I’m calling it now: Hogan is the new Kasich. From an AP article entitled “Anti-Trump Republicans lining up for 2024 shadow primary,” some speculation:
NEW YORK (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.
More than two years before the next presidential election, a shadow primary is already beginning to take shape among at least three fierce Republican critics of former President Donald Trump to determine who is best positioned to occupy the anti-Trump lane in 2024.
Their apparent willingness to run — even if Trump does, as is widely expected — represents a shift from previous years when “Never Trump” operatives failed to recruit any GOP officeholders to challenge the incumbent president. But with the 2024 contest almost in view, the question is no longer whether one of Trump’s prominent Republican critics will run, but how many will mount a campaign and how soon they will announce.
Good gourd. There will be plenty of not-Trumps who want to return to the party of yore, where racism, sexism and homophobia were politely understated cover for the real work of eliminating taxes for the wealthy and deregulation. But the Republican base will be no more in favor of that than a toddler hopped up on espresso and cocaine lollypops would be agreeable to naptime.
Oh well. It will be grist for the “not all Republicans” mill, and Hogan might get lots of network facetime out of the deal, so win-win as far as the Beltway press is concerned.
Open thread!
Baud
Two things.
1. While I’d support Dems for policy reasons even if the GOP weren’t fascist, it is good for sane Republicans to try to take back their party, even if they are doomed to fail.
2. If by chance Hogan or someone like him were to win the nomination, the media will tell us it’s our obligation to support him to encourage the GOP to not be fascist. That is bullshit.
mrmoshpotato
If he does, I wonder about the over/under on crashing and burning.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Dear Media,
Hi fucknuts! We are Democrats. We have our own party. It’s called the Democratic party. We’ll support our party’s nominee.
Sincerely yours in telling you to go fuck yourselves,
Actual Democrats
Spanky
Oh great! If Hogan (always in Colonel Klink’s voice in my head) gets any traction, I’ll have my work cut out for me to remind everyone how fettered he’s been in MD with a totally DEM legislature, and all bets are off if the GOP gets even one side of Congress.
OTOH, all comers will (probably) have to deal with Trump in their jungle debates. At least they’ve had 8 years to figure out how to counter his divide and conquer tactic from 2016.
Danielx
@mrmoshpotato:
Seconded.
BR
I said this last night on Adam’s Ukraine thread in the first comment, but I think it’s important for the sane middle (which I think is like 80% of the country, if not 80% of the voting population) to reclaim the list of values Ukraine lists in this tweet:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1500603169868595202
There’s common ground to be had with Romney, Hogan, and who knows who else in the GOP, along with almost all Dems. Citing Ukraine is key because it’s a reminder of what democracies once stood for.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I agree with both points. Someone on here — maybe you? — said the GOP would have to lose in three cycles before they moderate their approach. I think that’s probably true, so I don’t see a path for someone not-Trumpy until Trump himself and/or a knock-off like DeSantis get whupped again.
CaseyL
The reason they wound up with Trump as the nominee in 2016 is that none of the other candidates (other than Scott Walker, who had no following to speak of anyway) were willing to drop out so Not-Trump supporters could coalesce behind one candidate.
I don’t see the prospective 2024 lot being any more unselfish than the 2016. Each of them will want to be The Star (and keep raking in campaign contributions), thus again splintering the field.
Gin & Tonic
Not to fat-shame, but isn’t Hogan too round to be elected?
Geminid
I think Chris Christie will trample Hogan in the race for the Republican “moderate conservative” lane
hueyplong
@Gin & Tonic: All he has to do is wear an extra long tie and ill-fitting suits.
Ohio Mom
If Cheney had any patriotism, she’d stay in the Senate where she has proven she is needed. Wyoming is too Red not to send a Republican to DC, and it seems to me chances are whoever takes her place will be worse than she is.
But that’s a silly thought, she is all ambition, nothing else in her soul.
sdhays
Paradoxically, what Republicans like Hogan or Cheney need in order to have a chance of winning the nomination is for Republicans to have an utterly disastrous cycle in November – failing to take the House and shrinking their minority in the Senate and losing governorships. That might get a few MAGATs’ attention – at least an important one (I suspect that if Republicans do poorly this year, Tramp will decline to run again).
