Donald Trump Still Leads The Republicans—And That’s Bad for Almost Everybody: Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean he’s out of power. In the last week, the former President...

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean he’s out of power.

In the last week, the former President has once again shown just how he plans to maintain control of the Republican Party’s brand. He has refused to accept the Republican-led audit of 2020 election results in Arizona that he is, in fact, still the race’s loser. He continues to push for election reviews in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—and seems to be on track to get them. Trump has been hammering his supporters in Congress to gum up a quartet of high-profile pieces of President Joe Biden’s agenda and keeps sprinkling his endorsements in races around the country, trying to exact revenge on corners of his party he has deemed insufficiently loyal.

Trump has remade the Republican brand into one of chaos and obstruction, despite holding no official place in the party hierarchy. His contempt for norms continues and, especially among House Republicans, that is in itself a new norm. It’s tough to imagine a pre-Trump moment where such rancor was celebrated. In 2009, when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” at then-President Barack Obama, he issued an apology almost immediately for his outburst. Now, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s heckling of fellow members on the steps of the Capitol about abortion and their faith is met with deafening silence from the GOP. (Party leaders, however,) have already stripped her of committee assignments for peddling conspiracy theories.)

Trump may have fled Washington even before Joe Biden took the oath but his influence never left, especially among Republicans who sincerely believe that Trump’s mix of bravado and trouble-making is a winning cocktail for victory in next year’s midterms and the 2024 race that, if Trump is to be believed, could feature his return to the ballot. In fact, CNN polling shows GOP voters prefer Trump to be the leader of the Republican Party by a 2-to-1 margin, even if those same voters say it’s a coin-toss whether he’d actually help them retake the White House as the nominee. Trump is still drawing crowds across the country, and some $82 million in cash in the first half of the year moved into Trump-affiliated accounts at a network of political committees.

It’s easy to dismiss the shift in what it means to be a Republican these days as something that only matters inside the Beltway; something for cable news pundits to fret about. After all, the share of Americans who actually identifies as a member of the Republican Party hovers around 30% year over year. (Democrats come in around that same level. The biggest voting bloc in America is unaffiliated voters, and has been for decades.)

The problem is that for many voters, supporting Trump goes hand in hand with rejecting some of the nation’s basic guiding principles. In communities across this country, yard signs still are promoting Trump’s re-election last year. Many Republicans still believe he is the legitimately elected President of the United States: two-thirds of GOP voters said in a poll released last month that Trump was the winner of the election, a number that has remained consistent since November despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. It’s tough for rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to ignore that reality, even if meaningful election fraud is fiction.

Which brings us to this disturbing finding, released this week from the Pew Research Center. In a massive survey of more than 10,000 people, Pew found only 57% of Republicans believe those who heeded Trump’s advice to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” on Jan. 6 deserve prosecution for the failed insurrection. That’s still a majority, sure, but it’s down from the 78% who said the same in March. And among Republicans who think the mob that stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding deserve to face consequences, the intensity has dropped off, with the 50% of Republicans who in March said it was “very important” to prosecute the offenders falling to 27%.

In other words, Trump and his allies have been working tirelessly to normalize the Jan. 6 attacks and, at least among Republicans, it’s working. Their near-universal refusal to cooperate with Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation has delegitimized it, and the work more broadly to discredit a free and fair election continues to prove a threat to America’s democracy. To borrow an observation from a former Arizona Attorney General, an ex-Republican who was John McCain’s chief of staff, Trump’s efforts to undermine American democracy may be succeeding where Russia’s failed. And that’s something that all Americans across the political spectrum should watch with worry.

https://time.com/6102500/donald-trump-gop-control/

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

He is certainly the leader of those that are facing primaries but with only a few exceptions you hear very very little from others. As soon as the primaries are over he will be gone for the most part.
The GOP leadership wants him gone - long gone. He lost the presidency and the senate and could even beat a nin-cum- poop like. Biden.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Kraken wrote:

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean he’s out of power.

In the last week, the former President has once again shown just how he plans to maintain control of the Republican Party’s brand. He has refused to accept the Republican-led audit of 2020 election results in Arizona that he is, in fact, still the race’s loser. He continues to push for election reviews in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—and seems to be on track to get them. Trump has been hammering his supporters in Congress to gum up a quartet of high-profile pieces of President Joe Biden’s agenda and keeps sprinkling his endorsements in races around the country, trying to exact revenge on corners of his party he has deemed insufficiently loyal.

Trump has remade the Republican brand into one of chaos and obstruction, despite holding no official place in the party hierarchy. His contempt for norms continues and, especially among House Republicans, that is in itself a new norm. It’s tough to imagine a pre-Trump moment where such rancor was celebrated. In 2009, when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” at then-President Barack Obama, he issued an apology almost immediately for his outburst. Now, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s heckling of fellow members on the steps of the Capitol about abortion and their faith is met with deafening silence from the GOP. (Party leaders, however,) have already stripped her of committee assignments for peddling conspiracy theories.)

