What Is It That Attracts Joe Biden To The Republican Party So Strongly?

The Austerity Twins

On Tuesday, a day after the elderly Status Quo Joe, said he might pick a Republican as his running mate (he likely had fellow Social Security and Medicare hater Paul Ryan in mind, not Don, Jr.), Bernie told Fox News in Iowa: "I think it is fair to say that I will not have a Republican as a vice president on my ticket, as a vice presidential candidate. I will have somebody who shares my views. I am not aware of too many Republicans who do." Biden and Ryan both believe in Austerity-- the religion of both party establishments; Bernie does not.

Stuart Stevens was born in Mississippi at a time when being a Southern Democrat meant being an inveterate racist, still fighting the Civil War, hating Lincoln and likely destined for hell. So he decided to join the GOP instead-- which almost immediately flipped and flopped, changing places with the Democrats as the party of inveterate racism and hating Lincoln… and destined for hell. Has hell now arrived, or is the GOP still in purgatory? Just around the time Status Quo Joe was telling a small crowd in Exeter, New Hampshire that he might back a Republican as a running mate, Stevens, a Republican political consultant and #NeverTrumper, penned an OpEd for the Washington Post, Wake Up Republicans. Your Party Stands For All The Wrong Things Now.

Stevens began his missive with an inquiry: “Does anybody have any idea what the Republican Party stands for in 2020?” For most of us, of course, the Republican Party has stood for all the wrong things for our entire lifetimes-- conservatism: the party of greed in a marriage of convenience with the party of hated and bigotry. But let’s hear him out; after all this is a guy who not only worked for George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Thad Cochran, Bob Dole, Haley Barbour, Tom Ridge, Dick Lugar, Mel Martinez, Chuck Grassley, Roger Wicker, Jon Kyl, Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, Bob Riley, Rob Portman, Roy Blunt and Dan Coats, but once skied the last 100 miles to the North Pole. If I remember correctly, he voted for Hillary in 2016 and I’d bet anything he’s hoping Biden wins this year.

He urges his readers to ask a friendly Republican, “preferably after a drink or two, as that tends to work as truth serum: ‘Look, I was just wondering: What's the Republican Party all about these days? What does it, well, stand for?’ I'm betting the answer is going to involve a noun, a verb and either ‘socialism’ or ‘Democrats.’ Republicans now partly define their party simply as an alternative to that other party, as in, ‘I’m a Republican because I'm not a Democrat.’” Funny-- more and more Democrats are the mirror image. My grandfather, a socialist, taught me when I was very young that the only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican. He was right-- and ahead of his time. But this column of Stevens’ is about Republicans, not the woes of our dysfunctional transpartisan elite ruling class.

In a long-forgotten era-- say, four years ago-- such a question would have elicited a very different answer. Though there was disagreement over specific issues, most Republicans would have said the party stood for some basic principles: fiscal sanity, free trade, strong on Russia, and that character and personal responsibility count. Today it's not that the Republican Party has forgotten these issues and values; instead, it actively opposes all of them.

Republicans are now officially the character doesn't count party, the personal responsibility just proves you have failed to blame the other guy party, the deficit doesn't matter party, the Russia is our ally party, and the I'm-right-and-you-are-human-scum party. Yes, it's President Donald Trump's party now, but it stands only for what he has just tweeted.

A party without a governing theory, a higher purpose or a clear moral direction is nothing more than a cartel, a syndicate that exists only to advance itself. There is no organized, coherent purpose other than the acquisition and maintenance of power.

This is a sad fall. In Ronald Reagan's America, being born an American was to win's life lottery; in Donald Trump's America, it makes you a victim, a patsy, a chump.

Trump didn't hijack the GOP and bend it to his will. He did something far easier: He looked at the party, saw its fault lines and then offered himself as a pure distillation of accumulated white grievance and anger. He bet that Republican voters didn't really care about free trade or mutual security, or about the environment or Europe, much less deficits. He rebranded kindness and compassion as "PC" and elevated division and bigotry as the admirable goals of just being politically incorrect. Trump didn't make Americans more racist; he just normalized the resentments that were simmering in many households. In short, he let a lot of long-suppressed demons out of the box.

This paranoid element in the party has existed for decades, since the Joe McCarthy era, when some Republicans who saw dark forces threatening the country argued that only radical action by "true" Americans-- white, Christian, conservative-- could safeguard the nation. Barry Goldwater revived the theme in 1964, and George Wallace won five states with it as a third-party candidate in 1968. I worked in every Republican presidential campaign from 1996 through 2012 and assumed that those guys had long been vanquished and that optimism and inclusion had prevailed. I was wrong.

This impeachment moment and all that has led to it should signal a day of reckoning. A party that has as its sole purpose the protection and promotion of its leader, whatever he thinks, is not on a sustainable path. Can anyone force a change? I'm not optimistic. Trump won with 46.1 percent of the vote in 2016, while Mitt Romney lost with 47.2 percent in 2012; no wonder Republicans have convinced themselves that the path to victory and power lies with angry division. Having ignored the warning signs for years myself, I know the seductive lure of believing what you prefer while ignoring the obvious truth.

Which is this: We are a long way-- more than a half-century-- from 1968, much less 1952. The United States is now a diverse, chaotic collection of 330 million people, a country of immigrants and multiculturalism that is growing less white every day. It is not some gauzy Shangri-La of suburban bliss that never existed.

I'd like to say that I believe the party I spent so many years fighting for could rise to the challenge of this moment. But there have been too many lies for too long.

