Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

No Justins, No Peace

Republicans in disarray!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: The RNC Bust-Out

Late Night Open Thread: The RNC Bust-Out

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Late Night Open Thread: The RNC Bust-Out

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

In case anyone’s wondering where TFG picked up his new vocabulary word — Politico, “Bloodbath at RNC: Trump team slashes staff at committee”:

… All told, the expectation is that more than 60 RNC staffers who work across the political, communications and data departments will be let go. Those being asked to resign include five members of the senior staff, though the names were not made public. Additionally, some vendor contracts are expected to be cut.

In a letter to some political and data staff, Sean Cairncross, the RNC’s new chief operating officer, said that the new committee leadership was “in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned” with its vision. “During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team.”…

Trump advisers have described the RNC’s structure as overly bloated and bureaucratic, which they believe has contributed to the party’s cash woes. The RNC had about $8 million at the end of December, only about one-third as much as the Democratic National Committee.

Under the new structure, the Trump campaign is looking to merge its operations with the RNC. Key departments, such as communications, data and fundraising, will effectively be one and the same.

2/ you don’t need to do this stuff to have control. It’s also helpful to have an allied group to handle other responsibilities. Gotv operations, working with allied campaigns and a million other things. The only real point of doing this is that you get the money.

3/ People contribute lots of money to national parties. That money is now under the direct control of Trumps family and campaign which really must mean that it goes directly to Trump fees and judgments or possibly that it goes to running Trumps campaign because they campaign 


4/ money is going there. Who knows the details. But there’s simply no logic to any of it unless it’s to get the money for non-campaign stuff. The other argument is that anyone who isn’t totally loyal to Trump gets cut off by the RNC. But again, nominees/Presidents 


5/ control the party apparatus. He could do all that the old fashioned way. The only logic is personal control and personal use of the money raised by the RNC.

Late Night Open Thread: The RNC Bust-Out 1

(Lalo Alcaraza via GoComics.com)

Late Night Open Thread: The RNC Bust-Out 2

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    Tony Jay

    And yet, “The polling! The polling! Calleth the Raven, and pundits everywhere did stroke their chins and lament age’s bony pull.”

    The first time the Nazis lost, they also wasted a lot of resources on the whims of a petulant dictator. Just saying.

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    sorry, not sorry but fuck these people.  They had the chance to do the “right” thing multiple times.  All it would have taken would have been for them to impeach the sonofabitch either of the times the articles came up.  Instead, they rolled over.  They reaped this harvest, let them find sustenance from it.

  3. 3.

    SpaceUnit

    This would be good news until you consider that Putin now owns one of America’s two political parties, the one with all the big financial and media backing.

  4. 4.

    John Revolta

    When does the media start talking about the collapse of the GOP?

    When does the media start talking about the collapse of the GOP?

    When broken shells make Christmas bells,

    It’s then they might start talking about the collapse of the GOP

    With me too-rye-ah, fol-the-diddle-ah, Dye-re-fol-the-diddle derry-o………

    (compliments of the season to all!)

  5. 5.

    Chris T.

    … if the RNC is being fused with the Trump campaign and a big chunk of the staff is being fired, what’s the point exactly?

    Separation of entities like this prevents peculation. Trump doesn’t want it prevented!

  6. 6.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I think about six years ago I started with my prediction that within twenty years, either the GOP will kill the US, or the GOP will die.

    That’s going about as well as my prediction after the 2004 Democratic convention that in about fifteen or twenty years, that Obama guy who gave the impressive speech would be ready to run for President and win.

  8. 8.

    Balconesfault

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:  we really are at that juncture.

    If Trump loses, he’s killing off the GOP with him.

    If he wins (with an assist to the NYT and other media outlets who want a close race and no coattails for Joe) … Trump will finish off Democracy

  9. 9.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @SpaceUnit: Oh, I don’t doubt that we can defeat the GOP. The problem is, right now, we can’t destroy the GOP on our own without becoming something arguably even worse. The destruction of the 21st-century Republican party either needs to be a truly bipartisan effort, or it needs to be self-inflicted (and it looks like they’re on course for the latter).

  10. 10.

    SpaceUnit

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    I’m optimistic that we can prevail this year.

    But yeah, the bigots and racists and theocrats aren’t just going to magically disappear, even if the GOP implodes as an organization.

  11. 11.

    AlaskaReader

    @SpaceUnit:

    the bigots and racists and theocrats aren’t just going to magically disappear,

    But we should force them all back under the rock they crawled out from.

  12. 12.

    Spider-Dan

    The good news is that if Trump loses, his hold on the RNC will take out many other Republican candidates as collateral damage.  We could be looking at another 2008.

