Why is the GOP rallying around Trump?

I listened to Mike Pence today. Not a guy I would vote for, but he lit into Trump pretty hard for "attempting to subvert our Democracy". I just think Pence cannot win the nomination and his only goal is to stop Trump.

 

Interesting. I'm not sure, nor will I discount it. I agree he has no chance in the Republican primary, though. I think he is trying to rally around the evangelical vote. It won't be enough.

 

I could be wrong in my assessment, but in the interview I listened to, he actually said something to the effect of: "anyone who refuses to uphold The Constitution of the United States should never be allowed to be president". I do believe that he means it.

 

They're living on very borrowed time, clinging to a dwindling demographic. So their only options are either to confront that fact and make some painful decisions, or to try to subvert democracy and hang on to power that way. They have chosen the latter path.

 

Because their own voters like Trump more than they like them. Trump gives them a sense of community that the Republican Party doesn't provide. He serves certain psychological needs and provides a group of people a community where they previously lacked it. Can't really beat that by talking about tax cuts or Medicaid.

 

“Most” lost, but barely.

Absolute shitshows like Herschel and Oz and Masters.

But other reeeeeal close shitshows like Vance and Budd won.

And Warnock is gone as soon as someone who doesn’t eat off the floor is found. A couple more likely too.

 

Because Trump captures the Id of the Republican base. That has always been there, but the Republican establishment mostly contained it. The advent of Fox News and the internet/social media further stoked it, until they finally found the right vehicle in Trump. It really isn’t about policy. It’s about anger, disaffection, resentment and hating the “others”. Pure tribalism. It’s pro wrestling.

The poor showing among all the more traditional republicans pretty much proves it. Desantis’ failure to launch shows it is hard to replicate. I’m not sure there is a way back to sanity.

 

I think this is spot on. It's tempting to extend an olive branch and genuinely ask our friends on the right why folks on their side (interestingly very few righty posters here claim to support Trump) align with him. Don't think for a minute, though, that once he's out of the picture that they won't jump on the Desi bandwagon. Watch it happen.

Here's another question. In light of all the Trump catastrophes and the Desi disaster, why aren't the Dems doing a better job of taking advantage? I mean there's a big hanging curveball waiting to be CRUSHED out of the park and what are the Dems putting up? Neither Biden nor Harris are attractive options. Then who? Newsome? Buttigieg? C'mon! (and I really like Mayor Pete, but according to lefty friend, he's too green). There is a golden opportunity here for the Dems to step up with a real candidate and at this point they are shitting the bed.

 

If Obama were on the ballot, it wouldn’t be close. So yeah Biden is an issue. But let’s not forget that Democrats lost the House races by several million votes. The fact is that our country is pretty politically divided right now.

 

The only political future for the Republican Party, that is, what it has descended to, is an authoritarian regime, in which it will be the official party. Trump is tailor-made to head an authoritarian state.

 

1) Bending the knee to any party is demonstrably irrational

2) Bending it to D’s specifically is like planning to defeat hammers by breaking them with your most precious body parts

 

He’s going to stab him in the hear at the trial…

 

And that is a valid path.

 

BigCypress considering your posting history here I seriously doubt you want any type of genuine answer but I'll bite.

The thing your side has never understood about Trump is that it's not about Trump, it's about what he represents. Trump is the outsider, the candidate who tries to genuinely connect with his base. A lot of us didn't care for the mean tweets either but as long as he fought for the American people we didn't care about the mean tweets. We don't care if someone is a little unpolished as long as they get the job done. If a mean tweet sets you off that's honestly pretty weak.

With Trump there was finally someone who actually spoke to his supporters and didn't just look at them as a potential donation. He fought for what a lot of Americans who live in small town across the country are concerned about. Those are the people Democrats and establishment Republicans have long since forgotten and could care less about.

I knew it even before Trump, but Trump really showed that establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans are largely two sides of the same coin. Sure they will pretend to fight for their side during the day, but many of them are probably having cocktails and laughing at their side at night. Because it's not about representing their constituents, it's about power and either keeping it or expanding it. Trump was an outsider. He was a threat to that power. Similar to other outsiders like Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders.

You know why Congress hated what happened on 1/6? It's not because they care if rioters were killed or injured, they could care less. It's not what happened to Capitol police, they could care less. They hated what happened on 1/6 because for the first time in a long time they were reminded up close that at the end of the day they answer to us, the people. And that they will answer to us, either at the voting booth or by other means if necessary.

They hated being reminded of that and they wanted to send a message that their power is absolute and that they will not answer to the people. The DC establishment so desperately wants a class system where they are on top and everyone else outside of the top class lives to just serve them. They truly think their voters, their constituents, live to serve them, not the other way around.

Trump was a threat to their power and we need to keep sending people to DC who will be a threat to their power.

This election cycle isn't just about Trump and the Presidency. It's a message to establishment Republicans. We won't go back to the old losing ways. Establishment Republicans for far too long have had the same playbook. Throw out the red meat to the base during the primary season and make promises they have no intention to keep. Trump, whether you love him or hate him, at least genuinely tried to keep his promises. That alone also angered establishment Republicans. You're not supposed to actually care about the concerns of your base. Look at Obamacare. Establishment Republicans campaigned for years to overturn and replace Obamacare. Then Trump comes in and is ready to sign the bill the overturn Obamacare and they can't pass it. Worse yet, they show they had no plan to overturn and replace Obamacare. Why did they not have a plan? Because it was always meant to be an empty campaign promise to rile up the base. A promise they never planned to keep. That's the establishment Republican way.