But Biden wants to pick one for his running mate and would absolutely and without question pick some for his cabinet. And, while we're the topic, God only knows what kind of "but he’s not as bad as Trump" judges we would wind up with if Biden was ever elected to the presidency.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

While both houses of Congress enjoy their extended Official August Goof-Off rather than return to Washington to address the crisis of gun violence and the crisis of the existence of Trump in the White House, the mayhem status quo continues, but, hey, Congress loves the status quo, especially Republicans when it comes to guns and bullets flying all over America ("Yay!"), and improving the wellness and healthcare for Americans ("Boo!"). If you've chosen the Republican lifestyle, the more coughing you hear and the more blood that is spilled the better. More mass-shootings mean the NRA can raise more cash and pass a big cut of what doesn't go into supporting Wayne LaPierre's lavish life of self-dealing corruption back into the pockets of the people you vote for. After all, what republican Congresscretin or $enator can't use a new Lexus or Mercedes in the driveway or some nice shiny jewelry for the wife, mistresses, and lobbyist whores?

Back 25 years ago, when the NRA's ownership of our politicians was much more bi-partisan than it is today, we had an assault weapons ban (AWB) pass both houses by extremely narrow margins after a lot of arm twisting. It was signed into law by conservadem President Bill Clinton, but, in a classic display of Washington fingers crossed behind the back cynicism, the ban contained a 10 year sunset provision, thus insuring a happy day in 2004 when gun-crazy Americans could go completely nuts in what amounted to an assault weapon supermarket sweep of gun stores, gun shows, Walmarts, and other places that are bullish on spreading murder and mayhem for fun and profit: The more dead first graders and Latinos the better, eh Republicans? What's that you say? "Newtown and white supremacy are hoaxes," you say?" Yeah, whatever. I'm sure iconic Republican spokescretins like Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson would never just make shit up.

Anyway, as a few lame attempts to push a new and improved, more meaningful AWB by various congresses sputtered and democrats gradually ended up finding alternate ways to stuff their pockets, the NRA tightened up its operating control of the Republican Party and made them their sole benefactor. They did it with even more cash and that's where we are and have been in the last few years. And, significant amounts of that cash can be traced back to Moscow. Why should Russia invade our shores with well-armed troops when they can just pay Americans to kill each other?

As for healthcare, even the very modest provisions of Obamacare were way too much for republicans to stomach and they've voiced that endlessly, including with their votes to repeal the legislation. "My god, fewer Americans dying from cancer, diabetes, strokes, and high blood pressure? We just can't have that! Trust in Jeeesus!!! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!!!!"

Oh and by the way, being sensible about guns is part of American health care. At least it should be seen that way. Now how about the Republican Party's silence while their beloved president is pushing for multilateral nuclear weapon testing and their doing nothing about minimizing the health effects of climate change, all for the money, mayhem, and murder of course; the 3 Ms of Republican governance.

Watch Trump's Reelection Campaign Circle The Bowl-- And Drag The GOP Down With It

Don't Be So Sure by Chip Proser

In the August IBD/TIPP poll of registered voters, which closed before the Trump supporter massacred 22 people in an El Paso Walmart and before China signaled they had stopped buying America agricultural products-- a signal that there is likely to be a depression in the farm belt next year-- Trump's job approval dropped from 43% to 40%. The poll shows, Status Quo Joe (54-41%), Bernie (50-45%), Elizabeth Warren (49-45%) and Kamala (47-45%) all beating him. Meanwhile, Latino Decisions poll was also just released. First of all...

They pollsters asked respondents who they would vote for if the election were held today:

Arizona

• Trump: 14%
• Democrat: 65%

California

• Trump: 18%
• Democrat: 67%

Florida

• Trump: 29%
• Democrat: 53%

Nevada

• Trump: 22%
• Democrat: 59%

Texas

• Trump: 20%
• Democrat: 62%

NATIONAL

• Trump: 21%
• Democrat: 62%

There are a number of things working to bring Trump's numbers down further. First among Latinos-- the NY Times reported Monday night that "Trump’s re-election campaign has harnessed Facebook advertising to push the idea of an 'invasion' at the southern border, amplifying the fear-inducing language about immigrants that he has also voiced at campaign rallies and on Twitter. Since January, Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign has posted more than 2,000 ads on Facebook that include the word 'invasion'-- part of a barrage of advertising focused on immigration, a dominant theme of his re-election messaging." The ads target white nationalist types and the result is what we saw in El Paso over the weekend.

Then in rural America, a major Trump base of support, a depression is looming because of Trump's trade war and unbelievably inept negotiating skills. After Trump's threats to put another 10% tariff on $300 billion of products from China, China stopped buying U.S. agricultural goods. Kate Rooney reported for CNBC that farmers in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, to name a few states, would have to find new customers... pronto. Only Mexico, Canada and Japan buy more American agricultural products than China, worth $5.9 billion annually. The Minister of Commerce announced that China was "suspending" purchases of American grain and other products and blamed Trump.

China is one of the largest buyers of U.S. agriculture. Bloomberg News reported that Beijing may stop importing them completely in response to new tariffs by the United States. According to reports by Chinese State media, it would also consider slapping tariffs on U.S. agricultural products that it already bought.

Those stories helped exacerbate fears on Wall Street pushing stocks to their worst day of the year. Now that China has confirmed the reports, it could add to pressure on equities. Stock futures fell Monday, implying a 480 point drop Tuesday.

U.S. farming has been a hot-button issue in the ongoing trade war. The president said that he had secured large quantities of agricultural purchases when he met with President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in June. Trump later accused China of not following through, leading him to announce on Thursday 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports.

China, which has historically managed its currency, let the yuan break to its lowest level against the dollar in more than 10 years on Monday.

The Treasury Department labeled China as a currency manipulator on Monday evening, following tweets by the president with that same accusation. “This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time,” Trump said. Later in the day, he tweeted that it is “now even more obvious to everyone that Americans are not paying for the Tariffs-- they are being paid for compliments of China, and the U.S. is taking in tens of Billions of Dollars.”

