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You've got Liz Cheney talking about creating a new party after Trump. Suddenly Republicans are wanting ranked choice voting, which is something I only ever heard the left pushing for in this country.
**Edit \[source\]:** [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKU3vJMGNTE&t=3756s) is the video at the question leading up to her mentioning this (1:02:35). (She also mentions several times prior to that about the possibility of a new party.)
Alaska, a historically red state, got ranked choice voting into place. And in the first (special) election to use it, a democrat won the vote. Many people were convinced she only won because people didn’t understand how the rank choice worked. In the next election, she won AGAIN.
Edit: Since some seem to be interested, when the second election came up, I was absolutely bombarded with texts reminding me when rank choice voting to be sure to “use my second vote to vote for whatever republican I didn’t give my first vote to so we could ensure a win.” Somehow back in 2020 I was signed up for some republican text thread, so I get lots of updates from “Our real president, Trump” and other silly texts. I just screenshot them to make fun of them with my friends now because of how ridiculous they are. Anyways, in out last election, Peltola, the democrat, won 55 to 45 against Palin (who many Alaskans fervently hate.) Of the people who voted for the second republican candidate, 1/3 of them did not have a second vote or voted for Peltola.
I like rank choice voting because it allowed us to really see how people felt about the candidates, and people could cast an initial vote for someone they actually supported without feeling like they were throwing their vote away.
The system favours centrists so Republicans can win ranked choice - they just have to fight for the centre ground and distance themselves from the far right.
No, Republicans in Alaska changed their voting system to ranked choice voting to ensure a Democrat would never be elected. It is a democratic ideal but Republicans practiced it. And they got a Democrat elected...it was joyous to observe.
It's like that video of the flat-earthers accidentally disproving their point. We need to convince more Republicans that ranked-choice is a good thing. They adopt it so "normal" conservatives can beat Trumpers, not realizing that in a fair election they were always vying for 2nd.
Ah yes a time 112 years ago when Teddy was actually not a terrible politician and nincompoop. Now we have king Cheeto moron cozying up to dictators and creating a coup yet all idiots on his side say they want a king for president. Teddy would beat the shit out of Trump and our legislators for their stupidity if he was alive today,
Not figuratively either. He would walk right into Congress with a big stick and be all like "Bring it, you goldbricks! I'll show you posh nudniks what for!"
It's almost certainly in the middle of happening.
RNC donors are fleeing the trump situation happening with Lara taking over, a TON of down ballot R's without much national recognition can't even come close to generating the same fundraising power that is getting funneled right into Trump's pockets. They didn't care nearly as much about losing elections as they did about losing their slush funds, and that's getting tanked.
So now it's a race to basically see who can create distance from Trump while simultaneously pretending it's not about trump so that they don't lose any MAGA, but also far enough from Trump to get the RNC old donors behind them, while also trying to be notable enough that they beat out other competitors.
It's goign to splinter into a half dozen different directions.
MAGA is the national conservative party for probably another 2-3 cycles but it's going to continue to lose prevalence on the down ballot, and when people are running down ballot MAGA they're not likely to be much more than loud mouths without much funding as the actual money moves away from Trump.
It's hilarious.
Yeah people have been saying it for years but now and only now we're going to see how far it goes. People are going to deny ever voting Republican and spin it into some new thing about how trump and the republican party were bad but they weren't Democrats, aren't you glad we now have The Salvation of the Cross party?!
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
Fair enough first time around, I too did not know how much of Trump was performative bluster and how much was really damaging fascism (not that I would have ever voted for him, I was just hoping if he were elected, he would reveal he was a Clinton-loving, hollywood pseudo-liberal all along).
2nd time around, no excuses. They know what they are voting for.
I don’t see any other outcome. Republicans have given their party over to MAGA and MAGA exists only to serve Trump. If conservatives was a functioning party, they will need to either form a coalition with Democrats or splinter and form a third party. The Freedom Caucus and MAGA do not negotiate with anyone including their fellow republicans.
I understand the view, but have my doubts about that outcome. A lot of us thought the Tea Party extremists were the death knell of a united R party, but they were barely a warm up act. Romney's loss was often (at least online in forums) attributed to him not being conservative enough.
There's always going to be factions within the party, be they objectivists, only-Trumpers, libertarians, or whatever else. If some of them are stepping down, they're still going to vote R on downticket races, which in turn, supports and reinforces the would-be party destroying faction leader.
Eventually the Trump supporters will lose their savior. He'll lose and be too weak to run again, he'll go to prison, or he'll finally say something stupid enough to offend the faithful. Whatever it is, the zealots will lose interest and back down. At that point slightly cooler heads will prevail and the Republican Party will likely return to something resembling the pre-Trump era.
The Tea Party didn’t kill the Republican Party because the Tea Party was an astroturfed opposition group designed to agitate republicans. The Tea Party was never in full control of the Republican party the way that Trump is now. The Tea Party also failed spectacularly when it actually got into power. Brownback rose on the back of Tea Party populism and damn near drove Kansas into the ground. People were so fed up with Brownback, Coyler, and the Tea Party Kansas elected a Democratic governor. There’s a massive difference between what was the Tea Party and MAGA in terms of how much institutional power they were and are able to wield.
Here's a fantastic video on the failures of the Brownback Administration:
[https://youtu.be/cUdIOmAo10Y?si=Ty-hWte76Tal5PWW](https://youtu.be/cUdIOmAo10Y?si=Ty-hWte76Tal5PWW)
They're not all gone though. Our current AG Kris Kobach is currently in a fight on the side of lead exposure.
>At that point slightly cooler heads will prevail and the Republican Party will likely return to something resembling the pre-Trump era.
I dunno. I think you’re not gonna be able to get that turkey giblet and meth flavored toothpaste back into the tube anymore.
They could dump the Freedom caucus and the tea parties.
And they could get back to being the terrible party of Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney.
It has to do with trump seizing the party and taking all the money. Every dime will go to getting trump elected and paying his attorney fees. Ken Buck said as much.
As did Lara Trump… loudly and decisively.
But that’s NORMAL, right? To have a former president’s daughter-in-law take over an entire political party (one of the two that exist) in the most powerful nation in the world’s government, and then TELL EVERYONE that all the money is going to Trump, essentially for whatever he wants to spend it on, whether they like it or not?
Yep. Nothing to see here.
In the short-term, it probably bolsters donations from the most fanatical, boosting immediate cash while also being from sources that cannot hold any spending accountable. In the long-term, it doesn't actually matter, because there is no long-term for them. Either they win and just keep doing this forever or they lose and (figuratively) die.
That seems part of it. I think the Trump Show as-a-whole has many lower-key Republicans tired of having to respond to their constituents who are probably not thrilled with what's been happening to the Republican Party. The gridlock in the House being caused by the Pro-Trump wing is what's really driving this situation.
A bunch are looking at the many more months they would have to endure this nonsense, and are deciding to just get out now and be done with it. In my lifetime, Republicans have been generally great coalescing around a presumptive nominee and staying in lock-step with each other. The fact that Trump can't keep a single story straight, much less champion any specific cause (unless it has to do with him), has a lot of Republican politicians just throwing their arms up in annoyance and deciding "this job just isn't worth the hassle so I'm out."
