Trumpism is kaput

[luzribeiro]

It's over, the most popular, intelligent, non-racist and beautiful GOP president in history lost to a guy he and his minions claimed couldn't put his own pants on. Sleepy Joe. The Big Don's legacy is destroyed, gone, regardless of what happens to Congress. Trump will face legal trouble for the rest of his life, and he'll NEVER be able to deal with losing to Biden. Sad...

"Conservatives" claimed no way Dems would nominate an old white guy. They were wrong. "Conservatives" said the old white guy would get crushed because Trump had big rallies, cult boat parades, caravans, etc. "Conservatives" have been wrong about everything. I suppose McConnell stacking the SC is something they could be happy about, but that eventually will be "looked at later".

Trump is done, and American Trump-style quasi-conservatism under his rule is done. Remember how quickly Republicans abandoned Bush Jr. after 2008? Look for the same to happen with Trump in the very near future.

Oh, and Obama will finally get his presidential portrait unveiled... further rubbing salt in the wounds of Trump and his base. Sad, sad, saaaad!

Comments

[dewline]

They're already looking for a better salesman. We know to beware of this.

[ex_flameandsong751]

^This.

The kind of divisive, hateful brand of conservatism that produced Trump did not start in 2016, it started before then. Its seeds were planted during the Bush administration (I remember what it was like to be liberal during the Bush administration, back in my twenties, I was regularly told to leave the country; if I could, I would have already gone to Canada or Scandinavia), and it gained traction with the Tea Party during the Obama administration.

Trump may try to run again in 2024, or he may persuade his son to do so.

There are people in the Republican Party who are abandoning him now, sure, but that doesn't mean the attitudes that produced him are defeated. Almost half the country voted for him. That's not going away overnight.

The wolf will always be at the door. We need to spend the next four years figuring out how to keep him from getting in the house again.

[luzribeiro]

Do we?

[oportet]

I dont think they can abandon him - I can't think of a scenario where a 2024 nominee wont have to - at some level - kiss his ass and get his blessings.

'Do you agree with Trump on x?' will be asked of every candidate on every issue - those that love and hate him will see to it. It will be the preferred wedge in the Democrats bag.

[garote]

Actually I think by the time 2024 rolls around, Trump's star will be so diminished that Republican candidates will actively contrast themselves with him.

The sticking point being this: Rounding error or no, Trump is a loser now. That is the one - and possibly the only - unforgivable sin for the gatekeepers of the party he crashed five years ago. The confessional prayer of Republicans - the litany they would whisper to each other in dark corners while they pondered the state of their souls for the last four years - was always "stand by Trump through the madness and we will win, and that's what matters."

With winning denied them, what matters now?

Answer: Winning.

The man lost the popular vote last time, and lost it by a wider margin this time. That's a trend in the wrong direction. Trump wasn't very engaged with politics before office and wasn't very engaged during it. (Showmanship? Absolutely. Politics? Meh.) All signs point to him not being very engaged after it too. The Republican party, meanwhile, will be casting around for someone to turn the numbers around. Someone who can take a bigger bite from that popular vote. Someone who can win "bigly" in fact and not just in rhetoric.

Not so much the case for the voters who followed Trump; the people who really believed in him. What matters to them is more specific. They want the insecurity to go away: Jobs that won't evaporate. Health care that won't bankrupt them or be administered by an incompetent federal bureaucracy. A popular culture that isn't a constant screaming match between "influencers" peddling crap and calling each other racists. Big banks, big pharma, big tech, big government; brought to heel. These are things that can slot comfortably into the Republican party platform and are not owned by Trump.

I've been voting Democrat for 20 years, and these are things that I would like to see addressed as well. Sadly, any rebirth of the Republican party that might inspire me to vote for them in the next cycle would still be tethered to the anti-choice religious right. I don't care what great place the Republican bus is headed for; I'm not wiling to throw uncountable numbers of working class women under it to get there. And there are hordes of people in the Republican party who have an equivalent opposite view, about aborted fetuses. So this impasse will remain.

I find it deeply amusing that the party prohibiting abortion is the one shrinking demographically ... but it's not small enough yet for the party to push the religious fundamentalists out from the center of the solar system, and orbit around something less polarizing. Give it another eight, twelve, maybe even sixteen years. Until then it's going to be secular urbanites against catholic suburbans, forever and ever, amen. Unless the Republican party really wants to legitimately win. Bigly.

[jazzyjj]

Agreed on all accounts. While I and others in my locale are celebrating our victory, there's a whole lot to be done to heal the country. I've heard it said that Saturday's vote for Kamala and Joe will go down in the history books. I think Barack Obama's 2008 victory did that too, but perhaps on somewhat of a smaller scale. I've mentioned my niece and nephew before in the comm. Their parents have been talking with them a lot about racism and other issues recently, even prior to Saturday. My niece and nephew aren't old enough to vote, but I'm confident that once they are they'll choose wisely. I should mention that they live in what I'm told is one of the swing states.

[garote]

Excellent. The more informed people in swing states the better!!

[abomvubuso]

Actually Trumpism, or whatever you'd like to call right-wing extremism, is not going away any time soon. Even if it's not championed by Trump himself in the future:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/10/biden-establishment-democrat-next-donald-trump

[kiaa]

I don't know why isn't anyone addressing the elephant in the room. Biden is going to be a one-term president, simply due to age.