And a third crisis for the GOP-- obviously of their own making-- is the box they find themselves in over gun violence and domestic terrorism. This morning, reporting for Bloomberg News, Sahil Kapur wrote that Republicans "Fear Extinction In The Suburbs" Over Gun Control. "After two gruesome mass shootings in a 24-hour span," he wrote, "some Republicans are raising alarms that their opposition to new firearm limits is making the party toxic to the suburban women and college graduates who will shape the 2020 election.

“Republicans are headed for extinction in the suburbs if they don’t distance themselves from the NRA. The GOP needs to put forth solutions to help eradicate the gun violence epidemic,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and oil-and-gas executive who supports President Donald Trump.

Last year, Eberhart said, he was having lunch with Rick Scott when the then-Florida governor learned of the massacre unfolding in Parkland. It marked the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, as a gunman used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 17 people. Eighteen months later, as the country reels from killing sprees in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Eberhart said it’s time to join Democrats and majorities of Americans who want to ban those types of guns.

“The GOP needs to make several moves such as universal background checks, eliminating loopholes and banning military-style assault weapons to neutralize the issue,” he said. “Otherwise, Republicans will lose suburban voters just like they did in the midterms on health care.”

While most Republicans have opposed expanding background checks and banning assault-rifles, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham said Monday he cut a deal with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal on “red flag” legislation to assist and encourage states to keep guns away from people who are found to pose an imminent risk of violence. Many Democrats said that wasn’t enough and called for a renewal of the assault-weapons ban and universal background checks, among other measures.

The 2018 election reflected a changing landscape on guns. Republicans were swept out of the House majority after losing suburban bastions where they were once dominant-- in places like Orange County, California, and around Dallas and Houston in Texas. Voters in 2018 favored stricter gun control by a margin of 22 percentage points, and those who did backed Democrats by a margin of 76% to 22%, according to exit polls. Gun policy ranked as the No. 4 concern, and voters who cited it as their top issue voted for Democrats by a margin of 70% to 29%.

And the mood has changed since 2016.

The gun issue propelled Trump in key states like Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania among voters who opposed Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s support for gun control, said Republican strategist Brad Todd, whose firm polled on the issue. Todd said swing voters may still “see upsides and downsides to both approaches” on gun policy.

There have been 255 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which counts incidents where at least four people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. With the presidential election 15 months away, it’s unclear just how salient the issue of guns will be in shaping voter behavior.

The renewed debate captures a dilemma for Trump as he revs up his re-election campaign with appeals to rural Americans steeped in a rich gun culture. But he risks alienating upper-income suburbanites, who can make or break his prospects, if he’s seen as unwilling to take action to stop frequent mass shootings.

All of the major Democratic candidates are running on gun control measures, including tougher background checks and banning assault weapons, setting up a stark contrast with Trump.

“Every time the country experiences a tragedy of this nature the Republican brand takes a hit,” said Carlos Curbelo, a Republican former congressman who lost his suburban Miami-area district to a Democrat in 2018. “Because many, many Americans perceive that Republicans are unwilling to act on gun reform, due to the influence of the NRA and other organizations.”

“Certainly in swing suburban districts there is broad support for” policies like universal background checks and 72-hour waiting periods, Curbelo said. “A lot of voters, especially young voters, have lost their patience with this issue.”

A Marist poll last month, commissioned by NPR and PBS, found that 57% of American adults support banning “the sale of semi-automatic assault guns such as the AK-47 or the AR-15,” while 41% oppose it. Support for such bans was 62% among suburbanites, 74% among women in the suburbs and small cities, and 65% among white college graduates.

But the survey found broad opposition to banning semi-automatic assault weapons among the core elements of Trump’s coalition-- 67% among Republicans, 67% among conservatives, 65% among white men without college degrees, and 51% among rural Americans.

The party’s longstanding opposition to gun control is a product of party leaders working to consolidate single-issue firearm owners voters who reliably turn out in elections and tend to view any new restrictions as a threat to their Second Amendment rights.

It explains why most Republicans oppose even modest measures like universal background checks, which received 89% national support in the Marist poll, including large majorities across all demographic and party affiliations. The NRA opposes that proposal, too.

“The NRA is committed to the safe and lawful use of firearms by those exercising their Second Amendment freedoms,” the NRA said in a statement Sunday, adding that it “will not participate in the politicizing of these tragedies” but will work to pursue practical solutions.

Earlier this year, eight House Republicans from suburban or competitive districts voted with Democrats to pass a bill that would impose background checks on buyers for gun sales considered private, which are not currently required by federal law.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has refused to consider the bill, and Trump has threatened to veto it.

In a statement Monday, Trump denounced the “twisted” killers over the weekend and called for new “red flag” laws to keep firearms away from people found to be dangerous. He blamed the internet, social media and violent video games for pushing people toward violence, though he suggested easy access to guns wasn’t the problem.

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” he said.

Irony? Take my word on this one-- he isn't capable of it.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

The picture for tonight's meme was taken last week when VP Mike Pence led a delegation of Neo-Nazi $enators and sympathizers down to McAllen, TX to view some of the administration's handiwork at the camps. The picture begged for captions. In addition to the one in tonight's meme, here are some others that I have seen or thought of myself.

• Khakis Are The New Swastika.

• Did Pence Wet Himself In His Excitement?

• Good Thing Melania Hooked Onto Trump, Ha Ha.

• Now Would Be A Good Time For The Rapture.

• I Don't Get This Performance Art Stuff.

• How Many Can We Fit Into A Boxcar?

• Is This Slave Auction Gonna Start Soon Or What?

• My Jesus Loves Brown Guys In Cages!

• Lindsey, Don't You Just Love Men In Cages?

• I Feel A Heil Trump Comin' On! Can I Get A Heil Trump?

• These Human Suits Are Starting To Itch!

• We Are DEVO.

• So Glad The Party Had My Compassion Chip Removed.

• Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!

• Let's Try To Blend In So The Press Doesn't Notice Us.

• Marsha Blackburn! Did You Fart Again??!!?

• Damn, I Could Go With A Baloney & Processed American Cheese With Mayo Right Now!

• Eight To Beam Up To The Whites-Only Ship! Now Scotty! Now! Scotty?? Scotty?? Scotty!!!

George Will Eviscerates Lindsey Graham Entirely Without Even Hinting He's a Cowardly Closet Case

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a column by George Will, Why do people such as Lindsey Graham come to Congress?, which uses Graham as the exemplar of the disintegration of the Republican Party and why it needs to be put out of its misery. "Back in the day," he wrote, "small rural airports had textile windsocks, simple and empty things that indicated which way the wind was blowing. The ubiquitous Sen. Lindsey O. Graham has become a political windsock, and as such, he-- more than the sturdy, substantial elephant-- is emblematic of his party today.

When in 1994, Graham, a South Carolina Republican, first ran for Congress, he promised to be “one less vote for an agenda that makes you want to throw up.” A quarter-century later, Graham himself is a gastrointestinal challenge. In the past three years, he had a road-to-Damascus conversion.

In 2015, he said Donald Trump was a “jackass.” In February 2016, he said: “I’m not going to try to get into the mind of Donald Trump, because I don’t think there’s a whole lot of space there. I think he’s a kook, I think he’s crazy, I think he’s unfit for office.” And: “I’m a Republican and he’s not. He’s not a conservative Republican. He’s an opportunist.” Today, Graham, paladin of conservatism and scourge of opportunism, says building the border wall is an existential matter for the GOP: “If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party.” Well.

Six years after its founding, the Republican Party produced the president who saved the nation. The party presided over the flow of population west of the Mississippi, into space hitherto designated on maps as the Great American Desert. (The Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted by a Republican-controlled Congress.) The Morrill Act of 1862 (Vermont Rep. Justin Morrill was a Republican) launched the land-grant college system that began the democratization of higher education and advanced the science-intensive agriculture that facilitated the urbanization that accelerated the nation’s rise to global preeminence. The party abetted and channeled the animal spirits that developed the industrial sinews with which 20th-century America defeated fascism and then communism. Now, however, Graham, whose mind might not have a whole lot of space for pertinent history, thinks this party’s identity and survival depend on servile obedience to this president’s myopia.

During the government shutdown, Graham’s tergiversations-- sorry, this is the precise word-- have amazed. On a recent day, in 90 minutes he went from “I don’t know” whether the president has the power to declare an emergency and divert into wall-building funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes, to “Time for President . . . to use emergency powers to build Wall.” The next day, he scrambled up the escalation ladder by using capitalization: “Declare a national emergency NOW. Build a wall NOW.” Two days later, he scampered down a few rungs, calling for his hero to accept a short-term funding measure to open the government while wall negotiations continue. Stay tuned for more acrobatics.

But stay focused on this: Anyone-- in Graham-speak, ANYONE-- who at any time favors declaring an emergency, or who does not denounce the mere suggestion thereof, thereby abandons constitutional government. Yes, such a declaration would be technically legal. Congress has put on every president’s desk this (to adopt Justice Robert Jackson’s language in his dissent from the Supreme Court’s 1944 Korematsu decision affirming the constitutionality of interning of U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent) “loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need.” Or an implausible one. However, an anti-constitutional principle would be affirmed. The principle: Any president can declare an emergency and “repurpose” funds whenever any of his policy preferences that he deems unusually important are actively denied or just ignored by the legislative branch.

Why do they come to Congress, these people such as Graham? These people who, affirmatively or by their complicity of silence, trifle with our constitutional architecture, and exhort the president to eclipse the legislative branch, to which they have no loyalty comparable to their party allegiance?

Seven times, Graham has taken the oath of congressional office, “solemnly” swearing to “support and defend the Constitution” and to “bear true faith and allegiance” to it, “without any mental reservation.” Graham, who is just 1 percent of one-half of one of the three branches of one of the nation’s many governments, is, however, significant as a symptom. When the Trump presidency is just a fragrant memory, the political landscape will still be cluttered with some of this president’s simple and empty epigones, the make-believe legislators who did not loudly and articulately recoil from the mere suggestion of using a declared emergency to set aside the separation of powers.

Its Own Penchant For Appealing To Racists Killed Off The California Republican Party. The Same Thing Will Happen In Texas

Still Not Working For Them

“The California Republican Party isn’t salvageable at this time,” wrote former Assembly Republican leader Kristin Olsen this week. “The Grand Old Party is dead-- partly because it has failed to separate itself from today’s toxic, national brand of Republican politics.” She tried to blame Trump, rather than the hateful zombies at the base of the party, lured by the messaging of people like herself as much as by Trump. The party was headed to the garbage heap of history when Trump was still calling himself a Democrat. Fortunately for Democrats, many Republicans have an even worse way of looking at the party’s demise-- one that will only make the hole they’re in deeper and less escapable. Former state party chair Shawn Steele, a member of the RNC, argues that it wasn’t Trump who lost Orange County for the party. He laid the blame on millions of dollars in “dark money” raised by Democrats, who he said were aided by better organization and help from the tech industry in Silicon Valley. And-- without any substantiation-- Steele also claimed Democratic voter registration drives produced “borderline fraudulent turnout rates” in some key districts. As long as the GOP steeps itself in that kind of delusion, it will never get back on its feet.

No California seats flipped from blue to red, or even came close to that, despite some corruption issues hanging over a few of the less savory members of Team Blue. These are the California seats that did flip this cycle-- every one of them from red to blue:

• CA-10 (Central Valley)- Josh Harder will be replacing Jeff Denham
• CA-25 (Santa Clarita/Antelope Valley)- Katie Hill will be replacing Steve Knight
• CA-45 (central Orange County)- Katie Porter will be replacing Mimi Walters
• CA-48 (coastal Orange County)- Harley Rouda will be replacing Dana Rohrabacher
• CA-49 (Orange County/San Diego)- Mike Levin will be replacing Darrell Issa.