I know for me as an Independent who leans Conservative on fiscal issues and Moderate on social issues I won't go back to voting for establishment Republicans who are concerned with nothing but power. I will not go back to voting for establishment Republicans who will not even try to keep their campaign promises. Those days are over and supporting Trump shows establishment Republicans that those days are over.

Unless something drastically changes preferably I'll vote for Trump. If DeSantis is the nominee I'll vote for DeSantis. If it's Tim Scott I'm not that enthusiastic about him but will vote for him. If it's Nikki Haley I probably stay home. If it's Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson or Mike Pence then I vote third party against them without thinking twice.

But that in a relatively brief summary (though I know the post isn't brief) is why I support Trump. The other thing I'll say BigCypress is that if people on your side had tried to understand why people connected with Trump in 2016 instead of just vilifying them and realized they maybe they had forgotten about those people and they needed to listen maybe this country wouldn't be in this position it is now.

 

Thanks for the response. The only question I have is why do you call yourself an independent? Based on your post you sound like a conservative

 

Socially I am moderate. I am not against gay marriage for example but I also don't think religious organizations should be forced to recognize it.

I believe that marijuana should be legalized nationwide and other drugs in the very least should be decriminalized nationwide.

If someone believes they are a transgender and wants a sex change surgery then I think they should have that right, as long as they are 18 and as long as no government funding is used for the surgery.

I believe abortion should be available for the first trimester (12 weeks). After that abortion should be illegal with the exception of rape, incest and health of the mother. While I support a woman's ability to get an abortion in the first trimester I once again believe no government funding should be used for the surgery. I also believe that during the first 8 weeks that a man should also have the right to a financial abortion.

I believe in separation of church and state but would never support any push to try to tax churches. I also believe that separation of church and state does not mean freedom from religion in any aspect of public life. While government shouldn't establish a religion if kids at a school want to form a Christian group or if a group of football players want to pray on the field I think they should be able to. I believe that Christianity is unfairly held to a higher standard than other religions in this country and that Christianity is unfairly targeted by the left.

I am an isolationist when it comes to war. Unless an enemy directly threatens the U.S. or interests of the U.S. I do not believe the U.S. should be involved either directly or indirectly in wars. The U.S. needs to get out of the business of nation building. I absolutely do not believe we should be intervening in the Russia-Ukraine war. Not providing weapons, money or specialized support. Not our battle.

Those are just a few of my viewpoints. I think most of them would clearly put me into a moderate category socially and a conservative category fiscally.

 

I give you props for taking the time to articulate your thoughts in detail.

What is frustrating to me is you complain about the establishment not taking you seriously, which to some degree is true, when in fact Trump doesn’t take you seriously either. You complain that the establishment doesn’t care about you. Do you really think Trump cares about you? At the end of the day, Trumps actual legislative agenda was not much different than that of establishment republicans.

The difference was his rhetoric. He is a pure conman. He gets up there and lies over and over again. You are incensed by the establishment lies, but when Trump lies it is just “Trump being Trump”. He lies so much it becomes OK if he lies.

We are going to build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it? Covid is going away in a week? Nobody believed that. But Trumps lies were viewed as performative art, compared to establishment lies which are unforgivable.

So why do you give Trump a pass for his lies and his lack of caring? Because he gets up and says the things you want to hear. That the other guys are bad, it’s not your fault, and you are a victim. That is really what it comes down to. You will excuse his lies, his lack of caring, and his establishment policies because he sweet talks you.

 

A: Because it’s a cult.

 

It's still the establishments job (or used to be) to try to care about everyone in this country. But the rural areas of this country have largely been forgotten. Neither side really cares. And yes I do believe Trump cares about America and the people that have been forgotten. Do I think Trump cares about me individually? Of course not, he's never even met me. But I do genuinely believe Trump cares more about people like me than Biden, Obama, Clinton or either George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush. The last President before Trump that I genuinely think cared was Reagan.

I don't give Trump a pass for his lies. I think a lot of us look at how Trump reacted to Covid and some of the things he said there and believe Trump could have handled Covid a lot better. His biggest mistake during Covid was blindly trusting Fauci.

The difference once again is at least Trump has genuinely tried. Trump genuinely tried to get the wall built. If it wasn't for congress fighting him every step of the way I think he would have had the wall well under way by the time the 2020 election came around. Trump tried to overturn Obamacare, it's not his fault the establishment Republicans had no plan to repeal and replace (though they had talked about it for years). Trump did get a tax cut passed which, despite what you all want to believe, has helped all Americans. I know I enjoyed it when my taxes went down. More money in my pocket to either spend or save.

Establishment Republicans would have made the same promises Trump made but would have taken no action to try to accomplish them. That their way, give the red meat to the base and then when they get into office completely forget on Day 1 every thing they promised. Trump tried to keep his promises, establishment Republicans never even bother.

Even if Trump doesn't win in 2024 it's worth it to stick it to the establishment Republicans again. To send them another message or better yet give the establishment Republicans another middle finger. Maybe after enough times they'll get the message and realize establishment Republicans will never be supported again.