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All they have is made up culture war bullshit, and nothing is working so they have no choice but to double down.
Drag Queens isn't working. Multiple attempts.
Vaccines isn't working. In fact, it killed a lot of their votes. Multiple attempts anyway.
Books with scary history isn't working. Multiple attempts.
Some dudes laptop didn't work. Multiple attempts.
Abortion is back on the table. Use to work, now its not. Lets give it more attempts.
Maybe a migrant caravan will do the trick this time?
The hilarious part is Desantis going on about it - Florida essentially has the lowest gas stove install base in the country, it's even less that a non-issue down there. Since there's no need for gas heat, very few areas even have gas lines run as part of the local utilities; if you want gas you're getting one of the giant propane tanks in most cases.
South Florida checking in, didn't know gas stoves existed until I was in high school. Can't wait for someone to have a problem with basements. I look forward to Desantis's opinion on that.
This. I couldnt believe it when I heard it. He is clearly addressing people across the country with something that is a non issue in Florida. Its just a move for his presidential hopes. But, only people who live in Florida would be privy to just how few gas stoves there are there.
Honest question: Why don't Republicans have gas stoves? Is it because they rent and most rentals have electric stoves because they are cheaper to install?
Also, sauce please.
Surprisingly, blue states use natural gas more than red.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/02/under-fire-gas-industry-is-hiring-democratic-politicians-help/
Possibly because of all the fossil fuels, NG is the least damaging to the environment? More likely because it's often the cheapest alternative for heating and cooking, and more progressives take the time to actually evaluate long term financial costs.
It problem is that Gas Companies were hiding health issues with gas stoves and children with asthma. Not gas heat with separate exhaust. What are sick kids to the GOP? Nothing they care about.
Most rural areas don't have access to natural gas service. So unless they already have a propane tank for heating reasons, most don't bother to get one just to run the stove.
Many red states, especially in the rust belt, and more rural areas, often don't have gas infrastructure to the home. Somewhat due to weather (you only really needed gas if you used it to heat more efficiently) and somewhat due to expense (rural areas.)
Hicks have less income and have cheaper appliances. They also don't generally take cooking as serious as liberals.
[https://www.statista.com/chart/29082/most-common-type-of-stove-in-the-us/](https://www.statista.com/chart/29082/most-common-type-of-stove-in-the-us/)
The amount of data they have on their voters' behavior is so vast and so detailed at this point, nothing is a coincidence. That data shows that all the things you listed are what motivates them, rather than any tangible issue that actually affects them. They glaze over if you bring up anything else.
If they tone down the loony culture war, they've got nothing.
you don't need their vast amounts of data. You can just look at polls where they are rating concerns about m and m cartoons not wearing high-heeled thigh-high boots over real national emergencies.
consistently fox news outrage dictates how a majority of the base ranks their number one concern.
They do it because their actual policy positions are deeply unpopular.
Tax cuts for the rich, cuts to social security/medicare/medicaid, etc. They can't run on policy because they would lose badly. So they use culture war nonsense and try to keep people afraid of one thing or another at all times. That's the only way they can win.
> Maybe a migrant caravan will do the trick this time?
Right on cue, Trump has started the migrant caravan scare tactics again:
>Now if you [look at these caravans, these are massive, massive caravans.](https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1619401925815828481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1619401925815828481%7Ctwgr%5E2eb2960ad9120258cc0488735dd6d5bbafb138c4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foccupydemocrats.com%2F2023%2F01%2F28%2Frants-unlimited-trump-goes-to-new-hampshire-with-his-looniest-campaign-speech-yet%2F) They have no idea who these people are coming into our country...
No, they're trying to exterminate transgender people.
Over 140 anti-trans bills have been filed so far this year, in just January. Last year as a whole, there were over 330, and the year before less than 100. Several of these bills would ban gender-affirming care for people up to 26 years of age, and for those who have had bottom surgery, withdrawing their HRT would be a *literal* death sentence. Other bills would make it a felony for a trans person *to be seen* by a minor. Literally two days ago, Trump threatened to "criminalize and hunt" all trans people, regardless of age, any doctor who's ever helped us, and any teachers who support us.
Just, you know, you missed one important thing.
Trans folks are just the (unfortunate) latest target. I can guarantee that the GOP doesn't really care about trans people one way or the other.
It's what the focus groups said would get their voters all emotional and rile them up.
Which is what their focus groups said about immigrant caravans or voter fraud before.
Unfortunately it works just enough for them to continue to be a problem. I wish we could move on to the reality where the Democratic party is the conservative party and we have another party to debate with them in good faith.
The fact that Republicans are taken seriously at all, especially after the last 40 years and ESPECIALLY after the last 7, should really be a nationwide embarrassment.
If they just flip on a few of those issues they'd probably *win* a lot more elections. A little scary in and of itself. The abortion reversal just barely stymied the midterms from their favor.
Stop screwing around with the social issues and pretend to care about *the economy* would likely let them clean house. People always fall for that.
Their solution to trans kids sports so far has been 1) genital inspections of children and 2) submitting proof of a menstrual cycle.
I’m somebody who’s not really sold on trans women on women’s sport but the GOPs proposals/bills for addressing it are disgusting
Don’t forget about them pushing to ban the irs. Some republicans believe the irs is gonna kick down their doors and execute them.
One republican politician said he’d let people attack government officials like the fbi. This was right after the trump raid people ate that shit up.
What electing Republicans gets you is cuts. Cuts to everything. Cuts to reproductive rights. Cuts to your bosses taxes. Cuts to social safety nets. Cuts to education. Cuts to government benefits. Cuts to workers rights. All of this makes the wealthy GOP voter very happy.
And the working-class conservative voter base is fine with it. What they want is words. They want sound bites. They want rage bait. They want to feel they are special, righteous and under attack. They want lip service that their elected officials are going to go after whoever Fox tells them is the latest boogeyman. They are fine with Republicans in government cutting their benefits because they believe Democrats will destroy everything they hold near and dear.
It’s crazy that any woman would vote Republican. It’s obvious that their platform has no desire to improve women’s quality of life.
Edit: also minority, person in lgbtq, chronically ill person, person with a conscious, etc.
My lesbian friend voted republican in the last election, and I just can't wrap my head around it. She voted for people who would wish for nothing good for her. My only theory is that we live in a very blue state, and she's got a habit of going against the grain just for the sake of being contrary. It boggles the mind.
I **had** friends that did things “for the sake of being contrary”. Emphasis on had, because over time, I learned “for the sake of being contrary” is just a euphemism for “is kind of a fucking asshole” and stopped associating with them.
And that, my fellow Redditor, is likely why your friend voted R against her own interests; she’s probably just kind of an asshole. 🤷🏽♂️
I've come to the conclusion that it's a low self esteem thing.
They'd rather hurt people they hate more than improve their own lives, partially because they've been trained to believe hatred is all that's left to their lives. This is partially because they've been abused by the GOP's systems for so long. You can find this cycle consistently among just about anybody on the right, save many of the very wealthy who are simple unempathetic sociopaths who stomp on others to be selfish because it's worked for them.
It's the psychological cycle of abuse playing out in the worst ways possible. Of course, these people would break some of that if they choose to be better, but the sheer levels of propaganda the GOP pushes out there makes that choice much less likely. Their ego gets boosted in all the wrong ways by grifters. They are fed hatred and their brains are trained to be hooked on those highs, rather than empathy and helping others.
It's also that the average American is... Ignorant about politics. Like, shamefully ignorant - often on purpose. "I just don't care about that" is something I hear a lot. They can name every single actor in The Last of Us but they can't name their representatives in Congress. They've seen all of the Marvel movies, but they don't understand how X thing that happened affects their daily lives.
While protesting the removal of Roe v Wade, I had a sign that said "PROTECT ROE - PROTECT WOMEN." During the day, I talked to a woman in her late 20s - early 30s who saw my sign and sincerely asked me who Roe is. She had no idea. I told her about the case and she looked completely confused, "Wait, who got rid of abortion?" **She had no idea that this shit had even happened.**
Worse, it's not just ignorance but also a lot of "my team should win" competitiveness.
I talk to Republicans regularly in a pub I visit (it's the only place I've found the ability to reach out without it devolving into anger) and they tell me about how the Trump tax cuts helped them. I explain exactly how it was the single biggest transfer of wealth (deficit spending to give tax cuts to richest Americans that now the average tax payer has to pay back and how the average person lost any tax break now) and they were horrified... They mostly didn't believe me until after several meetings and them "researching it" afterwards and me slapping down each and every argument about how it might somehow be Biden or the Democrats' fault why they lost their tax breaks the last couple years. I bring receipts. They start understanding and seem to get it. ...And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important.
> They start understanding and seem to get it. ...And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important.