MisterDancer
I’m reminded of Pat McCrory, who was (as I recall) a pretty mild/moderate Mayor in Charlotte, NC. Put him in the Governor’s office in the wake of the Tea Party, that massive lurch in that state’s legislature to the Right, and all-out war with the Obama Admin across “Conservatism”, and you got one of the early indicators of the kind of Ultra right Wing rollicks we’re dealing with, today. Indeed, he signed one of the first “scapegoat the Trans folx” state-level bills, and damn near tanked a ton of business along the way.
And yeah, MD and NC are really similar in a lot of ways from what I’ve gathered. I would not trust hogan to do right, no moreso than Mittens really did right coming from MA Governor to running for President in a lot of ways.
Gin & Tonic
@BR: I crashed early yesterday and only ran across your comment this morning, and wanted to say how much I appreciate it. Those values once mattered in the US too. It would be nice to bring that back.
As I said during the 2014 Maidan revolution, people were laying down their lives to join the EU, while the morons in Britain were voting to leave. Quite the contrast.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: I’ve said that, even before Trump, I think. It’s a ballpark estimate, obviously, but I don’t believe one-and-done for Dems will do it. When Trump lost, I estimated that it would take a decade of dedication to really move past fascism. Given where we are after just over year, I’m not wholly confident people will be able to maintain that level of attention.
Brachiator
Cool. Actual signs that some in the GOP are trying to get beyond Trump.
There will be blood.
sdhays
@Ohio Mom: Wyoming declined to send her to the Senate, and she’s going to have a tough time holding on to her MAGAT at-large House district.
Baud
@Ohio Mom: She’s in the House, although it’s a state-wide election because WY only has one house seat.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud:
Ah yes, the symptoms of tertiary MA Route 128 Totebaggerism!
jonas
Poor Larry Hogan. About to join Bill Weld and Evan McMullin in the small but very charred heap of candidates who were deluded enough to think that there was something salvageable in the new, thoroughly Trumpified GQP.
Also, if Trump wants to run again, he’ll just order the party to cancel the primary.
NotMax
As they’re ostensibly holed up in Hagerstown, could we begin calling the convoy Hogan’s Zeroes?
//
BR
@Gin & Tonic:
Thanks. TBH, it almost feels naive to believe in those values in the current political environment, in a nihilistic era like today — like they are quaint relics that don’t matter anymore. I’m reminded of that list every time Kay writes about the happenings in Ohio — her comments make the case for this list every time, from rule of law to equality to transparency to etc.
I want to see someone like Bernie team up with Romney (to highlight the political divide) and say “look at this list — this is what Ukraine is fighting for and what we as Americans believe in, and what we’re going to fight for”.
MikefromArlington
Dems in disarray!
lowtechcyclist
I don’t think I’m being particularly cynical to imagine that the real goal of these Never Trumpers’ still-hypothetical Presidential runs is an elevated media presence, hopefully leading to a cushy job as a network’s official Bothsidesing commentator.
Mart
@Baud: I don’t know about the other two, but aside from hating Trump Cheney is all in on voter suppression and a permanent R majority. A nicer authoritarian?
Style tip, espresso and cocaine lollypops is not just for breakfast anymore.
jonas
The only way these moderate candidates gain any traction whatsoever is if a couple of huge PACS or billionaire donors who now support Trump break off and throw their support behind them. If there are enough big-donor defections, the Trumpist GOP can be starved to death, if not defeated at the ballot box. Mike Lindell can’t fund the whole thing on his own.
Now, I said “gain traction”. I didn’t say they could still win. That will take a major meteor hitting a golf course where Trump, Pence, DeSantis, Tom Cotton, and Kirsti Noem are all playing together.
Geminid
@sdhays: I think that Republicans will have to be thrashed in two or three election cycles before the radicals yield the steering wheel back to the Chamber of Commerce types.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lowtechcyclist: Even if it’s just “I want make presidential run to get a job as a talking head on Fox++ Streaming” it is still telling they feel safe do do it against Trump.
jonas
@lowtechcyclist: I don’t know if they’re actually imagining it that way, but that’s basically how it will end: with a permanent sinecure as the moderate Republican booked every Sunday on MTP to explain how the Democratic president/candidate whatever could be doing more to reach across the aisle.
