March 6, 2023

"Whereas Republicans once talked openly about [Jan. 6th] being disqualifying for the former president, today it is little more than..."

"... a litmus test in GOP circles of a candidate’s MAGA bona fides. None of them want any part of it. For a primary candidate, said Scott Walker, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin, going after Trump for Jan. 6 is 'a huge risk.'... If anything, the tone and tenor of the [CPAC] conference suggested that Republican presidential candidates may feel pressure from corners of the base to talk about Jan. 6 in positive terms — and rally to the defense of people arrested following the riot....Two years ago, Walker said, Jan. 6 was worthy of condemnation. He said so at the time. But it makes no sense for presidential candidates to be talking about it now, he added, when most people have moved on. Anymore, he said, 'Nobody cares.'"

88 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jamie said...

"The insurrection was supposed to be the party’s breaking point with Trump."

What interesting phrasing.

Shouting Thomas said...

There should have been an insurrection. The 2020 election was sabotaged.

The election was sabotaged in a several years long psy-ops campaign led by the FBI in alliance with DNC media. The virus was deliberately released. COVID hysteria. Shutdowns and economic sabotage in Democratic States. The BLM reign of terror. A full stack Cloward-Piven heap of abuse of U.S. citizens to terrorize them into rejecting Trump. Then there were the absurd hoaxes, most prominently the Russia collusion hoax. The vote fraud was wild and crazy and right out in the open.

An insurrection, had it occurred, would have been justified under the terms of the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. electoral system is too corrupt at this point for legitimate elections to take place.

Kate said...

At this rate you're going to need a Rime of the Ancient Mariner tag.

rehajm said...

Since it’s a political construct it is a big risk for any candidate to look like they buy in to the farce. You may think enough voters are still duped today but that can roll against you a year from now. I mean the whole journolist/propaganda shit collapsed when Musk released emails- who saw that coming?

Kevin said...

Whereas Republicans once talked openly about [Jan. 6th] being disqualifying for the former president

They left off the modifier "life long".

Wince said...

The Dems see the opportunity and advantage of pressing their one-sided narrative slipping through their fingers.

By overplaying their hand for two years, all new revelations will now likely cut the other way until the election against a floundering Biden.

They aren't afraid Republicans are putting January 6 in the rearview. They are afraid Republicans are just getting started.

Achilles said...

The Regime and it's members like Scott Walker don't want to talk about the J6 protest because they know it was a Reichstag Fire operation from start to finish.

The reason McCarthy gave the videos only to Carlson was to slow walk the whole thing.

The videos are going to show Ray Epps and his crew removing the barricades before the crowds got there. They are going to show capitol police leading people into the capitol building.

They are going to show capitol police instigating violence and beating people like Rosanne Boyland to death.

Carlson is one step away from Frank Luntz.

The video is going to exonerate all of the J6 protesters. Super Majorities of the population want the video made public.

cfs said...

Don't worry. It will continue to be talked about on a daily basis. Politico, The Hill, CNN, NYT, and WaPo, for instance have at least one article a day mentioning January 6th. They then complain that Fox news or the GOP doesn't discuss it enough. Although they can always get a quote or two from Cheney or Kinzinger.

Of course, their articles never mention the evidence that shows it was an FBI operation with several feds leading the riots and ushering Trump supporters into the Capitol.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

“We’ll just keep calling it an ‘insurrection’ despite the fact no one has been charged with insurrection.”

Sounds about right for Politico.

Mr Wibble said...

Thank the Dems. Their decision to play footsie with antifa and BLM, and justify riots and looting, left a lot of the GOP base disgusted, but also made it clear that "law and order" only went one way. Then, the overbearing response by the Biden admin and FBI to Jan 6 protestors, as well as the politicization by the Jan 6 commission, sealed the deal.

If Biden and his people were smart, he would have announced a general amnesty a few days after his inauguration. "We need to move on," "a few bad apples among a lot of people who simply wanted their voice heard," etc. He would have taken some fire from the left, but probably less than expected, and would have neutralized some of Trump's support.

In many ways, Jan 6 is a good encapsulation of the problems with the political class in general: they created one set of rules which benefitted them, but when those rules were turned against them they panicked and completely overreacted. They're incapable of long-term thinking, or of the kind of discipline necessary to avoid making problems worse.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Yes Jamie it is.

MadisonMan said...

I hope you'll forgive me if I don't believe a single thing written about 6 January in Politico.

gilbar said...

serious Question: What Happened on Jan 6th?
Are people really That upset;
that a cop shot a woman to death in cold blood, while other cops beat another woman to death?

AlbertAnonymous said...

"The insurrection was supposed to be the party’s breaking point with Trump."

The media narrative taking its lead from the dems and deep staters who have been working together on a misinformation/propaganda program that would make the USSR proud.

Who “supposed” that? Not the Republicans (well maybe RINO Cheney). It was these designers of the propaganda program. And when they run all branches of the government, and it enriches beyond comprehension all of these fuckers, they’re gonna cling like hell to that power.

Amadeus 48 said...

An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.