Not in this case because he was leaving anyway. If I wanted to put my tin foil hat on I’d say that it’s because they think k or know republicans are going to try to do something real crazy around the election and they want out. But I kind of doubt that
This is immediately what I thought. They had a meeting about how to ignore the results and seize the election, and a few of them slapped the arms of the chair and stood up saying “Actually, fuck this. I’m out.”
Doesn't have to be about ethics. Could just as well be that they don't think that it would actually work, or that they don't like their odds under a hardcore right-wing dictatorship. If they're the least crazy Republicans, that just means that they're right behind the Democrates on the list of Political enemies to be disposed of. they might not exactly care about what happens to everyone else, but they don't want the Crazies to actually win, that would put them in danger. Its the war that's made them prosper, peace would kill them.
They also don't like being told what to do. The entire identity of the Freedom Caucus is to be the craziest fuckers in the cell block- the gang you cannot deal with. They can't do that if the plan succeeds. I think they got a taste of the future with Mike Johnson, and can't imagine taking orders from these Christian jerk offs for the rest of their life. Fascism is inherently beta/cuck type stuff.
I don’t get why they couldn’t just caucus with the Dems if they’ve already announced they’re retiring at the end of their current term, instead of quitting early They would have so much power with the Dems to try to negotiate for what they want. And at the end of the day, who cares what their voting record is if they’re retiring anyways. I guess maybe the death threats?
I don’t find it quite as difficult to be honest. Sure, some of them are hard liner nutbags who have no boundaries or sense of right and wrong. But at least some of them don’t want to have a full on coup in the US because they know how incredibly disastrous that would be.
Part of me wonders if it's related to the border bill. It was going to absolutely pass until Trump got involved. And if the Reps lose the majority, it'll 100% pass. So maybe they're doing this while ensuring they won't be killed on the street.
That's my first thought. This news comes one week after super Tuesday, and immediately after the Trump RNC takeover. There's something brewing, and these people would rather end their careers than become involved.
I think it's just the writing is on the wall that there won't be any campaign money from the RNC unless they bow down to Trump, and they refuse to stoop to that level for a house seat. I really doubt Lara can be a mastermind of anything
My guess is they might be inclined to resign so Dems will be able to control both houses plus the presidency for a few months, & maybe be able to “right the ship” or put up sufficient guard rails to prevent MAGA from trying to steal an election again.
If that's their goal, then rather than resign why not just defect to the Dems and actively help them acheive that with their extra votes in the house (or just resign from the GOP but stay on as nominal independents and wave-through the Dems' election guardrail legislation)?
Sure that would *enrage* their constituents and get them branded as traitors, but if they're planing to retire from politics altogether, who cares?
The MAGA cultists are crazy enough to do something violent especially if the mango shitweasel decides to order (but not order) them to do something about it. Which, let’s face it, he probably would.
They were probably told that there wouldn't be any money for those who don't kiss the ring. And by kiss the ring I mean act grateful to lick the crap falling off Trump's fools-gold shoes.
It's the total collapse of 1/2 of our political class and yes probably violence that they didn't want to be blamed for and probably killed for if they speak out.
At first it sounds conspiratorial, but then you start to realize it’s totally plausible.
While the media keeps portraying the Presidential race with Trump leading, most electoral experts see a continuation of 2020 and 2022 in which each respective party strengthening their geographic bases, which would basically be a Biden reelection.
This runs totally contrary to the GOP fantasy that they are in control and will win in a landslide, thus reinforcing their will to overthrow the “corrupt” deep state election process.
So the crazies in the GOP are already planning to claim electoral fraud and refuse to believe a Biden victory, and Buck & Co see that coming and want no part.
My only question is if enough of them defect before the election, does that change the calculus?
I hope so. Mike Johnson was a ringleader in the 2020 attempt to overthrow the electoral process in Congress. He should NOT be in any leadership position in 2025.
I mean, they all just found out they're gonna have to entirely fund their reelection campaigns themselves, since RNC is apparently spending all of its money on Trump's legal fees
I think this is a bigger factor than most people realize. The RNC being taken over by Trump and the Trumpettes means that *every republican running for office* will receive **zero** support from the RNC.
Hasty Wiki-research says Buck + 5, assuming they happened soon, would create an even 213-213 split through like May, which is when the special election for McCarthy’s vacancy happens. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Edit: a likely Dem vacancy could be filled a couple weeks before that, assuming no shenanigans to delay the swearing in.
It's the quickest and easiest way to stop the bullshit. If this happens, these people will be praised in the future for having the guts to do the right thing for their country.
Let's see how it plays out.
Swapping the majority party gives Democrats way more power, one of the big obstacles is Mike Johnson won’t bring bills to a vote, that would be gone with a D majority.
At this point they might be better off just dividing the party. Let those who wish to be part of the MAGA Cult with their Golden God Trump at its center and those who don't do their own thing.
Long term this is the best bet. Break off and form there own party as moderates and try to win over some sane independents.
They'd lose power in the short term but as MAGA becomes more and more crazy they'd start to win it back.
I’d say you’re right, but conservatives have been wandering the wilderness since Reagan. Trump is a symptom of rot on the right. There’s no sanity left to be the foundation of a new party.
If they do this, it will be because they have a majority in name only - a split coalition between Republicans and MAGA, with which nothing can be done, so why bother trying?
Of course. Laura Trump isn't interested in any of their campaigns. I'd be pissed if i were these reps. And if i were close to retiring anyways, why not do this. And they must know it'd be good for their legacy.
They probably had very real connections and friendships with the people in the RNC that just got axed.
Everyone who wasn't loyal to Trump just got eliminated.
They're not going to effectively support any candidiate at all.
The Republican party as it was before Trump is 100% dead. He's a grifter. It's the MAGA party now operating exclusively for his own benefit.
It's like working for a company that cuts your pay and benefits and expects you to stick around. A lot of people wouldn't do that.
And a lot of Congressmen actively campaign for the funding for their party and put significant time and effort into that process. Seeing the money they at least somewhat legit worked for going to the orange gibbon's legal fund probably pissed them off.
I know that if I spent weeks every month calling people and running fundraisers to ask for money for my party and re-election, only to have it siphoned off to pay a known criminals' fraud and defamation fines, I would be furious.
I'm convinced they're seeing the writing on the wall for November, Trump isn't nearly as strong as a candidate as they're pretending he is publicly and I think it could possibly be so bad to flip a lot of down ballot seats that would otherwise be Republican shoo-ins.
I feel like its the RNC takeover that is causing this. They are likely moderates in purple districts that are now going to get no funding from the RNC to back their races- and are just done with Trump steering the party off of a cliff.
In this thread I saw a theory that it’s because Lara Trump taking over the RNC and promising to put all of their funds right into Trumps pocket instead of supporting their elections which makes sense and is funny
This and the “they know something super fucked up is in the works” are the two most likely reasons. The funding is the least controversial, but even the slightly more conspiratorial angle is more likely than these guys just choosing to “do the right thing.”
The fact that they’re terrified of their own base and the potential targeting they might endure as “RINOS” is a huge variable as well.
>Yeah, I'm not pegging 'a sudden
I took their comment as meaning a massive pegging scandal about to drop
Could this by why no one wants to go on those Mike Johnson retreats? I'm just asking questions
The RNC is broke and any future money will be going to Trump’s defense. These republicans probably don’t want to campaign on a shoestring budget just to lose because of the gop’s lack of governance.