Baud
While I don’t like doing predictions, if I had to guess, I think the leading “moderate” for the GOP nomination right now is probably Mitt Romney.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
speaking of “good” Republicans
Wait till Our Willard finds out about Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo
Brit in Chicago
Wait! There are cocaine lollipops now? Where can I get them?
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: After Trump, I had to reset all the things I used to believe would make a person unelectable in the 21st century, including obesity, combovers, poor tailoring, multiple divorces, multiple bankruptcies, compulsive lying, credible allegations of sexual assault, bragging about sexual assault on an open mic, disrespecting distinguished members of the military and their families, zero interest in policy, etc.
...now I try to be amused
@sdhays:
I don’t know about that. The presidency has been Trump’s get-out-of-jail-free card, and running for president is almost as good at protecting him from prosecution.
(BTW, I like your spelling Trump “Tramp” as the Russians do.)
Brit in Chicago
@Baud: ” She’s in the House, although it’s a state-wide election because WY only has one house seat.” —Which does rather emphasize how ridiculous it is that the state has two senators…. (That’s democratic, I guess.)
Brachiator
@jonas:
Very good point.
Watch the base and follow the money.
ETA: Right now, the Fox News devotion to Trump is steadfast.
I recently saw Hannity moon cow that he had known Trump for over 25 years, and could certify that he was the best president ever.
Another Scott
There’s been a quiet campaign by the powers-that-be to try to keep Hogan in the public eye as some sort of GOP savior ever since he was elected in 2014. That talk got quiet in 2015 when his cancer diagnosis was announced. He’s apparently beat that in 2016 and has had a couple of skin cancer episodes since.
I don’t expect him to get much traction in the primaries if he does run; maybe he wants to be an ambassador or cabinet secretary or something.
Being a Republican, he’s thrown several monkey wrenches into transit projects in MD. As others have said, he’s not a democrat-lite, he’s restrained by the legislature. If it ever turned out that he wasn’t, it would be a disaster.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Sure Lurkalot
@Mart: The nicer authoritarian Liz voted for Trump in 2020. She looked at his 4 year disaster of an administration and signed up for more. The insurrection pushed her over the edge such that she now regrets her vote? That’s what she says. We don’t have to believe her.
Geminid
@Baud: Even if he wanted to run I think Romney knows he couldn’t win the nomination. He’ll leave that lane open for the Christies and Hogans.
I could see Christie being one of the two last men standing for the 2024 nomination, but I think a DeSantis or a Pompeo would edge him out and win it.
As for Kinzinger, he could not win, but the primaries would be a good showcase for him that could set up a run later down the road..
mrmoshpotato
I see the Republican Stupidity Tag is up.
Get a load of this!
Via Green_Footballs
Did the dumbass have a death wish?
Betty Cracker
@Baud: But he lost an election — and conceded!
ian
Quit telling parents how to raise their children!! //
Anyway
I am severely disappointed by corporate America’s reticence in calling out any of the GOP’s excesses – they completely roll over for tax cuts and deregulation.
Huge props to the Disney employees who made the CEO and other execs grow a pair.
I also laud HRC for turning down the million-dollar buyoff from Disney.
J R in WV
@Ohio Mom:
Ms Cheney is in the House, not the Senate… this is why she is on the Select House Committee on the Jan 6th insurrection.
Calouste
There is no way a “moderate” Republican can beat the shitgibbon. The only way for a Republican to beat the shitgibbon is a full frontal attack to counter his childish insults, and that won’t look moderate.
Also, by the way things are going, GOP debates will ask the candidates if they think whether pregnant women can be just kept under house arrest or whether they should be kept in prison until delivery.
Geminid
@Brit in Chicago: Not that many states have just one delegate. In the east, just Vermont and Delaware have one. Out west, besides Wyoming, Idaho and one or both of the Dakotas have just one seat.
Montana had one, but recent reapportionment gave it a second one. Before the census Rhode Island was thought to be “on the bubble” but it retained it’s second House seat after all.
Another Scott
ICYMI, a short video.
That’s what VVP’s world looks like.