--The GOP is receiving the curse in a dead man's eye. Trump is a loser. He lost in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He drives his opponents to the polls to vote against him. Trump is the William Jennings Bryan of the GOP. If nominated in 2024, he will lose again.

BIII Zhang said...

Democrats ran a (laughable) Soviet Union-style show trial, complete with compromised judges and no lawyers for the accused. Hundreds of political prisoners still languish in DC jails, without trial, some two years later.

Suddenly, Republicans don't want to talk about J6? Well, by God we're going to talk about it. We're going to ask our Republican candidates if they're going to free these political prisoners and provide them with pardons and abolish the record of these "convictions." And by God damn any Republican candidate had better have a good answer to that question or GTFO. Any hesitation will mean the end of their conservative political careers.

Jamie said...

I'd like to add three things:

1. I think it's ridiculous to hold Trump responsible for the part of the Jan. 6 gathering that turned into a riot.

2. It wasn't an insurrection. Obviously.

3. I think the problems with the 2020 election were myriad, relatively coordinated by Democrat lawmakers, bureaucrats, and the media, and primarily took place before Election Day. But I don't rule out actual ballot fraud because no one can. Recounting ballots doesn't "prove" anything except that the ballots exist. (And it doesn't even "prove" that with electronic voting machines that didn't run paper audits at the time.) So in my opinion, barring someone coming forward with a Snowdenesque cache of documents, we can never know how many legitimate votes were properly cast.

Achilles said...

Jamie said...
"The insurrection was supposed to be the party’s breaking point with Trump."

What interesting phrasing.

They know they have to separate Trump from the people.

This was their best shot and it backfired.

Just like the Russian Collusion lies people have caught on that whenever the Regime is censoring speech about something and hiding videos it is because they are lying.

In this case Nancy Pelosi purposely refused Trump's offer of National Guard support and arranged for the Capitol Police to remove barricades.

And there were was a spike in "suicides" among the capitol police force after J6. Just like the Brian Sicknick blood libel they tried to blame them all on the protesters.

The Regime and it's media have lied so many times and been openly caught the vast majority of the people in this country have figured out a lot of what is going on.

And they have determined that not only can we not trust what the regime is saying, but that they are capable of truly despicable evil in their attempts to maintain power.

Jaq said...

The Reichstag Fire served a similar purpose, as it delegitimized all opposition to the Nazis, so on that grounds, J6 has to be seen as a spectacular success. Now if the FBI can only explain what those agents were doing there, and if we can get Ray Epps under oath, if they haven't already given him a Cheryl Mills style immunity, you know, where immunity is traded not to get you to talk, but to prevent you from being questioned under oath, and force to say something damaging to the powers that be.

It's no mystery why quisling Never Trumpers have embraced J6, as they get the same kinds of benefits from it that the Democrats do.

Oso Negro said...

Every time I read "riot" or "insurrection" in reference to the protest on January 6th, I feel a great wish for the writer to find themselves in the middle of an actual riot or armed insurrection. Were police cars burned? Were stores looted? Were politicians tarred and feathered or hung from lamp posts? Was anyone killed aside from the two women killed by police? A person who uses these terms as regards his event must be, to my mind, either a Democratic Party loyalist, or a sheep, bleating the endless propaganda in concert with the flock.

Rusty said...

A "Reichstag Fire" only works if you have a Gestapo that can intimidate the whole population. Fortunately the FBI aren't up to the task. There are those on the left and right that are easily led and will go along with the theater and call it an insurrection and feel very righteous in their indignation. And then there are the rest of us who grew up in America and see it for what it was. A protest of citizens against the actions of their government. A constitutionally protected action.

Jaq said...

The reason that J6 is an "insurrection" and throwing IEDs into a Federal courthouse in Portland is not, is because declaring an "insurrection" allows the government to prosecute protesters, and not declaring one allows the government to free the "mostly peaceful protesters" in Democrat causes to collect the bail put up on their behalf from funds pled for by, among others, Kamala Harris, and put in it their pockets. This creates a paid incentive for violence on behalf of the Democrats.

To be fair, I doubt whether Kamala Harris's plea to pay off violent protesters brought in more than $300, all told, but other people gave millions to pay off these thugs.

Jaq said...

"What interesting phrasing."

No kidding.

Jaq said...

"If nominated in 2024, he will lose again."

That's a hill I will die on, because if the uniparty wins again, we don't have a country.

Leland said...

Seems like an article from Politico admitting the purpose of Jan. 6th excessive dramatization and that it didn’t work. Perhaps you shouldn’t have jailed innocent people.

Jamie said...

if we can get Ray Epps under oath

Oh, I would love it if that would work. I'd love confirmation that the FBI suborned the riot. But I'm not holding my breath, either on Epps' testifying or on actual FBI involvement. Why on Earth would he confess to something like this under oath if he's not already come forward with it? This isn't Perry Mason, where someone breaks on the stand at the end of every episode.

As for actual FBI involvement - like ballot fraud, I can't rule it out but I don't think it was necessary. The seeds were long planted, it's a big country, and it only needed a handful of excitable people. I've heard that the Capitol police's removing barricades and ushering people in was because they knew they were understaffed for crowd control (Nancy P's fault) and figured it would be safest to try to channel the crowd rather than restrain them, but I have no way to judge whether that's the real, or the whole, story.