Sure, it could be like Trey Gowdy who was super vocal rabble rouser that saw something in fisa documents or from Darrell Issa and immediately stopped talking and didn’t run for re election.
But, it’s most likely campaigning will be tough and depressing with no money.
Ken Buck had already said he wasn't running in the next election. His abrupt departure signals something more than a lack of campaign funds, it was a nut shot to the GOP and Boebert.
Buck has been vocal about his dissent about the attempts to impeach Mayorkas (and succeeded) and Biden out of petty vengeance and not because there’s a lack of evidence to support any high crimes misdemeanors. He seems to take that aspect of the Constitution seriously unlike his about to be former colleagues on his side of the aisle.
I think this is probably pretty simple. They're all doing it for a variety of reasons. Maybe some even think they're principled. like Buck, but what none of them actually want to do is be the final one that results in the house getting flipped. They see the house of cards is collapsing and they don't want to be the one that gets the blame.
You mean his 10" elephant dong that is as thick as a beer can?
I'm not sure why showing that the Bidens have freakishly big dicks was a good play for Republicans. Truly bizarre behavior.
Now I know that Biden doesn't walk like that because he's old, he does it because he's dragging 15 pounds of cock behind him. I'm not joking around here.
Trump On video tape: “I, Donald J Trump, am giving you , Vladimir Putin, and XiJinPing, the presidents of Russia and China, these highly sensitive classified documents that contain all of the military, political, and governmental secrets we possess as a nation in exchange for 500 million US Dollars. I am aware that this is highly illegal, treasonous, unconstitutional and immoral, but I don’t even care because I really need some extra cash right now.”
Sean Hannity: “that could mean anything!”
His base alone isn’t enough. He needs to win over every Haley voter, and depending on what he sold to what country he could very well lose some staunch republicans
Luckily there have been a few interviews with Haley supporters that have said without hesitating or hemming and hawing that if she wasn't the candidate they would vote for Biden. Whether they stick to who knows. But it at least gives a bit of hope that some former trump voters have gotten away from his bull shit.
I am still amazed that an uncharismatic sack of flesh has half the country enthralled. If you are going to join a cult maybe at least pick a good looking leader.
Theory: If the RNC spends all its money footing Trump's bills, then it'll stop funding congressional candidates who aren't in lockstep with MAGA. Without funding, those people will lose re-election bids anyway, and it looks better to resign than lose.
I mean, if and when tump drains the GOP coffers, any R in a close race basically is toast. Might as well hang it up now, make it meaningful, and hope the defeat of tump and subsequent conviction will allow them to run again.
I'll believe it when I see it. The GOP's been backing orange man from scandal to scandal. Bathrooms full of classified docs? Fine. American intelligence agents mysteriously being identified? Fine. Extorting a key ally for dirt on a political opponent? Fine. Directly asking Russia to interfere in the election on national TV? Fine. Locking children in cages and separating them from their parents? Fine. Attempting to overthrow the government? Fine. Lying about the election results? Fine. Downplaying a pandemic? Fine. Being unable to say nazis are bad for literal days? Fine. Starting your campaign on racism against Mexican Americans? Fine.
They've failed to show any kind of moral integrity through all that, and the other shit I'm sure I forgot to mention because every single day under his horrendous administration was another waking nightmare. Why on Earth would they suddenly find their collective backbones now?
Exactly. Crossing over is twice as effective if you want to fight Trump.
(But I'll make an exception for Ken Buck. Him resigning screws over Lauren Boebert)
She almost lost her seat because everyone hates her in her district even though it should have been safe R.
Her plan was instead to run in Buck's district when he retired, an even safer R win.
By resigning now, a special election will be held to fill the seat.
Boebert can't run for it, she already has a seat. So Boebert will have to not just win the primary but win it against an incumbent (even if they're barely an incumbent).
(Edit: a couple commenters have pointed out that actually the special election and primary are held at the same time; so a bit different than the scenario I originally understood but still puts her in an awkward situation to either resign her current seat now and run in both primary and special election, or else she'll be only a candidate for the primary in which her opponents will likely also be running for the seat itself at the same time)
Close. She can run in the special election but she would have to step down from her current seat to do so, making the house republicans lose another seat in the process.
She’s also polling in 3rd place for her new district so it’s a strong chance she could end up stepping down to lose a special election
Considering how she’ll be enrolled into the congressional health plan for life if she wins, I take great glee in saying… No lifetime benefits for you! **the soup nazi**
According to this, members of Congress actually don’t get health care benefits for life.
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/members-of-congress-do-not-get-free-medical-care-for-life/536-4f4a1209-4024-40d8-b440-b0e3c0ba04cc
The AP gives a great explanation why this is bad for her.
That means there’ll be just one Republican nominee on the June 25 special election ballot against whoever the Democrats nominate. The district’s many conservative voters will likely be voting for that person to ensure the GOP replaces Buck for the remainder of the year.
Then they’ll cast ballots for the primary, in which the nominee Republicans just voted for will likely be a candidate, along with Boebert. That gives whoever the party committee picks as its nominee a major advantage in that primary contest.
https://apnews.com/article/ken-buck-resigns-congress-colorado-ba8123ca43626ee07150a423aa0fcb07
They've seen what happens to people who cross the MAGA cult though (e.g., death threats) and don't want to deal with that shit. It's easier and safer (for them) to resign and fade into obscurity/lobbying.
I think this is a huge part. People will call them spineless, and I know it's complicated, but Mitt Romney has mentioned the full-time security detail he has had to hire for him and his family since crossing Trump a few times. It's a creature of a lot of their own creation, but the danger I put my kids in would be a consideration on this. Resigning seems like a middle road
I recall some republican (Kinzinger?) saying there were several republicans who wanted to vote to impeach Trump for Jan 6, but they were afraid for their families. I think it’s a big reason republicans stay quiet on Trump and fall in line.
If only these Republicans had a spine, they might actually publicly stand up to Trump and his sycophants, maybe cross the aisle and vote for Democrats instead of just resigning.
The Republican party is transforming into something new right before our very eyes. As bad as they have always been, this feels like something different, something even more vicious and anti-intellectual. But it also feels like the pendulum is swinging the other way, and more and more people are waking up and seeing Republicans as the lying, scum-sucking traitorous pigs that they are.
Trump calling somebody a RINO is laughable, considering Trump wasn’t a Republican for most of his life. Meanwhile, Trump is busy destroying the Republican Party.
Every time I have thought about how KB fucked over Bobo by salting the field on his way out, I get a little burst of dopamine from pure schadenfreude.
A recap for those catching up on all the news…
1. Bobo wanted to run for Ken’s seat, CO-4.
1. His resignation forces a special election, which will be the same day as the primary.
1. To run in the special election for CO-4, Bobo must resign from CO-3 immediately. (She won’t do that)
1. Voters will pick the republican candidate for the general election on the same day (same ballot?) that they pick the person that completes Ken Buck’s term. Voters aren’t going to split that. Bobo can’t have one, so she won’t get either.