    The bad news is that if Trump wins, he will turn the entire federal government into the RNC.  It’s tough to imagine a version of the Republican Party that is even more spineless and subservient to Trump’s every whim, but that’s exactly what we’ll get with a Trump victory in November.  The meager resistance offered by the old guard Republicans will be briskly swept away, and it’ll be Boeberts and Gaetzes as far as the eye can see.

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    @piratedan:

    sorry, not sorry but fuck these people. They had the chance to do the “right” thing multiple times. All it would have taken would have been for them to impeach the sonofabitch either of the times the articles came up. Instead, they rolled over. They reaped this harvest, let them find sustenance from it. 

    Removed unnecessary words. :)

  16. 16.

    SpaceUnit

    @Spider-Dan:

    I still like our chances.

    I think the media is seriously underestimating trump fatigue and the degree to which many Americans are simply exhausted with this asshole and all his drama.  Also he’s a fucking weirdo.

  17. 17.

    jonas

    As with most stuff about Trump these days, there’s a good word for it in German: “Gleichschaltung”.

  20. 20.

    lowtechcyclist

    Leopards, faces, etc.

    Also, would “GöPterdĂ€mmerung” mean “twilight of the GOP”? ;-)

  22. 22.

    lowtechcyclist

    @NotMax:
    I thought that was the twilight of Johnny Rotten.

    ETA: “The king is gone but he’s not forgotten.” – Neil Young​

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    @SpaceUnit: Trump has been a constant presence for some of us, but he’s been out of many others’ lives for three years. Now he’s  honking away in in their faces again and like you, I think the reaction will be negative.

    Democrats have a few contentious primary fights, mainly because of the Israel- Palestinian conflict, but I think the party-wide fight will be contained. Republican intra-party fights are more general and center on years-old conflicts. They are much less unified than we are and money is the only thing that can keep them in the game.

  24. 24.

    TBone

    Cat vomit on bed at midnight.  Accountant meeting today for tax filing. Orban went to Heritage directly after Mar-A-Lardass meeting to firm up Project 2025 plans (per Heather Cox Richardson today, which turned my stomach even worse than the smell of cat vomit in bed so I couldn’t finish reading it).  All of my recharge from yesterday’s break from news and politics for naught.  Sigh.  Must tackle more Spring cleaning this morning because accountant is allergic to cats. Fresh hell everywhere.  All I want is to go back to a clean bed today.  It will not happen.  I will make the best of it though – I might be down but I’m NOT defeated!  I’m grateful to whoever invented the washing machine and carpet cleaning machine with nifty upholstery attachment for vomit on light colored carpet.

  25. 25.

    sab

    @TBone: I used to work for an accountant who was allergic to cats, and he wasn’t just saying it. One time I wore a jacket to work that a cat had sat on, and my boss was sneezing all day at the other end of the building from my desk.

  27. 27.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    It’s not just the RNC that’s going broke. The Michigan GOP is also broke and riven with infighting and I don’t think they’re the only State like that. In Michigan the Devos family used to keep the party in funds, but even they must have just given up on the party as a lost cause, and if you’ve lost them…

    It’s shit shows all the way down to the local level and even a lot of regular Republican voters aren’t completely insane and have be able to see it and have to realize voting for functional is better than voting for dysfunctional even the functional person has a D next to their name.

  28. 28.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone:

    And there’s Spot Shot, for when it isn’t worth the effort to haul out the carpet cleaning machine.

  29. 29.

    TBone

    @sab: it’s one affliction I don’t have, praise be!  That poor guy should have gone home for a shower😂

  30. 30.

    TBone

    @lowtechcyclist: 😊  because all my area rugs are light colored, I almost always use my carpet cleaner with Oxy shampoo.  But quick, manual spot cleaning might be the way to go today!

  31. 31.

    sab

    @Geminid: It seems like every Republican candidate at every level is the personal property of a different billionaire. (Koch, Crowe, Thielman, etc.)

  33. 33.

    sab

    @TBone: He was at home. His office was in his really nice basement. We even had a fireplace down there. I was much more careful about what I wore after that.

  34. 34.

    TBone

    Adam’s war post last night pissed me off so much!  fElon Skum ROT IN HELL YOU NAZI BASTARD.

    It is now snowing here in the hinterlands.

  35. 35.

    TBone

    @sab: that’s a nice place to work, and you are a good person.  I’ve had jobs where I would’ve let my cats roll all over my pantyhose before wearing them to work 😆 just to stick it to The Man!

  36. 36.

    gene108

    Key departments, such as communications, data and fundraising

    With the help of Peter Thiel and Facebook’s business model of selling user data to anyone with a good enough bank account, the 2016 Trump campaign had an effective digital advertising campaign. They had the ability to sift through a bunch of user data to create microtargeted ads at potential voters.

  38. 38.

    gene108

    @Balconesfault:

    If Trump loses, he’s killing off the GOP with him

    The modern Republican Party will never go away. They have a strong base of support in places like WV, AL, MS, UT, SD, etc. The power right-wing media has to define what’s acceptable for GOP politicians limits any chance for real change. Right-wing media is hemmed in by viewers who need more reasons to become angrier, so they give the viewers what they want.

