2021: A Fork in the Road for the GOP

[Dandy]

Though it says 2021 in the title, things are happening now. . .this week. The GOP is in chaos because of Biden being announced as President-Elect, and a chance at a split Senate with Dems holding the tiebreaker. This might not get much discussion right now, but this could be a thread to watch between now and midterms.

So here’s the deal; I live in an area where my Facebook feed and the general public I interact with is an absolute slice of the average Trump supporter. Here is what I see going down over the last few days and is moving exponentially: Trump supporters are moving away from the GOP as well as more mainstream sources. Namely, Fox News has been named as “dead to (them)” as they called the election and individual states late in the process for Biden. They are denouncing Fox as not being a reliable news source anymore and are encouraging a switch to other, more conservative(!) sources. A secondary movement has everyone registering for Parler because “there are no Facebook fact checkers or censorship of (their) views.”

So they are in they are communicating into their echo chambers that they all need to move en masse to even more of an echo chamber as conservative and even far-right sources are not as radical as they want. Trump and anyone associated with Trump is their horse to back, and this is setting up something I think will be huge in politics. Mainstream GOP leaders will be moving on from Trump, and his followers are going to turn on them as they are Fox News. Merely agreeing that Trump has lost the election is enough for them to denounce these leaders in the GOP.

We could very well be seeing a fracture that creates two distinct Republican parties, and the possible emergence of a legitimate third party from this break. It is also possible that some centrist conservatives might become disillusioned with the majority of the current GOP that they become independent; Libertarian; or even Democrats. No matter what happens, these next two years running up to midterms will certainly tell the tale.

News and discussion of Republicans denouncing their beloved Fox News or the Republican Party can go here.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I think one of the key points in all this, which you already brought up, are these echochambers. Whether it is social media or the plethora of constant “news sources”, more than ever people are choosing to follow the coverage of what they want to hear.

I see it on both sides. As trash as the Republicans have been, I think one of the strengths Biden will have is working with everyone. And I hear all these liberals talking about freezing out and not working with the Republicans, which is also wrong.

I actually talked to someone recently who is very liberal and was outraged the Washington Post published an opinion piece that was positive toward Trump. Rather than disagreeing with the piece, their takeaway was the Post has no integrity publishing that. Because essentially no one needs to be fair and balanced anymore, you can find an outlet that presents itself as news in the style of your politics and live in those bubbles now, which I find incredibly scary and dangerous in the long run.

 

[snuffbox]

When you come to a fork in the road, take BOTH SIDES.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

We could very well be seeing a fracture that creates two distinct Republican parties, and the possible emergence of a legitimate third party from this break. It is also possible that some centrist conservatives might become disillusioned with the majority of the current GOP that they become independent; Libertarian; or even Democrats...

Nah. People were predicting that the Tea Party would end up splitting the Republican Party into separate factions, and all that happened was that the GOP embraced the whack jobs. It'll happen again.

 

[Dandy]

The shoe is on the other foot this time, in my opinion. I believe the elected leaders will need to move away from Trump but the Trump followers are ready to move. . .wherever Donald Trump goes. And he would move away from the mainstream republicans, Fox News, and anyone he thought had wronged him. Tea Party this is not.

 

[snuffbox]

Their obituary has been written before but the current situation is, as Dandy notes above, different than the previous. The literal worship that Trump receives is what makes the difference. And I think it'd be wonderful if this finally happens. A splintered, broken Republican party would lead to many good things.

 

[Brocklock]

It's crazy that I still see so many posts about a divided Democratic party elsewhere on social media, when the Republicans are far more likely to split off. There will finally be a third party yall and it will be the party of Trumpism.

I definitely think this is more of a threat to divide the party than The Tea Party was. There are more Trumpers than GOP never Trump regulars right now

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

The "leaders" of the GOP don't have enough spine to stop the lunatics from taking over their party. This is the new GOP.

 

[snuffbox]

That's what makes it so potentially good. The Party is all in for Donald Trump. But, now that he's a loser, maybe he'll force the break by running on his own in '24. I think he should do that.

 

[geniusMoment]

I'm wondering if Trump starts his own cable news network now. I know that was a rumor if he lost in 2016. I could see it being a mix of news and entertainment. Like he brings back O'Reilly for the 8pm spot. Megyn Kelly has been sucking Trump dick on twitter the last few days, so I'm thinking she's angling for a spot despite what Trump said about her years ago. All headed up by Trump doing some Apprentice variation. And the network being the new propaganda machine for Trumpism, and this would lead to the formal creation of the new party.

 

[King Kamala]

If it didn't happen in 2010 when the moderate Republicans actually had a modicum of power then I don't see it happening in 2021. If anyone leaves, it'll be the "mainstream" moderates to form a slightly more successful version of the Libertarian Party.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I doubt you'll see another party split off for all the reasons none of the third parties are a real alternative in the US. That said Trump is going to and already is turning on the GOP and his hardcore base is following right along with him and that is going to cause a lot of problems. I don't think he'll start a cable new network but he doesn't need to. OANN is right there and its more likely he'd start an internet channel while touring all over the place directly charging his marks.

