1/ Deep thought. Elected Republicans, now strikingly united and all-in on Trump are, empirically, on the wrong side of history. Civil rights matter, are being extended; gender equity is hardly a losing prop. Explicit bigotry remains shameful....
2/...on econ policy: mixed economies perform better than klepto/Randian capitalism. Social welfare states are happier than red-in-tooth-and-claw ones. Inclusive health care systems correlate w. healthier pops...
3/ Internationally: nations savvy at building cross nation coalitions and alliances grow in influence (see, e.g., China. Contrast it w. say Russia if you don't want an invidiously direct comparison). Most or all of these are popular...
4/ See views on gay marriage, for example. Impossible 20 yrs ago; an uphill battle a decade past; now, mostly uncontroversially the law of the land. Republicans know very well how to get power, and, in a short term kind of way, what to do with it...
5/...and that's where the party-of-Trump has had its greatest triumphs. The GOP has managed to transfer a fair amount of wealth upwards to their most important supporters. (Not just in the tax bill. See also the public-lands-grab, etc...
6/ More sinisterly, as the GOP sees it, a major purpose in gaining power is to ensure they retain it, and when they pack the judiciary, a major job for all those "unqualified" judges is to ensure that, e.g. voter suppression remains legal...
7/ Same w. the protections for big, anonymous money in politics. Such tactics/strategy means that, yes, the GOP may maintain its hold on power for a while, too long. But it doesn't alter the underlying reality...
8/ Which is that what they want doesn't work, is unpopular, does harm more and more people recognize over time. Given that combo: illegitimate letter-of-law tactics securing minority power and a growing gap between GOP ends and the majority's beliefs and desires....
9/ We face a future where governance, and the kind of country we are will shift, in one of two directions: a minority rule w. growing authoritarian tendencies and an ultimate, possibly destructive failure mode; or a peaceful transfer of power over the next 2 or 3 elections.
10/ I know which I hope for. I know which will come if there is even a substantial minority of GOP leaders still committed to the forms and procedures of small "d" democratic governance. And I know what's likely to come if there isn't. /fin