Painfully infuriating
It's like:
I am a Christian and believe in God and the Bible.
God hates both adultery and divorce.
I'm seriously thinking about leaving my wife for this woman I'm having an affair with.
It's compartmentalized thinking. The person in my example keeps his religious belief out of the place where he makes his real life decisions for himself. He just doesn't think about it, because of the cognitive dissonance it would cause. That way he keeps the benefit of both for himself.
> And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important.
You aren't going to convince me to buy a different brand of cereal by showing me the nutritional benefits of your brand, I already like the taste of mine.
It's this.
They've gotten used to the flavour.
>The cases of two women, a niece and her aunt, who died of cholera puzzled Snow. The aunt lived some distance from Soho, as did her niece, and Snow could make no connection to the pump. The mystery was cleared up when he talked to the woman’s son. **He told Snow that his mother had lived in the Broad Street area at one time and liked the taste of the water from the pump so much that she had bottles of it brought to her regularly**. Water drawn from the pump on 31 August, the day of the outbreak, was delivered to her. As was her custom, she and her visiting niece took a glass of the pump water for refreshment, and according to Snow’s records, both died of cholera the following day.
https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/snowcricketarticle.html
Lady liked the taste of her favourite poo-water so much she sent her son to keep getting it for her.
I know it may not seem much like it, but you probably are introducing enough cognitive dissonance that it will force them to change eventually. Or at least stop fervently supporting the opposition as hard (donate less, be less of an activist).
Deprogramming and putting doubt into these people is in fact important. Prioritize your safety (because some of the fanatics 'are' dangerous when confronted), but don't feel like what you're doing is a waste just because it didn't change minds this time. Breaking these cycles of programming and abuse is often a long fight, sadly. But it's essential that we keep it up.
Much appreciated but I'm pretty good with these folks... And I have little worry about repercussions because I go to *great lengths* to be safe and to only talk to them in a compassionate way... But I'm also always, always armed and have quite a bit of experience in self-defense, de-escalation, and etc. I genuinely don't think I'll need any of that for these folks as, quite literally the biggest priority they have is drinking at this pub.
I talk politics with conservatives the way a therapist might try to get someone out of a cult. ...Because that's what I'm doing.
I'm just saying you're doing what I wish more of us had the courage to do (and I know it isn't easy) and I appreciate it. I agree that politically speaking we need to focus on turning out the apathetic left leaning voters more to win elections than trying to sway conservatives, but disarming and dismantling the propaganda systems the right lives under is still important and essential to society's long term health. And sometimes that happens from both the top and the bottom.
Back when I was still freshly out of the shelter conservative bubble but just started being able to vote I intentionally voted for deadlock in the government, ie: if it looks like the gop is winning vote down ticket dem, if Dems winning vote gop. I generally hated both parties and thought doing nothing was better than something as I thought both sides "where the same" and both would just fuck shit up if they had supermajorities.
I grew out of it, still generally don't like both parties but understand the GOP is *much worse*
Once I realized that Reagan/Bush were deteriorating my work-life quality I stopped voting Republican nationally but continued to throw them bones down ballot. Once I sensed and then actually saw the depth of lockstep, only ghosts from my own conservative socialization can even translate their current hogwash. Never Republican, never again.
A whole bunch of gay friends in my area fell out with a gay couple that turned out to be misogynistic and transphobic Republicans.
They hid it really well until trump came along- I'll put it that way.
But we excommunicated those guys from our group at this point once we found out and they were generally being unpleasant toward the trans friends in our community, and being just bluntly misogynistic. Their behavior was something I'd expect from high schoolers rather than adults, to be frank.
I get the idea that they want to be different and go again the grain as you say in your own post, because it kinda defies logic otherwise why they would.
One of them is from Russia too, and he made huge posts about hating putin and how he's on a crusade to destroy the gays in Russia and its why he's glad to live in America, yet he can't understand that's what is currently happening here in America with trans and gay folks.
He was supporting conservative views on everything anti-gay and anti-trans which made no sense since he and his bf are gay. Like.....do you have that much cognitive dissonance or something or do you simply not care when it comes to the same thing in America? Do you hate your own relationship? I dunno. But I peaced out. Don't got room for that in my life.
> My only theory is that we live in a very blue state, and she's got a habit of going against the grain just for the sake of being contrary.
And that is how the UK got Brexit.
A coworker of mine is a gay man, drag queen, Hispanic/Black. He voted for Trump TWICE because “he gave me money”. He hates immigrants. HIS MOTHER WAS AN IMMIGRANT. I can’t get my head around it. At all.
You should point out to him that trump basically hasn't given anyone any money, ever, unless absolutely forced to.
Meaning he's never gotten a red cent from trump.
Trump threw a fit because he wanted his signature on the COVID relief checks and wanted them delivered with a letter from Trump, not from the Fed Gov. Pretty sure that's the money they think came directly from Trump and it's exactly why that slimy tactic works.
Seriously sounds more like she’s not of very sound mind. Or at least she’s not exercising it when it comes to thinking about what is best for herself and her interests.
Then again she is in good company because there’s tons of crazy to be had when it comes to those voting for Republicans lately.
I think a good deal of people who vote GOP do it to be contrarian. “Fuck the mainstream. I’m *different*! I’m a free thinker. I don’t go along with the crowd.”
Our entire entertainment complex is built around the anti-hero. Henry Hill. Tony Soprano, Bruce Willis characters, Clint Eastwood, all the hot dog cops who “don’t go by the rules, but who get results.” They buck the system. All politicians, all regulating agencies are bad guys.
Tech industry promotes it, too. “Move fast and break things.” Elon Musk tries to style himself the cool antihero, bucking the system, shooting for the stars. When you tell his fans that he’d be nowhere without government tax dollars, they say, “See? That’s how cool he is. He uses the government for his purposes, not the other way around. I’m glad my tax dollars are funding rockets to Mars.”
You just can’t convince a lot of people that they’re not cool, rule-breaking mavericks. They’re just run-of-the-mill difficult people.
A lot of TERFs vote Republican, many of whom are cis white people who love running HOAs and telling other people to mow their grass and shit like that.
As a trans person I don’t get it at all. Like, they literally fantasize about genociding us. If things continue, they might actually do it. Why on earth would any self respecting trans person support that? I imagine it comes down to the “self respecting” part, sadly. 😢
I know two different men who are in interracial relationships, and both have significantly disabled children who will never live alone and who will always require care. Both vote Republican. Like, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???
Controlling others who disgust them and putting them in their place in the hierarchy they all seem to subscribe to.
Like, its an instant gratification thing, I think.
The ‘risk’ seems to be too fsr in the future or too abstract to really register
[Always gotta love when you see minority Republicans ask why they aren't accepted by the rest of the party.](https://www.businessinsider.com/log-cabin-republicans-invite-excluded-texas-gop-convention-narrow-minded-2022-6)
They fucking hate you. If you aren't a straight, white, rich, Christian, cisgender, male conservative THEY FUCKING HATE YOU. They would rather throw you in a death camp than give you an ounce of support. They'll take your vote but don't think for a second that they think of you as anything more than a useful idiot.
I think it’s worth noting (and this is NOT a both sides thing bear with me) that even if you are a straight, white, Christian, cisgender, male conservative, heck even rich, they still hate you, if you’re not of value to their re-election or a donor.
It’s not a party that respects or cares for anyone. It’s a party that respects and seeks power, full stop. If you have none, you aren’t even on their radar.
It’s the discussed to death issue with social media companies applied to politics. You aren’t the audience, you’re the product. Republicans say whatever they have to, to deliver your vote, the product, to their audience: the people writing checks to campaigns. The tacit agreement being that if they deliver the votes, they’ll get funding, so long as their policy positions further the interests of the donors.
I’d say it’s gotta feel stressful to be a republican politician in such a strange position of tenuousness, but they turned off introspection years ago.
That's not crazy at all. *Some* women stand to gain a ton from republicans in power. Specifically: rich women.
What's really crazy is that anyone with less than 50 million or so would vote Republican.
>What's really crazy is that anyone with less than 50 million or so would vote Republican.
"The poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaire"
Women have been conditioned for centuries to put the needs of men, particularly their husbands, ahead of themselves. The group of women had the highest percentage of Republican votes was married women, even higher than white women. Unmarried women overwhelmingly voted Dem.
Minorities could be a big target for right leaning parties in America? Things like traditional family values, small government ect can be popular. I'm not American so this is a question not a statement, I might be completely off.
But then the right loves to lean so heavy on racism. So they will ironically push those potential voters away.
They already are allies in a lot of ways. Even if those minorities don't vote for the Republican candidate themselves they've often voted in large numbers against propositions if they don't directly benefit.