Dude1394 said...

You mean that trespassing event where people are STILL awaiting trial with no bail for over two years. That thing where our government is showing itself to be literally NO BETTER than any of the other communist countries like Russia/China. That one?

That the Republican Party has been this cowardly towards this farce and horrible miscarriage of Justice that has gone on for two years is a permanent scar on this party. Imo they will never recover, they have no integrity left. No matter how much they harumph around proclaiming they do.

Drago said...

Amadeus 48: "--The GOP is receiving the curse in a dead man's eye. Trump is a loser. He lost in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He drives his opponents to the polls to vote against him. Trump is the William Jennings Bryan of the GOP. If nominated in 2024, he will lose again"

Oh. Well, in that case I guess it's okay that the full power of the federal government was weaponized, with Full GOPe support, to gaslight the American public with hoax after hoax, pull a Reichstag Fire, release a global virus to bring down a republican President and now we should just quietly "move on".

Well, simply moving on would be the "dignified", "gentlemanly" thing to do. I can certainly see a fine upstanding republican like BLM supporter Romney doing it. And happily.

Amadeus channeling Harry Reid's "It worked" line.

Chuck said...

And so all of the election denialism, the stolen election conspiracy theories, the Dominion voting machine and Smartmatic allegations, the support for J6 insurrectionists, the Big Lie...

It all worked so well for TrumpWing Republicans in the 2022 general election.

Kari Lake. Doug Mastriano. Tudor Dixon. Matt DePerno. Kristina Karamo. Mark Finchem. Abe Hamadeh. Herschel Walker. Blake Masters.

Keep it up. You're due for at least a couple more election cycles of having the shit kicked out of Trump's Big Lie. Because I think that "general election results" are the only thing that will pierce the information bubble that so many Trumpists live in. Indeed, I think that only regular and repeated beatdowns in significant general elections will do it. That, and the kind of intramural warfare we see at some of these right-wing gatherings. Like seeing Nikki Haley get booed by hostile Trumpists at CPAC. Seeing Steve Bannon scream that Fox News are betrayers. Watching Trump call Florida's Republican Governor "DeSanctimonious." A good half of Congressional Republicans will say publicly that they don't believe that Trump will be the 2024 nominee. While base loyalists and the Trump netroots are certain that Trump is the ONLY candidate who is deserving.

It's fantastic. A GOP "Lord of the Flies."

Roger Sweeny said...

I think anyone who doesn't condemn the January 6 riot is disqualified to be president. But I also think anyone who doesn't condemn the violence after George Floyd's murder is disqualified to be president.

Lurker21 said...

Get the quote right.

"It's like an Alcatraz around my neck." -- Tom Menino

Seriously, though, just what 1/6 was and what happened on that day is still so unclear that it makes sense not to make it anyone's albatross.

Roger Sweeny said...

"Trump is the William Jennings Bryan of the GOP."

That sounds right. Immensely popular with some people. Changed the direction of the Party. Wasn't considered respectable by respectable opinion. Scared or turned off enough people that he lost and pulled down support for the Party (in Trump's case, after his initial win in 2016; in Bryan's case, each time he ran).

Kai Akker said...

---In the day long events commemorating January 6th, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a telling statement to her fellow members and the public at large. Pelosi declared “It is essential that we preserve the narrative of January 6th.” Part of that narrative is that this was not a riot but an “insurrection,” an actual “rebellion” against our country. Pelosi’s concern over the viability of that narrative is well-based as shown by a recent CBS News poll. The majority of the public does not believe that this was an “insurrection” despite the mantra-like repetition of members of Congress and the media. The public saw that terrible day unfold a year ago and saw it for what it was: a protest that became a riot. (For full disclosure, I previously worked as a legal analyst for CBS News).

From Jonathan Turley, a year ago.

Most of America does not think it was an insurrection. Those who keep applying that word -- which very much includes Ann Althouse -- are wittingly, or unwittingly, aiding Democratic Party propaganda that is intended to distort the event and seal off from public participation all those who see through it to the premeditated, contrived chicanery it was.

So this post starts with a garbage assumption, and ends up illustrating the GIGO problem. The problem with relying constantly on media from one viewpoint only.

"It is essential that we preserve the narrative of January 6th." Nancy Pelosi giving the code to all her followers. Just a piece of her Roman-Empire style corruption in the pursuit of power.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Amadeus said..

"--The GOP is receiving the curse in a dead man's eye. Trump is a loser. He lost in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He drives his opponents to the polls to vote against him. Trump is the William Jennings Bryan of the GOP. If nominated in 2024, he will lose again."

That - over and over.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I have some friends that suffer from serious TDS, still believe that Russia somehow interfered in the 2016 election, but that 2020 was above board, etc. But, last night they took it up to another level. They started saying that there was no support for Trump before he won in 2016. That they didn't see any Trump road signs or flags until after the election. Since they are quite deranged about it I didn't bring up Trump literally filling up stadiums with overflowing crowds with people waiting in line for days to get in.

They also stated that they think that the mood of the country has changed, that people are moving away from Trump. Well, if their judgment regarding Trump's support prior to the 2016 election is any guide, Trump will win in a landslide, that is if the election is honest.

