NRSC Chairman: The Republican Civil War Is Now Canceled
[guest post by Dana]
A quick post about how the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman has started the enormous job flipping the Senate back to the GOP in 2022 with an announcement that the GOP civil war is canceled:
Democrats, and their friends in the media, have spent every day since the 2020 election hyping up a perceived rift in the Republican Party.
Today, NRSC Chairman, Senator Rick Scott, released a memo that will be sent to elected officials, activists, donors and voters across the country outlining his focus on the future and how we win back the Senate majority…
The long running impeachment show is now over. This political theater should have been held at the other end of Washington in the Kennedy Center instead of the US Capitol. It was an unserious circus. It’s over. Now it’s time to look ahead.
First, let’s evaluate our situation: The Democrats control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. In other words, they control Washington.
Here is what they have done and are in the process of doing so far: cutting border security, granting amnesty to illegals, cancelling the Keystone pipeline destroying thousands of jobs, allowing males to compete in women’s sports, banning fracking on federal lands making us less energy independent and using tax dollars to pay for abortion in foreign countries. And they have built an amazing military-style wall around the US Capitol, at the same time they are stopping construction on the wall at our southern border.
Oh, and they also want to cancel us, not simply from social media, but they also want to get you fired from your job, get your bank to drop you, make you unemployable in the future, re-educate you, and completely silence anyone who disagrees with their new woke version of socialism in America.
And yet, at the very same time these far-left radicals are trying to remake America in their image, and lead us into a disastrous, dystopian, socialist future, we have a parade of pundits and even Republican voices suggesting we should have a GOP civil war.
NO.
This does not need to be true, should not be true, and will not be true. Those fanning these flames, in both the media and our own ranks, desire a GOP civil war.
No, we don’t have time for that: The hour is late, the Democrats are planning to destroy our freedoms, and the threat in front of us is very real.
After previously declaring the impeachment trial “unconstitutional,” Scott said that the second impeachment of Donald Trump was “a complete waste of time,” and voted to acquit the former president. In December, Scott doubled-down on his support for Trump in 2024. Scott also offered cover to Liz Cheney after her vote to impeach Trump, saying that “people ought to respect how people vote. You might disagree with how they vote, but you ought to respect how they vote”.
Another reason why Scott is aiming to unify Republicans and get them to turn their fire on the Democrats has to do with none other than Donald Trump:
Rabble-rousing rank-and-file House members like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., are aiming to elbow out any Republicans who don’t fully support the former president, including House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently embarked on a media tour trashing the former president for his behavior after the presidential election.
“There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility,” for the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone.”
Trump then unleashed on McConnell in a strikingly personal and scorched-earth press release.
“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.” Trump said. “Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First.”
If Trump follows through on that threat, it could put Scott and the NRSC in the awkward position of having to decide whether to support an incumbent Republican and spend money essentially opposing the former president in a primary, or to let the incumbent face the primary challenge on his or her own. Scott has reiterated in recent days that that NRSC will support incumbents.
Stay tuned.
–Dana
Apologies for the slapdash write-up.
Dana (fd537d) — 2/23/2021 @ 6:09 pmIf they want me for their honey,
They will have to renounce Donnie.
No Republican who has a good thing to say about Trump will ever get a second look from me.
nk (1d9030) — 2/23/2021 @ 6:37 pmHere is what they have done and are in the process of doing so far:
cutting border security, — Where’s the Wall?
granting amnesty to illegals, — Instead of marrying them?
cancelling the Keystone pipeline destroying thousands of jobs, — I could not possibly care less.
allowing males to compete in women’s sports, — I was wrong, I can care less.
banning fracking on federal lands making us less energy independent — I believe that’s mostly a lie.
and using tax dollars to pay for abortion in foreign countries. — I’m pretty sure that is definitely a lie.
And they have built an amazing military-style wall around the US Capitol, — No, that’s not rain on my leg, so stop it and zip up!
at the same time they are stopping construction on the wall at our southern border. — Fool me once ….