Grr…,
Scott.
jonas
@Betty Cracker: In related news, however, it looks like E. Jean Carrol’s defamation suit against Trump is one step closer to actually going to trial after the judge dismissed Trump’s countersuit and told his lawyers to stop trying to delay things further.
jonas
@Calouste: If Trump decides to run, there won’t be any debates because there won’t be any primaries. The party will just cancel state primaries and replace them with a gaudy coronation rally for Trump.
Geminid
@Geminid: Gaah! That’s Representative, not “delegate.”
geg6
@Anyway:
When did that happen? Last I heard he issued some mealy mouthed private email to employees about how he’s really bummed about the Don’t Say Gay bill, but doesn’t see anything productive in making a big deal out of it. Has he threatened to take Disney out of the state yet? If not, nothing has changed and the employees got, at best, a pat on the head and told not to worry their little gay heads about it.
Ohio Mom
Mea culpa
Geminid
@Calouste: The companies that rent and monitor ankle monitors have a good lobby, so you can’t rule out that possiblity.
Kelly
@Another Scott: Also arrests of people holding up blank signs
https://twitter.com/search?q=blank%20sign%20russia&src=typeahead_click
I can’t find it but I also saw an arrest of a woman holding up a sign supporting the invasion. Too busy to check.
trollhattan
Somebody, Klink probably, will send Hogan to the cooler.
NotMax
@geg6
Declare Disney World an independent protectorate of Massachusetts!
//
trollhattan
@Another Scott:
Holy shit. A camera is basically fly paper, gathering folks to be arrested. Why they’re talking to the camera person–irrelevant.
“Two words” indeed.
ETA wonder that will ultimately have more effect on the Russian people, knowing a soldier killed in battle or knowing somebody in prison for being suspected of not supporting Putin’s not-a-war?
Calouste
@jonas: He better, because I don’t think he’s going to win Florida against DeSantis. Not because DeSantis is more popular than the shitgibbon, but because DeSantis controls the electoral machinery.
Geminid
@Geminid: And West Virginia is down to only two Congressional seats. They had six as recently as 1960.
NotMax
@Calouste
“Hands, please. How many favor putting the uppity recalcitrant women into medically induced comas until they go into labor?”
//
Calouste
@Geminid: Correct answer! Ankle monitoring is a free market solution!
StringOnAStick
I just read an article about the KKK in Oregon in the early 1900’s; even then it was all about the grift, just like we are seeing now. A KKK recruiter got to keep a portion of the sign up fees, and it could easily add up to more than the median income at the time. It’s all about the grift now, but in these modern times they do a better job hiding the sources of the funds and not devolving into the greedy infighting that helped collapse the klan back then. Here’s the article: Oregon’s KKK history.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: The CEO paused Disney’s political donations while the policy for buying off pols is “reviewed,” which caused DeSantis and his unhinged, taxpayer-supported hagiographer Christina Pushaw to break a world record for the number of times two human beings can utter the word “woke” in 24 hours. ETA: This is not to imply in any way that the Disney CEO is a profile in courage. I agree with your assessment of him. He’s trying to forestall a boycott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
So…. the Chinese stock markets are tanking, Covid is spiraling out of control in Hong Kong, and will probably do the same in mainland China (according to this actual expert, Sinovac is much less effective than the mRna vaccines), the city of Shenzen (manufacturing hub, including iPhones) is in lockdown, Shanghai has closed its schools and is probably headed for lockdown. This is bad for the supply chain, probably for inflation, I have no idea how it will make Xi look at the situation in Ukraine.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wowee. Interesting times, friends.
Citizen Alan
@Betty Cracker:
To be fair, any one of those things would be career ending for Democrat.
HumboldtBlue
Julian Assange denied permission to appeal against extradition
NotMax
@StringOnAStick
Even universally beloved Will Rogers walked on eggshells when it came to the KKK during the 1920s.
Brachiator
@Calouste:
I expect to hear a lot from the GOP about protecting babies, and very little concern about women.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Fair Economist
@mrmoshpotato:
Does it count as a crash if it never gets off the ground?
Betty Cracker
Man, that “[email protected] lollypops” line brought out the pharma-spammers (who went straight to mod)! Should have seen that coming I guess.
Calouste
@NotMax: None. Remember, it’s “pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen”.