DINKY DAU 45 said...

all conjecture ,conspracies, no court documented proof and constant whining about things no one can prove except in their minds. Time to move on, NO ONE CARES? true on the right that seems, just move on. Hugo Chavez, Dominion, FOX liars, Rudy, The Kraken lady, Kari Lake, 63 0OUT OF 65 courts call bullcrap, 9 courts with trump judges, c'mon man. If Democracy don't work for ya here, there are always other countries where you would be shot for talking points spouted here in US. Consider yourself blessed to be in America. ERDOGAN, BOLSANARO,KIM JUNG and want to be despots infiltrated in US government now etc. 1984 who do you believe your lying eyes or what can be surmised in your head with no proof. Losers always have excuses. Armchair quarterbacks listen to too much FOX drivel and admits they lie to their indoctrinated.












Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

wake up, Trump supporters - It's over.



wendybar said...

tim in vermont said...
"If nominated in 2024, he will lose again."

That's a hill I will die on, because if the uniparty wins again, we don't have a country.

3/6/23, 8:25 AM

THIS^^^ over and over again.

Duty of Inquiry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RoseAnne said...

The news of the firebombing of the police training center construction site near Atlanta should bring some interesting comments from public officials. It will remind a lot of people of the riots of the summer of 2020 just as the 2024 election cycle is beginning.

TreeJoe said...

The only J6 albatross around someone's neck is Trump.

He failed to lead that day, he failed to lead in the days, weeks, and months that followed.He allowed Democrats to falsely frame the event including pursuing brutal tactics against those who were present.

The riot was a natural occurrence after Trump's december denunciation of the legitimacy of the election. Regardless of Trump's passivity on January 6th, the guy is a horrible leader AS PRESIDENT during a terrible moment of doubt in our nation's integrity.

Don't re-elect him. It will get worse, not better.

Drago said...

"If nominated in 2024, he will lose again."

tim in vermont: "That's a hill I will die on, because if the uniparty wins again, we don't have a country."

Clearly we were meant to be ruled over by McConnell et al and its important that we confess our previous voting sins and accept whichever next hand selected and groomed GOP "Leader" is placed before us.

Paul Ryan and Ken Griffin are counting on it.

And dont bother arguing over policy. Thats quite yucky and makes everyone uncomfortable.

I mean the democraticals and LLR-Democraticals do it every day and never screw over their base voters to the extent the GOPe-ers and GOPe-er suckups do, but thats only because most GOP voters are quite tame and trained well to accept losses.

So if someone brings up Ron DeSantis' vote on the Trans Pacific Partnership, make sure you point at them and scream as you throw stones at them.

Its what a civilized and proper citizen should do.

Amadeus 48 said...

Populist presidential campaigns, for all their passion, are very hard to win. I think the only successful ones in US history were 1828 (Jackson--he was the incumbent in 1832) and 2016.

The revolt of the neocons, Trump's boorishness, the tsk-tsk-tsking of old line GOPers (if Evan McMullen is your man, you are desperate), his failure to react (until last week) to the Demmies' success with vote harvesting in 2018 and 2020, his over-reliance on rallies at the expense of thinking through what it would take to win, and a hundred other things spelled the difference between winning in 2016 and losing in 2020.

It is easy to detest turncoats and grifters like Bill Kristol, Charlie Sykes, the noxious and perverted McCain consultants, David French, Bret Stephens, Jonah Goldberg, etc. They went over to the other side and became apologists for Smilin' Joe Biden, the worst president in American history. But to condemn Quislings should not be confused with legitimate criticism of Trump. You cannot have power if you do not win elections. Donald Trump's obnoxious behavior was not necessary for him to be a successful president, but it kept him from being re-elected against a guy who sat in his basement.

Everything you see and hear is a distraction from the tick-tick-tick of the bombs that Team Biden has planted in the economy via regulation and budgets. Can anyone seriously believe that biological men can compete against biological women in a fair athletic competition? Absurd! Dangerous! Antifemale! But a complete distraction compared to mandating the elimination of hydrocarbon fuels. And the toadies of American industry sink billions into the project.

The failure of Donald Trump's re-election is one of the great missed opportunities in American history.

Jamie said...

DINKY DAU, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're in a timezone where it's normal to have hit the sauce that hard.

Michael K said...

That the Republican Party has been this cowardly towards this farce and horrible miscarriage of Justice that has gone on for two years is a permanent scar on this party. Imo they will never recover, they have no integrity left. No matter how much they harumph around proclaiming they do.

This.


Blogger DINKY DAU 45 said...

all conjecture ,conspracies, no court documented proof and constant whining about things no one can prove except in their minds.


The lefties still pretend that courts heard testimony and saw evidence.

The problem with Trump is that he was the only one who told the truth and kept his promises. Biden agreed to be a Potemkin president for the hard left because, at last, he saw it was the only way he could attain his life goal. Like Doctor Faustus, he sold his soul to the Devil. Of course the Devil had been renting it for years.

I don't know if Trump can be elected. He might be our last chance.

Kirk Parker said...