    Since the 2006 and 2008 elections made Republicans even more reactionary and radical, I doubt they’ll change even after major election defeats.

  39. 39.

    Princess

    I’m not defending Trump, nor am I denying he’s using this as a grift, but it’s normal for both parties to merge D/RNC and presidential campaign in an election year. Usually this all happens around the time of the convention but you could make a case it’s better to do it as early as possible.

    ETA this is certainly true though. “It means that if/when he loses in November, he and his campaign still runs the party. Even if the rest of the party wanted to move on from him, they can’t. He’d still be the party leader.” They won’t be able to move on.

  40. 40.

    AM in NC

    I’m just impressed with how Lukovich managed to capture all of Lara Trump’s plastic surgery in comic form.

    And that Jon Cryer tweet is on point.

    And good for Ken Buck to rip the blinders off, RE: bogus impeachments by a corrupt GOP.

    The Democrats’ ads should ALL just be Republicans telling us how completely awful and unfit Republicans are.

  41. 41.

    Eolirin

    @gene108: Breaking the GOP hold on Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin and shoring up Democratic strength in all the states we currently win is sufficient to give us permanent control over the Senate the House and the White House. Flipping Texas and maybe even Florida would be good too and that’ll be possible.

    Reducing the Republicans down to just the states like those would effectively turn the national GOP into a mirror of the Californian GOP and while it’ll suck for the citizens of those states to live there, it’s an acceptable outcome. We’d be able to limit a lot of the damage inside those states and they wouldn’t be able to get in the way. As long as our Senators were willing to make the necessary rules changes to prevent minority obstruction anyway.

  42. 42.

    evodevo

    @SpaceUnit: Yep…my sister and BIL (retired military and Repub to the core) are now going nuts over TX’s MAGAt administration and all the winger stuff they do…(I kept my shadenfreude to myself, just barely).  I told her they were going to have to get involved in local politics and rebuild their favorite party back up from the ground, that no one at the top was going to dump Abbottoir or Packston out just because she didn’t like them.  If she is any example, “moderate” Repubs are just whining a lot, and not going to take back the party anytime soon…

  43. 43.

    S Cerevisiae

    That cartoon at the top is great, I would contribute 10 pounds of week-old fish heads to each bucket.

  45. 45.

    Chris Johnson

    @evodevo: They’re gonna have to split. These ain’t your Daddy’s Republicans. Shouldn’t even count as the same thing. They can have a party again when they’re willing to fight off the full Nazis like they should.

    Needn’t be called Republican. Maybe they’ll be called something else, or they can make the Trump people take a new name and try to rehab the old one.

  46. 46.

    Ruckus

    @piratedan:

    They reaped this harvest, let them find sustenance from it.

    Seems to me that it would likely be difficult to find sustenance from old, dried up, dog poop.

  47. 47.

    StringOnAStick

    Both cartoons are great but Jack Ohman’s pinch faced, scrote neck emerging from a red tie is perfect, and the squinty, vicious slit eyes hits it home.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    They do seem to be trying, at least somewhat willingly, to commit hari-kari.

    I’ve been breathing for some time now and have seen this attempted before, but never at this level. SFB does seem to bring out the …what is worse than the worst?… in people that have no real idea of leadership, reasonable governance, and just want to follow whatever the hell it is, right into the cesspool of stupidity.

  49. 49.

    wjca

    @Chris Johnson: Needn’t be called Republican. Maybe they’ll be called something else, or they can make the Trump people take a new name and try to rehab the old one.

    The only way to take the name back would be to offer Trump, personally, a pile of money for it.  And maybe suggest rebranding with his name on it.  Given how toxic he’s making it, a new name for the sane conservatives is a better way to go.  (I understand Whig is available.)

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    Any large scale project takes time, has setbacks, but can be finished. When the project seems to be self full-filling, as this one does, all one can do is sit and watch it unfold unto it’s demise. Which it seems to be, on a direct path and approaching at the speed of ignorance.

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    You are thinking less than full effectiveness. You don’t bury crap like this under boulders, it takes several million cubic yards of concrete for a project this size. Boulders can be moved. Of course if enough large boulders are dropped from the edge of the atmosphere so that they land at a relatively high velocity they can be effective.

  52. 52.

    RaflW

    @TBone: Heather is great, but I too had to stop reading today’s (last night’s) installment. I have to meter the dosage of bad news.

    I went to Budapest in 2018 on a human rights/ngo tour. It was already obvious then what sh*t Orban was up to. The city seemed nice, for us white people with (semi-) Christian backgrounds. But hearing the stories of repression and anti-democratic maneuvering as prelude to the American right’s playbook. Ugh.

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