What happens to the republican party on Nov 9

[marc]

Every time Stephanie Miller, on her radio program, mentions the name "Reince Priebus", she immediately follows it with the sound of growling, snarling, barking dogs.

Or Jim saying the name in an angry german accent

 

[ZiprHead]

"RIENCE! PREIBUS!"

 

[Terrell]

Every four years I read an article about the end of one of the two major parties. It has never come to pass, no matter how much it would benefit the country were the two big parties to fall.

This is more of the same.

Yeah - they're pretty resilient institutions. They never die, they just morph into the next generation of what their "leaders" think the American public will swallow.

I think you're right on this one. The norm will be 2 major political parties in the U.S. as long as we have the current electoral system. I think that the coalitions that make up the 2 parties is subject to change, and a realignment in the near to midterm future wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

It looks like if Hillary wins, the GOP will resort to scorched earth obstructionism. They will hope to retake the senate in 2018, and block as many court nominations as possible. Wedge issues still work well and will be as strongly abused as ever. The GOP will blame Trump's loss on Trump's personal failings, and lack of electoral saavy. The question is, will the Bernie supporters make a difference or not over the next 4 years? If there is no outrage at GOP tactics that moves the elecoate at large to punish them for this, they will continue on in this fashion. As long as it keeps working.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It looks like if Hillary wins, the GOP will resort to scorched earth obstructionism. They will hope to retake the senate in 2018, and block as many court nominations as possible. Wedge issues still work well and will be as strongly abused as ever. The GOP will blame Trump's loss on Trump's personal failings, and lack of electoral saavy. The question is, will the Bernie supporters make a difference or not over the next 4 years? If there is no outrage at GOP tactics that moves the elecoate at large to punish them for this, they will continue on in this fashion. As long as it keeps working.

Ya, there are really only two things which will stop that from continuing. The first is what you mentioned - the Bernie supporters. If they actually bother to vote and start a counter-movement to the Tea Party on the left, the obstructionism on the right will be less effective because they won't be able to make such huge gains in the off-year elections. If they just show up for a couple of months every four years and then sit at home in a huff because the people who put a fulltime effort into politics don't immediately hand them the keys when they get there, they'll just be treated as the useless nobodies whom they show themselves to be and won't have an impact on anything.

The second would be redistricting and getting rid of gerrymandered districts. If there is a risk to congressmen because they're not completely safe in their seats, there would be a motivation to try and appeal a bit more towards the electorate as a whole and not simply towards the small slice which comes out in the GOP primaries. Not doing anything would be seen by their voters as a negative instead of a positive.

The one thing we can be sure of is that the GOP is not going to have anything of value to add to the political process for anytime in the near future.

 

[Rhea]

The one thing we can be sure of is that the GOP is not going to have anything of value to add to the political process for anytime in the near future.

I think this is what gets forgotten too often: they never have had anything of value to add. They have never wanted to. The political process is not their goal! Their goal is to destroy the political process so that plutocrats can do what they want. And what they want is not to be political, not elected, not answerable to the people. They don't want that, it's not their goal and never has been. It harms us to forget that. They want government, the realm of politicians, democracy and accountability to the people, to be small enough to be drowned in a bath tub. Leaving the plutocracy to run everything.

 

[Elixir]

... the Bernie supporters. If they actually bother to vote and start a counter-movement to the Tea Party on the left, the obstructionism on the right will be less effective because they won't be able to make such huge gains in the off-year elections. If they just show up for a couple of months every four years and then sit at home in a huff because the people who put a fulltime effort into politics don't immediately hand them the keys when they get there, they'll just be treated as the useless nobodies whom they show themselves to be and won't have an impact on anything.

I was never deeply involved with the political process until this year - went to caucus for Bernie. I've been impressed with the enthusiasm-bordering-on-zeal that he was able to generate with a profoundly simple message. If HRC has the political instinct with which I'm inclined to grant her, she'll be doing everything she can do over the next 2 years to create and maintain the appearance that she is paying attention to those supporters' demands, and cajoling and threatening them with the ghost of Trump should they fail to turn out for the midterms. If the enthusiasm is more real than the zealousness, I expect that she should find some success in that effort. But regardless of her performance as President, it will be held up by the pugs as a total failure, and there will still be so many disaffected Americans that keeping control of either house of Congress (should they get it) will be a daunting challenge.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It really comes down to how they do on Election Day. If we can split the Houses, I think the Republicans look to have an internal Civil War in 2018 when the Democrats have roughly 9284 seats to defend in the Senate.

If the Dems take complete control, Republicans have an internal Civil War in 2018.

Republicans win out... I move to Canada and stop giving a fuck.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

If all the people who had threatened to move pending election results over the years actually had moved, this country's population would be a lot smaller.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Also, how are all the weak, lazy and obese Americans going to be able to climb over the wall to get into Canada? You going to hire some Mexican immigrants to dig a tunnel for you while you make tough sounding tweets from a Starbucks?

 

[Blackclaw]

Also, how are all the weak, lazy and obese Americans going to be able to climb over the wall to get into Canada? You going to hire some Mexican immigrants to dig a tunnel for you while you make tough sounding tweets from a Starbucks?

Sneaking into Canada is easy. Just walk up to the border carrying a hockey stick and eating a Tim Horton's donut and say, "I took a wrong turn, eh." They wave you right through.

 

[iolo]

I was thinking that the only thing to be said for a Trump victory is that it would totally abolish these interminable American elections. Perhaps Canada should build an enormous frontier-wall at Trump's expense - or perhaps he'll build one anyway, as the East Germans did in Berlin, for similar reasons.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If all the people who had threatened to move pending election results over the years actually had moved, this country's population would be a lot smaller.

The Tea Party / Trump Basers scare the fuck out of me. If they get to be the deciding power as to who wins elections, this country is going to hell.

Also, how are all the weak, lazy and obese Americans going to be able to climb over the wall to get into Canada? You going to hire some Mexican immigrants to dig a tunnel for you while you make tough sounding tweets from a Starbucks?

You can't build a wall all the way around the nation. Once us clever Americans get onto one of the isolated islands in the deep north, we'll start bumping the ugly and having our anchors babies.

 

[Rhea]

Does Canada grant citizenship to anchor babies?
(Note - some of my best friends are canadian)