So what does the Republican Party stand for now?

Simple. It is winning elections and amassing political power just like the democrat party.

 

Seems like you're missing the mark.

 

I don't. From Goldwater through Bush II, I would have said traditional conservative ideals. Since then the GOP or most of it have gotten away from the traditional conservative ideals to follow a man and not any type of ideals or political ideology. Trump himself, I don't believe has any type of political philosophy or ideology. Either that or he adopted the ideology and agenda of the party he belonged to at the time which has been 7 and counting.

What the GOP must learn or understand is that they are still the smaller of the two major parties. That they must win the independent vote or lose elections. General elections that is. Trump has lost independents as they dislike him. Even when Trump won the independent vote in 2016 by a 46-42 margin over Hillary Clinton, a majority voted against him. The 42% who voted for Clinton along with the 12% who voted third party against both Hillary and Trump. Biden won independents 54-41 over Trump, a swing of 17 points, from a plus 4 to a minus 13.

Trump probably still has the power to decide who wins most Republican primary battles. But that does the GOP little good when independents vote Democratic as those candidates lose in the general. The Republican Party must move beyond Trump, easily said, very hard to do. To win in the GOP primaries, most candidates need Trump's backing along with all his followers. So those candidates can't cross Trump and hope to win. But come general election time, Trump backed candidates who won in the primaries will need to win independents which don't like Trump much, hence they lose.

That's being between a rock and a hard place, a catch 22 situation. Candidate who can win the independent vote can't for the most part win in the Republican primaries and vice versa. Luckily for Republicans there is still plenty of time prior to the 2022 midterms to discard Trump and move on. Will they? Probably not. This is what happens when a political party embraces one man and not a political philosophy.

 

You know, I've seen quite a few posters on this forum use that phrase and didn't quite get it until just recently while viewing the HBO documentary series Q: Into the Storm.

Apparently, it's a gaming term. That explains a lot! It underlines the juvenile delinquency of what has become of the GOP.

 

As the "conservativish" party, the GOP mostly reacts to whatever the Democrats do. I used to think that wokeism had a natural breaking point, in which it would get too ridiculous to sustain itself and collapse, but with the full support of the media and almost every institution in the country, I no longer believe that. I think the GOP will evolve into the party of normal people and the Dems will become the Wokestapo.

 

This is why Trump is still dangerous!

Not to the average American. Not to the Democratic Party.

Trump is a threat to the viability and strength of the Republican Party. Led by Trump, they are becoming more ludicrous by the day. Now Republicans have outlawed providing water to people waiting in line to vote in Georgia.

How absurd can you get.

It only gets worse.

CNN reports, "The same week that a major backer of Trump's false election fraud narrative admitted it was unreasonable, Republican lawmakers in Georgia turned legislation inspired by the false narrative into law."

Lawyer Sidney Powell, who pushed the most virulent and false claims of fraud in 2020, faces a massive defamation lawsuit by the election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems, which were active in Georgia in 2020.

Powell repeatedly pressed the voter fraud myth as fact on the airwaves and in court after the election, but facing Dominion's lawsuit, she said in a filing that "reasonable" people would not accept her statements as "fact."

Also, in response to the network's many lies about voter fraud, Dominion sued Fox News this week, asking for $1.6 billion in damages.

Because he lost the election in Georgia, because Georgians refuted his leadership and elected two Democratic Senators giving the Democrats control of the Senate, Trump is seeking vengeance against those who voted against him and his party.

The Republican Party is being led by a man seeking retribution, not what is best for the party or -- heaven forbid -- best for the country. Allow me to repeat:

Republican lawmakers in Georgia turned legislation inspired by the false narrative into law."

Americans are looking at all of this, and that does not bode well for the Republican Party. Like lemmings, they are being led over a very deep cliff.

 

I'd use the word revenge. Far as I'm concerned since a majority of independents dislike Trump making it very hard for Trump back candidates to win in the general election since the GOP is still the smaller party which needs to win independents or lose. What happens to that party is no concern of mine. That is a Republican Party problem, one they need to solve or they'll revert back to the numbers they had in congress during FDR. 70 Democratic senators and 300 plus representatives.

Either the GOP returns to the mainstream with their traditional conservative values or they continue to follow Trump like he was their messiah. That is a decision only the Republican party can make.

 

What is the purpose of a political party?

 

I think one has to look at the GOP in two factions, albeit with some overlap. One can roughly be called the establishment -- swamp creatures if you will -- and is focused on their own well-being and success, and consists mainly of politicos and a small minority of the base. The other can loosely be called conservative and is truly focused on the betterment of individuals and the country, and consists of some politicos and an overwhelming majority of the base.