No ball of fire, Mr. Scott is. Boring is nice for a change but tedious is too much.
nk (1d9030) — 2/23/2021 @ 6:49 pmWelp, he didnt kiss the ring to satisfaction…at some point, the sane 1/2 of the Georgia GOP better realize they’re already the third party and they’d be better off peeling off the non-Fulton County 1st time Dems to keep (or get back to) power instead of groveling to T.
urbanleftbehind (f3bc36) — 2/23/2021 @ 7:50 pm… and the horse they rode in on.
Ron Johnson (F-WI) beclowned himself today in the senate, reciting some cultists’ fables about the attack on the capitol being an antifa false-flag operation.
Apparently they really are going all-in on the fascist Big Lies.
Dave (1bb933) — 2/23/2021 @ 10:47 pm“perceived rift” Yeah, perceived isn’t the correct descriptive word, unless he means “perceived” as in “they could tell it was there” and not as he seems to be using it as “seeing something that isn’t there”. Because it’s definitely there and they have been shouting it from the rooftops. It would be almost impossible NOT to have “perceived” it.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/23/2021 @ 11:02 pmAllahpundit drops the truth-bomb:
Read the whole thing…
Dave (1bb933) — 2/23/2021 @ 11:06 pmI like 538’s analysis a lot of the time. They focus on the data and while they clearly have a bias in their writing their main bias is around a data driven and poling methodology. They also spend a lot of time on what the pols are actually saying, what we can know from that and what we can’t.
In a recent podcast they talked about the future of the republican party and their conclusion was that Trump was close to the center of the party right now then Romney or NeverTrump.
There’s no GOP Civil War. It’s now a identity politics party with no coherent economic policy or governing philosophy.
Time123 (b87ded) — 2/24/2021 @ 5:29 amNonsense.
What part of “Trump commands and we obey” is unclear?
Dave (1bb933) — 2/24/2021 @ 6:32 amI really recommend C.M. Kornbluth’s The Marching Morons (free at the link) to everybody.
TL;DR The elected officials are no smarter than their constituents.
nk (1d9030) — 2/24/2021 @ 6:38 amMore on Trump hand-maiden Ron Johnson’s 1/6 trutherism
Dave (1bb933) — 2/24/2021 @ 6:40 amI can hardly wait until Fulton County (Georgia) indicts Trump for election interference. So many Trumpers seem to want a Civil War re-do. They might want to reflect that their side (judging by the flags they fly) lost the Battle of Atlanta.
Appalled (1a17de) — 2/24/2021 @ 6:46 amSave your Confederate money, suh, the South will rahs again!
Dave (1bb933) — 2/24/2021 @ 6:59 amJust because Scott declares the “civil war” over, don’t make it so. As they say, the “enemy” gets a vote.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 2/24/2021 @ 7:15 amAn interesting trial balloon from Newsmax–
https://www.newsmax.com/john-gizzi/david-perdue-hershel-walker-raphael-warnock-senate/2021/02/23/id/1011248/
Appalled (1a17de) — 2/24/2021 @ 7:25 amAgree, Paul Montagu. And it’s not a perception of a civil war. There is an increasingly wide gap within the Party between the Trump supporters, who believe that he is an integral part of the Party and those who believe that the Party needs to cut ties with him if is going to be a viable option for voters. This video clip of McCarthy and Cheney illustrates the point:
This also poses the question of which side is actually outside of today’s Republican Party, and which side is *the* actual, long-term Party? Cheney clearly believes that there is no place in the Republican Party for Trump (or Trumpism), while McCarthy clearly does. That right there, Sen. Scott, is indeed a war. When two leaders of the same Party hold positions that are diametrically opposed to one another, you have a problem that needs to be resolved. Just saying it is, means nothing.
Dana (fd537d) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:03 am#16
The politicians just want to paper this over and hope it all goes away — that Trump loses interest or his legal and debt problems end up consuming him. I don’t see that it is in Trump’s interest, the Democrats interest, or the media (Right, mainstream, Left) to let it fade. So, the civil war is on, and will continue until Trump cannot plausibly be elected President.
Appalled (1a17de) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:17 amPerhaps, but it’s numbers game, and Custer had better odds…
Dave (1bb933) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:24 amSince Trumpism is much more about bending the knee to Donald Trump than about favoring any policies that might be associated with him — as Cheney’s own story illustrates — it can’t be a basis for political success in the long term. In the short term it may win primaries and deep-red states, but the chances of winning the nation are slim. So on pragmatic grounds alone, Cheney is closer to the mark. On ethical grounds, she is 100% correct.