"Hundreds of political prisoners still languish in DC jails, without trial, some two years later."

How can this possibly survive a Sixth Amendment challenge? And why is nobody talking about this?

Darkisland said...

Amadeus,

I'll see your Orphan's Curse and raise you the Gypsy's Curse. From the Harry Crews book of that title.

"Que se encuentra un coño a su medida"

May you find a vagina that fits you. Though Coño is a ruder version of vagina.

The reason it is a curse is because the cursed man will do absolutely anything to get to that coño.

President Eneritus Trump may be the political coño that fits many of us. We will crawl through fire on broken glass to relect him. Some may say we are crazy for this devotion and that may even be true. I don't think it is but if it were, it would make no difference. We would still crawl through fire on broken glass regardless.

John Henry

rcocean said...

Some people are going to care when Tucker reports on the unreleased Jan 6 footage. What Tucker finds will impact both sides.

Its amazing how the Liberal/left press can create these lies, spin them into fake facts, create a "Party line" and then years later still repeat them like they're the Gospel truth. And then, to cap it all off, write about how "Crazy" it is when people don't believe their lies.

Ashli Babbitt was executed by Lt. Byrd pon J6, yet Poltico (the great opponents of police brutality) doesn't care. instead they're upset she has a booth at CPAC!

The J6 hysteria was a MANUFACTURED EVENT. It had no importance (other than to the families of the murdered protesters). The Republican Establishment and the Liberal/left seized on it as a way to destroy Trump and his movement. It was used to justify Banning Trump from all Social media. It was used to justify an insane "Post-Presidency" impeachment. And it was used to cover for the mistakes made by Pelosi and the incompetence of the Capital Police and the FBI.

Of course Romney, Collins, Sasse, McConnell, Cheney etc. (and all the neo-cons and never-trumpers) showed themselves to be fools and traitors as they repeated the narrative about an "insurrection" and how it a NATIONAL TRAGEDY that MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.

I'm never forget that on J6, Mit Romney cried and ran and that Miss Lindsey screeched at the Police "USE your Guns, that's what they're there for" or that Ted Cruz still talking about the horrors of "the insurrection" in the Summer of 2021. Or Erickson Erickson and Matt Shlapp hysterically babbling on J6 about "Shooting the protesters down like Dogs".

Manufactured or not, the event reveled who were members of the Uniparty swamp and who wasnt. Or most of our political leaders are hate us and consider themselves aristocrats far above the common rabble.

Darkisland said...

Just to reinforce what a "loser" our President Emeritus is, Donald Trump endorsed 162 hous candidates in 2022. 141 of them won. 87%

He endorsed 25 Senate candidates, 17 won 68%

No doubt Chuck will wash in to tell us why this means nothing, why 87 & 68% is a loss.

John Henry

Darkisland said...

Tim,

I'll keep you company on that hill. I hope we don't die, but I will be there.

John Henry

rcocean said...

About J6. We know there were FBI assets in the crowd, because Wray refuses to say there weren't any. We know Ray Epps and others were egging the crowd on. We know several (a few?) Leftists were there to egg the crowd on.

We know Pelosi and others refused offers of NG troops. We know most of the crowd were let in and just stayed within the ropes. We know the Capital police murdered Ashli Babbitt and probably caused the death of several other protesters. We know no policeman died DIRECTLY due to the riot. We know no one was one "hit on the head with fire extiguisher". We have no idea how many policeman were hospitalized because the MSM and Pelosi kept that data secret.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

And what ever happened to the those "Pipe bombs" that were captured on film. The FBI has spent YEARS tracking down everyone who set on foot in the Capital, but still, mysteriously has done nothing on the people who "Set down the pipe bombs".

Steven said...

I will not support any Republican candidate who still pretends that January 6 was anything other than a setup. The disparate prosecution of these protestors compared to the leftist protestors in similar situations, especially the long pre-trial detention that many of them experiencing, and the government's refusal to release the surveillance tapes is outrageous. Any Republican not willing to denounce this injustice will not get my vote. Even if one believes that violent protestors need to be punished, the manifest abuses in their detention and trials should concern anyone who believes in the American constitution. Obviously, a lot of Republican officials, not to say liberals who used to pretend they believed in free speech, remain untroubled by the abuses related to January 6.

gahrie said...

You cannot have power if you do not win elections. Donald Trump's obnoxious behavior was not necessary for him to be a successful president, but it kept him from being re-elected against a guy who sat in his basement.

What kept him from being elected was massive voter fraud.

gahrie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jupiter said...

I'm glad to see you reading something besides WaPo and NYT, but Politico?
Very nice illustration.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I think anyone who doesn't condemn the January 6 riot is disqualified to be president. But I also think anyone who doesn't condemn the violence after George Floyd's murder is disqualified to be president.”

Except that, I will predict, the videos from 1/6 will show that it wasn’t really a riot, but rather a set up. We shall see. But keep in mind, that the Capital Police reported to Nancy Pelosi that day, and indeed, until early this year.

Yancey Ward said...

Who could have known that staying silent and/or openingly supporting the prosecution of political prisoners might be disqualifying for conservative candidates?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

9:55 Amadeus - Amen.

for the thick-heads - it will not compute.