Kelly
@StringOnAStick: Willamette University history professor Seth Cotlar is a good follow on Oregon’s racist, rightwing past in particular and racist, right wing US history in general
https://twitter.com/SethCotlar
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Honestly don’t think he harbors any illusions of winning so much as claiming a platform on stage to push back against the rampant madness infecting the GOP.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
@Betty Cracker:
They mistook instant-citywide lockdown for a single detection as a long term covid strategy in lieu of, say, full vaccinations (NB using a vaccine that’s actually effective). Hubris vs. PRC.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
But the gourmet coffee spammers ignored espresso? Interesting.
Anyway
@Betty Cracker:
Exactly. Disney CEO was content to sweep the political bribes under the rug and express “concerns” about the awful state bill. The employees didn’t let him get away with it.
A boycott would be a hard lift, imo. Corporations have to be shamed for supporting (or keeping quiet in face of) awful GOP legislation.
HumboldtBlue
evodevo
@Geminid: Oh, SNAP!!
OGLiberal
“a toddler hopped up on espresso and cocaine lollypops”. I agree – Trump will not be enthused.
Kent
@StringOnAStick: It wasn’t just grift. The KKK was big in Oregon around the turn of the century. Oregon was the only country in the nation to actually prohibit black settlement in the state constitution. It was founded by law as a white’s only state.
Back around 1900 Skinner’s Butte which overlooks downtown “liberal” Eugene had a big KKK sign overlooking the town sort of like the Hollywood sign in LA. For real.
https://www.dailyemerald.com/archives/minorities-still-feel-eugene-s-historical-link-to-the-ku-klux-klan/article_8c44bc8c-17f1-5ad3-a2b8-1d017eeb4af3.html
sixthdoctor
@Another Scott: Thanks for pointing out that Hogan is only moderate compared to Trump, and only in terms of what he says in public. He might be just as corrupt as him.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
Dyin’, I am
It’s sooooo true!
Wokety-woke-woke Disney! Like Americans are going to stop throwing silly amounts of money at Disney (including Disney+, and Marvel, and Star Wars, etc etc) anytime soon.
Geminid
@NotMax: It would also be good exposure and brand building for Kinzinger. He’s a relatively young, bright and articulate Air Force veteran. Illinois is probably too blue for him to win higher office, but in the course of a presidential campaign Kinzinger might “discover” a greener pasture to settle.
Kinzinger is one of two January 6 Commitee members who will retire. The other is Democrat Stephanie Murphy of Florida. She also may not be through with politics.
Two January 6 Committee members- Liz Cheney and Elaine Luria- face tough reelections. Cheney has to win a difficult August primary, while Luria’s coastal Viginia 2nd District is considered a tossup for the general election.
jonas
@Calouste: Good point. That would be an interesting showdown. Yeah, if Trump runs, that will be it. He would never tolerate the idea of having to face competitors in primaries or debates. If he’s the candidate, there’s almost no chance he’ll bother to show up to debate the Democratic candidate either.
catclub
@MisterDancer:
 
Is is a sign of the shifted overton window that passing laws that are far worse than NC’s bathroom bill do NOT generate boycott style backlash.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
@Citizen Alan:
don’t forget: wearing a helmet while riding in a tank, alerting the public to the dangers of global warming decades ago, or *actually * earning a Purple Heart. All Democrat-killers, apparently.
Come to think of it, between his name, being Black, and his attendance at Jeremiah Wright’s church, it really is kind of amazing that Barack Obama was able to get elected president in this country. THAT’s how soured the public was on the GOP after Iraq and the financial crisis.
Kent
This “great white moderate hope” stuff happens in both parties in every election. The only point of these candidates is to scratch the crotch of the Frank Lutz types and make their legs shake.
In 2016 it was Jeb Bush, John Kasich, George Pataki and Carly Fiorina on the GOP side.
On the Dem site it was Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.
Anyone remember any of them?
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: how many dystopian movies have we seen this type of thing happen in? 7? 10? all of them?
Geminid
@jonas: Were you in the NY 22nd Congressional District? How will you fare under redistricting? Is “Landslide Claudia” Tennant a goner?
NotMax
@Gemind
Continues to escape me how that is irelevant to serving in a political office. Are non-veterans somehow automatically less qualified?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro:
Yup, and curse the public’s collective goldfish memory
@Kent: don’t forget Brian Schweitzer before you forget the forgettable
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
,
I think Xi will approach Ukraine in a ‘How does this affect our odds for taking back Taiwan by force?’ viewpoint. Saying Russia CAN take back wayward provinces is right up their alley.