Trump may have fled Washington even before Joe Biden took the oath but his influence never left, especially among Republicans who sincerely believe that Trump’s mix of bravado and trouble-making is a winning cocktail for victory in next year’s midterms and the 2024 race that, if Trump is to be believed, could feature his return to the ballot. In fact, CNN polling shows GOP voters prefer Trump to be the leader of the Republican Party by a 2-to-1 margin, even if those same voters say it’s a coin-toss whether he’d actually help them retake the White House as the nominee. Trump is still drawing crowds across the country, and some $82 million in cash in the first half of the year moved into Trump-affiliated accounts at a network of political committees.

It’s easy to dismiss the shift in what it means to be a Republican these days as something that only matters inside the Beltway; something for cable news pundits to fret about. After all, the share of Americans who actually identifies as a member of the Republican Party hovers around 30% year over year. (Democrats come in around that same level. The biggest voting bloc in America is unaffiliated voters, and has been for decades.)

The problem is that for many voters, supporting Trump goes hand in hand with rejecting some of the nation’s basic guiding principles. In communities across this country, yard signs still are promoting Trump’s re-election last year. Many Republicans still believe he is the legitimately elected President of the United States: two-thirds of GOP voters said in a poll released last month that Trump was the winner of the election, a number that has remained consistent since November despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. It’s tough for rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to ignore that reality, even if meaningful election fraud is fiction.

Which brings us to this disturbing finding, released this week from the Pew Research Center. In a massive survey of more than 10,000 people, Pew found only 57% of Republicans believe those who heeded Trump’s advice to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” on Jan. 6 deserve prosecution for the failed insurrection. That’s still a majority, sure, but it’s down from the 78% who said the same in March. And among Republicans who think the mob that stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding deserve to face consequences, the intensity has dropped off, with the 50% of Republicans who in March said it was “very important” to prosecute the offenders falling to 27%.

In other words, Trump and his allies have been working tirelessly to normalize the Jan. 6 attacks and, at least among Republicans, it’s working. Their near-universal refusal to cooperate with Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation has delegitimized it, and the work more broadly to discredit a free and fair election continues to prove a threat to America’s democracy. To borrow an observation from a former Arizona Attorney General, an ex-Republican who was John McCain’s chief of staff, Trump’s efforts to undermine American democracy may be succeeding where Russia’s failed. And that’s something that all Americans across the political spectrum should watch with worry.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGlkFpPXRPJLKwBDRWHGVClbVjw

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean h... (show quote)

Asking because I'm curious -- Did you write that?
There's no attribution and the link gets me to an empty gmail inbox.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

Kraken wrote:

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean he’s out of power.

In the last week, the former President has once again shown just how he plans to maintain control of the Republican Party’s brand. He has refused to accept the Republican-led audit of 2020 election results in Arizona that he is, in fact, still the race’s loser. He continues to push for election reviews in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—and seems to be on track to get them. Trump has been hammering his supporters in Congress to gum up a quartet of high-profile pieces of President Joe Biden’s agenda and keeps sprinkling his endorsements in races around the country, trying to exact revenge on corners of his party he has deemed insufficiently loyal.

Trump has remade the Republican brand into one of chaos and obstruction, despite holding no official place in the party hierarchy. His contempt for norms continues and, especially among House Republicans, that is in itself a new norm. It’s tough to imagine a pre-Trump moment where such rancor was celebrated. In 2009, when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” at then-President Barack Obama, he issued an apology almost immediately for his outburst. Now, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s heckling of fellow members on the steps of the Capitol about abortion and their faith is met with deafening silence from the GOP. (Party leaders, however,) have already stripped her of committee assignments for peddling conspiracy theories.)

Trump may have fled Washington even before Joe Biden took the oath but his influence never left, especially among Republicans who sincerely believe that Trump’s mix of bravado and trouble-making is a winning cocktail for victory in next year’s midterms and the 2024 race that, if Trump is to be believed, could feature his return to the ballot. In fact, CNN polling shows GOP voters prefer Trump to be the leader of the Republican Party by a 2-to-1 margin, even if those same voters say it’s a coin-toss whether he’d actually help them retake the White House as the nominee. Trump is still drawing crowds across the country, and some $82 million in cash in the first half of the year moved into Trump-affiliated accounts at a network of political committees.

It’s easy to dismiss the shift in what it means to be a Republican these days as something that only matters inside the Beltway; something for cable news pundits to fret about. After all, the share of Americans who actually identifies as a member of the Republican Party hovers around 30% year over year. (Democrats come in around that same level. The biggest voting bloc in America is unaffiliated voters, and has been for decades.)