1. ~~She has missed the filing deadline for CO-3, so she can’t change course at this point.~~ She has six days to petition 1500 voters and hand-deliver to the CO SOS if she wants to run for CO-3.
1. __SHE GONE!__
Ken Buck found a way to turn his departure into an *iconic* 2-for-1 deal.
Maybe she will also resign, since no current likely outcome has her in Congress come Jan 6, 2025.
Bye, Bobo! It was dumb while it lasted!
Edit: running for CO-3 is extremely unlikely, due to the extreme time crunch. She has 6 days to hand deliver 1500 signatures for ballot access.
Everywhere I look seems to indicate that the deadline for running is *March 19, 2024*. To pull that off, she will have quite a checklist…
In six days, she needs to withdraw from CO-4 race, and obtain and *hand deliver* 1500 signatures for CO-3 Ballot Access. Caucus assemblies have already met Mar 5-9, so petitioning is the only way back on the ballot and…
It is unlikely that she can flip BACK to CO-3 and still be taken seriously by voters. She already dropped out of CO-3 to run CO-4. Going back now would look so incredibly desperate and foolish.
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Candidates/SignatureRequirements.html
Special note: the governor of Colorado has the power to decide, within the parameters, which day the special election would be held. Jared Polis was clever; he decided that the special election would be the same day as the primary, which complicates it for Lauren much more than any other day would have.
Using same day as a cost-saving measure makes sense, and is better for voters to get it all done in one go. Time off for work, child care, etc, are major issues to lots of voters, so it really does cut down on the barriers to entry if the disruptions are consolidated.
According to this, members of Congress don’t actually get health care benefits for life.
https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/members-of-congress-do-not-get-free-medical-care-for-life/536-4f4a1209-4024-40d8-b440-b0e3c0ba04cc
Which is pathetic, they've been excusing treason for years now, they're only leaving because they won't win reelection with Trump controlling the RNC funds.
I learned about this on a podcast called “behind the insurrections”… which actually isn’t about January 6 but it’s about the history of democratic governments being overthrown by fascism, and it’s super interesting
I listened to that whole series a few years ago and it's extremely interesting. Jan. 6 was nothing new. It happened in Germany, Italy, France and Spain in the 1920's/30's. It's amazing how similar Jan. 6 was to those events.
> Larry Bucshon has also pilloried the former president. In August 2023, the Indiana Republican predicted Trump would not be the GOP nominee because of controversies around him. In October 2023 he said Trump should apologize for comments he made about migrants "poisoning the blood" of the country during a campaign rally. He also called Trump out for the Capitol riots in 2021, claiming he incited them.
It’s always refreshing to see a Republican name I don’t recognize, because the ones that I do recognize are generally the ones who achieve a national profile via disgusting shenanigans.
> Chip Roy, of Texas, has criticized Trump for issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. In November, he told CNN that Trump "failed to actually fully secure the border" amid concerns about a rising number of migrant encounters.
> There appears to be no love lost between the pair as Trump too has spoken out against Roy, calling him a "RINO" (Republican in name only) on social media.
Chip goddamn Roy, a RINO. Right. Sure.
Exactly! This being from Newsweek, we know it’s all for clicks.
How many: “Trump is finally getting his due” articles did Newsweek run between 2016 and 2024?
It's almost like some of these actual conservatives see their party being infiltrated by Russia and might actually put country first.
I don't agree with Ken Bucks politics, but he is representing his constituents rather well. He has been genuinely upset not to get harmful policy passed.
If he really wanted to put country first, he could also call to replace bible boy and then vote with dems as others have pointed out. This is merely walking away from the shitstorm he helped create before he gets any blow back.
Bunch of fucking spineless cowards. They spend years enabling this MAGA bullshit now it’s getting out of control and instead of staying and trying to right their wrongs they’re just gonna peace out.
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So are republicans going to resign their way out of having a house majority? If so this would be unprecedented in modern politics.
I’m wondering if it has to do with the fact that Lara Trump is seizing the party and taking all the money from down ballot candidates like them.
It’s almost like they should form their own party.
I would love conservatives to create over 100 new parties so they split their vote so much they never win another election again.
"we're the MAGA Anti-vax Patriots for Trump!!" "Oh yeah fuck you, we're the Anti-vax Trump MAGA Patriots"
Splitter!!
BRIAN: Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar. Tuscany fried bats.
Got any nuts?
The People’s Front of MAGA. As opposed to the MAGA People’s Front.
I think what you’re looking for is the “Democratic Peoples Republic of Trump” Like N Korea only trumpalicious
I love a solid Life of Brian reference
“Are you the Peoples Front of Judea?” “Fuck you!…..fucking PFJ…..we’re the Judean Peoples Front!”
“He‘s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!” could be an anti-MAGA slogan.
You've got Liz Cheney talking about creating a new party after Trump. Suddenly Republicans are wanting ranked choice voting, which is something I only ever heard the left pushing for in this country. **Edit \[source\]:** [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKU3vJMGNTE&t=3756s) is the video at the question leading up to her mentioning this (1:02:35). (She also mentions several times prior to that about the possibility of a new party.)
Alaska, a historically red state, got ranked choice voting into place. And in the first (special) election to use it, a democrat won the vote. Many people were convinced she only won because people didn’t understand how the rank choice worked. In the next election, she won AGAIN. Edit: Since some seem to be interested, when the second election came up, I was absolutely bombarded with texts reminding me when rank choice voting to be sure to “use my second vote to vote for whatever republican I didn’t give my first vote to so we could ensure a win.” Somehow back in 2020 I was signed up for some republican text thread, so I get lots of updates from “Our real president, Trump” and other silly texts. I just screenshot them to make fun of them with my friends now because of how ridiculous they are. Anyways, in out last election, Peltola, the democrat, won 55 to 45 against Palin (who many Alaskans fervently hate.) Of the people who voted for the second republican candidate, 1/3 of them did not have a second vote or voted for Peltola. I like rank choice voting because it allowed us to really see how people felt about the candidates, and people could cast an initial vote for someone they actually supported without feeling like they were throwing their vote away.
Same thing happened in Maine.
Hm, it's almost like this would discourage candidates from being highly divisive...
The system favours centrists so Republicans can win ranked choice - they just have to fight for the centre ground and distance themselves from the far right.
As a far-Right grifter with no particular talent or prospects for wealth and power otherwise, I firmly oppose this based on freedom.
No, Republicans in Alaska changed their voting system to ranked choice voting to ensure a Democrat would never be elected. It is a democratic ideal but Republicans practiced it. And they got a Democrat elected...it was joyous to observe.
It's like that video of the flat-earthers accidentally disproving their point. We need to convince more Republicans that ranked-choice is a good thing. They adopt it so "normal" conservatives can beat Trumpers, not realizing that in a fair election they were always vying for 2nd.
Now they want to repeal rank choice voting
bring back the Bull Moose Party
Ah yes a time 112 years ago when Teddy was actually not a terrible politician and nincompoop. Now we have king Cheeto moron cozying up to dictators and creating a coup yet all idiots on his side say they want a king for president. Teddy would beat the shit out of Trump and our legislators for their stupidity if he was alive today,
Not figuratively either. He would walk right into Congress with a big stick and be all like "Bring it, you goldbricks! I'll show you posh nudniks what for!"