Dangerman
I’m smelling Turd, I mean, Third Party here; a Trump will surely be on the ballot, I’m just not sure it will be the Republican Party. 2016 was an aberration; a whole shitload of Republicans held their nose, asked themselves “how bad can he be”, and voted for him. FAFO.
Russia and Ukraine is the biggest story since I don’t know when and Trump is busy knob polishing the next Hitler. That can’t play. Can it?
NotMax
@NotMax
Typo.
irelevant (misspelling and all) should read relevant.
Baud
@Kent:
IIRC, O’Malley didn’t run as a “moderate.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HumboldtBlue:
...now I try to be amused
@Jeffro:
I wonder how many of the racists who idolized W (before he was unpersoned) appreciate that he made Obama’s election possible.
Geminid
@NotMax: Veterans may not be more qualified in many people’s eyes. Military service still seems to be an asset in many districts though. I don’t think Elaine Luria would have won the Virginia 2nd had she not been a Naval officer. The 2nd is an atypical district heavily weighted with active and retired military, but in more normal districts other veterans like Mikey Sherrill (NJ), Jason Crow (CO), Chrissy Houlihan (PA), and Jared Golden (ME) seemed to find their military background an asset in flipping red seats in 2018. Elissa Slotkin (MI) and Abigail Spanberger were retired CIA when they also flipped red seats in 2018. So military or similar service may be a strength electorally, especially in purple districts.
catclub
@…now I try to be amused: yes. also John McCain’s deer in the headlight look at that ‘economic summit’. Obama was the expert at staying calm.
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: As several others have noted, Gabbard is a safe target because she’s (1) female and (2) allegedly a Democrat. Mittens still clings to St. Ronnie’s 11th Commandment in most other situations.
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: America is a nation of born and bred bootlickers, generations of them, who can think of nobody they’d rather bow down to than a cop or a soldier, so long as said cop or soldier is white.
Taken4Granite
@Geminid: Unless they lost one in the reapportionment, Idaho has two representatives. Both Dakotas and Alaska have one each.
Gravenstone
My eyes originally read that as protecting him from prostitution. And I was going to demand you show your work.
dww44
@Betty Cracker: Yes we must upend the expectation, maybe based in reality, that we are doomed to lose in November. Not least because our little “d” democracy demands it. We can do that, partly with strong messaging. Certainly not the messaging that seems to have been put out by Sean Patrick Maloney, ( he who is chair of the entity whose job is to get Dems re-elected) and gets a frontpage space on Breitbart with his messaging….”Democrats have a hard time relating to voters”.
I often think that politicians in North Eastern Blue states have gotten too comfortable in their sinecures. Just maybe we needs the likes of a Howard Dean to get on the road and fight for the party and the country. He was a North Easterner but he was a fighter and the first and only DNC person who showed up in my red southern state to actually work to get Dems into office.
Seriously we need to find an effective and powerful voice for us that is truly committed to doing just that.
Gravenstone
@Baud: Pharma likely has a much bigger budget to abuse almost top 10000 websites with.
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Nice update.
Geminid
@Taken4Granite: No, Idaho did not lose a seat, I was incorrect. I think four states lost a single seat this time around: California, Illinois, New York and West Virginia.
janesays
Previous years?
The phrasing makes it sound like there have been numerous elections in which Trump ran and never-Trumpers couldn’t find anyone to waste their time running futile doomed campaigns against him.
Geminid
@Geminid: But that can’t be right. Either I’m leaving out a state or states or else some states lost two seats. I think that Colorado, North Carolina and Oregon picked up a seat, and Florida and Texas each gained one or two.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Max Seddon offers a translation of the video made by Marina Ovsyannikova (thread). Amazing courage.
Ruckus
@sdhays:
SFB will do whatever he and vlad want. November results or not.
