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There is no way Flake can run if he votes against BK, the vote for BK with a moderate tone says he is running.
This doesn't sound like someone resigning on principle and challenging the President in 2020 -
Well, we're also not used to people showing some sense of public decorum in difficult spots anymore, either. It's possible Haley is just going through it the right way, instead of sending out a tweet in all caps that says "I QUIT! PEACE OUT, MF'ERS!"
*holding Rosenstein out of door hatch*
Indeed. I just don't think there are nearly enough neverTrumper Repubs to out-primary the crazy base.
Thank you for posting this. It's a good (albeit extremely disheartening) read.
Actually Trump is accomplishing something no Democrat could. He is cratering the GOP. The have exactly one demographic left. Men, primarily white, over 45. That's it. Hillary would have the GOP chomping to vote Trump has them convinced they don't have to. Their own internal polls show that. A Hillary win would have seen more legislatures go red, no chance of taking the majority in Congress. Instead we have the Democrats with all the energy and the new faces fighting all over this country. Sometimes the kid has to touch the burner to learn not to. Harsh lessons leave lasting memories. This has been pretty darn harsh and will be remembered a long time. If we didn't get a Trump now it would have just been delaying the inevitable. Better to do it now while we still had something left to fight with.
as in, not Haley, Flake or the like. If Flake has aspirations he needs to wait until 2024.
The base doesnt like Flake and the Democrats hate him. He's done. Hope he enjoys the cushy lobbyist job.
Admittedly it's a generalization and presumably not true of all Trump supporters, but it's been proven true over and over and over. Trump's base reacts positively to, and is drawn in by, his cruelty towards "others." Trump and the base's behavior during the Kavanaugh debacle made that very clear, if it wasn't already.
That was kinda my thought. Flake seems pretty well disliked by both sides of the spectrum, no?
Seems like it. And I think being on the wrong side of the female vote is going to be a tough space for the next few cycles in many districts and most state or federal runs.
I go back and forth on this - on one hand, I completely agree that he seemed genuinely shocked and knew he was in over his head. Maybe that translates to not wanting it but not sure. He's such an egomaniac that I'm sure he was convinced he could do the job. What gives me more pause now is somebody has to be telling him that the investigations in to his taxes/finances are just going to get worse going forward and if the Dems win the House then they are going to go crazy with investigations. He may not run out of self-preservation.
2 years is a long time. There's many that already see what is happening to their brand and either jumping ship or distancing themselves. Yes, there's also some that are moving toward the populist and nationalistic policies but I don't think it's a good long-term strategy for the party. If there really is a blue wave this November and then the next 2 years is more of the same then the GOP leadership would be idiotic to at least not entertain the idea. I agree with NC, it does appear the only demographic that they have is white males and if this board is any indication, a lot of the more educated white males are jumping ship too. Maybe it works in 2020 but it seems Trump is dooming the party to irrelevance 20 years down the road.
There's your mistake. The leadership isn't the one making the decision. The inmates are running the asylum. Party leaders all hated Trump during the '16 primaries, and they were ready to drop him when the Access Hollywood tape came out. But they didn't because they realized that the base wasn't behind them.
I could see this for a variety of reasons. Mainly he's looking bad, he is old. He can lead his version of a great life being an ex-Prez. He'll say he is going out on his terms and can fight the swamp or whatever his line of BS is better from another position. He'll get an additional 4 years of his life that he won't get if he ran and won or more likely IMO he runs and loses.
Right but if he runs it will get spent, he can just hold events sucking people of their hard earned money for 3 years while he serves as president.He'll do that regardless of the rules
There's lots of things Republicans don't fear - being called bigots/racist, being hypocritical, voting for ideology and on and on but the one thing I think they are afraid of is losing power. If they see an irreversible change coming I could see them dumping Trump. Maybe I'm wrong and they would be willing to go down with the ship but self-preservation is always something I believe in with virtually all politicians.
Somebody -- 538 maybe? -- recently showed statistically how much more entrenched voters on both sides are now with regards to ideology. And how important it is to voters, again of both sides. If policies are that important to you, then maybe it's more understandable how red voters, especially the evangelicals, can vote for awful Donald. Not even his most fervent supporters will admit to admiring his character but by golly he and the other Repubs at the highest levels of government are pulling no punches to (1) get their voters what they want and (2) stay in power. And that seems to be their most attractive characteristic right now.
I keep coming back to Access Hollywood. That affects things going forward in a few different ways. First of all, the fact that the base didn't abandon him when he seemed absolutely certain to lose -- and turned on Establishment types like Ryan when they were ready to bail -- suggests that they'll never abandon him. Second, the fact that he won after all that makes it even less likely the base would turn on him in the future, because it "proved" (at least in their minds, and certainly in his) that he's invulnerable. And finally, the entire incident demonstrated once and for all the powerlessness of the GOP Establishment, which gives them even less leverage than they had before to force him out.AAABatteries said:
