569 Comments

"Enter Donald Trump, the con-artist with a monstrous talent for exploiting resentment in service of his ego."

That paragraph is dead on and says it all.

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While I like what you wrote, and wish it were true, the GOP remnants still control congress perhaps because they have incoherent policies. A majority of people, before the last election, wanted a higher minimum wage, wanted a fairer health care system, wanted college debt reduction, wanted improved infrastructure, and more. Even so too many voted for Republicans. Why? They have a better propaganda system. They are better at translating their ephemeral agenda to a society that wants an enemy to hate. The agenda does not matter, just the existence of a target, which they are good at creating along with Fox and other instruments of propaganda. They won't die as long as the propaganda arm makes a profit. From my vantage point the corporate world that manufactures its own "truth" is doing rather well, so I doubt the propaganda party will die a rapid death. Instead it seems that they will take they rest of the ship of state down with them.

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Excellent analysis of the Republican Party, as, at this juncture, it is nothing more than a cult of anger, resentment and backwardness, ironically fueled by wealthy autocrats, who care nothing for average Americans (including Republican voters), and incapable of sound governance for this country.

I am also encouraged that Biden has chosen a more inclusive socioeconomic path than both Clinton and Obama, though I'm still upset that he caved to the railroad robber barons.

One last bone to pick: the New York State "democratic" party cost us control of the House; they really need to clean up their, and fast.

Happy New Year to all.

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Let's try this. Forget about the national news and the Washington circus. Let's take a long break from that. Instead...

Dear reader, do you actually know any Republicans in real life?

In our life here, I'm thinking of a couple we know. They vote Republican. They're rural. They hunt. Sounds like the enemy, right? Sorry, no.

These are very decent people. As example, they take in any stray animal anybody brings them and take care of it for years. Their ten acres is literally covered with every kind of animal enclosure you can imagine, and it takes them hours a day to feed and care for all these neglected creatures. Nobody pays them, nobody thanks them. Hardly anybody even knows they're doing this. And they've been doing this for YEARS.

Every time we visit this couple or they visit us, they ALWAYS have a gift for us. It never fails, they never forget, and they never expect anything in return.

The husband used to be a detective who worked for the police department. When we had a serial killer on the loose here years back, he was one of the guys who would risk his life entering structures to see if the killer was hiding there. In doing this, he came upon one of his fellow employees who had been beheaded in her apartment. Yea, he looked at that so you and I don't have to. Here's a brave soul who was risking his life to watch our back, but because he's rural and votes Republican, we Dems are going to look down our noses and call him snotty names.

Forget about the crackpots in Washington. Find a Republican in your real life, and start making friends. You don't have to agree with them about everything. Just find the things you do agree on, and pore fuel on that.

There are tons and tons of very decent Republicans all across the country. Ok, maybe not in Washington, but it's a big country, ya know?

Find these people. Reach out. Make friends. Be the change you wish to see.

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Time has come for our country to realize some of our VALUES had serious cracks from the beginning of our country. The true concept of Democracy does not exist here, but we think we can tell the rest of the world how to act “ democratically “ , we have double standards when it involves $$$; we are a racist society and don’t even know it, we are a Military Empire that needs to sell ARMS around the world. Organizations such as the NRA have turned a RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS into a mystical “Fanatical” concept that it is destroying our image as a CIVIL society and opens the doors for fanatic misguided behaviors that have become part of our image around the world. The Electoral College is perhaps the biggest THREAT to our democratic system. The election of members of the Supreme Court is nothing more than a “ Political” driven concept that got away from the reason for its existence. Our Economic Capitalistic System stopped helping middle class and it is now basically controlling our economy, only to serve the most powerful richest persons. When the Supreme Court allowed Corporations to invest moneys in the elections of elected officials, they basically “SOLD “ our last hope for true Democracy and The GOP party was behind that. Robert Reich analysis of the GOP party is correct but it goes deeper than that...perhaps we ought to thank the Pandemic and Trump for making us aware of what’s wrong with ourselves and maybe start acknowledging the dramatic weakness of our political and economical systems and start thinking how change our values and laws to really be the leaders in this Global Society.

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The biggest challenge that I see is the fact that so many MAGAts are still holding office and even sit on the 'Supreme' court. The 'enemy within' is allowed to stay and fester, and will poison even the best efforts at bipartisan governing and any attempt to form 'a more perfect union'. It is anyone's guess how many seditionists are in the military and our police forces. Our best hope is that Justice will do its work. this would stem the tide of ruin.