70% of black voters voted against gay marriage in California is a good example.
that's also the religious element kicking in. 87% of black families are religiously affiliated, slightly higher than the overall population. but 83% are christian, something resembling 5-10% are muslim (it's really hard to nail down numbers on that one), whereas only 1% are jewish. islam and christianity are strongly against gay marriage.
Well of course. Religion is the main reason they'd make natural Republican allies and why they tend to vote conservative on down ballot items other than social issues they directly benefit from.
Guns in the hands of white people.
Gun control was actually created by the GOP ~~(pretty sure Reagan administration)~~ in response to the Black Panthers carrying guns.
Edit: it was created when Reagan was governor of California
Did it really cost them that much?
They still have the supreme court. They have control of half of congress meaning democrats cannot pass anything. Them having 20 more seats in the house would not change anything functionally.
They gave up a couple trifectas in michigan and MN but overall they are fine. The people in kansas voted against abortion bans but still voted for republicans who are for abortion bans. I am not seeing huge consequences for republicans.
It helped a ton on some specific races. Legislatures that would’ve been able to pursue even more voter disenranqhisemrnt or gone along with a plan to put up false electors for 2024 no longer can. Maintaining the senate was absolutely massive. Now judge appointments can proceed.
It’s a stopgap, to be sure, but it’s vastly preferable to the GOP clinching even harder the keys to power
I mean, imagine you make and then lose 1000 dollars every 4 years.
If one year, when you were supposed to make 1000 dollars, you only made 50 dollars because your customers were pissed off at you, would you consider that a loss?
Especially if it’s about to be 4 years later and your customers are still pissed, and your opponents are posed to both make 1000 dollars and gain whatever dollars you lost?
If we get a big enough blue wave, expanding the Supreme Court wouldn’t even be difficult to do.
It is simple, we have a minority rule. The Supreme Court can flip cases, the House can do whatever. While they lost the presidency, the GOP can keep pushing crap out because to Supreme Court. McConnell played the long game and won.
They took back the house! The gop nuked roe and still took back the house!
They didn't lose. The senate was a testament to changing realities in some places but Holly Molly y'all got some work to do.
Go take Texas for real.
>The gop nuked roe and still took back the house!
A big reason is the illegal gerrymandered maps in Florida and Alabama were allowed to be used in the election because the ruling against the illegal maps was too close to the election. They'll have to wait until 2024 to fix it.
Then in New York they did throw out the map and used a map that favored Republicans and the primaries were moved so close to the general election that the Democrats in hotly contested primaries didn't have time or money to fight the Republican.
That's what gave us George Santos who won in a Biden +10 district. He ran unopposed in the primary, so in the short time between the primary and the election, nobody had time or the money to expose all of his lies and crimes.
Just these few things gave at least 5 to 7 seats to the Republicans. If there had been a fair election for those seats, the Dems would have won the House.
They barely won after gerrymandered maps, when a year ago they were projected to win by 40-50 seats. As boomers die, people move, and gen z comes of voting age the house will shift back blue.
They are “good people” and are against abortion ergo abortion is bad and only “bad people” would want abortion. The leakage of prosperity gospel can be seen in the cracks of all of our fabricated cultural wars. What I mean by that is the belief that if one is “good” whatever that person does is “good” and if they are rich it’s because whatever they did to be rich was also good; therefore emulating that person will make you rich, too. If you don’t become rich, it’s because you’re bad, not that the “good””rich” person is an utter fabrication, derelict, and parasite.
Yup. Whenever I hear someone say the GOP believes in nothing and are only after power, I wonder how it’s possible they haven’t noticed they very much believe in straight white male supremacy. The fact that they are so determined to maintain this dominance they would throw out democracy to not only prevent equality from being fully realized, but to reverse the progress that’s been made.
I feel the same when I hear people saying the GOP has no platform. Oh, they have a platform, and it's entirely oppressive to any but white male Christians.
I think it is misogyny veiled by a pretend concern for children. They have no interest in helping actual children at all, for fear of socialism or communism. They don't want to be made to spend a penny to help someone else, even if they'll die. They look down on sexually active women, but believe men are entitled to sex with women. They want no repercussions for the man if he gets a woman pregnant, and in some cases support a man's right to abortion, whether it's forcing the woman into one or financially absolving themselves. The woman must never get a say in what happens to her. It echoes less developed societies in the world and it's time we moved past such antiquated ways of thinking.
Desantis is going for a full 6 week ban without exception for rape or incest.
I’m terrified for young girls. But I’m also terrified for myself. Im perimenopausal. I have a disability. I could die if I get pregnant.
This is going to greatly harm so many women and girls.
They’ve been planning to rule as the ideological minority for a couple of decades. It only works with gutting voting rights, monkeying with election maps and driving down turnout across the board.
There are a lot more committed voters on ‘the right’, sad as it may be they fall in line and everyone else has to fall in love with a candidate to get out and vote. Apathy by design is another tool they’ve been using to instill a ‘why bother? mentality in a large swathe of the potential voters.
You act like women are a unified block who care about their own rights. Republican women *love* controlling other women's bodies, especially the religious loons and willful stepford wives.
Republican women love supporting men over women, it’s the traditional thing to do pretty much everywhere in the world in our male dominated globe, and Republican women support tradition more than they support women’s rights.
Maybe we should talk about why men in every single demographic, by age, race, marital status, are more likely to vote Republican than women. That applies to every election since 1980. Instead of railing about women who are so stupid to vote against themselves, maybe we should put the onus on men since they vote Republican in higher numbers - why is it more acceptable for men to vote against women’s rights than women who have been conditioned for centuries, millenia, really, to support the needs of men over themselves?
Married women is the group that votes Republican in the highest numbers. Unmarried women vote for Dems by a huge margin. That’s pretty indicative of what is influencing women.
Unfortunately these last midterms likely emboldened the GOP. Turnout was down compared to 2018, and that is **after** they killed Roe and attempted to overthrow the government.
Yeah considering they took the House, I don’t think they see it as a loss. With everything that they have done, in public, gleefully, they shouldn’t have won **any** seats.
They saw that they can be as vile, as regressive, and as undemocratic as possible and **still** over half of the country won’t be bothered to show up to vote them out. They put Hershel GD Walker up as a candidate **and it was really close**.
It’s a good indicator that the tide is turning against the GOP in general. If your expected to win in a blow out based on historical projections but you still win but not in such a great magnitude, it can be a fluke or a crystal ball to the future. You pick and check the midterms in 4 years to see if you picked correctly.
It's 110% to keep the political discussion away from economics, wealth inequality, and social support. Abortion bans aren't even aligned with their voter base. It's a talking point manufactured at the top to keep the public fighting for very basic rights instead of being able to worry about other provisions (health care and wealth equality and what-have-you). It works on both sides of the table as well, as it pushed Democrat talking points in this grim direction.
The funny thing is, most people don’t even need to be distracted from the economic issues. The struggle itself is enough to keep them preoccupied.
I read “How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them”, it’s a book by Barbara F. Walter.
She made an interesting point about what a populace is willing to “put up with”, before they revolt. And people will tolerate abject poverty, it wasn’t really linked to economic factors. But if you take away rights and any hope for change, it’s enough to spark a rebellion.
Bingo. Pretty much all of the ongoing culture war rhetoric exists to avoid talking about real pocket book issues and prevent people from thinking about why they can't afford child care or health insurance.
Because they're also trying to kill the free and fair elections where they lose.
The stuff Republicans are doing are parts of a whole that would transform America into a Christian Saudi Arabia. Stop treating this shit as unrelated.
What other choice do they have?
They can't walk back overturning Roe and say "Oh, we don't want to ban abortion completely anymore, we've seen the error of our ways."
No one who supports choice would believe them, and the fundies would get pissed off at their heresy.
So the only option they have is to keep going further right.
They still won the house, and prevented the Dems from getting 52 Senate seats
Clearly abortion cost the GOP from winning a 2010 style win. But also clearly abortion still wasn't enough of a motivation for voters to give Dems the majorities they'd need to actually pass legislation protecting abortion rights. And the GOP see this
Because they are not yet ready to do what is necessary, burn the party to the ground and rebuild from the ashes. They have not lost enough left to "learn". They lost in 2018, they lost big in 2022, they failed to achieve victory in 2022, they will certainly lose the house and the presidency in 2024. Right in the aftermath of 2024 they will start to realize they need to really, really change if they are to stay relevant. They need to extinguish the last vestiges of Trump, stolen elections, abortion, anti gay, evangelicals and maybe even the more blatant racists. They still think the same old things that stopped working year ago are suddenly going to start to work if they just go far right enough.
That’s the thing, though: they can’t. The entire party—their philosophy and platform—is built on axiomatic beliefs that they are incapable of changing. They are fundamentally unable to compromise, and that’s why we haven’t seen do it yet, even though they’ve gotten destroyed in the last four years.