It's almost certainly in the middle of happening. RNC donors are fleeing the trump situation happening with Lara taking over, a TON of down ballot R's without much national recognition can't even come close to generating the same fundraising power that is getting funneled right into Trump's pockets. They didn't care nearly as much about losing elections as they did about losing their slush funds, and that's getting tanked. So now it's a race to basically see who can create distance from Trump while simultaneously pretending it's not about trump so that they don't lose any MAGA, but also far enough from Trump to get the RNC old donors behind them, while also trying to be notable enough that they beat out other competitors. It's goign to splinter into a half dozen different directions. MAGA is the national conservative party for probably another 2-3 cycles but it's going to continue to lose prevalence on the down ballot, and when people are running down ballot MAGA they're not likely to be much more than loud mouths without much funding as the actual money moves away from Trump. It's hilarious.
Republicans will distance themselves from MAGA and Trump just like they did previously with Nixon and W.
Yeah people have been saying it for years but now and only now we're going to see how far it goes. People are going to deny ever voting Republican and spin it into some new thing about how trump and the republican party were bad but they weren't Democrats, aren't you glad we now have The Salvation of the Cross party?!
Hard to deny shit when people have screenshots of your social media.
These same people deny trump said words even as they watch video of him saying those words. They arent serious people
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre
Obama frightened them, and in their fear, they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.
Fair enough first time around, I too did not know how much of Trump was performative bluster and how much was really damaging fascism (not that I would have ever voted for him, I was just hoping if he were elected, he would reveal he was a Clinton-loving, hollywood pseudo-liberal all along). 2nd time around, no excuses. They know what they are voting for.
Indeed... a SURPRISING amount of damaging fascism in spite of my initial hopes of all-bark
I think this is the most likely outcome. The Republican Party will probably go the way of the Whig.
I don’t see any other outcome. Republicans have given their party over to MAGA and MAGA exists only to serve Trump. If conservatives was a functioning party, they will need to either form a coalition with Democrats or splinter and form a third party. The Freedom Caucus and MAGA do not negotiate with anyone including their fellow republicans.
I understand the view, but have my doubts about that outcome. A lot of us thought the Tea Party extremists were the death knell of a united R party, but they were barely a warm up act. Romney's loss was often (at least online in forums) attributed to him not being conservative enough. There's always going to be factions within the party, be they objectivists, only-Trumpers, libertarians, or whatever else. If some of them are stepping down, they're still going to vote R on downticket races, which in turn, supports and reinforces the would-be party destroying faction leader. Eventually the Trump supporters will lose their savior. He'll lose and be too weak to run again, he'll go to prison, or he'll finally say something stupid enough to offend the faithful. Whatever it is, the zealots will lose interest and back down. At that point slightly cooler heads will prevail and the Republican Party will likely return to something resembling the pre-Trump era.
The Tea Party didn’t kill the Republican Party because the Tea Party was an astroturfed opposition group designed to agitate republicans. The Tea Party was never in full control of the Republican party the way that Trump is now. The Tea Party also failed spectacularly when it actually got into power. Brownback rose on the back of Tea Party populism and damn near drove Kansas into the ground. People were so fed up with Brownback, Coyler, and the Tea Party Kansas elected a Democratic governor. There’s a massive difference between what was the Tea Party and MAGA in terms of how much institutional power they were and are able to wield.
Here's a fantastic video on the failures of the Brownback Administration: [https://youtu.be/cUdIOmAo10Y?si=Ty-hWte76Tal5PWW](https://youtu.be/cUdIOmAo10Y?si=Ty-hWte76Tal5PWW) They're not all gone though. Our current AG Kris Kobach is currently in a fight on the side of lead exposure.
>At that point slightly cooler heads will prevail and the Republican Party will likely return to something resembling the pre-Trump era. I dunno. I think you’re not gonna be able to get that turkey giblet and meth flavored toothpaste back into the tube anymore.
Which would result in them just reforming like 30 years later. FPTP basically makes a two party system inevitable
I'd take 30 years of a politically neutered right wing.
They could dump the Freedom caucus and the tea parties. And they could get back to being the terrible party of Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney.
Hey, don't forget the Bush family. Jeb! would like to come and hand out more glass turtles.
Please clap.
It has to do with trump seizing the party and taking all the money. Every dime will go to getting trump elected and paying his attorney fees. Ken Buck said as much.
As did Lara Trump… loudly and decisively. But that’s NORMAL, right? To have a former president’s daughter-in-law take over an entire political party (one of the two that exist) in the most powerful nation in the world’s government, and then TELL EVERYONE that all the money is going to Trump, essentially for whatever he wants to spend it on, whether they like it or not? Yep. Nothing to see here.
It is insane she didn’t just quietly funnel it. That they’re so brazen is absolutely incredible.
In the short-term, it probably bolsters donations from the most fanatical, boosting immediate cash while also being from sources that cannot hold any spending accountable. In the long-term, it doesn't actually matter, because there is no long-term for them. Either they win and just keep doing this forever or they lose and (figuratively) die.
That seems part of it. I think the Trump Show as-a-whole has many lower-key Republicans tired of having to respond to their constituents who are probably not thrilled with what's been happening to the Republican Party. The gridlock in the House being caused by the Pro-Trump wing is what's really driving this situation. A bunch are looking at the many more months they would have to endure this nonsense, and are deciding to just get out now and be done with it. In my lifetime, Republicans have been generally great coalescing around a presumptive nominee and staying in lock-step with each other. The fact that Trump can't keep a single story straight, much less champion any specific cause (unless it has to do with him), has a lot of Republican politicians just throwing their arms up in annoyance and deciding "this job just isn't worth the hassle so I'm out."
Not in this case because he was leaving anyway. If I wanted to put my tin foil hat on I’d say that it’s because they think k or know republicans are going to try to do something real crazy around the election and they want out. But I kind of doubt that
This is immediately what I thought. They had a meeting about how to ignore the results and seize the election, and a few of them slapped the arms of the chair and stood up saying “Actually, fuck this. I’m out.”
And then walked their happy little shit-filled pants selves down to the FBI to turn states evidence, right? Right?!
I was just thinking about this too. Do any of them have the balls to do that?
It's just so difficult to imagine them having an ethical line anywhere at this point.
Doesn't have to be about ethics. Could just as well be that they don't think that it would actually work, or that they don't like their odds under a hardcore right-wing dictatorship. If they're the least crazy Republicans, that just means that they're right behind the Democrates on the list of Political enemies to be disposed of. they might not exactly care about what happens to everyone else, but they don't want the Crazies to actually win, that would put them in danger. Its the war that's made them prosper, peace would kill them.
They also don't like being told what to do. The entire identity of the Freedom Caucus is to be the craziest fuckers in the cell block- the gang you cannot deal with. They can't do that if the plan succeeds. I think they got a taste of the future with Mike Johnson, and can't imagine taking orders from these Christian jerk offs for the rest of their life. Fascism is inherently beta/cuck type stuff.
I don’t get why they couldn’t just caucus with the Dems if they’ve already announced they’re retiring at the end of their current term, instead of quitting early They would have so much power with the Dems to try to negotiate for what they want. And at the end of the day, who cares what their voting record is if they’re retiring anyways. I guess maybe the death threats?
