There is no Republican party

Ex-federal judge and prominent conservative: ‘There is no Republican Party’

J. Michael Luttig, a conservative retired federal judge and key adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, declared on Wednesday that “there is no Republican Party” and said former President Donald Trump is even more dangerous than he was in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

“American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. So today, in my view, there is no Republican Party to counter the Democratic Party in the country,” Luttig, who advised Pence on how to handle the January 6, 2021, election certification vote, told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on “CNN This Morning.” “And for that reason, American democracy is in grave peril.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/09/politics/michael-luttig-conservative-judge-republicans-cnntv/index.html

I think a big part of the problem is that lies have taken over the Republican party. Fox lies every day and they lie less than the other live reporting stations on the right. So there is no media checking the lies of the politicians on the right. At least no right leaning media that is watched by Republicans. What concerns me is that it's looking like it might not get that much better once the Republican party gets rid of Trump.

 

I too don't see any sign that the Republicans can free themselves of Trump in the next few years. However, he'll eventually either be put in prison or die of old age. Well unless he's the first human to avoid death. But I'd consider it safe to bet against that one.

Personality cults usually cease to exist after the personality dies. The question then becomes, what form does the Republican party take then. We really need a center-right party that respects democracy, respects science, respects the truth and wants to govern.

 

I do not often get into political discussions online but take a look at something called Freedom Conservatism. They have a general statement of principles:

We believe in free enterprise, free trade, free speech, strong families, balanced budgets, and the rule of law," wrote John Hood, president of the North Carolina–based John William Pope Foundation and one of the organizers of the statement, at RealClearPolitics Jul 13, 2023

Some say it's much ado about nothing, but hey, take a look at it.

 

Is this a late hour gambit for a return of the Whigs?

 

Very late, if it is. That party dissolved in 1856. But yeah - similarities:

"It (the Party) disliked strong presidential power as exhibited by Jackson and Polk, and preferred Congressional dominance in lawmaking. Members advocated modernization, meritocracy, the rule of law, protections against majority tyranny, and vigilance against executive tyranny."

They and the Democrats were the two major parties between the late 1830s and early 1850s. The country appears to have been in even more of a divisive uproar than it is today. 15 years later - you guessed it - Civil War. May the US be spared another of those!

Interesting. whole thing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_(United_States)
@Asymptote I think you may indeed be onto something here.

 

My assumption as to why the Republican party in general is in some financial difficulties is that usually at this point in the election cycle folks have been donating to the party. However, in this election cycle they are instead giving a lot of those donations to Trump instead of the party in general.

 

During the run up to the 2020 general election the GOP decided not to adopt a Party platform. Instead, Donald Trump himself WAS the platform. At that moment the GOP died and was replaced by a mass cult of personality. That's where those people are now and that's where they will stay.

 

There is a reasonable center-right party, but it quite possibly has one Senator in its ranks. Joe Manchin. During negotiations on the BBB bill, he showed his convictions. He is listening to moneyed interests, specifically in the fossil fuels sector, and worries about things like "competitiveness" (low corporate taxes), means testing, and mothers spending government dough on drugs. Typical Republican attitudes. But unlike the GOP, he cares about facts and is not keen to destroy the US government. A reasonable conservative party, right there. GOP? Irredeemable.

 

People are concerned with Presidential candidates from both parties.
For different reasons obviously. Many of my friends, relatives who vote only Democrat are seriously concerned with candidates age and ability while acknowledging his administrations achievements, I hear that a lot. They also don't hear unified message from Dems candidates.

As to GOP, it has a strong following and as mentioned above, ideas and vision.

I think that both parties must embrace a democratic political culture that to me appears they deviated from especially GOP.
Each side accuses the other of being autocrats.
(Remember, Mussolini was the first to say that democracies are tyrannical, democracies are the problem.)
Nationally, we are a functioning democracy but some states have to do better to remain such and stop moving toward autocracy or anarchy.

I personally would like to see a ticket of Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.

I don't think a candidate who is undergoing so many trials should run for the office, they should suspend the effort till the time they cleared, the problem is as long as those are not politically generated to destroy an opponent left or right. Someone neutral , maybe court needs to oversee?

 

It's a fascist vision, but to each their own I guess.

Two Trump appointees. Sure, they'll be better than Trump (one can't say the same about DeSantis btw), but how low is this bar?

 

Haley was sharply critical of Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.
She also slammed his plan to build a border wall and his other positions on immigration. “Republicans need to remember that the fabric of America came from these legal immigrants,” Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
During her tenure as Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., Haley was willing to publicly distinguish herself from the President.
While Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “obsolete,” Haley said, “I think NATO is an important alliance for us to have, and now we need more allies than ever.” She continued: “Any comments the President-elect has made are his comments,” Haley said. (Trump later walked back his position.)
Haley blamed Trump for the Jan 6 Capitol attack and suggested that the GOP would move on without him.
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she continued. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”

But nobody is perfect,

By October 2021, she seemed to have changed her mind. “He has the ability to get strong people elected, and he has the ability to move the ball, and I hope that he continues to do that,“We need him in the Republican Party. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.” she said to Wall street Journal.
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Mike did the right thing on Jan 6th.
He is fine man. and will be a good president

 

Doesn't matter, because I'm on the wrong side of the border to vote but:
(1) Pence? I don't like anyone who even suggests that gays can or should be "cured." It's mean, low and barbaric.
(2) I DO like Nikki Haley. I'd like to see her be President, in fact. And if she ran unsuccessfully, I wish I could offer her the Prime Minister's job here. She'd do fine.

 

(1) Right on. TBH, he DID do the right thing on Jan. 6th; he then needed over 2 years to start talking about it somewhat candidly and lay the blame where it belongs. The fact that following the Constitution counts as extreme courage tells us that... well, the thread title calls it.
(2) Nimarata Randhawa-Haley is very talented; however, I have no taste for capable immigrants propping up anti-immigrant movements. Also, she changes positions way too easily. As for PM job, it belongs to my homegirl Chrystia.

 

P. S. I won't be eligible to vote in this election, hopefully next one. If I were eligible, I'd proudly vote for Biden/Harris.

 

OK - If I can't get the job for Nikki, (which I can't, of course) Chrystia can have it. She IS very bright and capable as you say. And there are NO male candidates who meet those specs...

 

Saying that GOP is fascist is sounds like saying that Ukraine is fascist.
Yes, some fascist elements drown to GOP but its a small % and it doesn't make it fascist.
Just like nazi collaborators in Ukraine didn't make Ukraine nazi.

 

And, as I see it, there probably never will be....