76 Comments

Waiting for Stefanik and the FC to take the next step and draft a resolution stating that Trump won the 2020 election and is the rightful 46th President (but still be able to run in 24). Why not go big?

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Reps Valadao and Newhouse have the advantage of open primaries, so they can fend off a right wing challenger and place in the top two to move on to the general election.

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Hmm...that picture of Christie with those young voters show an ENORMOUS divide on who will support the GOP later in life. The majority was white males and two women, and two MALE minorities. This is not the future of this country.

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I'm not sure about the MAGA content of Newhouse and Valadao's district. WA-4 is Republican in the western tradition (in that they didn't switch from D to R like many districts in the South). Also, WA uses a top-two primary system, not separate R or D primary. WA has mail in ballots as the standard for voting and MAGA hates mail in so maybe that's a plus for Newhouse?

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If the DNC doesn't craft ads around these hardline abortion positions, they should be fired for incompetence

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"Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) both voted on conscience to convict Trump in his second impeachment..." It would be a prime opp for these two reps to make amends for their errors in judgement by voting for the bill, HR #1Stupid. They could claim that they have reached an epiphany by being evangelized by the "Darkness," and look like all the other denilers of the House "Hear-See-Speak No Truths" caucus

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"Overall, the conference provided some useful context for the months ahead. Although Trump has in the past questioned their loyalty, evangelicals are still solidly behind him: He remains far and away the leader of the 2024 field, especially among this part of the electorate."

Trump is far and away the leader of White Evangelicals right now because the important part of that label, for them, is the first part. The Jesus part is secondary, in fact, almost absent. Keeping the White Christian Male dominant in society is the goal. After decades of watching their share of the population shrink, Obama's election terrified them. They're supporting Trump as an attempt to break demographics and retain control.

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Jun 28, 2023·edited Jun 28, 2023

From a purely economic point of view, it doesn't make much sense to vote. For an Indvidual voter, the cost of schlepping over to or polling place or even shifting through a large pile of mail to find an unopened vote-at-home ballot dwarfs the marginal impact of their single vote.

(The canonical case is a college student who must choose between getting an extra hour of sleep or squeezing in a vote before class.)

This means that voters whose time is relatively cheaper (e.g., retired people) are more likely to vote than younger people.

However, rewarding or punishing potential voters in some other non-material way can change that calculus.

Researchers have shown in controlled studies that voters who believe that their peers will know whether or not they have voted are much more likely to vote.

Likewise, voters who believe that their individual actions are being cosmically surveilled are also more likely to vote when a religious value is effectively on the ballot.

This explains why the abortion issue became so central to Republic Primaries.

After Roe v Wade, every election became an event in members of religions that regard abortion as murder were tested: each vote a believer made (or didn't) became part of their individual records that would count for or against them on their Day of Judgement.

Because of the rules of Republican primaries, getting out the vote is essential. And for Republican candidates, the most reliable way to get out the vote has been to bind an election to this moral contest.

Trump's innovation has been to position himself as the only person whose been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for this cause, and therefore, transforming elections that involve him into a personal test with cosmic consequences.

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Of course they don’t care.. they likely don’t even understand. Louie Gohmert set the bar, they limboed right under it with plenty of room to spare

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Valadao and Newhouse, as REPRESENTATIVES, didn't vote to CONVICT Trump. They voted to IMPEACH Trump. Only senators can vote to convict impeached officials.

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No they cannot change the fact that t***p was impeached twice, both times for very good reasons, and it will never excuse a cowardly republican senate that refused to remove him.

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I believe a correction is required.

"Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) both voted on conscience to convict Trump in his second impeachment"

The House charges, the Senate issues the verdict. So in the case of the two Reps, they voted to charge Trump and therefore impeach him. The Senate is where Romney alone voted to convict Trump in impeachment 1 and 7 Republican's voted to convict in impeachment 2.

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As on of Newhouse's constituents, I shed no tears for him. Yes, he voted for impeachment for Trump's actions related to January 6, but he's been backpedaling ever since. He only survived because 6 MAGA Republicans ran against him in the primary. Watching him squirm as he tries to figure out how to vote on a resolution to expunge the impeachment will be schadenfreude.

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If I were to form any conclusion from Chris Christie's group of young fans waiting for a picture with him, despite him having been booed by the crowd at large, it would be that perhaps the next generation of this voting block is done with Trump. Like Trump is perceived to be, despite his rampant lies, Christie comes across as an unabashed truth-teller. That perception of Trump made him very appealing to people. Hopefully Christie continues his tell-it-like-is-consequences-be-damned approach and further cultivates support amongst the next generation. MAGA may dominate the party today, but they won't live forever.

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Could it be that they think Trump is too old, an embarassing loopy Grandpa? Christie is more likely their fathers' ages and, combine that with his rhetoric, he is a more obvious/attractive choice?

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As demonstrated by Trump's political success, anything is possible. It would've been nice if someone spoke to them to understand their thoughts.

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It’s a shame they didn’t get Bob Good to sponsor the expungement resolutions. If he had, we could have called him Expunge Bob!

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Ever since Trump came on the political scene, it has been clear to me that there are two ironclad laws associated with him (with apologies to Star Trek).

The Prime Directive: Nothing is ever Trump’s fault

First Corollary to the Prime Directive: Everything good that happens anywhere in the world must be attributed to Trump

Apparently, Christie agrees with me.

My favorite recent examples of the Prime Directive in play are:

a) some people tried to defend Trump on his post-election behavior because he got “bad advice” from those around him. Never mind that Trump didn’t have to listen to that “bad advice” and the only reason that those with the “bad advice” had access to Trump was because he gave it to them

b) when former cabinet officials or other high administration officials publicly criticized Trump after leaving government employment, Trump flamed on them and called them unfit for THE OFFICE THAT HE NOMINATED THEM FOR (so much for hiring “only the best people”)

c) many people criticized Fauci for federal COVID policy conveniently forgetting that Fauci doesn’t set federal policy – Trump does (or did anyway)

d) when Trump lies about something and the media calls him on it, his base doesn’t get mad at Trump, the source of the lie. They get mad at the media. It’s shoot the messenger.

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