Chuck said...

Darkisland said...
Just to reinforce what a "loser" our President Emeritus is, Donald Trump endorsed 162 hous candidates in 2022. 141 of them won. 87%

He endorsed 25 Senate candidates, 17 won 68%

No doubt Chuck will wash in to tell us why this means nothing, why 87 & 68% is a loss.

John Henry


Sure. I'll "wash in."

You are of course giving Trump credit for endorsing luminaries like Jim Jordan, a super well-funded incumbent in a super-safe seat. Hell, Jim Jordan could get accused in a sex abuse scandal and still win. (!?) How many of those candidates did Trump endorse? Like "all of them" might be the best answer.

Notably, Trump endorsed a lot of primary candidates, which is very unusual for any national GOP figure, be it a President or a Party Chair. Trump did that, and it was a complete clusterfuck. Trump essentially picked all of the losers in my comment above. Trump rode them into the general election where they got slaughtered.

However I don't want to discourage you. I want to see more of your candidates for the next few elections. Trumpist candidates, riding Trump endorsements, to losing general election results. I could supply you with analyses and data on how a Trump helps some candidates in fundraising, how it helps many candidates in primaries, but how it also galvanizes opposition, such that even a guy like JD Vance (arguably the best Trump success story of 2022) underperformed in Ohio compared to other GOP candidates and expected results.

But I'm not concerned about trying to change your mind, or convince you of my view, or even debating you. I am telling you that I want you guys to keep going; keep claiming that 2020 (and 2022?!) was "STOLLEN," and to keep putting up TrumpWing candidates. So that the rest of the country can continue to kick your asses every other fall.

Just look at this comments page! All of the commenters absolutely committed to a nonnegotiable demand that all GOP candidates follow the J6 insurrectionists and the Big Lie. You guys represent a solid 26-27% of the electorate. Just perfect, for a general election wipeout. And with what hope, for any recovery? The "base," such as it is, claims to openly despise and ridicule the leadership. Half the leadership seems to despise the other half. Much of current leadership says that Donald Trump will never be the Party's nominee in 2024. But Trump is so popular with elements of the base that they cannot bring themselves to say that they will not support Trump if he wins the nomination.

To the extent that Trump has taken over the GOP, there is no GOP that remains. And let's be really clear; I understand very well that lots of you maniacs want to see the destruction of the old GOP and the GOP establishment. You've done a pretty good job, and now you see where it has gotten you. The Michigan GOP is destroyed. The Pennsylvania GOP is facing years in the wilderness. The Wisconsin GOP is teetering. The Arizona GOP is a dumpster fire. Trump's political game is like his golf game. He is winning in all of the places where it has been set that he cannot lose. And he is losing -- he's barely even in a match -- everywhere else.

Jaq said...

Shorter Amadeus: "We have to let win or we will lose!"

You have to admire the brilliance of the positioning. There is no doubt that Goebbels was a kind of genius, and his playbook still works, and the DNC are avid students of it.

If you really want to talk about Trump's obnoxiousness with me, you better go back to in context primary sources, which Big Tech and the Media have made all but impossible. There will never be a piece like the one written about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, which chased down the quotes and found it was all bullshit word twisting, it would be like calculating the trajectory of all of the individual raindrops in a hurricane.

Really what it boils down to for Trump fatigued conservatives is: "Admit that they have won the information war, and accept whatever scraps they offer; let's hand the party over to the Chucks of the world, rhymes with 'cuck,' people who hate us, and let them rule us because we don't know what's in our best interests, because, like Chuck says, we are too stupid."

"Oh yeah, and here is my son, take him off to fight in your war."

Saint Croix said...

The Florida Governor had nothing to say about one of the most consequential political moments of the past few years: the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

It's the problem with living in an echo chamber -- you have no sense of how bad your arguments might be, and how dumb they seem to other people.

I don't know any Republicans who think January 6 was "one of the most consequential political moments of the past few years."

You could say Republicans don't want to talk about that particular riot because it's one of the very few riots that was clearly and unmistakably a Republican riot.

Every Republican I know would remind Democrats of all the other riots -- such as the Antifa riots, or the BLM riots -- that were just as obviously Democrat riots.

If you want to get on the subject of riots -- or crime in general -- Republicans would love that conversation and are willing to talk about it all day.

Amadeus 48 said...

Dark Island--the problem is the eight Senate candidates and the 21 House candidates who lost. Consider Dr. Oz, who lost to the repulsive Fetterman. AZ and NV were winnable. The red wave pooped out. Many of Trump's endorsements were problematic and lost winnable races. This is not good.

Jupiter said...

"What kept him from being elected was massive voter fraud."

As is slowly coming to light in Arizona. The true dimensions of the vast, tentacled beast are hidden in the murky deeps. But little by little, they are reeling him in.

Gospace said...

It's pretty obvious to the most casual observer- there was no January 6th insurrection.

That there was is more of a lie then covid is the most dangerous disease we've ever faced and we must give up essential liberies to fight it!

The show trials are a disgrace to the American judicial system.

And if I could go back in time I could show you all the warnings on blogs that, in the words of Admiral Ackbar, "Don't go! It's a trap!"