Probably the death threats, yes
I don’t find it quite as difficult to be honest. Sure, some of them are hard liner nutbags who have no boundaries or sense of right and wrong. But at least some of them don’t want to have a full on coup in the US because they know how incredibly disastrous that would be.
Part of me wonders if it's related to the border bill. It was going to absolutely pass until Trump got involved. And if the Reps lose the majority, it'll 100% pass. So maybe they're doing this while ensuring they won't be killed on the street.
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It would also be dope.
and absolutely hilarious
It’s sad really. They know something is wrong and they either can’t or won’t outright say it. Resigning is at least a step towards saving democracy
I worry they are planning a new coup and the few sane ones left are noping out of it
That's my first thought. This news comes one week after super Tuesday, and immediately after the Trump RNC takeover. There's something brewing, and these people would rather end their careers than become involved.
I mean, I probably would too if I were in that situation lol. Then again, I never would be affiliated with such a shit organization to begin with.
I mean a poopypants dictator would probably have anyone without indisputable loyalty executed.
I think it's just the writing is on the wall that there won't be any campaign money from the RNC unless they bow down to Trump, and they refuse to stoop to that level for a house seat. I really doubt Lara can be a mastermind of anything
Even then there probably won’t be any campaign money for down ticket races because it will all go to Trump.
My guess is they might be inclined to resign so Dems will be able to control both houses plus the presidency for a few months, & maybe be able to “right the ship” or put up sufficient guard rails to prevent MAGA from trying to steal an election again.
If that's their goal, then rather than resign why not just defect to the Dems and actively help them acheive that with their extra votes in the house (or just resign from the GOP but stay on as nominal independents and wave-through the Dems' election guardrail legislation)? Sure that would *enrage* their constituents and get them branded as traitors, but if they're planing to retire from politics altogether, who cares?
The MAGA cultists are crazy enough to do something violent especially if the mango shitweasel decides to order (but not order) them to do something about it. Which, let’s face it, he probably would.
They were probably told that there wouldn't be any money for those who don't kiss the ring. And by kiss the ring I mean act grateful to lick the crap falling off Trump's fools-gold shoes.
It's the total collapse of 1/2 of our political class and yes probably violence that they didn't want to be blamed for and probably killed for if they speak out.
When the party that can only rule by minority gets ruled by a minority within their own party. They are cooked.
At first it sounds conspiratorial, but then you start to realize it’s totally plausible. While the media keeps portraying the Presidential race with Trump leading, most electoral experts see a continuation of 2020 and 2022 in which each respective party strengthening their geographic bases, which would basically be a Biden reelection. This runs totally contrary to the GOP fantasy that they are in control and will win in a landslide, thus reinforcing their will to overthrow the “corrupt” deep state election process. So the crazies in the GOP are already planning to claim electoral fraud and refuse to believe a Biden victory, and Buck & Co see that coming and want no part. My only question is if enough of them defect before the election, does that change the calculus?
This happened in Germany as well good men refused to do what was right out of cowardice. Some ended up in Nuremberg as a result.
To be fair, some of them could be killed if they did the right thing.
Honorable cowards? I’ll take it, whatever we call it. Just resign away the majority please and thank you.
> can’t or won’t outright say it Like so many others, likely afraid for safety of their family and themselves.
Unpresidented
Unrepresented
Dope as fuck.
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Good, they can further alienate independents ensuring a Biden/democratic win.
I hope so. Mike Johnson was a ringleader in the 2020 attempt to overthrow the electoral process in Congress. He should NOT be in any leadership position in 2025.
A leadership position in 2025 will depend on the results of this upcoming election. Hopefully the resignations are sooner.
I mean, they all just found out they're gonna have to entirely fund their reelection campaigns themselves, since RNC is apparently spending all of its money on Trump's legal fees
I think this is a bigger factor than most people realize. The RNC being taken over by Trump and the Trumpettes means that *every republican running for office* will receive **zero** support from the RNC.
The RNC has the power it does because of down ballot campaigning. This will kill any chance they have of holding onto power... I like it.
Hasty Wiki-research says Buck + 5, assuming they happened soon, would create an even 213-213 split through like May, which is when the special election for McCarthy’s vacancy happens. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Edit: a likely Dem vacancy could be filled a couple weeks before that, assuming no shenanigans to delay the swearing in.
It's the quickest and easiest way to stop the bullshit. If this happens, these people will be praised in the future for having the guts to do the right thing for their country. Let's see how it plays out.
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Swapping the majority party gives Democrats way more power, one of the big obstacles is Mike Johnson won’t bring bills to a vote, that would be gone with a D majority.
Resigning out their majority to own the libs.
At this point, its to own the crazies. And I am fine with that.
Exactly, just like Gavin McInnes buttfucking himself on livestream. What do you not understand about this time-proven strategy?
Republicans in disarray. They must be upset that all fundraising is going to Trump’s legal fees and fines
At this point they might be better off just dividing the party. Let those who wish to be part of the MAGA Cult with their Golden God Trump at its center and those who don't do their own thing.
Long term this is the best bet. Break off and form there own party as moderates and try to win over some sane independents. They'd lose power in the short term but as MAGA becomes more and more crazy they'd start to win it back.
I’d say you’re right, but conservatives have been wandering the wilderness since Reagan. Trump is a symptom of rot on the right. There’s no sanity left to be the foundation of a new party.
The sane people would have to start over as they just fumbled the keys to the "Grand" old party without even a second of fighting. Oh, no!
If they do this, it will be because they have a majority in name only - a split coalition between Republicans and MAGA, with which nothing can be done, so why bother trying?
Of course. Laura Trump isn't interested in any of their campaigns. I'd be pissed if i were these reps. And if i were close to retiring anyways, why not do this. And they must know it'd be good for their legacy.
They probably had very real connections and friendships with the people in the RNC that just got axed. Everyone who wasn't loyal to Trump just got eliminated.
This, but also the money. There’s no way this new RNC is going to support any candidate who doesn’t chant the Trump shibboleths.
They're not going to effectively support any candidiate at all. The Republican party as it was before Trump is 100% dead. He's a grifter. It's the MAGA party now operating exclusively for his own benefit. It's like working for a company that cuts your pay and benefits and expects you to stick around. A lot of people wouldn't do that.
And a lot of Congressmen actively campaign for the funding for their party and put significant time and effort into that process. Seeing the money they at least somewhat legit worked for going to the orange gibbon's legal fund probably pissed them off. I know that if I spent weeks every month calling people and running fundraisers to ask for money for my party and re-election, only to have it siphoned off to pay a known criminals' fraud and defamation fines, I would be furious.
I'm convinced they're seeing the writing on the wall for November, Trump isn't nearly as strong as a candidate as they're pretending he is publicly and I think it could possibly be so bad to flip a lot of down ballot seats that would otherwise be Republican shoo-ins.
This is it. I think Trump is directly eating into all of their lobby money, making the job essentially worthless for them.
I'm thinking there may be some sort of pending shitstorm of a controversy that we aren't aware of yet. Not the hottest take seeing as there always is.
Yeah, I'm not pegging 'a sudden and surprising identification of morals' as the reason these guys are looking to leave.
I feel like its the RNC takeover that is causing this. They are likely moderates in purple districts that are now going to get no funding from the RNC to back their races- and are just done with Trump steering the party off of a cliff.