That’s why—and I really hope I’m wrong, but it makes sense—we’re going to see some *top-tier* messing with the vote in 2024. Not just in voter access and that sort of thing, but in states refusing to call elections, refusing to report, etc. Straight-up cheating, in other words. It’s going to be brazen, I think, because they know that this is it.
We are seeing a prediction play out in real life. Fainting couch frequent Lindsay Graham said back in 2015 that if we (GOP) endorse him then we’ll get destroyed and we’ll deserve it.
We outnumber the men and the base and we will vote. If we don't vote, run for office, and take some control of this and let misogynists take our freedom over our bodies, we will be slaves forever. We have the numbers all you freedom-loving women and men who respect and love us!
The anti abortion fanatics control the party and have for a decade. They have the whole Primary system in their pockets so they pick the most extremely religious candidates every time. You didn't think they were going to just give up that political power once RvW was overturned... they never do.
Why did Trump push for anti-trans nonsense after the 2022 election showed it + abortions motivated record youth turnout?
Because what else is Trump supposed to push? Tax cuts for the wealthy? The modern republican party cannot hide behind a single issue of substance. Openly cheating the system is all they have as a viable tactic now, besides turning their followers into extremist zealots.
I don't really think it cost them anything. If it did do anything for them, it allowed them to even further come out of their shell, REALLY push for these fascist policies, and allow them to live their truth while making sure that no one else is allowed to.
Here is what they are gambling on…that this motivates their base more than it angers those opposed.
The problem is…it has worked in the past. Whether or not their is enough of the base left (due to aging) is not something I would bet on.
Republicans knew that overturning Roe would have some long term consequences, but they don’t care. They won. That’s the difference between the two parties. Republicans know how to pass their agenda. By any means necessary. Now abortion is essentially illegal. Why would they give a shit about anything else?
Most Americans, including most registered Republicans, do not favor a ban on abortion. They want safe, legal and rare abortion. They may want some restrictions on late term abortion. But the overwhelming majority of Americans, including plenty of Christians and Catholics, do not want a ban on abortion. They're pursuing suicidal political agendas
It **barely** cost them anything. Apparently the memories of Americans are like goldfish because they're already just as popular as they were before the overturn.
One part of the party's reasoning for taking up abortion as an issue after they lost on segregation, was that they never thought they could win on it. What good is an issue that fires up a solid 10% of voters to support you if you can win on it and those 10% just wander off?
Then along came Donald Trump and actually gave them the justices that they needed to win.
So now they're just blowing on the embers of that once great flame trying hard to keep those 10% engaged and it's not working. Also they handed Democrats and issue that they can use to keep 20% constantly fired up... and that they never have to actually win on.
The entire Republican Party vision for the country can be summed up in this way.
Gays back in the closet, women back in the kitchen, brown people back on their side of the tracks "where they belong", and a Bible in every classroom.
Because the positions they have are sufficient to dig in and defend.
The red states are now _blood red_ and they just need to defend those, since, you know, the Senate is still 2 senators per state, and despite _everything_ republicans still manage the house which means they get to manage the debt ceiling, so now they can play economic terrorism, not just political.
It is a continuation of the path they have been on for over 40 years.
It is the reason the term RINO has meant something different over time.
The republican party keeps retreating from the center on all social and economic issues and moving more to the radical right for voters. In the process they have lost more and more mainstream centrist support in elections which forced them to move more forcefully to the radical right for votes.
I cannot imagine any previous republican presidential nominees being able to win the republican nomination in the Trump era.
* Richard Nixon
* Gerald Ford
* Ronald Reagan
* GHW Bush
* Bob Dole
* GW Bush
* John McCain
All of those guys would be RINO in today's conservative cinematic universe.
I mean, did it really cost them that much? Sure, it wasn't a decisive victory, but they still won back the House and they're currently on track to win back the Senate in 2024. And hell, all it would take is a few Electoral College votes to swing the other way and we could see another GOP President in 2024 as well.
The GOP has kind of painted themselves into a corner by reflexively opposing and demonizing everything the Democrats do, it’s impossible to change their position on some topics. Which means no matter how stupid a policy is or how much it hurts them their only option is to support it even if that support is tepid at best
They have to use fear to motivate their minions to get out and vote.
Now that Roe v Wade has been overturned, they have to use anything they can find to terrify their moronic minions. The flavor of the day seems to be trans-children. Women enjoying a fulfilling sex life is a good old standby as is immigrants and brown people of any sort.
They have no platform, they have no plan to govern, all they have is fear and tax cuts for the rich.
That’s true. But my mom and nana are two examples. My nana thinks if women get raped that’s on them for putting themselves in a position to get raped. She says men can’t control themselves, and it’s on women to moderate sexual impulses within a society, and to use it as a way to wield power and influence with the men they end up marrying. She thinks that is totally normal. She isn’t the least bit religious. My mom is a little more moderate, but not much. She isn’t religious either.
With that said, I think you are spot on for the most part.
A shrinking aging base which they managed to dwindle during the height of COVID and continue to dwindle with their asinine anti vax and anti mask practices.
Made up culture war bullshit has served them well since the Reagan years, but I think this time the group that they are targeting for "othering" (women) may be too big. Who knows, though - plenty of women are disdainful of women.
The long-term goal of the GOP is to not honor the result of elections.
Additionally, putting aside their lean toward fascism, even in a democracy, each party tends to only want to get the minimum support they absolutely need to gain power. The more people you "owe" for achieving power, the more people you have to pay out. And you will struggle to pay everyone that supported you, especially as you require more support. Republicans would prefer to gain power with less than 30% of the vote, if possible, so they can just bribe that 30% and can steal from the other 70%. They'd love to get that number to 10% or 0% if possible. They will never put in the effort to appeal to a single additional person above what they absolutely have to, because they operate on direct bribes, not on strong policy.
Republicans think the can get away with rigging future elections to the point that they will stay in power. 2020 was the dry run. 2022 showed that only a portion of our population wants these lowlifes to ever have power again.
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All they have is made up culture war bullshit, and nothing is working so they have no choice but to double down. Drag Queens isn't working. Multiple attempts. Vaccines isn't working. In fact, it killed a lot of their votes. Multiple attempts anyway. Books with scary history isn't working. Multiple attempts. Some dudes laptop didn't work. Multiple attempts. Abortion is back on the table. Use to work, now its not. Lets give it more attempts. Maybe a migrant caravan will do the trick this time?
Right now they're on to task forces entering their homes to take their gas stoves.
Ah yes, I forgot about gas stoves (which most republicans probably don't even have). Real issues here.
The hilarious part is Desantis going on about it - Florida essentially has the lowest gas stove install base in the country, it's even less that a non-issue down there. Since there's no need for gas heat, very few areas even have gas lines run as part of the local utilities; if you want gas you're getting one of the giant propane tanks in most cases.
South Florida checking in, didn't know gas stoves existed until I was in high school. Can't wait for someone to have a problem with basements. I look forward to Desantis's opinion on that.
This. I couldnt believe it when I heard it. He is clearly addressing people across the country with something that is a non issue in Florida. Its just a move for his presidential hopes. But, only people who live in Florida would be privy to just how few gas stoves there are there.
[удалено]
He is splitting the vote gloriously, and I for one approve. Cant wait for the pissing match between the two.
Honest question: Why don't Republicans have gas stoves? Is it because they rent and most rentals have electric stoves because they are cheaper to install? Also, sauce please.
Surprisingly, blue states use natural gas more than red. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/02/under-fire-gas-industry-is-hiring-democratic-politicians-help/
Possibly because of all the fossil fuels, NG is the least damaging to the environment? More likely because it's often the cheapest alternative for heating and cooking, and more progressives take the time to actually evaluate long term financial costs.
It problem is that Gas Companies were hiding health issues with gas stoves and children with asthma. Not gas heat with separate exhaust. What are sick kids to the GOP? Nothing they care about.
Most rural areas don't have access to natural gas service. So unless they already have a propane tank for heating reasons, most don't bother to get one just to run the stove.
Many red states, especially in the rust belt, and more rural areas, often don't have gas infrastructure to the home. Somewhat due to weather (you only really needed gas if you used it to heat more efficiently) and somewhat due to expense (rural areas.)
Hicks have less income and have cheaper appliances. They also don't generally take cooking as serious as liberals. [https://www.statista.com/chart/29082/most-common-type-of-stove-in-the-us/](https://www.statista.com/chart/29082/most-common-type-of-stove-in-the-us/)
The amount of data they have on their voters' behavior is so vast and so detailed at this point, nothing is a coincidence. That data shows that all the things you listed are what motivates them, rather than any tangible issue that actually affects them. They glaze over if you bring up anything else. If they tone down the loony culture war, they've got nothing.
you don't need their vast amounts of data. You can just look at polls where they are rating concerns about m and m cartoons not wearing high-heeled thigh-high boots over real national emergencies. consistently fox news outrage dictates how a majority of the base ranks their number one concern.