His 2cent ego (and yes I’m being extremely generous although it’s not the size it’s the quality. His ego is as big as all outdoors. However on a scale of 1 to one million, the quality measures .00002) He will say that the rethuglicans that ran were shit and he is the only person for the job. I suspect that 2024 will be his only chance, I don’t expect him to either be free or alive in 2028. He does after all take exceedingly good care of himself……..
janesays
I agree that in the hypothetical scenario in which Larry Hogan actually became the GOP nominee that the MSM would absolutely fall all over themselves making the case for him being the great savior, but this is a hypothetical scenario that both of us know will never actually come to pass.
Even if Trump does not run (HAHAHA), there is absolutely no chance that he remains completely silent on the sidelines in the 2024 presidential election. The 2024 GOP presidential nominee is either going to be Donald Trump, or the person who gets Donald Trump’s personal seal of approval. Under absolutely no circumstances will that person be Larry Hogan.
NotMax
@Geminid
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wow.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Does anyone believe the future Ukraine deniers aren’t already penning their screeds?
Geminid
@NotMax: Thanks for reminding me about Ohio and Pennsylvania losing seats. And Michigan also.
Betty Cracker
I put up a thread about Marina Ovsyannikova, the editor at Channel One who crashed a live broadcast to protest Putin’s war on Ukraine. There’s some courage.
MattF
It should be noted that Hogan is very constrained by large Dem majorities in the largest MD counties. How he’d behave politically if he had a freer hand, no one knows. IMO, his election was more a sign of D dysfunction than any supposed attraction in MD to R policies.
Hogan certainly gave (and gives) the impression of being a decent person- unlike most R candidates in MD, and his flat opposition to Trump has helped him. The question is how that opposition plays far outside Annapolis. My guess is ‘badly’.
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
It’s interesting to me that Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert had been Members of Congress for exactly three days when the J6 riot/insurrection occurred. And Boebert for sure, Cawthorn probably, and Greene I’m not certain, apparently conducted “tour groups” through the Capitol the previous day — despite the fact that, as freshmen, they wouldn’t have known their way around the building very well, and in any case there weren’t supposed to be any tours of any kind at that time because COVID. Why, it’s almost like they ran for Congress for the sole purpose of disrupting it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
Holy
moleyshitfuck.Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good, good. Brave woman.
A “More Tweets” reply that I’m seeing:
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
cain
@Geminid:
These folks are motivated by religion, there will be no giving up. Plus, all the GOP candidates need the power of the Church to convince these people to give money.
The deal with the devil has been made and the devil is not going to give it up. They will need to be minority party for a full generation.
horatius
@…now I try to be amused: But there was no social media at that time. Facebook and Twitter are geared towards manufacturing Republican Zombies through their epistemic closure algorithms.
cain
@geg6:
The Disney CEO said they were going to do a pause – which means “we’re gonna wait the heat dies down and do whatever the fuck we want”
cain
@Calouste:
It would be delicious to see Trump start the “the electrion is a fraud” – against DeSantis. You can imagine how those two will go head to head. Maybe Preying DeSantis will get a new nickname too!
Geminid
@cain: I think that if the Democrats can win the next two cycles they will be able to make the Republicans a minority party for a generation. The Roosevelt coalition won five Presidential elections in a row and I believe we can too.
I think shrewd Republicans see this. One reason Republicans are leaning so hard into voter suppression and election suppression is that they are afraid we will gain a lasting majority if they can’t steal upcoming elections.
Geminid
@cain: Trump may try to throw a spoke into DeSantis’ wheel this upcoming Governor race. He’s petty and unscrupulous enough.
Trump may not be confident enough to try to scupper his rival’s reelection, though. To scramble a common saying, if the King goes after someone he’d better not miss.
catclub
There was 25% unemployment before that happened. Not seeing that five terms stuff nowadays.
Geminid
@catclub: On the other hand, there could be only 4% unemployment for the rest of this decade, and that may count for something. And the Republicans show signs of an impending civil war that could take into the 30’s to put right. But we’ll know more in 2025.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
For some that makes one more citizeny.
No it really doesn’t add much in the positive direction, except that one might just be a bit more inclined to take directions, which some may think may make them more malleable. But I believe anyone who thinks that never themselves served. Because many I knew actually became more hardened to being told anything. Especially when it came to “Do What I Want!!!! Even if you fucking hate it!”
Ruckus
@cain:
They will need to be minority party for a full generation.
I will accept that offer but I believe the term is way too short. Should be at least 2 generations. At an absolute minimum. Four would be better.