As it stands right now, Gil Cisneros is likely to win in CA-39, C.J. Cox may replace David Valadao in CA-21 and there is even a remote chance that Ammar Campa-Najjar will wind up beating Druncan Hunter in CA-50. The Orange County before and after map is startling-- especially to Republicans. As I’ve said many times, what Bavaria was for the Nazi Party, Orange County was for the Republican Party. And, they’ve been losing ground there year by year, one district at a time until… now there are none! [NOTE: Last yesterday, Gil Cisneros finally did beat Republican Young Kim, meaning there are now no Republicans representing Orange County in Congress-- just six Democrats. This is a political earthquake.]

Statewide, Republican registration numbers have dropped so precipitously, that they now rank lower than decline-to-state voters. Last year, the California GOP delegation in the House was the biggest. That’s over… probably for the foreseeable future. Even if Valadao survives, he has only taken 51% of the vote and he can expect a stronger and more focused campaign against him in 2020. Hunter-- disgraced and likely to be headed to prison-- will probably resign before the term ends. A special election might go poorly for Republicans who sold voters on Hunter’s supposed “innocence.”

Over the weekend, reporting for Politico, Carla Marinucci wrote that Republicans are lashing out at the state party in the wake of the disaster. “Near political annihilation… has left even longtime conservative stronghold Orange County bereft of a single Republican in the House of Representatives; a growing chorus of GOP loyalists here say there’s only one hope for reviving the flatlining party: Blow it up and start again from scratch.” Easier said than done.

“I believe that the party has to die before it can be rebuilt. And by die-- I mean, completely decimated. And I think Tuesday night was a big step," says veteran California GOP political consultant Mike Madrid. “There is no message. There is no messenger. There is no money. And there is no infrastructure.”

Republicans like Madrid also mourned another low point this week: the defeat of Southern California Assemblyman Dante Acosta, marking the demise of the last GOP Latino legislator-- in a state where Latinos comprise the fastest-growing electorate.

“The California Republican Party isn’t salvageable at this time. The Grand Old Party is dead,” wrote former state GOP Assembly leader Kristin Olsen, who startled fellow Republicans with a brutally frank op-ed this week saying Republicans must acknowledge their “serious problem” in California, particularly the effects of toxicity of President Trump.

GOP strategist John Weaver, who has worked California races and also has represented the presidential campaign of Ohio governor John Kasich, seconded Olsen’s view, tweeting that the effects of the Trump presidency have doomed any chance of resurrection. “In one fell swoop Trump & Republicans who willingly handcuffed themselves to him have turned Orange County into a GOP wasteland," he tweeted this week. “You want to see the future? Look no further than the demographic death spiral in the place once considered a cornerstone of the party.”

Madrid argues that many California Republican leaders remain in complete denial of the fact that their continued support of Trump presidency has sealed the fate of the GOP-- and last week’s midterm elections revealed the true extent of the GOP’s rot in California, where the state party has now shrunken to third party status.

“Now, it’s just open warfare. The barbarians have broken through the gates. The army is in full retreat," said Madrid, who adds there’s no hope left for a party that for years has been on a path toward destruction. “Burn it to the ground. I want to reconstitute."

… [A] leading pro-Trump Republican voice-- former gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Travis Allen, a far-right conservative who fully supports the president’s wall and immigration policies-- has kicked off his campaign to head the state GOP, announcing that it’s time to “take back California.”

But a growing number of Republicans in the party’s #NeverTrump wing-- which includes prominent strategists like Rob Stutzman and Luis Alvarado-- insist that a new beginning will rely heavily on a full-throated repudiation of Trump’s caustic divisiveness. They believe the rebuilding process could require years, if not generations, to rid the state GOP of the taint of a president who is blamed for ramping up anti-immigrant sentiment in a state that is home to more immigrants than any other in the country.

This isn’t the first time the dilapidated Republican Party in California has faced a dire outlook-- or debated the notion that it must be completely overhauled. In 2007, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was lambasted by Republicans when he delivered an address to their state convention warning that the GOP was “dying at the box office" because they lacked inclusive messaging and policies, particularly to minorities who now dominate the state’s demographics.

And in assuming the leadership of the party in 2013, former state Sen. Jim Brulte predicted it would take at least six years to rebuild the structure and fundraising strength of the Republican Party in California. He warned then that Republicans would need to “either stop the bleeding and/or start turning it around” in 2014-- or the party will be in the pits “for the rest of the decade.”

None of that altered the party’s downward trajectory, however, or caused a wholesale rethinking among some leading candidates and party leaders. Madrid cites the recent gubernatorial contest in which Republican nominee John Cox, who described himself repeatedly as a “Jack Kemp” Republican, pushed for Trump policies that are abhorrent to many Californians.

“It is completely unfathomable...for a Republican nominee to run on building a wall," said Madrid, a nationally recognized expert on Latino voting trends who noted that the party has spent 20 years trying to extricate itself from the damage done by Prop. 187, the anti-illegal immigration ballot measure that eviscerated Latino support in the state. “And everyone acts like it’s normal...Cox was running on that, in California. Are you out of your mind?”

Madrid, who most recently advised the gubernatorial campaign of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, said the party needs to stop looking for silver bullets-- like a gas tax repeal-- and confront the disintegration of some of the state GOP’s once most reliable electorates, especially college-educated voters and women.

“We hemorrhaged college-educated Republican voters on Tuesday night. The ‘diploma divide’ is a very real thing,” he said. “The smaller it gets, the more monolithic is gets. The whiter it gets. The more populist-nationalist it gets. What you’re seeing in the Republican Party is that it’s the party of white identity politics.”

