Politics Thread

And the Republican party is pretty well fucked, by the way. They were fucked 4 years ago, but Trump winning the election covered it up for a while. I feel like people taking about Republicans kissing Trump's ass and enabling him and coddling him completely forget what happened four years ago. The Republican party wanted absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. He was an uninvited trespasser in their primary, and wave after wave of awful Republican candidates took him on in the primary. And he kicked all of their asses. Embarrassingly. So they really had no choice. The people (the voters) had spoken. The Republicans either had to stand with Trump or completely lose the support of their voters. A true Sophie's choice, it turns out, but a pretty easy one at the time for people who like power. Trump was their only way to keep power. No Trump, no power.

But Trump isn't about to let the Republicans have his cult follower voters now that he's out. He's burning that shit down and taking it all with him. And without the Trump voters, the Republican party has no chance on a national level. Imagine Bernie Sanders and AOC telling their supporters not to support the Democrats. Well, they're shitty people with terrible ideas, but they're not monsters. Trump kind of is.

Luckily, the Democrats will fuck up like they always do and find a way to give some power back to Republicans. Could be two years, four years or six years, but it will inevitably happen. Then we'll get back to good old divided government where no one can break anything too completely.

That's a really good point about the Republican field in 2016, and not one that I had considered recently. I wonder if Trump will double-fuck them by running as an independent in 2024. That way he could still have his rallies.

Bernie Sanders may become the next Chair of the Budget Committee. Let that sink in for a minute.

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Originally Posted by boozehound

That's a really good point about the Republican field in 2016, and not one that I had considered recently. I wonder if Trump will double-fuck them by running as an independent in 2024. That way he could still have his rallies.

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I think it's much more likely that he fades from the scene, especially given the legal troubles he's likely to face.
More likely is that some Republicans who are more stable will appeal to that base (maybe by saying they supported him during this crazy time) and will rise up to harness that energy...not the least by exhibiting a rational approach to the country's challenges and the necessity of good government.

Hopefully Larry Hogan runs in 24 and actually gets the nomination. That would be way too sensible and centrist though, instead the RNC will probably have people like Pence, Trump and some other nutjobs as candidates.

I think this could bode well for the Republicans in two years. I fully expect the Democrats to raise taxes on businesses. What will they do? Cut costs to keep their bottom line the same. Easiest place to cut costs? Headcount. We’ll see an uptick in unemployment and a slowdown of the economy.

What I’m really anxious to see is if they raise personal income taxes to make the rich pay their still undefined “fair share”. That’s been a claim from the Left for a long time. Here’s your chance. You had a shot during Obama’s first two years and didn’t do it then. Maybe you have the intestinal fortitude this time?

I also won’t be surprised to see them try to get DC and Puerto Rica as states to get 4 more Democratic Senators in place. I don’t think they’ll try to pack the Supreme Court. That’s a rabbit hole no one wants to go down.

As someone else said, I don’t think Biden will try to go too far left and Joe Manchin will also be the voice of reason to keep them from going crazy. We’ll soon find out.


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Originally Posted by bjf123

I think this could bode well for the Republicans in two years. I fully expect the Democrats to raise taxes on businesses. What will they do? Cut costs to keep their bottom line the same. Easiest place to cut costs? Headcount. We’ll see an uptick in unemployment and a slowdown of the economy.

What I’m really anxious to see is if they raise personal income taxes to make the rich pay their still undefined “fair share”. That’s been a claim from the Left for a long time. Here’s your chance. You had a shot during Obama’s first two years and didn’t do it then. Maybe you have the intestinal fortitude this time?

I also won’t be surprised to see them try to get DC and Puerto Rica as states to get 4 more Democratic Senators in place. I don’t think they’ll try to pack the Supreme Court. That’s a rabbit hole no one wants to go down.

As someone else said, I don’t think Biden will try to go too far left and Joe Manchin will also be the voice of reason to keep them from going crazy. We’ll soon find out.


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They are talking about raising taxes on people who make more than $400K per year, I believe everyone under that will see no increase. They may substantially raise taxes on ultra-high earners which I'm frankly OK with and don't think will hurt the economy at all. Jeff Bezos getting taxed an extra 10% won't change shit for him.

I also don't think they will raise corporate taxes, and least not for a while. Businesses are going to be recovering from COVID for at least the next 2 years, I think, which will be their rationale for holding the corporate tax cuts.

They'll just keep the tax cuts and deficit spend on the programs they want to put in place.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Meh, I think they lost mostly because Trump is a complete buffoon who basically spent the last two months actively damaging the two Republican senators' campaigns with his idiocy. Other than President, the November election (which happened after the Supreme Court nomination) was actually a rousing success for Republicans.

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Agree 100%. A Nacissistic A-Hole.
Too bad good policy got lost in the drama.

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Originally Posted by boozehound

Deep breaths.

First of all, nobody is removing the filibuster - Manchin has already said he won't support it, and I don't think he is the only one that wouldn't if it actually came to a vote (which I don't think it will). I haven't seen or heard much from Harris, and most of Biden's cabinet looks like a Biden cabinet, not a Harris cabinet. I see nothing to suggest your 'apocalyptic' scenario in which Biden is just some kind of front for a Harris presidency. It seems much more like Harris was put on the ticket to pander to the left than it does that she is the really mastermind. Unless that's just what they want us to think...

The only things they are likely to do are things that they can accomplish via reconciliation, similar to Trump's first two years.

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Reasonable take. We can only hope you are correct.
If the Left tries to over legislate, the same thing will happen to Dems that happened in 2010. They'll lose the House big time.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

And the Republican party is pretty well fucked, by the way. They were fucked 4 years ago, but Trump winning the election covered it up for a while. I feel like people taking about Republicans kissing Trump's ass and enabling him and coddling him completely forget what happened four years ago. The Republican party wanted absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. He was an uninvited trespasser in their primary, and wave after wave of awful Republican candidates took him on in the primary. And he kicked all of their asses. Embarrassingly. So they really had no choice. The people (the voters) had spoken. The Republicans either had to stand with Trump or completely lose the support of their voters. A true Sophie's choice, it turns out, but a pretty easy one at the time for people who like power. Trump was their only way to keep power. No Trump, no power.

But Trump isn't about to let the Republicans have his cult follower voters now that he's out. He's burning that shit down and taking it all with him. And without the Trump voters, the Republican party has no chance on a national level. Imagine Bernie Sanders and AOC telling their supporters not to support the Democrats. Well, they're shitty people with terrible ideas, but they're not monsters. Trump kind of is.

Luckily, the Democrats will fuck up like they always do and find a way to give some power back to Republicans. Could be two years, four years or six years, but it will inevitably happen. Then we'll get back to good old divided government where no one can break anything too completely.

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Actually, I think that the Repubs have a decent roster of reasonable candidates: Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and the elephant in the room who is doing a great job, by the way, with the pandemic- Ron DeSantis. He's 1000 times handling it better than Cuomo.
And all of those candidates are fresh with little Trump legacy behind them, plus they are diverse- big time. It's a lot better roster than Obama left behind. That cupboard was bare- other than recycled Hillary.