The media likes to talk about how divided the democrats are (and I have no doubt they will continue to!) but IMO the GOP will be far more divided for at least the next couple years. There's a difference between healthy debate and batshit crazy.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I doubt you'll see another party split off for all the reasons none of the third parties are a real alternative in the US...

Hell, if we were at a point in this country where a third party could be viable, leftists would have been left the Democratic Party. Y'all don't actually want to be around us, and a lot of us ain't too crazy about y'all.

(I say, "us," like *I'm* a Democrat; I'm technically registered as an independent)

 

[King Kamala]

In a perfect world, we would have a half dozen viable or semi-viable party options like Canada and Europe but it's been hard to develop political nuance when one side is just not trying to get killed by the other.

 

[King Kamala]

Opinions | Barry Goldwater was my grandfather. Today’s GOP would have to censure him, too.

Barry Goldwater's daughter: Arizona GOP, censure my grandfather, you cowards!

I'm not one of those libs who yammers about how McCain was one of the good ones but he defined the party for over 30 years. He wasn't a Jeff Flake, whose career drifted away like a fart in the wind. If McCain's getting censured by his own party. Who's next? Reagan? Abraham Lincoln?

 

[Dandy]

I had forgotten about making this thread. After the events of the last two and a half months—specifically the Dems taking control of the Senate and the events from 1/6 to now—have any of the posters above’s opinions changed about a split off from the Republican Party? To me, it looks more and more likely and it is even has the rumored name of The Patriots Party.

 

[Kageho]

Yeah, sounds like the split might actually happen. I saw this on Twitter, forgot who, but was thinking that perhaps this was more serious than I figure though. Still though, Patriots Party? Like, uh... So everyone who isn't in the party isn't a Patriot? Yeesh.

 

[Dandy]

TheDonald.win changed to Patriots.win and that was because of this talk (as well as the main owner of TheDonald distancing himself due to fear of being investigated by the FBI). If Trump starts his own news network and political party, he will already have a huge backing. I do not see this as far-fetched if he is let off the hook for criminal activity.

 

[King Kamala]

I think it's in both sides ("mainstream" Republicans and MAGA base) mutual interest to try and mend their relationship cause if they split in two, I feel like we'll see a lot of Democrats elected. I actually think in a pissing match between Mainstream Rs and MAGA Chuds, mainstream Republicans might actually win. But I think the mainstream part of the part has to shit or get off the pot. Either make nice with the MAGA Chuds or disavow them and apologize for your complicity in letting them grow so big in numbers for the past 10-12 years.

 

[King Kamala]

Opinions | Barry Goldwater was my grandfather. Today’s GOP would have to censure him, too.

Barry Goldwater's daughter: Arizona GOP, censure my grandfather, you cowards!

I'm not one of those libs who yammers about how McCain was one of the good ones but he defined the party for over 30 years. He wasn't a Jeff Flake, whose career drifted away like a fart in the wind. If McCain's getting censured by his own party. Who's next? Reagan? Abraham Lincoln?

Update so they didn't censure John but they did censure Cindy McCain, Jeff Flake, and the Republican Governor of the State Doug Ducey cause he had the nerve to not overturn the election for Trump.

I don't see how this helps the conservative movement but as a leftist, I'm licking my chops at the idea of full-blown Republican Civil War.

 

[King Kamala]

This could have been anybody.

turns out it was a Black Israelite named Young Pharaoh. Oooooof all around

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1363978334435237888

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/ltvzui

 

[snuffbox]

After getting caught using the Nazi symbol as stage design, a CPAC organizer chose to (instead of apologizing & changing it) feign outrage that it was a conspiracy to cancel him.

 

[AA484]

To be perfectly honest, I have been studying WWII for many years and did not immediately recognize that symbol as an SS one. It even looks photoshopped in the picture Brody linked! Definitely not trying to give these morons the benefit of the doubt but it almost seems more like accidental stupidity than purposeful stupidity.

 

[snuffbox]

I'd give them the benefit of that doubt if the organizer hadn't chosen to get all defensive and lie about it. Mistakes happen. When they do, just apologize and correct it. Getting belligerently defensive and making up wacky conspiracy lies to defend the bad thing makes it awful hard to believe it was a mistake.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

To be perfectly honest, I have been studying WWII for many years and did not immediately recognize that symbol as an SS one. It even looks photoshopped in the picture Brody linked! Definitely not trying to give these morons the benefit of the doubt but it almost seems more like accidental stupidity than purposeful stupidity.

I'd also give them the benefit of the doubt if they weren't so closely linked to white power/Aryan/Nazi tangential groups. I find it hard to believe that kind of design was accidental given its layout and the positioning of the podium as well. If it weren't at the corner but positioned to a side, it'd be a bit more believable that it was a design flaw.

 

[Dandy]

With Trump’s assertion at CPAC that he wants unity and is not creating a third party, he should be creating a third party any week.

 

[King Kamala]

The Republican revolt against democracy, explained in 13 charts

The Trump years revealed a dark truth: The Republican Party is no longer committed to democracy. These charts tell the story.

www.vox.com

Republican Party in 2021 is one of the most anti democracy parties in the world, its closest peers are far right, fascist parties in Poland & Turkey.

(What's New Reacts only)

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367124611561832450

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367477693529395203

Fuck this human piece of garbage!