They do it because their actual policy positions are deeply unpopular. Tax cuts for the rich, cuts to social security/medicare/medicaid, etc. They can't run on policy because they would lose badly. So they use culture war nonsense and try to keep people afraid of one thing or another at all times. That's the only way they can win.
> That's the only way they can win. Well, that and blatant cheating
> Maybe a migrant caravan will do the trick this time? Right on cue, Trump has started the migrant caravan scare tactics again: >Now if you [look at these caravans, these are massive, massive caravans.](https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1619401925815828481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1619401925815828481%7Ctwgr%5E2eb2960ad9120258cc0488735dd6d5bbafb138c4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foccupydemocrats.com%2F2023%2F01%2F28%2Frants-unlimited-trump-goes-to-new-hampshire-with-his-looniest-campaign-speech-yet%2F) They have no idea who these people are coming into our country...
No, they're trying to exterminate transgender people. Over 140 anti-trans bills have been filed so far this year, in just January. Last year as a whole, there were over 330, and the year before less than 100. Several of these bills would ban gender-affirming care for people up to 26 years of age, and for those who have had bottom surgery, withdrawing their HRT would be a *literal* death sentence. Other bills would make it a felony for a trans person *to be seen* by a minor. Literally two days ago, Trump threatened to "criminalize and hunt" all trans people, regardless of age, any doctor who's ever helped us, and any teachers who support us. Just, you know, you missed one important thing.
Trans folks are just the (unfortunate) latest target. I can guarantee that the GOP doesn't really care about trans people one way or the other. It's what the focus groups said would get their voters all emotional and rile them up. Which is what their focus groups said about immigrant caravans or voter fraud before.
Unfortunately it works just enough for them to continue to be a problem. I wish we could move on to the reality where the Democratic party is the conservative party and we have another party to debate with them in good faith. The fact that Republicans are taken seriously at all, especially after the last 40 years and ESPECIALLY after the last 7, should really be a nationwide embarrassment.
If they just flip on a few of those issues they'd probably *win* a lot more elections. A little scary in and of itself. The abortion reversal just barely stymied the midterms from their favor. Stop screwing around with the social issues and pretend to care about *the economy* would likely let them clean house. People always fall for that.
Their solution to trans kids sports so far has been 1) genital inspections of children and 2) submitting proof of a menstrual cycle. I’m somebody who’s not really sold on trans women on women’s sport but the GOPs proposals/bills for addressing it are disgusting
Don’t forget about them pushing to ban the irs. Some republicans believe the irs is gonna kick down their doors and execute them. One republican politician said he’d let people attack government officials like the fbi. This was right after the trump raid people ate that shit up.
Any crawling back on extreme right standpoints will be seen as weak and RINO. It will lose them even more votes.
What electing Republicans gets you is cuts. Cuts to everything. Cuts to reproductive rights. Cuts to your bosses taxes. Cuts to social safety nets. Cuts to education. Cuts to government benefits. Cuts to workers rights. All of this makes the wealthy GOP voter very happy. And the working-class conservative voter base is fine with it. What they want is words. They want sound bites. They want rage bait. They want to feel they are special, righteous and under attack. They want lip service that their elected officials are going to go after whoever Fox tells them is the latest boogeyman. They are fine with Republicans in government cutting their benefits because they believe Democrats will destroy everything they hold near and dear.
Also racism, homophobia, transphobia. Pretty much bigotry and othering minority groups in general.
It’s crazy that any woman would vote Republican. It’s obvious that their platform has no desire to improve women’s quality of life. Edit: also minority, person in lgbtq, chronically ill person, person with a conscious, etc.
My lesbian friend voted republican in the last election, and I just can't wrap my head around it. She voted for people who would wish for nothing good for her. My only theory is that we live in a very blue state, and she's got a habit of going against the grain just for the sake of being contrary. It boggles the mind.
I **had** friends that did things “for the sake of being contrary”. Emphasis on had, because over time, I learned “for the sake of being contrary” is just a euphemism for “is kind of a fucking asshole” and stopped associating with them. And that, my fellow Redditor, is likely why your friend voted R against her own interests; she’s probably just kind of an asshole. 🤷🏽♂️
Can’t imagine voting against my own interests like that.
I've come to the conclusion that it's a low self esteem thing. They'd rather hurt people they hate more than improve their own lives, partially because they've been trained to believe hatred is all that's left to their lives. This is partially because they've been abused by the GOP's systems for so long. You can find this cycle consistently among just about anybody on the right, save many of the very wealthy who are simple unempathetic sociopaths who stomp on others to be selfish because it's worked for them. It's the psychological cycle of abuse playing out in the worst ways possible. Of course, these people would break some of that if they choose to be better, but the sheer levels of propaganda the GOP pushes out there makes that choice much less likely. Their ego gets boosted in all the wrong ways by grifters. They are fed hatred and their brains are trained to be hooked on those highs, rather than empathy and helping others.
It's also that the average American is... Ignorant about politics. Like, shamefully ignorant - often on purpose. "I just don't care about that" is something I hear a lot. They can name every single actor in The Last of Us but they can't name their representatives in Congress. They've seen all of the Marvel movies, but they don't understand how X thing that happened affects their daily lives. While protesting the removal of Roe v Wade, I had a sign that said "PROTECT ROE - PROTECT WOMEN." During the day, I talked to a woman in her late 20s - early 30s who saw my sign and sincerely asked me who Roe is. She had no idea. I told her about the case and she looked completely confused, "Wait, who got rid of abortion?" **She had no idea that this shit had even happened.** Worse, it's not just ignorance but also a lot of "my team should win" competitiveness. I talk to Republicans regularly in a pub I visit (it's the only place I've found the ability to reach out without it devolving into anger) and they tell me about how the Trump tax cuts helped them. I explain exactly how it was the single biggest transfer of wealth (deficit spending to give tax cuts to richest Americans that now the average tax payer has to pay back and how the average person lost any tax break now) and they were horrified... They mostly didn't believe me until after several meetings and them "researching it" afterwards and me slapping down each and every argument about how it might somehow be Biden or the Democrats' fault why they lost their tax breaks the last couple years. I bring receipts. They start understanding and seem to get it. ...And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important.
> They start understanding and seem to get it. ...And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important. Painfully infuriating
It's like: I am a Christian and believe in God and the Bible. God hates both adultery and divorce. I'm seriously thinking about leaving my wife for this woman I'm having an affair with. It's compartmentalized thinking. The person in my example keeps his religious belief out of the place where he makes his real life decisions for himself. He just doesn't think about it, because of the cognitive dissonance it would cause. That way he keeps the benefit of both for himself.
> And then they still vote Republican because of some other issue that they now think is the most important. You aren't going to convince me to buy a different brand of cereal by showing me the nutritional benefits of your brand, I already like the taste of mine. It's this.
The taste of republicans should be revolting, but changing taste buds ranges from insanely hard to impossible.
They've gotten used to the flavour. >The cases of two women, a niece and her aunt, who died of cholera puzzled Snow. The aunt lived some distance from Soho, as did her niece, and Snow could make no connection to the pump. The mystery was cleared up when he talked to the woman’s son. **He told Snow that his mother had lived in the Broad Street area at one time and liked the taste of the water from the pump so much that she had bottles of it brought to her regularly**. Water drawn from the pump on 31 August, the day of the outbreak, was delivered to her. As was her custom, she and her visiting niece took a glass of the pump water for refreshment, and according to Snow’s records, both died of cholera the following day. https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/snowcricketarticle.html Lady liked the taste of her favourite poo-water so much she sent her son to keep getting it for her.
I know it may not seem much like it, but you probably are introducing enough cognitive dissonance that it will force them to change eventually. Or at least stop fervently supporting the opposition as hard (donate less, be less of an activist). Deprogramming and putting doubt into these people is in fact important. Prioritize your safety (because some of the fanatics 'are' dangerous when confronted), but don't feel like what you're doing is a waste just because it didn't change minds this time. Breaking these cycles of programming and abuse is often a long fight, sadly. But it's essential that we keep it up.
Much appreciated but I'm pretty good with these folks... And I have little worry about repercussions because I go to *great lengths* to be safe and to only talk to them in a compassionate way... But I'm also always, always armed and have quite a bit of experience in self-defense, de-escalation, and etc. I genuinely don't think I'll need any of that for these folks as, quite literally the biggest priority they have is drinking at this pub. I talk politics with conservatives the way a therapist might try to get someone out of a cult. ...Because that's what I'm doing.