Forget where I saw it the other day, but if 20,000 citizens descended on Washington DC intent on real insurrection, they'd be armed, and the police would be totally unable to stop them. But the propaganda moves on to be believed by the gullible. The wikipedia article referes to it as January 6 United States Capitol attack with over 2,000 rioters entering the Capitol buildint! Over 2000! Yet, with 2,000 RIOTERS in the building, the building still stands, not burned ot, niot needing to be rebuilt in any way. With 2,000 RIOTERS inside the building. Remarkable how resistant to damage the Capitol building is. They must have fireproofed everything since the British burned it in 1812....

Rusty said...

Darkisland said...
"Tim,

I'll keep you company on that hill. I hope we don't die, but I will be there.

John Henry"
Yep.

Saint Croix said...

Interesting that Politico thinks that a minor crime in 2020 is the big issue in the election of 2024.

There was kind of a major political event in 2022 -- the overturning of Roe v. Wade -- that has major implications in elections around the country.

I would hope Republicans (and Democrats!) are thinking about abortion and what our laws should look like. Republicans have coasted for decades by saying that "life begins at conception," which as a legal point is 100% useless. Nobody knows when conception happens. So you can't enforce the point (unless you're willing to outlaw forms of contraception, which I believe is a non-starter).

Among the issues facing Republicans running for president...

Do you say abortion is a "state issue" and is irrelevant in the federal election?

Or do you say an unborn baby is a person with a right to life?

How pro-life you're going to be is a profound issue affecting any Republican running for the White House. Certainly it's way more important than the bizarre 1/6 fantasies that are still obsessing the hive mind.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Alec Baldwin killed more people than those "rioters". Why, some of those "rioters" even strayed outside the velvet ropes. I and millions of others watched the grannies walking through taking selfies.
Fact is this Pelosi setup will be shown to make the incarceration of Japanese in World War II
as a minor Civil Rights stumble.
It will bear her name.

gilbar said...

here's another Serious Question, for any and all:
If Trump can't get elected in 2024.. What Republican COULD?
To support your answer, first list for me ALL the republicans, that EVER received more votes in an election than Trump did in 2016? (bonus points for any that received more than Trump did in 2020!)

boatbuilder said...

Scott Walker says “Nobody cares.”

That is precisely the problem with the Republican establishment. Why would anyone vote for a politician who says that about an issue which a large proportion of your purported base really does care about.

At the very least make some vaguely sympathetic noises, promise to explore the issue, mumble about troubling aspects, etc.

“Nobody cares?”

I once had a lot of respect for Scott Walker. I no longer care about him. He makes Jeb Bush seem like a real go-getter.

Chuck said...

This blog post bears the tag, "what Trump did to the GOP."

I was curious; when did that tag first get deployed? What event inspired it?

And thanks to the marvelous organization of this beautiful blog, it was easy to find. Inspired by Laurence Meade, no less!

Big Mike said...

Whereas Republicans once talked openly about [Jan. 6th] being disqualifying for the former president

@Althouse, and which Republicans were those?

Jaq said...

It’s as if Republicans didn’t get five million more votes than the Democrats in the last election.

Inga said...

“ I understand very well that lots of you maniacs want to see the destruction of the old GOP and the GOP establishment. You've done a pretty good job, and now you see where it has gotten you. The Michigan GOP is destroyed. The Pennsylvania GOP is facing years in the wilderness. The Wisconsin GOP is teetering. The Arizona GOP is a dumpster fire.”

I fervently wish that one day Wisconsin will see the Wisconsin GOP go down in flames the way it did in Michigan. I will keep hope alive, it’s possible with Trump leading his band of losers. Thank you Trump, keep fighting a losing battle and dragging down your minions with you.

Chuck said...

If you want to get on the subject of riots -- or crime in general -- Republicans would love that conversation and are willing to talk about it all day.


Yeah well one of the least important things about January 6, 2021, was that it was "a riot." Far more important was that fact that Peter Navarro said that his White House Trumpteam had "more than a hundred Congressmen lined up" to throw the election the election back to the states (where, confusingly, Republicans seemed to be coming up with fake slates of electors as if the electoral college vote still mattered).

I don't care too much about the shithead Three Percenters, or the Proud Boys; I care more that a significant portion of one of our two major political parties wanted to reverse the results of the election. And wanted to do something significant to advance that goal.

The rioters are getting federal criminal convictions, one by one. Alright. But more important than rioters, or jail terms for rioters, is the insurrectionist sentiment in Congress and in the Trump Administration alumni.

The Antifa rioters in Portland didn't try to steal an election. I think that what they did was pretty freaking bad, insofar as it involved arson and a federal courthouse. But we had Hurricane Katrina wipe out the federal courthouse in New Orleans. And we had a right-wing terrorist bomb a federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. These are all bad, significant things.

But not one of them comes close to January 6. Why? Because we didn't have a President of the United States helping to flood New Orleans, or who encouraged McVeigh to set off the bomb. And we didn't have a President saying to the Antifa of Portland, "Stand back, and stand by... we love you and you're very special."

Rusty said...