Democratic political strategist Darry Sragow says if the party continues on its current path, its complete disintegration is entirely predictable.

“They’re down to 24 percent registration. And the reason is that they have a huge deficit with Latinos, with African Americans... and with Asian Americans. And they now have a deficit with whites," he said. “You’re talking about a party where 77 percent of Republican likely voters in California are white. And the population that’s white here is 39 percent.”

His advice: “They have to take down the ‘whites only’ sign from the clubhouse door," Sragow says. “And if they’re willing to allow people who aren’t white into the club, they may be able to recover."

“I think that the GOP is capable of turning itself around, because it’s a well-established brand," he said. “The problem is, the people who manage the party are going to have to be willing to do that. And by definition, they are the opposite of that. They have no interest in that.”

Death Spiral

Trumpanzee Lashes Out In All Directions-- Congressional Republicans Are Victims Of Domestic Abuse

Trump is fighting with Republicans again. He's all but endorsed one of the right-wing lunatics primarying Jeff Flake (R-AZ)-- and is expected to explicitly do so when he travels to Phoenix to pardon Joe Arpaio this weekend. He seemed peeved that Flake pointed out in his new book that Trump's antics are "the spasms of a dying party." On top of his feud with Flake, Trump's been on a rampage against Lindsey Graham again after Graham addressed him directly in regard to his horrifying Charlottesville comments that offered succor to muderous Nazis the KKK and domestic terrorists:

"Mr. President, I encourage you to try to bring us together as a nation after this horrific event in Charlottesville. Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them... I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency. Many Republicans do not agree with and will fight back against the idea that the Party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world." Trump's reaction was to call Graham "publicity seeking" and to say he "just can't forget his election trouncing." He then threatened "The people of South Carolina will remember!"

David Nakamura covered the spat between Trump and the 2 Republican senators for the Washington Post yesterday. "In a morning tweetstorm," he wrote, "Trump lambasted Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (SC) and Jeff Flake (AZ), calling Graham 'publicity-seeking' and Flake 'toxic,' and endorsing a primary challenger to Flake in his reelection bid next year.'"

Trump's tweets made clear that the president is willing to challenge fellow Republican lawmakers and potentially imperil their reelection chances if they criticize him. The GOP holds a narrow 52-48 margin in the Senate, though most political analysts say it will be difficult for Democrats to win back the chambers in 2018 due to the election map favoring Republicans.

But Trump also needs to maintain party loyalty to help pass his legislative agenda, including upcoming efforts at tax revision and, perhaps, infrastructure. Graham's fellow Republican senator from Arizona, John McCain, cast a crucial vote against the GOP's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, prompting Trump to attack him repeatedly.

But it's worse than the Twitter rages. McClatchy's Katie Glueck reported Wednesday on how deeply anxious Republicans are that Trumpanzee is ruining their brand. And do they ever deserve it! "If Donald Trump’s campaign stomped all over the Republican Party’s 2012 plans to build a more diverse movement," she wrote, "his refusal now to squarely blame white supremacists and neo-Nazis for Charlottesville violence has destroyed those efforts entirely." So much for Priebus' autopsy report and any hopes the GOP might start making inroads with fast-growing Hispanic and Asian electorates. And people under 40. "[A]fter the president this week insisted that there were 'very fine people' among those who violently marched at a white supremacist rally, many Republicans fear that Trump is reinforcing the same negative perceptions about the party that they have spent years working to combat."

“Our plan is to reach out and talk to people who haven’t always agreed with us,” said Emmanuel Wilder, a North Carolina-based activist with the Young Republican National Federation. Trump’s comments, he said, make it that much harder. “It’s a major step back. The fact that the head of the party cannot call a spade a spade, it hurts…it’s near impossible for us to try to explain. It’s not really explainable.”


Added a dejected Republican state party chairman, “If he intended that-- that’s almost so crazy that it’s sad. And of course, it’s counter to what the Republican Party has been trying to do, and sincerely so by most of us, for years: to let people of all races and backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances know they have a home in the Republican Party.”


Interviews with a dozen Republican operatives and activists around the country revealed genuine frustration-- and for some, disgust-- over Trump’s repeated suggestions that there is an equivalence between the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists who marched in Virginia this weekend, and those who turned out to protest them, even as a woman died after a white supremacist rammed a car into a group of the counter-protesters.

“He is destroying the GOP one day at a time, one reckless statement and action at a time,” said Sally Bradshaw, a longtime adviser to Jeb Bush who co-authored the “autopsy” report and went on to leave the party over Trump. “Why would anyone consider supporting a political party when the leader of the party is anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, and anti-black? He makes me sick.”


Some expressed relief that a significant number of GOP lawmakers robustly rebuked Trump’s remarks, and those looking ahead to congressional elections are hopeful that voters will be able to distinguish between Trump and hometown lawmakers, as was the case in many competitive 2016 contests.

We spoke with several Democratic congressional candidates about how that is playing out in their own districts. Derrick Crowe, Blue America's newest endorsed candidate, told us pretty much what almost all the candidates are saying about their own races. "Lamar Smith has issued no official press release on the events beyond a vague tweet. He's said nothing to condemn White supremacy as an ideology. He's not mentioned the death of an American at the hands of a domestic terrorist. He's said nothing critical of Donald Trump's stunningly insipid remarks on the topic. It's clear Trump's first congressional donor is no more willing to criticize Trump than Trump is willing to criticize Putin."