I'm just saying you're doing what I wish more of us had the courage to do (and I know it isn't easy) and I appreciate it. I agree that politically speaking we need to focus on turning out the apathetic left leaning voters more to win elections than trying to sway conservatives, but disarming and dismantling the propaganda systems the right lives under is still important and essential to society's long term health. And sometimes that happens from both the top and the bottom.
Well you see, their lives are bad *because* of the people they hate.
How old is she? Being contrary just to be contrary sounds so exhausting like still being a teenage edgelord.
Back when I was still freshly out of the shelter conservative bubble but just started being able to vote I intentionally voted for deadlock in the government, ie: if it looks like the gop is winning vote down ticket dem, if Dems winning vote gop. I generally hated both parties and thought doing nothing was better than something as I thought both sides "where the same" and both would just fuck shit up if they had supermajorities. I grew out of it, still generally don't like both parties but understand the GOP is *much worse*
Once I realized that Reagan/Bush were deteriorating my work-life quality I stopped voting Republican nationally but continued to throw them bones down ballot. Once I sensed and then actually saw the depth of lockstep, only ghosts from my own conservative socialization can even translate their current hogwash. Never Republican, never again.
A whole bunch of gay friends in my area fell out with a gay couple that turned out to be misogynistic and transphobic Republicans. They hid it really well until trump came along- I'll put it that way. But we excommunicated those guys from our group at this point once we found out and they were generally being unpleasant toward the trans friends in our community, and being just bluntly misogynistic. Their behavior was something I'd expect from high schoolers rather than adults, to be frank. I get the idea that they want to be different and go again the grain as you say in your own post, because it kinda defies logic otherwise why they would. One of them is from Russia too, and he made huge posts about hating putin and how he's on a crusade to destroy the gays in Russia and its why he's glad to live in America, yet he can't understand that's what is currently happening here in America with trans and gay folks. He was supporting conservative views on everything anti-gay and anti-trans which made no sense since he and his bf are gay. Like.....do you have that much cognitive dissonance or something or do you simply not care when it comes to the same thing in America? Do you hate your own relationship? I dunno. But I peaced out. Don't got room for that in my life.
> My only theory is that we live in a very blue state, and she's got a habit of going against the grain just for the sake of being contrary. And that is how the UK got Brexit.
What color is she and that'll tell you why she voted for Republican and I'm being very serious
A coworker of mine is a gay man, drag queen, Hispanic/Black. He voted for Trump TWICE because “he gave me money”. He hates immigrants. HIS MOTHER WAS AN IMMIGRANT. I can’t get my head around it. At all.
Literally uncle Ruckus
Uncle George Santos
You should point out to him that trump basically hasn't given anyone any money, ever, unless absolutely forced to. Meaning he's never gotten a red cent from trump.
Trump threw a fit because he wanted his signature on the COVID relief checks and wanted them delivered with a letter from Trump, not from the Fed Gov. Pretty sure that's the money they think came directly from Trump and it's exactly why that slimy tactic works.
> HIS MOTHER WAS AN IMMIGRANT The Cuban community in Miami votes Republican. I'm old enough to remember them floating to the US in boats.
Seriously sounds more like she’s not of very sound mind. Or at least she’s not exercising it when it comes to thinking about what is best for herself and her interests. Then again she is in good company because there’s tons of crazy to be had when it comes to those voting for Republicans lately.
I think a good deal of people who vote GOP do it to be contrarian. “Fuck the mainstream. I’m *different*! I’m a free thinker. I don’t go along with the crowd.” Our entire entertainment complex is built around the anti-hero. Henry Hill. Tony Soprano, Bruce Willis characters, Clint Eastwood, all the hot dog cops who “don’t go by the rules, but who get results.” They buck the system. All politicians, all regulating agencies are bad guys. Tech industry promotes it, too. “Move fast and break things.” Elon Musk tries to style himself the cool antihero, bucking the system, shooting for the stars. When you tell his fans that he’d be nowhere without government tax dollars, they say, “See? That’s how cool he is. He uses the government for his purposes, not the other way around. I’m glad my tax dollars are funding rockets to Mars.” You just can’t convince a lot of people that they’re not cool, rule-breaking mavericks. They’re just run-of-the-mill difficult people.
A lot of TERFs vote Republican, many of whom are cis white people who love running HOAs and telling other people to mow their grass and shit like that.
I stumbled upon a trans woman who was also a Trump voter... I will never understand.
As a trans person I don’t get it at all. Like, they literally fantasize about genociding us. If things continue, they might actually do it. Why on earth would any self respecting trans person support that? I imagine it comes down to the “self respecting” part, sadly. 😢
Money. That's all it is, in the end. Look at Jenner. They won't suffer the common people's pain.
Yea def money is part of it. Kinda like Owens. Sometimes I wonder how much she’s cashed in.
Sounds like my older cousin (we're from AL). My flabbers are still ghasted.
Is she wealthy? Cause that's often why.
I know two different men who are in interracial relationships, and both have significantly disabled children who will never live alone and who will always require care. Both vote Republican. Like, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???
Controlling others who disgust them and putting them in their place in the hierarchy they all seem to subscribe to. Like, its an instant gratification thing, I think. The ‘risk’ seems to be too fsr in the future or too abstract to really register
Oppositional Defiance Disorder
[Always gotta love when you see minority Republicans ask why they aren't accepted by the rest of the party.](https://www.businessinsider.com/log-cabin-republicans-invite-excluded-texas-gop-convention-narrow-minded-2022-6) They fucking hate you. If you aren't a straight, white, rich, Christian, cisgender, male conservative THEY FUCKING HATE YOU. They would rather throw you in a death camp than give you an ounce of support. They'll take your vote but don't think for a second that they think of you as anything more than a useful idiot.
I think it’s worth noting (and this is NOT a both sides thing bear with me) that even if you are a straight, white, Christian, cisgender, male conservative, heck even rich, they still hate you, if you’re not of value to their re-election or a donor. It’s not a party that respects or cares for anyone. It’s a party that respects and seeks power, full stop. If you have none, you aren’t even on their radar. It’s the discussed to death issue with social media companies applied to politics. You aren’t the audience, you’re the product. Republicans say whatever they have to, to deliver your vote, the product, to their audience: the people writing checks to campaigns. The tacit agreement being that if they deliver the votes, they’ll get funding, so long as their policy positions further the interests of the donors. I’d say it’s gotta feel stressful to be a republican politician in such a strange position of tenuousness, but they turned off introspection years ago.
They also hate relying on donors and supporters and transitively hate those donors and supporters. It's a mindset that eats itself.
Also: anyone with less than Millions of dollars
That's not crazy at all. *Some* women stand to gain a ton from republicans in power. Specifically: rich women. What's really crazy is that anyone with less than 50 million or so would vote Republican.
>What's really crazy is that anyone with less than 50 million or so would vote Republican. "The poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaire"
Women have been conditioned for centuries to put the needs of men, particularly their husbands, ahead of themselves. The group of women had the highest percentage of Republican votes was married women, even higher than white women. Unmarried women overwhelmingly voted Dem.
Minorities could be a big target for right leaning parties in America? Things like traditional family values, small government ect can be popular. I'm not American so this is a question not a statement, I might be completely off. But then the right loves to lean so heavy on racism. So they will ironically push those potential voters away.
Yeah, minorities would be natural Republican allies if Republicans weren't racist.
They already are allies in a lot of ways. Even if those minorities don't vote for the Republican candidate themselves they've often voted in large numbers against propositions if they don't directly benefit. 70% of black voters voted against gay marriage in California is a good example.
that's also the religious element kicking in. 87% of black families are religiously affiliated, slightly higher than the overall population. but 83% are christian, something resembling 5-10% are muslim (it's really hard to nail down numbers on that one), whereas only 1% are jewish. islam and christianity are strongly against gay marriage.
Well of course. Religion is the main reason they'd make natural Republican allies and why they tend to vote conservative on down ballot items other than social issues they directly benefit from.
Their religion basically requires it if followed properly.
Guns: the only thing the GOP isn't afraid of.
Guns in the hands of white people. Gun control was actually created by the GOP ~~(pretty sure Reagan administration)~~ in response to the Black Panthers carrying guns. Edit: it was created when Reagan was governor of California
It was when Reagan was governor of California.
Thank you! I will edit my comment!
They are afraid of guns. It's why they ban them.from their conventions
Ironically, there is nobody more insecure and terrified of the world than a republican who feels the need to carry a gun around everywhere.
Did it really cost them that much? They still have the supreme court. They have control of half of congress meaning democrats cannot pass anything. Them having 20 more seats in the house would not change anything functionally. They gave up a couple trifectas in michigan and MN but overall they are fine. The people in kansas voted against abortion bans but still voted for republicans who are for abortion bans. I am not seeing huge consequences for republicans.