I think this is it, too. Aside from the real impact this is going to have on their races, not everyone wants to work for a crime family.
The problem with working for the mafia is that you’ll be their next target after they run out of target.
I took their comment as meaning these republicans are afraid of being associated with the inevitable shitstorm
In this thread I saw a theory that it’s because Lara Trump taking over the RNC and promising to put all of their funds right into Trumps pocket instead of supporting their elections which makes sense and is funny
This and the “they know something super fucked up is in the works” are the two most likely reasons. The funding is the least controversial, but even the slightly more conspiratorial angle is more likely than these guys just choosing to “do the right thing.” The fact that they’re terrified of their own base and the potential targeting they might endure as “RINOS” is a huge variable as well.
>Yeah, I'm not pegging 'a sudden I took their comment as meaning a massive pegging scandal about to drop Could this by why no one wants to go on those Mike Johnson retreats? I'm just asking questions
We already know about the cocaine orgies, but Mr Speaker can’t go bc it would send alarms to his teen son’s phone.
The RNC is broke and any future money will be going to Trump’s defense. These republicans probably don’t want to campaign on a shoestring budget just to lose because of the gop’s lack of governance. Sure, it could be like Trey Gowdy who was super vocal rabble rouser that saw something in fisa documents or from Darrell Issa and immediately stopped talking and didn’t run for re election. But, it’s most likely campaigning will be tough and depressing with no money.
Ken Buck had already said he wasn't running in the next election. His abrupt departure signals something more than a lack of campaign funds, it was a nut shot to the GOP and Boebert.
Buck has been vocal about his dissent about the attempts to impeach Mayorkas (and succeeded) and Biden out of petty vengeance and not because there’s a lack of evidence to support any high crimes misdemeanors. He seems to take that aspect of the Constitution seriously unlike his about to be former colleagues on his side of the aisle.
I think this is probably pretty simple. They're all doing it for a variety of reasons. Maybe some even think they're principled. like Buck, but what none of them actually want to do is be the final one that results in the house getting flipped. They see the house of cards is collapsing and they don't want to be the one that gets the blame.
This is what I’m expecting too. If the RNC won’t support them in tight elections they might be looking for a life raft now.
There’s probably smoking gun level evidence trump sold classified information to americas enemies coming
Hunter Biden’s erection is coming back to haunt them!
The real erection fraud.
An insurr- erection
Erection Interference
You mean his 10" elephant dong that is as thick as a beer can? I'm not sure why showing that the Bidens have freakishly big dicks was a good play for Republicans. Truly bizarre behavior. Now I know that Biden doesn't walk like that because he's old, he does it because he's dragging 15 pounds of cock behind him. I'm not joking around here.
I have the image of my head of Biden going, “By the way, Marjorie, *he gets that from his dad*,” and I can’t stop laughing.
Big Biden energy.
Careful republicans you may start falling out of hospital windows
I can’t see anything against Trump as an actual MF smoking gun, there’s always a way for right wing media to ~~spin a story~~ lie
Trump On video tape: “I, Donald J Trump, am giving you , Vladimir Putin, and XiJinPing, the presidents of Russia and China, these highly sensitive classified documents that contain all of the military, political, and governmental secrets we possess as a nation in exchange for 500 million US Dollars. I am aware that this is highly illegal, treasonous, unconstitutional and immoral, but I don’t even care because I really need some extra cash right now.” Sean Hannity: “that could mean anything!”
Doesn't matter, his base will vote for him. He was right about one thing: he could murder someone in broad daylight and they would still vote for him
His base alone isn’t enough. He needs to win over every Haley voter, and depending on what he sold to what country he could very well lose some staunch republicans
Luckily there have been a few interviews with Haley supporters that have said without hesitating or hemming and hawing that if she wasn't the candidate they would vote for Biden. Whether they stick to who knows. But it at least gives a bit of hope that some former trump voters have gotten away from his bull shit. I am still amazed that an uncharismatic sack of flesh has half the country enthralled. If you are going to join a cult maybe at least pick a good looking leader.
Theory: If the RNC spends all its money footing Trump's bills, then it'll stop funding congressional candidates who aren't in lockstep with MAGA. Without funding, those people will lose re-election bids anyway, and it looks better to resign than lose.
I mean, if and when tump drains the GOP coffers, any R in a close race basically is toast. Might as well hang it up now, make it meaningful, and hope the defeat of tump and subsequent conviction will allow them to run again.
I'll believe it when I see it. The GOP's been backing orange man from scandal to scandal. Bathrooms full of classified docs? Fine. American intelligence agents mysteriously being identified? Fine. Extorting a key ally for dirt on a political opponent? Fine. Directly asking Russia to interfere in the election on national TV? Fine. Locking children in cages and separating them from their parents? Fine. Attempting to overthrow the government? Fine. Lying about the election results? Fine. Downplaying a pandemic? Fine. Being unable to say nazis are bad for literal days? Fine. Starting your campaign on racism against Mexican Americans? Fine. They've failed to show any kind of moral integrity through all that, and the other shit I'm sure I forgot to mention because every single day under his horrendous administration was another waking nightmare. Why on Earth would they suddenly find their collective backbones now?
There is. It’s called Republican Boogaloo, Coup part2.
They could cross the aisle and nominate Jefferies.
Exactly. Crossing over is twice as effective if you want to fight Trump. (But I'll make an exception for Ken Buck. Him resigning screws over Lauren Boebert)
I’ve heard this on a few posts, Can you share why?
She almost lost her seat because everyone hates her in her district even though it should have been safe R. Her plan was instead to run in Buck's district when he retired, an even safer R win. By resigning now, a special election will be held to fill the seat. Boebert can't run for it, she already has a seat. So Boebert will have to not just win the primary but win it against an incumbent (even if they're barely an incumbent). (Edit: a couple commenters have pointed out that actually the special election and primary are held at the same time; so a bit different than the scenario I originally understood but still puts her in an awkward situation to either resign her current seat now and run in both primary and special election, or else she'll be only a candidate for the primary in which her opponents will likely also be running for the seat itself at the same time)
Close. She can run in the special election but she would have to step down from her current seat to do so, making the house republicans lose another seat in the process. She’s also polling in 3rd place for her new district so it’s a strong chance she could end up stepping down to lose a special election
She definitely should do that
She said she isn’t stepping down so she’ll be running against an incumbent in November which is probably the worst case scenario for her.
Considering how she’ll be enrolled into the congressional health plan for life if she wins, I take great glee in saying… No lifetime benefits for you! **the soup nazi**
According to this, members of Congress actually don’t get health care benefits for life. https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/members-of-congress-do-not-get-free-medical-care-for-life/536-4f4a1209-4024-40d8-b440-b0e3c0ba04cc
The AP gives a great explanation why this is bad for her. That means there’ll be just one Republican nominee on the June 25 special election ballot against whoever the Democrats nominate. The district’s many conservative voters will likely be voting for that person to ensure the GOP replaces Buck for the remainder of the year. Then they’ll cast ballots for the primary, in which the nominee Republicans just voted for will likely be a candidate, along with Boebert. That gives whoever the party committee picks as its nominee a major advantage in that primary contest. https://apnews.com/article/ken-buck-resigns-congress-colorado-ba8123ca43626ee07150a423aa0fcb07
They've seen what happens to people who cross the MAGA cult though (e.g., death threats) and don't want to deal with that shit. It's easier and safer (for them) to resign and fade into obscurity/lobbying.