 

DeSantis continues to drive forward for Freedom and Liberty, loudly telling the Authoritarians to go straight to hell at every opportunity.

DeSantis Points the Way to a New Federalism.

"On Monday, the Florida governor announced he would take an emergency executive action against vaccine passports, explaining it this way:"

It's time for the States to Stand Up To The Out of Control Authoritarians In DC. They have the constitutional power to change just about anything about the federal government that the States broadly agree on.

Earlier: DeSantis threatens to sue US over cruise ship ban.

 

It is a party in crisis, and really it has been for years. The "establishment" of the party has been divorced from its base for some time, which is precisely why Trump succeeded in getting nominated and elected to begin with.

So yeah, what does it stand for? It devolved into the Party of Obstruction and General Negativity during the Obama years, thanks especially to McConnell and his style of leadership in the Senate. But with this came a lot of stagnation in legislation. Nothing much got done for 8 long years and working class Americans really began to suffer thanks to outsourcing and a failure of the legislature as well as the executive to address the situation.

So far, unfortunately, a good solution has not yet emerged. These disaffected Republicans (now former Republicans in all but name) who adore Donald Trump for pretending to stand up for them and defend their interests while not actually doing anything of the sort only know that they love Donald Trump and his many unfulfilled promises to take them back in time to the Reagan era, or even further back to the 50s. What they seem to want, then, is economic prosperity. I imagine they won't acknowledge and enjoy the economic prosperity that will develop under Biden in the wake of the pandemic, however.

 

Thank you for illustrating one very serious problem with the GOP today. It's full of politicians who pander to nutcases who base their beliefs on crap published on sites like pjmedia.com and Gateway Pundit, among many others.

 

Spoken like the words of a true cynic. Sad.

There are only two parties with large enough caucuses in all the legislatures across the land to shape policy. Just two.

Pick one. Without one or the other, you'll have no power. Power is with a group, not alone, not in politics. The bigger the group, the better.

That's just the way it is.

 

There are only two parties, and neither one serves us. They make the rules and set the policies that ensure there is no hope of further parties or differing points of view will ever see the light of day. With having only two parties, it is very easy to keep us divided. With only two parties, it is so simple for them to point out who the enemy is, which happens to be the other half of the country. If I am cynical, it’s only because I am wise to the game they are playing. I would love to be able to say that one party or the other truly has our interests at heart. They don’t.

 

I disagree. The Democratic party does seem to serve it's voters and constituents. If you are a Democrat, you are probably getting what you want out of the party. Maybe not as much as you want, but the party is heading in the right direction.

That can't be said for the GOP.

 

To answer this stupid question you only need to look within at the things democrats systematically seek to destroy.
A secure America
A strong military
Property rights
Jobs
Lower taxes
Affordable energy
Law and order.

 

Actually there are two Democrat Parties. The rank and file democratic democrats who support Freedom and Liberty just as much as anyone, and the old relics in charge of the party that are vile authoritarians. The Democrat Base should assert themselves against these old vile relics and replace them with folks that are younger, who take a longer view and who are more steadfastly committed to securing the Freedom and Liberty of those they are supposed to be representing.

SHE’S RIGHT: Liberal Author Naomi Wolf Warns ‘Vaccine Passports’ Are the ‘End of Human Liberty in the West.’

She's not wrong.

The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance. Our answer to Biden's deranged usurpation of our rights is "NO!"

 

The second amendment.

 

Only if by "normal" you mean elderly white bigots who yearn for the 1950's.

 

How very, very sad.

 

It is sad that the constitution is a partisan issue. It should be one that unites both sides. I gave you an easy one since it is one that pushes people away from the Dem party. If I vote for marriage equality and not throwing people in jail for having a plant, I also have to vote for those who infringe on my constitutional rights.

I realize your thread was meant to make the other party look bad, but you are not pointing with clean hands.

 

Your bigot comment seems to come outta left field. If you can't discuss the issue, that's fine.

 

Depends on which GOP you are talking about. Seems to me that the GOP is owned and run by the very wealthy. Not all of the wealthy, but quite a few. You can see it in that pretty much every issue that the Congressional Republicans, on the national and state level, support tends to benefit the wealthy to a much greater extent than anyone else. I highly suspect that trend will continue unabated.

The voters though, are those cultivated by the likes of FOX News and right wing radio. I have long seen leaders as those who jump in front of a parade already in progress. FOX has help now, competition even, from the likes of Sky News and News Max. I suspect the base to continue on as they have been, even before the Trump came along and gave them a voice. But the good news is, they seem to me shrinking in popularity. Expect them to become more radical.

 

Citing your example, apparently, it's NOT winning.

 

Except that it is the Repubs who seem to favor burning it all down, but seem quite anemic in trying to describe what to replace it with.