It helped a ton on some specific races. Legislatures that would’ve been able to pursue even more voter disenranqhisemrnt or gone along with a plan to put up false electors for 2024 no longer can. Maintaining the senate was absolutely massive. Now judge appointments can proceed. It’s a stopgap, to be sure, but it’s vastly preferable to the GOP clinching even harder the keys to power
I mean, imagine you make and then lose 1000 dollars every 4 years. If one year, when you were supposed to make 1000 dollars, you only made 50 dollars because your customers were pissed off at you, would you consider that a loss? Especially if it’s about to be 4 years later and your customers are still pissed, and your opponents are posed to both make 1000 dollars and gain whatever dollars you lost? If we get a big enough blue wave, expanding the Supreme Court wouldn’t even be difficult to do.
So facism?
In other words, anything culture.
Let’s all go out for abortions to celebrate the GOP’s death spiral. First round is in me.
>First round is in me. Idk if that was a typo or deliberate, but it was great either way.
It was a typo, but a damn good one lol
Dammit, you had my hopes up and my pants down already.
Right lol. If they want to keep shooting themselves in the foot they can be my guest
Because they aren't looking to win elections anymore, they are looking to get rid of elections.
Exactly! Whether the country wants them or not! They quit listening to their constituents a long time ago! They only listen to their $$$ friends!
Misogyny is a key value for them. They can’t have a fascist state if women are equal.
It is simple, we have a minority rule. The Supreme Court can flip cases, the House can do whatever. While they lost the presidency, the GOP can keep pushing crap out because to Supreme Court. McConnell played the long game and won.
They took back the house! The gop nuked roe and still took back the house! They didn't lose. The senate was a testament to changing realities in some places but Holly Molly y'all got some work to do. Go take Texas for real.
>The gop nuked roe and still took back the house! A big reason is the illegal gerrymandered maps in Florida and Alabama were allowed to be used in the election because the ruling against the illegal maps was too close to the election. They'll have to wait until 2024 to fix it. Then in New York they did throw out the map and used a map that favored Republicans and the primaries were moved so close to the general election that the Democrats in hotly contested primaries didn't have time or money to fight the Republican. That's what gave us George Santos who won in a Biden +10 district. He ran unopposed in the primary, so in the short time between the primary and the election, nobody had time or the money to expose all of his lies and crimes. Just these few things gave at least 5 to 7 seats to the Republicans. If there had been a fair election for those seats, the Dems would have won the House.
They barely won after gerrymandered maps, when a year ago they were projected to win by 40-50 seats. As boomers die, people move, and gen z comes of voting age the house will shift back blue.
Because they’re incapable of acknowledging that people don’t want what they want.
They are “good people” and are against abortion ergo abortion is bad and only “bad people” would want abortion. The leakage of prosperity gospel can be seen in the cracks of all of our fabricated cultural wars. What I mean by that is the belief that if one is “good” whatever that person does is “good” and if they are rich it’s because whatever they did to be rich was also good; therefore emulating that person will make you rich, too. If you don’t become rich, it’s because you’re bad, not that the “good””rich” person is an utter fabrication, derelict, and parasite.
Misogyny, racism, and homophobia is what the GOP is motivated by. Everything else is a means to the end of hatred and violence.
Yup. Whenever I hear someone say the GOP believes in nothing and are only after power, I wonder how it’s possible they haven’t noticed they very much believe in straight white male supremacy. The fact that they are so determined to maintain this dominance they would throw out democracy to not only prevent equality from being fully realized, but to reverse the progress that’s been made.
I feel the same when I hear people saying the GOP has no platform. Oh, they have a platform, and it's entirely oppressive to any but white male Christians.
It’s what their electorate is motivated by. The ruling class of that party is only motivated by money and power.
I think it is misogyny veiled by a pretend concern for children. They have no interest in helping actual children at all, for fear of socialism or communism. They don't want to be made to spend a penny to help someone else, even if they'll die. They look down on sexually active women, but believe men are entitled to sex with women. They want no repercussions for the man if he gets a woman pregnant, and in some cases support a man's right to abortion, whether it's forcing the woman into one or financially absolving themselves. The woman must never get a say in what happens to her. It echoes less developed societies in the world and it's time we moved past such antiquated ways of thinking.
Desantis is going for a full 6 week ban without exception for rape or incest. I’m terrified for young girls. But I’m also terrified for myself. Im perimenopausal. I have a disability. I could die if I get pregnant. This is going to greatly harm so many women and girls.
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They’ve been planning to rule as the ideological minority for a couple of decades. It only works with gutting voting rights, monkeying with election maps and driving down turnout across the board. There are a lot more committed voters on ‘the right’, sad as it may be they fall in line and everyone else has to fall in love with a candidate to get out and vote. Apathy by design is another tool they’ve been using to instill a ‘why bother? mentality in a large swathe of the potential voters.
You act like women are a unified block who care about their own rights. Republican women *love* controlling other women's bodies, especially the religious loons and willful stepford wives.
Republican women love supporting men over women, it’s the traditional thing to do pretty much everywhere in the world in our male dominated globe, and Republican women support tradition more than they support women’s rights. Maybe we should talk about why men in every single demographic, by age, race, marital status, are more likely to vote Republican than women. That applies to every election since 1980. Instead of railing about women who are so stupid to vote against themselves, maybe we should put the onus on men since they vote Republican in higher numbers - why is it more acceptable for men to vote against women’s rights than women who have been conditioned for centuries, millenia, really, to support the needs of men over themselves? Married women is the group that votes Republican in the highest numbers. Unmarried women vote for Dems by a huge margin. That’s pretty indicative of what is influencing women.
Too many people think that double X chromosomes or excess of melanin corresponds to liberalism in and of itself.
Seriously though. Alienating so much of the country that you claim to serve does not seem like an effective winning strategy
Unless winning by getting people to vote for them isn’t the plan.
Or, maybe they don’t actually have a plan. These are republicans we’re talking about.
They have a playbook and they're loyal to it even when they don't win, because it worked a previous time.
That’s not a plan, that’s a tactic, and one that’s only effective in the short-term.
Unfortunately these last midterms likely emboldened the GOP. Turnout was down compared to 2018, and that is **after** they killed Roe and attempted to overthrow the government.
It was a historic loss for the party out of the White House. They hold a SOFT majority, of which ~15 seats are in districts Biden won.
Yeah considering they took the House, I don’t think they see it as a loss. With everything that they have done, in public, gleefully, they shouldn’t have won **any** seats. They saw that they can be as vile, as regressive, and as undemocratic as possible and **still** over half of the country won’t be bothered to show up to vote them out. They put Hershel GD Walker up as a candidate **and it was really close**.
It’s a good indicator that the tide is turning against the GOP in general. If your expected to win in a blow out based on historical projections but you still win but not in such a great magnitude, it can be a fluke or a crystal ball to the future. You pick and check the midterms in 4 years to see if you picked correctly.
The are. They did. They are getting away with it so far.
It's 110% to keep the political discussion away from economics, wealth inequality, and social support. Abortion bans aren't even aligned with their voter base. It's a talking point manufactured at the top to keep the public fighting for very basic rights instead of being able to worry about other provisions (health care and wealth equality and what-have-you). It works on both sides of the table as well, as it pushed Democrat talking points in this grim direction.
The funny thing is, most people don’t even need to be distracted from the economic issues. The struggle itself is enough to keep them preoccupied. I read “How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them”, it’s a book by Barbara F. Walter. She made an interesting point about what a populace is willing to “put up with”, before they revolt. And people will tolerate abject poverty, it wasn’t really linked to economic factors. But if you take away rights and any hope for change, it’s enough to spark a rebellion.
Bingo. Pretty much all of the ongoing culture war rhetoric exists to avoid talking about real pocket book issues and prevent people from thinking about why they can't afford child care or health insurance.
Fascist movements are always sexist movements. - GOP want to own slaves. Women in the home, and PoC in the fields/factories.
Basically, entirely **that**: distrust and hatred of their mothers. Full stop.
Because they're also trying to kill the free and fair elections where they lose. The stuff Republicans are doing are parts of a whole that would transform America into a Christian Saudi Arabia. Stop treating this shit as unrelated.
Controlling women’s bodies and the hatred of homosexuals is the core issues for the Republicans. These are the two issues that they are consumed with.
Republicans hate women and freedom of choice
What other choice do they have? They can't walk back overturning Roe and say "Oh, we don't want to ban abortion completely anymore, we've seen the error of our ways." No one who supports choice would believe them, and the fundies would get pissed off at their heresy. So the only option they have is to keep going further right.
What about the sexist dress codes appearing in state and local governments? I'm finding it hard to read it any other way than an attack on women.
it’s not about “dress codes” it’s about control…. A woman should decide what to wear. This isn’t a sports team.
I’ve been called sexist for saying republican women are stupid. But damn are they stupid.
