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What in the hell is going on? RNC going Nuclear on Kochs.

 
 
 
J

Jimmy Higgins

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Calvinistic Atheist
Allegiance... and only allegiance.

One of the biggest backers of the GOP have been the Koch brothers. They are fabulously well to do, big spenders in elections, and run think tanks and some political arts departments in colleges, in order to push the right-wing agenda... generally, low taxes, low regulation, free trade.

So the Kochs are pretty much steadfast right-wing. There are occasional swings over to the moderate position, but generally, the Kochs are very Republican.

The free trade thing is rankling them with the reckless trade policy of Trump. And while they love low taxes, the deficits they are causing have not pleased them. They see this as reckless, and have indicated as such. They've also noted, they are giving up on supporting what they consider lost causes in the Senate races, North Dakota and Nevada. Of course, they want the GOP to hold onto power in the Senate, and the GOP doesn't need every seat available to do so. So these announcements aren't exactly anti-GOP by any stretch.

Then the RNC made with this.

article said:
“Some groups who claim to support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide their business interests are more important than those of the country or Party,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel wrote in a memo to party contributors on Thursday afternoon. “This is unacceptable.”
Click to expand...
Now while in normal circumstances, I would welcome the RNC shooting themselves in the foot... recent history has indicated that shooting themselves in the foot actually doesn't cause them any harm. But more importantly, this heal turn against Kochs for questioning the radical departure of GOP policies on deficits and free trade (especially free trade) frightens the hell out of me. The Trump Administration was metaphorically compared to a train off the tracks, that eventually will crash... now it seems like a rudderless ship bearing towards Victoria Falls, and everyone on board is heralding the Captain who clearly has no idea what he is doing, despite saying numerous times "And when I meet other world leaders, they always tell me what a great ship driver I am."

The RNC's heel turn on the Kochs is exposing just how rudderless the party has become and just how authoritarian it is exposing itself as. Kochs complain about the tariffs... and they are told they are traitors to the party... the party of free and only free trade. Without a second thought! The GOP stopped being a political party in 2009. It has now galvanized into some sort of cult... that has a leader that is akin to as a party of Jim Jones. And everything he says, they preach... literally.

I'm not a fan of the Kochs. But the departure of the RNC from the Kochs is a dreadful sign. The Kochs at least have a rudder. They have priorities that I don't share, but I at least understand. The RNC... is going straight over the waterfall, and apparently quite content to take all of us with them because...

I don't know why. And that is the most frightening part of it all. None of this makes sense anymore.

The Neocons took us into Iraq, defying all of the warnings... they did this because their worldview was warped, and they thought the world operated different for them, than others. It was deluded, and wrong. And even years into the debacle, they still wouldn't admit how much they fucked up ("you go into war with the military you have").

The RNC under Trump, it isn't delusion. It doesn't appear to be anything, no foundation to anything that is being done. It is just happening. And when anyone questions the decisions, they are castigated. First the press, then some Republicans, and now the Kochs. We don't even know who is in charge.
 
Wow, even the RNC trying to burn the bridges with the Koch cash cattle ranch!!! The Dotard Syndrome spreads...good news indeed!
 
1. The Kochs are wrong about their position with free trade. Even Rush Limbaugh (who used to agree with the Koch position) sees now that free trade promoted by the globalists is not really free trade. Limbaugh (an ultra conservative) is now in perfect agreement with Trump on tarriffs. Trump is actually right although you would never know this listening to main stream press.

2. Who cares if the Kochs and the RNC dont agree all the time? Doesnt mean anyone is rudderless. It just means there is a political disagreement. Big deal.

3. If rich donors like the Kochs and Soros got completely out of politics tomorrow it would not be soon enough for me. There is too much special interest money in politics as it is.
 
“Some groups who claim to support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide their business interests are more important than those of the country or Party. RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel wrote in a memo to party contributors on Thursday afternoon. “This is unacceptable.”
Click to expand...
This is real news: business interests are no longer most important to the Republican Party.
 