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The party may be over, but the stores that started selling “Trump 2024” flags in 2020 -- along with hunting licenses, guns & ammo, liquor, gas, and ice cream all in one convenient location will still be doing a thriving business.

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Thank you so much Dr. Reich, for so eloquently articulating the disintegration of the Republican Party. I hope its death throws will not last too long and cause more violence. At the same time I applaud the end of Retrumplicanism, I would hate to see it replaced by a one party system - even if that surviving party is the Democratic Party. We need different approaches and theories for a healthy, prosperous, and yes, even happy society. My dream would be to have 3 or 4 parties with distinctive platforms to create the good checks and balances advocated in the late 18th early 19th centuries. We need the idealism of Liberal Progressives, the even-handedness of moderates, and the Fiscal Conservatives to instill realistic, achievable legislation with sources of finance. Together we need to return to a united country of laws and reasonable regulations. A well regulated capitalism, social safety nets for all, a concern for the health and well being of every resident in the country, an education system that teaches social responsibility, analytical thinking, fact based history, art, music, science, math, and language skills. We desperately need to change the course of the warming, polluted air, water, land. We need to leave a healthy, livable planet for all life (well maybe not for viruses, but we may not have a choice there) We also need to live in harmony, not just with ourselves, but with all democratic countries and communities in the world. We need to empower the United Nations to maintain peace, to step in with all democracies to stop the spread of authoritarianism and subjugation of any other nation.

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In 1972, the left was finally able to nominate a Democratic candidate, amidst an unpopular Vietnam War, burning cities, and a generational divide never seen in America. The centrists of the party bolted, and withheld their support from the hapless Senator McGovern, portrayed as a flaming pacifist radical, despite his history as a genuine war hero. Four years earlier, the party had split over Vietnam, and leftists had deserted Humphrey. The Republicans of today are nowhere as divided as the Dems of 1968-72. They will regroup in some form, either as the proto-fascists or the conservatives.

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founding

Trump: con artist, exploiter. But let's not forget the sad reality that a segment of our own citizens are members of a white working-class which harbors bitterness, xenophobia, racism, anti-intellectualism, and anti-science paranoia. I'm afraid they are out there, a minority to be sure, but in numbers that drive the primary process. No Republican candidate can get selected for the general election without getting support from this group. Even Trump couldn't exploit this unless it was already there. Trump did exploit people with those sentiments - but so will the next guy that the Republicans put up. It's all they've got now. Many citizens of both parties feel that all politicians are crooks. We believe the system is rigged. We worry that too much of our taxes go to feather the nests of elected officials and their donors. To combat this perhaps all too true perspective, Democrats need to be hyper vigilant and discipline their elected members to be true servants of their constituents, to avoid being bribed by moneyed interests, and to hew the line on rule of law, honesty and fairness in government. Katie Porter is one of 73 Democrats who are already there; If we are ever to restore faith in good government we need all elected officials to clean up their acts!

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Fight it out in the ring boys and girls until nobody is left standing. A policy of hate destroys from inside - a fate so well-deserved.

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The Republican party is definitely at war with America and the American people in all their diversity.

It certainly is no longer a party advocating for "small government", as it intrudes not only on the management of our physical bodies, but our minds, as in the learning of history and science, and our very spirits in our religious or non- religious beliefs. They would control us completely.

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While the Republican Party eats their young in a futile effort to prove that each groups favored candidate is The true Republican, the rest of the country watches and waits. Congress is a co-equal branch of government and now it is a like a bird attempting to fly with one wing, while pecking away at the damaged wing. This isn't good for the country or for either party. It seems pointless for the never Trumpers to aspire to reform their party. It is time for all Americans to support a 3 party which can embody some of the positions the GOP espoused without the rancor and the anger.

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Excellent piece, hopefully the next phase will be extinction.

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Thank you. Putting your finger on the pulse of culture being at the heart of this madness opens the discussion for all of us about what we really care about, what we truly believe and also what we fear and to ask, 'is any of this rational?' And if not rational, does it matter to us? I sense within this discussion of culture there is a deep, perhaps even rational fear of the mob, the cruel madness of thugs rushing to stage centre with the noose and the guillotine, leaving us to accept authoritarianism over chaos, although the actuality of the chaos may not be realistic (although last Dec 7th makes many of us wonder). I know I just described an apparent circle; what I don't know is how deep is the resentment, hatred, madness caused by neoliberal policies, to unleash chaos. Is the circle unbroken? Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and steadying opinions.

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accountability. now.

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