They still won the house, and prevented the Dems from getting 52 Senate seats Clearly abortion cost the GOP from winning a 2010 style win. But also clearly abortion still wasn't enough of a motivation for voters to give Dems the majorities they'd need to actually pass legislation protecting abortion rights. And the GOP see this
Because they are not yet ready to do what is necessary, burn the party to the ground and rebuild from the ashes. They have not lost enough left to "learn". They lost in 2018, they lost big in 2022, they failed to achieve victory in 2022, they will certainly lose the house and the presidency in 2024. Right in the aftermath of 2024 they will start to realize they need to really, really change if they are to stay relevant. They need to extinguish the last vestiges of Trump, stolen elections, abortion, anti gay, evangelicals and maybe even the more blatant racists. They still think the same old things that stopped working year ago are suddenly going to start to work if they just go far right enough.
They won't do any of that, it's their entire base. There's nothing for them to build on without the lowest forms of life the US has to offer.
That’s the thing, though: they can’t. The entire party—their philosophy and platform—is built on axiomatic beliefs that they are incapable of changing. They are fundamentally unable to compromise, and that’s why we haven’t seen do it yet, even though they’ve gotten destroyed in the last four years. That’s why—and I really hope I’m wrong, but it makes sense—we’re going to see some *top-tier* messing with the vote in 2024. Not just in voter access and that sort of thing, but in states refusing to call elections, refusing to report, etc. Straight-up cheating, in other words. It’s going to be brazen, I think, because they know that this is it.
Legislation has to address this before the next election. Come up with a plan that stops them in their tracks…
We are seeing a prediction play out in real life. Fainting couch frequent Lindsay Graham said back in 2015 that if we (GOP) endorse him then we’ll get destroyed and we’ll deserve it.
They'll burn democracy to the ground before they do a 180 on their policies
We outnumber the men and the base and we will vote. If we don't vote, run for office, and take some control of this and let misogynists take our freedom over our bodies, we will be slaves forever. We have the numbers all you freedom-loving women and men who respect and love us!
The anti abortion fanatics control the party and have for a decade. They have the whole Primary system in their pockets so they pick the most extremely religious candidates every time. You didn't think they were going to just give up that political power once RvW was overturned... they never do.
Why did Trump push for anti-trans nonsense after the 2022 election showed it + abortions motivated record youth turnout? Because what else is Trump supposed to push? Tax cuts for the wealthy? The modern republican party cannot hide behind a single issue of substance. Openly cheating the system is all they have as a viable tactic now, besides turning their followers into extremist zealots.
I don't really think it cost them anything. If it did do anything for them, it allowed them to even further come out of their shell, REALLY push for these fascist policies, and allow them to live their truth while making sure that no one else is allowed to.
They are fascists coddling a christian nationalist movement.
Here is what they are gambling on…that this motivates their base more than it angers those opposed. The problem is…it has worked in the past. Whether or not their is enough of the base left (due to aging) is not something I would bet on.
It worked in 2022, too. D voters weren't motivated enough to keep the House.
They won't be happy until they make reality resemble a Margaret Atwood novel.
""Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte
Because what are they gonna do, create meaningful policies to fix our problems ?
Really just hatred of any kind does the trick. Cruelty is the point.
Republicans knew that overturning Roe would have some long term consequences, but they don’t care. They won. That’s the difference between the two parties. Republicans know how to pass their agenda. By any means necessary. Now abortion is essentially illegal. Why would they give a shit about anything else?
The ~~GOP~~ Pro Rapist Party
Most Americans, including most registered Republicans, do not favor a ban on abortion. They want safe, legal and rare abortion. They may want some restrictions on late term abortion. But the overwhelming majority of Americans, including plenty of Christians and Catholics, do not want a ban on abortion. They're pursuing suicidal political agendas
It **barely** cost them anything. Apparently the memories of Americans are like goldfish because they're already just as popular as they were before the overturn.
One part of the party's reasoning for taking up abortion as an issue after they lost on segregation, was that they never thought they could win on it. What good is an issue that fires up a solid 10% of voters to support you if you can win on it and those 10% just wander off? Then along came Donald Trump and actually gave them the justices that they needed to win. So now they're just blowing on the embers of that once great flame trying hard to keep those 10% engaged and it's not working. Also they handed Democrats and issue that they can use to keep 20% constantly fired up... and that they never have to actually win on.
Ideology.
They have a book…
Don't forget a reversal would make them look weak to their base. And god forbid they ever agree on something with Democrats.
Because each must try to out conservative each other. It starts by banning books and ideas and ends. You know damn good and well where it ends!
They saw house close the races where and see no down side to keep pressing on.
Women have been saying this for years about the GOP. Glad some of the media is finally catching up.
The entire Republican Party vision for the country can be summed up in this way. Gays back in the closet, women back in the kitchen, brown people back on their side of the tracks "where they belong", and a Bible in every classroom.
Correction: it is what turns ON their base.
Because the positions they have are sufficient to dig in and defend. The red states are now _blood red_ and they just need to defend those, since, you know, the Senate is still 2 senators per state, and despite _everything_ republicans still manage the house which means they get to manage the debt ceiling, so now they can play economic terrorism, not just political.
The GOP is only Pedophiles and grifters!
It is a continuation of the path they have been on for over 40 years. It is the reason the term RINO has meant something different over time. The republican party keeps retreating from the center on all social and economic issues and moving more to the radical right for voters. In the process they have lost more and more mainstream centrist support in elections which forced them to move more forcefully to the radical right for votes. I cannot imagine any previous republican presidential nominees being able to win the republican nomination in the Trump era. * Richard Nixon * Gerald Ford * Ronald Reagan * GHW Bush * Bob Dole * GW Bush * John McCain All of those guys would be RINO in today's conservative cinematic universe.
I mean, did it really cost them that much? Sure, it wasn't a decisive victory, but they still won back the House and they're currently on track to win back the Senate in 2024. And hell, all it would take is a few Electoral College votes to swing the other way and we could see another GOP President in 2024 as well.
The GOP has kind of painted themselves into a corner by reflexively opposing and demonizing everything the Democrats do, it’s impossible to change their position on some topics. Which means no matter how stupid a policy is or how much it hurts them their only option is to support it even if that support is tepid at best
They have to use fear to motivate their minions to get out and vote. Now that Roe v Wade has been overturned, they have to use anything they can find to terrify their moronic minions. The flavor of the day seems to be trans-children. Women enjoying a fulfilling sex life is a good old standby as is immigrants and brown people of any sort. They have no platform, they have no plan to govern, all they have is fear and tax cuts for the rich.
Republicans want cruelty and violence. They will support whatever policies necessary towards those ends.
The fact that millions of Americans will vote for people standing for misogyny is worrisome.
Because they don't care what voters want because they fascists.
Fascism is an emotional system not a political one. It does not require things like rationality or truth.
Even the women are misogynistic. It’s crazy.
Religion is a dangerous drug. And those women are all virulently religious.
That’s true. But my mom and nana are two examples. My nana thinks if women get raped that’s on them for putting themselves in a position to get raped. She says men can’t control themselves, and it’s on women to moderate sexual impulses within a society, and to use it as a way to wield power and influence with the men they end up marrying. She thinks that is totally normal. She isn’t the least bit religious. My mom is a little more moderate, but not much. She isn’t religious either. With that said, I think you are spot on for the most part.
Party of Morons
It's how you win a GOP primary race.
They go all in but as long as they control the levers of power in places that they can't be stopped due to similarities and gerrymandering...
They hate that women should be free to control their own bodies.
A shrinking aging base which they managed to dwindle during the height of COVID and continue to dwindle with their asinine anti vax and anti mask practices.
"I'm not a misogynist" "Yeah, I'm a misogynist, so what?"
Made up culture war bullshit has served them well since the Reagan years, but I think this time the group that they are targeting for "othering" (women) may be too big. Who knows, though - plenty of women are disdainful of women.
The long-term goal of the GOP is to not honor the result of elections. Additionally, putting aside their lean toward fascism, even in a democracy, each party tends to only want to get the minimum support they absolutely need to gain power. The more people you "owe" for achieving power, the more people you have to pay out. And you will struggle to pay everyone that supported you, especially as you require more support. Republicans would prefer to gain power with less than 30% of the vote, if possible, so they can just bribe that 30% and can steal from the other 70%. They'd love to get that number to 10% or 0% if possible. They will never put in the effort to appeal to a single additional person above what they absolutely have to, because they operate on direct bribes, not on strong policy.
Because they are fucking idiots.
Republicans think the can get away with rigging future elections to the point that they will stay in power. 2020 was the dry run. 2022 showed that only a portion of our population wants these lowlifes to ever have power again.
Culture war is all they know.
The elephant in the room here is that "the base" is a cancer slowly killing the USA's democracy.