suppression is bad for business (unlikely but possible). They have a unique opportunity to form a coalition of centrists, liberals, minorities and corporations. Hope they don't blow it.