From the article:

“Some groups who claim to support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide their business interests are more important than those of the country or Party,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel wrote in a memo to party contributors on Thursday afternoon. “This is unacceptable.”
Click to expand...

Yeah, the only reason these businesses support the Republicans is for their own selfish interests.
 
I wish we had a strong Socialist or Communist Party in the USA that say, got ten to twenty percent of the vote in presidential elections and could actually win a few offices. Not enough to take over and do whatever they want, but do well enough to where those with money and power would run things for the good of everyone and not just themselves in order to make sure the socialists and communists didn't take over.
 
BH said:
I wish we had a strong Socialist or Communist Party in the USA that say, got ten to twenty percent of the vote in presidential elections and could actually win a few offices. Not enough to take over and do whatever they want, but do well enough to where those with money and power would run things for the good of everyone and not just themselves in order to make sure the socialists and communists didn't take over.
Click to expand...

That's probably not going to happen in our FPTP election system.
 
BH said:
I wish we had a strong Socialist or Communist Party in the USA that say, got ten to twenty percent of the vote in presidential elections and could actually win a few offices. Not enough to take over and do whatever they want, but do well enough to where those with money and power would run things for the good of everyone and not just themselves in order to make sure the socialists and communists didn't take over.
Click to expand...
The GOP has done very well convincing Independents that Democrats are to the far left.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
BH said:
I wish we had a strong Socialist or Communist Party in the USA that say, got ten to twenty percent of the vote in presidential elections and could actually win a few offices. Not enough to take over and do whatever they want, but do well enough to where those with money and power would run things for the good of everyone and not just themselves in order to make sure the socialists and communists didn't take over.
Click to expand...
The GOP has done very well convincing Independents that Democrats are to the far left.
Click to expand...

And BLM, ANTIFA and other left-wing activist groups have done well convincing too many mindless liberals that the Democrats are too far to the right. Thus, ensuring victory for those actually on the right.
 
It is interesting that the RNC has shifted its to rhetorical appeal so strongly toward poor and working class whites, even to the extent of upsetting the wealthy corporate backers like the Koch's. It is probably a wise move on their part, because working class whites are easily manipulated by rhetoric and symbolic gestures, whereas the wealthy and corporations mostly ignore all that and will vote (or more accurately determine who the masses are allowed to vote for) based on which candidate in is their own best financial interests.

Despite some economic harm to them by Trump's trade war and deficit policies, their long run self interests still lie with the GOP over the Dems, whose more sincere concerns about the poor, economic injustice, the environment, and using war for the sake of corporate profit are a greater threat to the Koch's financial interests. Unlike the left who didn't vote for Hillary, the Koch's are not stupid enough to cut off their nose to spite their face and will vote to support their closest ally over their greater enemy.
 
ronburgundy said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
BH said:
I wish we had a strong Socialist or Communist Party in the USA that say, got ten to twenty percent of the vote in presidential elections and could actually win a few offices. Not enough to take over and do whatever they want, but do well enough to where those with money and power would run things for the good of everyone and not just themselves in order to make sure the socialists and communists didn't take over.
Click to expand...
The GOP has done very well convincing Independents that Democrats are to the far left.
Click to expand...

And BLM, ANTIFA and other left-wing activist groups have done well convincing too many mindless liberals that the Democrats are too far to the right. Thus, ensuring victory for those actually on the right.
Click to expand...
The Dems are conservative moderate party. Also, the influence of Antifa and #BLM is quite limited, though possibly not negligible in the 2016 election. Of course millions of them didn’t vote for Gary Johnson because they couldn’t stomach a vote for Clinton when they knew Trump was unbearable.
 
Cheerful Charlie said:
Never interrupt your enemies when they are fighting amongst themselves.
Click to expand...
If the GOP shooting itself in the foot hurt them, fine, fire away, but the GOP has been a bit resilient in the recent past despite their chaotic behavior.

Telling the Kochs to sod off regarding to the Kochs raising their voice over the un-GOP turn ona few things is worrisome.
 
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