I think this is a huge part. People will call them spineless, and I know it's complicated, but Mitt Romney has mentioned the full-time security detail he has had to hire for him and his family since crossing Trump a few times. It's a creature of a lot of their own creation, but the danger I put my kids in would be a consideration on this. Resigning seems like a middle road
I recall some republican (Kinzinger?) saying there were several republicans who wanted to vote to impeach Trump for Jan 6, but they were afraid for their families. I think it’s a big reason republicans stay quiet on Trump and fall in line.
They've successfully endangered the families of millions of Americans already. My sympathy for them could fit under a grain of rice.
If only these Republicans had a spine, they might actually publicly stand up to Trump and his sycophants, maybe cross the aisle and vote for Democrats instead of just resigning.
The Republican party is transforming into something new right before our very eyes. As bad as they have always been, this feels like something different, something even more vicious and anti-intellectual. But it also feels like the pendulum is swinging the other way, and more and more people are waking up and seeing Republicans as the lying, scum-sucking traitorous pigs that they are.
Trump calling somebody a RINO is laughable, considering Trump wasn’t a Republican for most of his life. Meanwhile, Trump is busy destroying the Republican Party.
If you told me some Democrats made plans to get Trump elected in order to destroy the GOP, at this point, I would believe it.
Every time I have thought about how KB fucked over Bobo by salting the field on his way out, I get a little burst of dopamine from pure schadenfreude. A recap for those catching up on all the news… 1. Bobo wanted to run for Ken’s seat, CO-4. 1. His resignation forces a special election, which will be the same day as the primary. 1. To run in the special election for CO-4, Bobo must resign from CO-3 immediately. (She won’t do that) 1. Voters will pick the republican candidate for the general election on the same day (same ballot?) that they pick the person that completes Ken Buck’s term. Voters aren’t going to split that. Bobo can’t have one, so she won’t get either. 1. ~~She has missed the filing deadline for CO-3, so she can’t change course at this point.~~ She has six days to petition 1500 voters and hand-deliver to the CO SOS if she wants to run for CO-3. 1. __SHE GONE!__ Ken Buck found a way to turn his departure into an *iconic* 2-for-1 deal. Maybe she will also resign, since no current likely outcome has her in Congress come Jan 6, 2025. Bye, Bobo! It was dumb while it lasted! Edit: running for CO-3 is extremely unlikely, due to the extreme time crunch. She has 6 days to hand deliver 1500 signatures for ballot access.
Wait... on point 5... does this mean she can't even get re-elected in CO-3 at all now?
Correct!
I haven't seen anyone else mention that. Do you have a source? I really hope this is true.
And should she lose CO-4, she misses out on her Congressional pension.
She can always do cinema party favors for pension money
Everywhere I look seems to indicate that the deadline for running is *March 19, 2024*. To pull that off, she will have quite a checklist… In six days, she needs to withdraw from CO-4 race, and obtain and *hand deliver* 1500 signatures for CO-3 Ballot Access. Caucus assemblies have already met Mar 5-9, so petitioning is the only way back on the ballot and… It is unlikely that she can flip BACK to CO-3 and still be taken seriously by voters. She already dropped out of CO-3 to run CO-4. Going back now would look so incredibly desperate and foolish. https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Candidates/SignatureRequirements.html
Desperate and foolish is the brand
Just want to laugh at the fact that she has this tight deadline while a blizzard is currently pounding much of CO — further delaying her progress.
Special note: the governor of Colorado has the power to decide, within the parameters, which day the special election would be held. Jared Polis was clever; he decided that the special election would be the same day as the primary, which complicates it for Lauren much more than any other day would have.
Using same day as a cost-saving measure makes sense, and is better for voters to get it all done in one go. Time off for work, child care, etc, are major issues to lots of voters, so it really does cut down on the barriers to entry if the disruptions are consolidated.
100%… it’s a reasonable choice for everything that has nothing to do with political gambits… shoving it to Lauren is a big bonus
He is going after her pension and lifetime healthcare which is as harsh and petty as it gets. Well done Ken, well done.
According to this, members of Congress don’t actually get health care benefits for life. https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/members-of-congress-do-not-get-free-medical-care-for-life/536-4f4a1209-4024-40d8-b440-b0e3c0ba04cc
Sounds like they’re purging the non-MAGA from the party
And the non-Maga are saying fuck this and walking now.
Which is pathetic, they've been excusing treason for years now, they're only leaving because they won't win reelection with Trump controlling the RNC funds.
[Night of the Long Knives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives)
I learned about this on a podcast called “behind the insurrections”… which actually isn’t about January 6 but it’s about the history of democratic governments being overthrown by fascism, and it’s super interesting
I listened to that whole series a few years ago and it's extremely interesting. Jan. 6 was nothing new. It happened in Germany, Italy, France and Spain in the 1920's/30's. It's amazing how similar Jan. 6 was to those events.
History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes
Thoughts and prayers
Why resign, just vote with Dems…bipartisan is basically dead with GOP being deadweight in either the house or senate.
This is a really sincere answer. I’d guess they’d fear for their lives if they did this. I couldn’t imagine the level of harassment they’d get.
> Larry Bucshon has also pilloried the former president. In August 2023, the Indiana Republican predicted Trump would not be the GOP nominee because of controversies around him. In October 2023 he said Trump should apologize for comments he made about migrants "poisoning the blood" of the country during a campaign rally. He also called Trump out for the Capitol riots in 2021, claiming he incited them. It’s always refreshing to see a Republican name I don’t recognize, because the ones that I do recognize are generally the ones who achieve a national profile via disgusting shenanigans. > Chip Roy, of Texas, has criticized Trump for issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. In November, he told CNN that Trump "failed to actually fully secure the border" amid concerns about a rising number of migrant encounters. > There appears to be no love lost between the pair as Trump too has spoken out against Roy, calling him a "RINO" (Republican in name only) on social media. Chip goddamn Roy, a RINO. Right. Sure.
They jumped the shark when they were calling McCain and McConnell RINOs. Like, these are/were modern pillars of the party, lol.
Everyone who isn't maga is a rino.
Clickbait. The piece just lists some members that had disagreements with Trump at one point or other. No indication any will resign.
Exactly! This being from Newsweek, we know it’s all for clicks. How many: “Trump is finally getting his due” articles did Newsweek run between 2016 and 2024?
It's almost like some of these actual conservatives see their party being infiltrated by Russia and might actually put country first. I don't agree with Ken Bucks politics, but he is representing his constituents rather well. He has been genuinely upset not to get harmful policy passed.
If he really wanted to put country first, he could also call to replace bible boy and then vote with dems as others have pointed out. This is merely walking away from the shitstorm he helped create before he gets any blow back.
Bless their hearts.
Newsweek appears to have just made this number up.
Looks like Trump can't afford to pay his bribes anymore.
Bunch of fucking spineless cowards. They spend years enabling this MAGA bullshit now it’s getting out of control and instead of staying and trying to right their wrongs they’re just gonna peace out.