Somewhere in Michigan there's a gloryhole reserved just for Chuck.

Amadeus 48 said...

The problem with Trump is that he hasn't had a winning campaign since 2016..and in 2020 he got beat by Smilin' Joe Biden, who has become the worst president in American history. Trump had some remarkable successes in office, which he failed in to sell in his reelection campaign. Will he do better next time? Or will he go at it in the same old way and lose in the same old way?

Leora said...

Yeah, the phony insurrection didn't work. As people learned more and thought about it, it just became untenable to think some people should be held without bail for walking into a Public building while Angela Davis is invited everywhere.

Known Unknown said...

"The red wave pooped out."


So, no criticism leveled at Ronna McDaniel or Mitch McConnell? Who did McConnell give money to? Oh, yeah, Lisa Murkowski.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Inga- that's the spirit. Comrade.
Your side should get the gulags ready - and the re-education camps.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Trump spent to much time acting like a bitchy teenager on twitter. Not a good look for the top spot.

Drago said...

Amadeus 48: "The problem with Trump is that he hasn't had a winning campaign since 2016..and in 2020 he got beat by Smilin' Joe Biden, who has become the worst president in American history. Trump had some remarkable successes in office, which he failed in to sell in his reelection campaign. Will he do better next time? Or will he go at it in the same old way and lose in the same old way?"

I don't know Amadeus, are all your GOPe heroes going to work with the dems to immediately advance democratical hoaxes, put the next republican president in impeachment corner and then refuse to vote for everything they claimed they always supported?

I probably shouldn't ask it that way. You might just approve of that given you've clearly decided that none of that matters nor merits mentioning.

Drago said...

Amadeus: "... his failure to react (until last week) to the Demmies' success with vote harvesting in 2018 and 2020,..."

Where has the RNC been? Oh, that's right, catering to the consultant class and rewarding them whether they win or fail. Not updating systems and capabilities because that costs money...and the GOPe is all about sucking cash out to the consultant class and not improving performance. Not partnering with state parties to advance ballot harvesting capabilities and national strategies for partnering with grass roots groups......because the GOPe DESPISES its own grass roots groups and would NEVER partner with them the way the dems do. The GOPe spends all of its time helping democraticals destroy republican grass roots groups.

As mentioned many times previously, ALL the failures of the GOP over decades are now laid at the feet of Trump.

Trump is the greatest Get Out Of Jail Free Card the GOPe could ever dream of and, quite frankly, why wouldn't they when there are legions of republicans who will simply accept whatever they are told and whatever they are given. The GOPe never pays a penalty for betrayal of its base. Quite the opposite in fact. They are rewarded by that sliver of "respectable" GOPe-ers every time.

But only every time.

Drago said...

The Michigan GOPe crew hasn't delivered a Senate win in Michigan since 1994, over 20 years before Trump threw his hat in the ring in 2016. The GOPe has systematically destroyed its reputation with its own voters and thrown them overboard time and again. Snyder, the lone republican

And now, magically, that's all Donald Trump's fault.

The GOPe Get Out Of Jail Free Card.

The last republican governor of Michigan, Snyder, a classic Romney type, ended up being just another out of touch Pete Boot-a-judge-judge regarding the horrific Flint water fiasco and it took over 18 months for that idiot to even declare the situation a crisis.

Why? Because just like his dem pals, he never cared a whit for the actual working people of Michigan.

Not to worry though. I'm sure with just a little bit of effort the usual suspects can find a way to lay that at Trump's feet.

Drago said...

Flip-side Inga (HBTPFH): "Inga- that's the spirit. Comrade.
Your side should get the gulags ready - and the re-education camps."

Why not? 3/4's of the GOPe would volunteer to be the guards for the dems gulag.

There's really very little the dems shouldn't push for with such a Washington Generals controlled "opposition".

As Chuck Schumer said, he and Mitch McConnell share the same vision for the future republican party.

And on that point, he is not wrong in the least.

Drago said...

Known Unknown: "So, no criticism leveled at Ronna McDaniel or Mitch McConnell? Who did McConnell give money to? Oh, yeah, Lisa Murkowski."

Are you kidding?

During the time McConnell was lavishing cash on his pals and stiffing republicans all over the country while cutting deals with Schumer so that Schumer would back off NC while McConnell threw Masters overboard in AZ (yes, he really did that) while also paying the Rove crew to cut barely acceptable ads for Oz in PA which were purposely designed to pump up Shapiro (D) for gov over the republican governor candidate (who had already been cut off from any support from the RGA!), you had many republicans praising McConnell for his actions.

But now we are supposed to bend the knee to those guys as they dictate to us who our candidates should be and what our issues ought to be.

Right now, the primary issues the establishment republicans are pushing is gun control (Cornyn lead), Forever funding of Ukraine including all their government/bureaucracy salaries and pensions (that's why more cash gets kicked over every month to help Ukraine make its total budget ends meet), amnesty for illegals (Tillis lead) and ensuring that Biden sets records in getting his judges approved (Graham).

But its all Trump's fault, don't you know?

Iman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Known Unknown said...

"Trump spent to much time acting like a bitchy teenager on twitter."

This is part of the reason why he was elected in the first place.