Sam Jammal is the Blue America-endorsed progressive Democrat running in CA-39. He pointed out that "These GOP ties to the KKK and Neo-Nazis are really concerning. We know where Trump stands, but really don't know where the rest of the Republican Party stands, especially Ed Royce. A few years back, he actually spoke at a rally against multi-culturalism which is kind of crazy when you consider that he represents a heavy immigrant district that is 2/3rds communities of color. Last election, the district even voted 60-40% to pass a ballot initiative returning bilingual education as an option in our schools. Proving just how out of step he is, Ed has a long history of supporting English Only policies. Ed's game plan seems to be to say reasonable sounding things when people are paying attention, but do extreme things when they are not-- like speaking at this rally or taking photos with hate group leaders. This is not the type of leadership we need, especially given Trump's full embrace of racial divisions. I think people are now paying attention and Ed is going to have a lot of explaining to do."  

Jenny Marshall, Virginia Foxx's opponent in NC-05, isn't shy about making sure residents of Forsyth, Watauga, Iredell, Wilkes, Davidson, Rowan counties know that "Foxx's silence on President Trump’s statement on Charlottesville shows that she supports a president who condones, and some would say encourages, white nationalists.  But again, let’s be clear-- Virginia Foxx has chosen repeatedly to ignore racism in our home state of North Carolina and throughout the nation. Just this year, federal courts struck down laws created by the North Carolina state legislature because they found that they had directly disenfranchised people of color. Foxx supports these laws and other efforts like them, showing that she has no commitment to at-risk communities. I believe that the people of North Carolina deserve representatives who will take a stand against racism, not just on twitter, but in the halls of congress. Congress must schedule oversight hearings of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland security to ensure that resources are allocated to combat white nationalists, neo-nazis and other hate groups. When elected, I will fight for this type of congressional oversight to ensure that every American is treated fairly and can feel safe."

In another sign of just how deeply the incident is resonating among people of color, two African American commentators-- one from the left, one from the right-- broke down in tears while discussing the issue on Fox News.

Trump’s remarks Tuesday were a stunning reversal from the more explicit condemnation of hate groups that he offered Monday, following several days of criticism for an equivocating initial statement on the Charlottesville violence.

The comments sparked the most significant Republican backlash his administration has faced to date, with leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushing back on Trump’s characterizations.

Notably, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers, not known as a routine Trump critic, swiped on Twitter: “I don't understand what's so hard about this. White supremacists and Neo-Nazis are evil and shouldn't be defended.”

“Politics is about expansion, not contraction,” said Glen Bolger, a prominent GOP strategist and pollster working on midterm races. “Language like that, as many senators and congresspeople have noted, is not exactly helpful in terms of expanding the coalition. Nobody’s coalition wants Nazis-- or should want Nazis-- in it. It was baffling to say the least.”

Bolger said that it was far too early to gauge what the long-term implications of the incident might be for the GOP brand in the next election, given the pace of the news cycle. But some Republicans are concerned that the moment has the potential to do long-term harm.

“I worry the president’s remarks yesterday undermine everything that we are as a party,” said former New Hampshire GOP Chair Jennifer Horn. “As the party of Lincoln, we are built on the very concept of inclusion, equality, freedom for all. His comments undermine that considerably.”

Indeed, in his remarks Tuesday, Trump did not emphasize the GOP’s “party of Lincoln” reputation, instead equating monuments to Confederate leaders with those for presidents such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He suggested that if Confederate symbols come down, as rally-goers in Charlottesville were agitating against, then those honoring U.S. presidents and Founding Fathers could be next.

“As a party, we go out of the way to try to spread that message” of inclusion, Horn continued. “Having a president who calls himself a Republican and then makes these kinds of comments obviously undermines that message.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Democrats are already making clear that they plan to use Trump’s remarks to tarnish the entire GOP brand. Coming from a corrupt and morally reprehensible character like Debbie Wasserman Schultz makes it hard to take seriously, but listen to how Randy Bryce, Paul Ryan's 2018 opponent put it:

Guest Post From... The Mooch

The Mooch didn't write this while Hadrian was building his wall to keep the Picts out of Britannia. It was just a year and a half ago when the Trump Regime's now-Communications Director decided he had to issue an alert and warning to the American people... about the inherent evil of the Republican Party and their deranged, crackpot leader, The Donald. Keep in mind while reading it that The Mooch, always politically incoherent, has given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions not just to Señor Trumpanzee Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and (especially his beloved) Scott Walker but to corporate establishment Democrats Hillary Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Jon Corzine, Kathleen Rice and, of course, Rahm Emanuel.

The Bankruptcy and Restructuring of the Republican Party
-by The Mooch,
January 13, 2016

"Of those men who have overturned the liberty of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by playing an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants."
-Alexander Hamilton, Federal No. 1

At the end of the current election cycle, the Republican Party will be forced to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Unbridled demagoguery has driven the GOP to an inflection point from which there is no turning back. If a populist prevails in the primary, as appears increasingly likely, the party faces either devastating defeat in the general election or a new, unrecognizable identity. In either scenario, a large swath of the GOP electorate will be forced to eat crow and reevaluate its affiliation. Call it, if you will, a moral debt restructuring, one caused by the reckless behavior of a man who knows a thing or two about bankruptcy.

We are in the midst of an ideological Civil War, one pitting American values of hope, empowerment and self-reliance against defeatist attitudes of fear, entitlement and victimization. Ronald Reagan lifted people up by prioritizing limited government, states’ rights, low taxes and free markets, but today’s GOP voters have responded most enthusiastically to candidates driving people apart with hate speech and alarmism. After winning only 27% of the Hispanic vote in 2012, Republican leadership set out an agenda to make the party more inclusive. Populist candidates have instead chosen to pander to disaffected voters by doubling down on nationalist rhetoric-- and so far poll numbers appear to positively reinforce such a position.

Politics, like investing, isn’t a game of right and wrong. It’s a results-oriented business, both in terms of winning elections and governing effectively. But as Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson will tell you, national poll numbers at this stage of the process mean very little. Barry Goldwater delivered on his promise to bring out the silent majority with his populist rhetoric in 1964, the only problem is it voted against him in a landslide. The ultimate proof in the pudding will be who gets the nomination, and how he performs in the general election.

Given how much Americans have been misled over the last decade, it’s no wonder they’re having a hard time separating straight-talk from misinformation. That robust economic recovery? They don’t feel it. The Affordable Care Act? It made their health insurance more expensive. Daesh, another word for ISIS, is contained? They don’t live under a rock. You can’t blame Americans for gravitating toward politicians who look and sound different than the ones who have repeatedly failed to deliver on promises of hope and change. When faced with a threat, whether economic or terrorist, it’s easy to resort to cynicism. It’s cathartic to get angry. But more than ever, we must resist the urge to betray the values on which our great nation was founded. More than ever, we need courageous, aspirational leadership to reestablish the purpose of America.

You must understand the motivation for people to offer a rebuke of the status quo, both in the United States and globally. It’s much more economic than it is social. We need leaders with a strong command of fiscal issues who can empower Americans to lift themselves out of poverty. The long-term security plan in the Middle East must also be based on economic solutions to give citizens a viable alternative to extremism. In a recent Business Executives for National Security (BENS) trip to Afghanistan, I attended a military briefing where the General disclosed that 80% of those who join the Taliban do so in order to feed their families, not to fulfill a religious fantasy.

The sad irony in the rising tide of nationalism is that America is a democracy founded by immigrants on the premise of religious freedom. The hard work of immigrants throughout our history has created the economic power from which we derive our global sphere of influence. America has never been a closed society; each of us has a powerful, aspirational story about our parents or grandparents coming to build a new life in this great land. There is no doubt we need to secure our southern border and ensure the vetting process for all immigrants is air-tight, but betraying common decency out of primeval fear reeks of World War II-era attitudes that led to the internment of Japanese-American citizens and rejection of European-Jewish refugees-- events that are a stain on our history. America has always accomplished far more acting as courageous frontiersmen than weak reactionaries.

After a bombastic debate season, everyone is looking forward to seeing real decisions made in primaries and caucuses. Substance matters more as we get closer to actual votes being cast. New Hampshire will be especially important because the state has many moderates, and independents can vote on either primary ballot. To win Iowa or New Hampshire, it might actually be better to poll worse nationally. Seeing the deep GOP field whittled down will be a welcome sight that allows for more direct confrontation of the styles in this race.

Democracy is a device that ensures the people shall be governed no better than they deserve. I know America deserves better. Our great nation was founded as a land of opportunity where huddled masses could emigrate to make better lives for their families. Lately, though, it has too closely resembled the ancient lands with storied pomp from which our ancestors fled.

The News For Republicans In New Jersey Could Hardly Be Worse

The recent Bedminster fundraiser, headlined by Señor Trumpanzee and Governor Chris Christie, for embattled Republican Congressman Tom MacArthur, showed how aware Republicans are of the toxicity of Trump and of the GOP agenda. There are no photos of MacArthur and his two party leaders, Señor T and Governor Lard Ass. The press were prevented from getting anywhere near the event and photos were strictly prohibited. What are they hiding? Who are they hiding from?

In New Jersey, at least, the stealth is too little too late. A newly released Quinnipiac poll of the state’s voters carries catastrophic predictions for the Republican Party in the Garden State. A fairly unattractive Democratic hack candidate, Wall Streeter Phil Murphy “buries” the GOP candidate, Christie’s Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. Buries? Sure— 55% to 26%. “The blue wave,” explains Quinnipiac, “sweeps across the ballot as New Jersey voters say 57 - 29 percent that they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control the State Legislature… [I]f New Jersey is a weather vane, the wind is blowing in the Democrats' direction."

"Hobbled by eight years in a little noticed job and her ties to a remarkably unpopular governor, Lt. Gov. Guadagno is little-known and little-liked," Carroll added. "Half the state doesn't know enough about her to judge her as a candidate.

"The last New Jersey governor from Goldman Sachs, Jon Corzine, failed to win a second term, but only one-third of voters hold Murphy's Wall Street career against him. Guadagno's experience as lieutenant governor seems to be hurting her more."

Murphy gets a 33 - 18 percent favorability rating from New Jersey voters, while 47 percent haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion of him. Guadagno gets a negative 20 - 28 percent favorability, with 50 percent who haven't heard enough to form an opinion.

Murphy's 23 years at Goldman Sachs leaves 33 percent of voters with a negative impact on their opinion of him, with 7 percent saying it has a positive impact and 56 percent who say it has no impact on their opinion.

Guadagno's service as Gov. Christopher Christie's Lieutenant Governor leaves 54 percent of voters with a negative impact on their opinion of her; 9 percent of voters with a positive impact and 35 percent who say it has no impact on their opinion of her. Gov. Christie, President Trump Approval Ratings.

Christie makes history again as New Jersey voters disapprove 81 - 15 percent of the job he is doing, the worst approval rating for any governor in any state surveyed by Quinnipiac University in more than 20 years. Even Republicans disapprove 58 - 31 percent.

President Donald Trump also is at a historic low, as Garden State voters disapprove 66 - 28 percent of the job he is doing.

No wonder MacArthur insisted that no pictures of himself and Trump or himself and Christie— let alone himself and both of them— be allowed. He was happy to take the $800,000 Trump raised for him from about 100 fat cats, but his upcoming contest with Andy Kim is going to be difficult enough— with Kim tarring him as one of the principal authors of TrumpCare— without connecting him viscerally to the detested Republican president and the even more detested Republican governor. Only 19% Boo New Jersey voters approve of TrumpCare. 69% disapprove— including 67% bow independents. The closer Kim’s campaign can tie MacArthur to TrumpCare, Trump and Christie, the easier it will be for him to win in 2018. Photos from begone days, like the one below, won't help MacArthur.