The problem is that for many voters, supporting Trump goes hand in hand with rejecting some of the nation’s basic guiding principles. In communities across this country, yard signs still are promoting Trump’s re-election last year. Many Republicans still believe he is the legitimately elected President of the United States: two-thirds of GOP voters said in a poll released last month that Trump was the winner of the election, a number that has remained consistent since November despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. It’s tough for rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to ignore that reality, even if meaningful election fraud is fiction.

Which brings us to this disturbing finding, released this week from the Pew Research Center. In a massive survey of more than 10,000 people, Pew found only 57% of Republicans believe those who heeded Trump’s advice to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” on Jan. 6 deserve prosecution for the failed insurrection. That’s still a majority, sure, but it’s down from the 78% who said the same in March. And among Republicans who think the mob that stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding deserve to face consequences, the intensity has dropped off, with the 50% of Republicans who in March said it was “very important” to prosecute the offenders falling to 27%.

In other words, Trump and his allies have been working tirelessly to normalize the Jan. 6 attacks and, at least among Republicans, it’s working. Their near-universal refusal to cooperate with Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation has delegitimized it, and the work more broadly to discredit a free and fair election continues to prove a threat to America’s democracy. To borrow an observation from a former Arizona Attorney General, an ex-Republican who was John McCain’s chief of staff, Trump’s efforts to undermine American democracy may be succeeding where Russia’s failed. And that’s something that all Americans across the political spectrum should watch with worry.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGlkFpPXRPJLKwBDRWHGVClbVjw

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean h... (show quote)

Would he risk being a *two-time loser?

*(not counting the divorces, the bankrupt casinos, TrumpU, and ... "no Emmy for you!")

If the fix is in, he'll run, in the meantime fund raising and Trump Reality Jamborees.

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

David Martin wrote:

Asking because I'm curious -- Did you write that?
There's no attribution and the link gets me to an empty gmail inbox.

He plagerized it from Time

https://time.com/6102500/donald-trump-gop-control/

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

David Martin wrote:

Asking because I'm curious -- Did you write that?
There's no attribution and the link gets me to an empty gmail inbox.

Sorry about that, it's fixed now.

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

Texcaster wrote:

Would he risk being a two-time loser?

If the fix is in, he'll run, in the meantime fund raising and Trump Reality Jamborees.

You raise a point his ex lawyer noted. He won’t run for fear of being label a two time loser for the rest of his life. His narcissistic persona can’t hand even the possibility of that.
I predict he won’t run and will have a health/ medical reason while maintaining he could have easily won if not for his health.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

DennyT wrote:

You raise a point his ex lawyer noted. He won’t run for fear of being label a two time loser for the rest of his life. His narcissistic persona can’t hand even the possibility of that.
I predict he won’t run and will have a health/ medical reason while maintaining he could have easily won if not for his health.

Michael Cohen? Bless 'em ...

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

DennyT wrote:

You raise a point his ex lawyer noted. He won’t run for fear of being label a two time loser for the rest of his life. His narcissistic persona can’t hand even the possibility of that.
I predict he won’t run and will have a health/ medical reason while maintaining he could have easily won if not for his health.

You are more than likely right. Makes a lot of sense.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Seeing the Texcaster Jesus communications photo [this post above] or perhaps direct to god bypassing Jesus gives me fright that Trump will be a Jim Bakker-like religious cult leader.** Trump and Bakker will both have been betrayed by their wives. If we put his new Jim Bakker/Trump-self in an FDR wheelchair, then the Republicans have a real winner. I can see in my mind a humble Trump standing at a podium supported by a son on one side his daughter on the other. Humble, Trump will shed tears for the loss of his wife, and beg forgiveness for unknowing transgressions during his first 4 years.

With that mix, I am swayed and may burst into sympathy tears at any time... finally knowing that Trump is fulfilling bible prophecies and will hasten end-times and the second coming. The ladies he has been with all say the negative that they never thought there would be a second coming... ! Trump's speeches will have the music in the background, "Old Soldiers Never Die" quietly playing. He will be wearing a decorated combat uniform much like Bush2 did when he declared victory on the Aircraft Carrier.*** It was Trump who brought back our soldiers and ended the war. Heroic here, heroics there, heroics everywhere, a Winner for sure.

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker
***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Kraken wrote:

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean he’s out of power.

In the last week, the former President has once again shown just how he plans to maintain control of the Republican Party’s brand. He has refused to accept the Republican-led audit of 2020 election results in Arizona that he is, in fact, still the race’s loser. He continues to push for election reviews in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—and seems to be on track to get them. Trump has been hammering his supporters in Congress to gum up a quartet of high-profile pieces of President Joe Biden’s agenda and keeps sprinkling his endorsements in races around the country, trying to exact revenge on corners of his party he has deemed insufficiently loyal.