Radegunda (20775b) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:29 amRomney, who is parked in the Cheney-wing of the Party, said that he believes Trump, if he ran in 2024, would win:
This doesn’t bode well for those in the Cheney-Romeny wing, or voters who are there with them.
Dana (fd537d) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:41 amWhile Trump is certainly at the center of the storm within the Republican Party, it is those around him who have willingly sacrificed their own integrity and principles to ride on his coattails. If there were more character within the Party, it would be different. A grifter only holds as much powers as his targets allow. Of course, they wouldn’t be targets if they had shown steel in the first place. So, yes, Trump is at the heart of the problem, but he would be co-opting the Paryt if it weren’t for the weak characters surrounding him.
Romney’s belief that Trump would win an election in 2024 makes clear why, in spite of two impeachments and all the other *junk* that he is saddled with (including any number of lawsuits), so many members of Congress are sticking with him. No reason to part ways with him. Not as long as they can benefit from his support. Talking a big game about principles and values sure pales in comparison to maintaining one’s grip on the levers of power.
Dana (fd537d) — 2/24/2021 @ 8:50 amChristian Vanderbrouk argues that “Right now, Trumpism is weak,” and “at this moment, the twice-impeached one-term president and his movement positively reek with the stench of defeat.” But his argument focuses mostly on current members of Congress, not at the level of politics where candidates are chosen to send there.
I think he’s suggesting that a “message” from the top of the party might discourage the MAGA-heads. But the Trump cult (or half the GOP) would probably take it is yet more evidence that the whole system is rotten and that Trump is needed even more to Drain the Swamp.
“The more they attack him, the more I’ll defend him” is a line I remember hearing during the 2016 primaries. For the last 5 years, that attitude has basically meant that the worse Trump behaves, the more fervently devoted his fans are — even after the Capitol siege. But it depends largely on Trump keeping himself prominent in the public eye. The cult-worship might wane when he’s not getting as much attention.
Radegunda (20775b) — 2/24/2021 @ 9:00 amIt’s not a coincidence that Liz Cheney said her words at the Reagan Institute. It’s Reagan’s legacy versus the Buchananite nationalist-populist-xenophobe claque. Scott is in the latter and, regrettably, so is the rest of this declining party.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 2/24/2021 @ 9:08 amRadegunda,
I think Vanderbrouk isn’t seeing the whole picture. He doesn’t seem to understand how MAGA loyal view Trump, both in Congress and across America. What Vanderbrouk sees as indicators of the weakening of Trumpism, his supporters see it as more proof that he is being persecuted and canceled by the swamp. They are rallying to his defense in the face of the political elites trying to shut down both the former president and those loyal to him.
This is the view of someone who was never in the tank for Trump. It misses the religious fervor of his followers, and their devotion to him. IOW, while it is a sensible assessment, it is one that doesn’t ring true to those who believe, and that includes members of Congress – of which there are many.
Dana (fd537d) — 2/24/2021 @ 9:41 amExactly. These are people who said things like “There’s nothing he could do that would make me stop supporting him,” and who basically said heck yeah when he boasted that he could shoot someone openly and not lose their support. The core of the Trumpist creed is “We love him because you guys hate him.”
The veritably religious devotion seems so crazy that it’s tempting to think there can’t really be that many people among the electorate who’ve given themselves over to a personality cult, especially not when the object of devotion is so grotesque. But some otherwise pretty smart people have said weird things in defense of Trump. A personality cult can in fact get a very large following.
Radegunda (20775b) — 2/24/2021 @ 10:21 am* followers, of course.
Radegunda (20775b) — 2/24/2021 @ 10:23 amDemocrats, and their friends in the media, have spent every day since the 2020 election hyping up a perceived rift in the Republican Party.
There is no rift: it’s Trump’s party now. So says Pierre:
Mitt Romney says Trump would win GOP nomination in 2024
‘Senator Mitt Romney said that President Donald Trump would win the GOP nomination “in a landslide” if he decided to make a run for the White House again in 2024.’ – source, nypost.com/2021/02/24
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/24/2021 @ 5:11 pm