A key dynamic over the next few weeks is the absence of any meaningful leadership or strategic direction within the Republican Party.
You have Trump - a tinfoil-hat autocrat at the top.
You have lickspittle cronies currying favor by promoting the latest harebrained scheme. (1)
You have Trump - a tinfoil-hat autocrat at the top.
You have lickspittle cronies currying favor by promoting the latest harebrained scheme. (1)
And then you have a sea of elected officials, each deciding on their own what statement or action is most likely to improve their standing.
(In other words, what will get them on Hannity and juice their fundraising numbers?)
(2/x)
(In other words, what will get them on Hannity and juice their fundraising numbers?)
(2/x)
There’s no one positioned to say “here’s what’s best for the country,” or even “here’s what’s best for the party.”
The result is the race-to-the-bottom we’re currently watching.
(3/x)
The result is the race-to-the-bottom we’re currently watching.
(3/x)
OF COURSE Cruz and Harley and Graham are giving oxygen to the dumbest conspiracy theories!
That gets them on the teevee.
Standing up for American institutions doesn’t pay. In the modern Republican Party, it gets you primaried.
(4/x)
That gets them on the teevee.
Standing up for American institutions doesn’t pay. In the modern Republican Party, it gets you primaried.
(4/x)
This phenomenon predates Trump.
This phenomenon is why the Republican Party leadership was unable to prevent trump from winning their primary.
It’s why they were unable to check his abuses of power while in office.
(5/x)
This phenomenon is why the Republican Party leadership was unable to prevent trump from winning their primary.
It’s why they were unable to check his abuses of power while in office.
(5/x)
If you’re looking to understand what “the party” gains from refusing to accept the election result, you’re starting from a mistaken premise.
The Party doesn’t have the strategic capacity to think things through.
Instead, we have each individual official out for himself.
(6/x)
The Party doesn’t have the strategic capacity to think things through.
Instead, we have each individual official out for himself.
(6/x)
Hawley and Cotton and Cruz and the rest of them think they can gain adoring extremist fans by undermining electoral democracy.
They don’t think beyond that. They don’t think they need to.
This is the driving force that has made America ungovernable.
(7/x)
They don’t think beyond that. They don’t think they need to.
This is the driving force that has made America ungovernable.
(7/x)
The Republican Party is unable to make hard decisions. It’s unable to put country over Party, or even to put party over personal gain.
Our system of government assumes better leaders than this. It breaks down when one party is filled with fame-hungry egomaniacs.
(8/x)
Our system of government assumes better leaders than this. It breaks down when one party is filled with fame-hungry egomaniacs.
(8/x)
I don’t know how to fix the Republican Party.
I don’t know how they come back from the hole they’ve dug.
But American institutions will keep falling apart until we have two parties that treat the work of governance seriously.
(9/x)
I don’t know how they come back from the hole they’ve dug.
But American institutions will keep falling apart until we have two parties that treat the work of governance seriously.
(9/x)
That’s not hawley or Cruz or Graham.
They’re in it for themselves. And no one can convince them to behave like adults.
It’s a travesty, but an utterly predictable travesty.
(Fin)
They’re in it for themselves. And no one can convince them to behave like adults.
It’s a travesty, but an utterly predictable travesty.
(Fin)
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