Trump has remade the Republican brand into one of chaos and obstruction, despite holding no official place in the party hierarchy. His contempt for norms continues and, especially among House Republicans, that is in itself a new norm. It’s tough to imagine a pre-Trump moment where such rancor was celebrated. In 2009, when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” at then-President Barack Obama, he issued an apology almost immediately for his outburst. Now, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s heckling of fellow members on the steps of the Capitol about abortion and their faith is met with deafening silence from the GOP. (Party leaders, however,) have already stripped her of committee assignments for peddling conspiracy theories.)

Trump may have fled Washington even before Joe Biden took the oath but his influence never left, especially among Republicans who sincerely believe that Trump’s mix of bravado and trouble-making is a winning cocktail for victory in next year’s midterms and the 2024 race that, if Trump is to be believed, could feature his return to the ballot. In fact, CNN polling shows GOP voters prefer Trump to be the leader of the Republican Party by a 2-to-1 margin, even if those same voters say it’s a coin-toss whether he’d actually help them retake the White House as the nominee. Trump is still drawing crowds across the country, and some $82 million in cash in the first half of the year moved into Trump-affiliated accounts at a network of political committees.

It’s easy to dismiss the shift in what it means to be a Republican these days as something that only matters inside the Beltway; something for cable news pundits to fret about. After all, the share of Americans who actually identifies as a member of the Republican Party hovers around 30% year over year. (Democrats come in around that same level. The biggest voting bloc in America is unaffiliated voters, and has been for decades.)

The problem is that for many voters, supporting Trump goes hand in hand with rejecting some of the nation’s basic guiding principles. In communities across this country, yard signs still are promoting Trump’s re-election last year. Many Republicans still believe he is the legitimately elected President of the United States: two-thirds of GOP voters said in a poll released last month that Trump was the winner of the election, a number that has remained consistent since November despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. It’s tough for rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to ignore that reality, even if meaningful election fraud is fiction.

Which brings us to this disturbing finding, released this week from the Pew Research Center. In a massive survey of more than 10,000 people, Pew found only 57% of Republicans believe those who heeded Trump’s advice to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” on Jan. 6 deserve prosecution for the failed insurrection. That’s still a majority, sure, but it’s down from the 78% who said the same in March. And among Republicans who think the mob that stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding deserve to face consequences, the intensity has dropped off, with the 50% of Republicans who in March said it was “very important” to prosecute the offenders falling to 27%.

In other words, Trump and his allies have been working tirelessly to normalize the Jan. 6 attacks and, at least among Republicans, it’s working. Their near-universal refusal to cooperate with Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation has delegitimized it, and the work more broadly to discredit a free and fair election continues to prove a threat to America’s democracy. To borrow an observation from a former Arizona Attorney General, an ex-Republican who was John McCain’s chief of staff, Trump’s efforts to undermine American democracy may be succeeding where Russia’s failed. And that’s something that all Americans across the political spectrum should watch with worry.

https://time.com/6102500/donald-trump-gop-control/

Donald Trump is out of office. That doesn’t mean h... (show quote)

Overall, we rate Time Magazine as Zero credibility and an example of extremely worthless left-biased conspiracy nonsense based on the promotion of false/misleading/debunked/idiotic misinformation that routinely denigrates Donald Trump to pander to the Left and justify it's failed existence.

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

Fotoartist wrote:

Overall, we rate Time Magazine as Zero credibility and an example of extremely worthless left-biased conspiracy nonsense based on the promotion of false/misleading/debunked/idiotic misinformation that routinely denigrates Donald Trump to pander to the Left and justify it's failed existence.

You are so full of BS.

Overall, we rate Time Magazine Left-Center biased based on story selection that mostly favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. This update moves Time further to the left, with their bias rating score increasing from 3.75/10 to 4.75/10, which is on the cusp of Left and Left-Center Bias. (5/18/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 08/05/2020)

Factual reporting and a clean fact check record is something you

kool-aid drinking trump cult members avoid at all costs.

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

Kraken wrote:

You are so full of BS. br br Overall, we rate Tim... (show quote)

Trump is no longer the president of a country of which you're not a citizen. We rate any opinion you have on US politics irrelevant.

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

InfiniteISO wrote:

Trump is no longer the president of a country of which you're not a citizen. We rate any opinion you have on US politics irrelevant.

As you wish.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Kraken wrote:

As you wish.

I read you well, and I have opinions on other countries and they have validity. Your intellect is feared by the graveling unwashed masses.**

Did you notice no one commented on my new image of the humble wheelchair-bound crying Jesus convert 2024 reincarnated Trump?

**[Victorian novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He used it in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford]