I want to point out that there still is a way Republicans can win in November.

By now, everyone is used to Republicans suddenly reversing positions on every imaginable topic, and that is the secret to victory.

All they have to do is reverse their position on Israel.

Come out as anti-genocide and anti-Israel, and Republicans will be able to defeat all but a handful of Democrats, who will 100% continue to express their support of Israel and genocide, thus pissing off both Democratic and a surprising number of Republican voters.

Democrats have already made it very clear that they would rather lose elections than stop supporting Israel.

Poll after poll shows that Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose genocide and are no longer buying into the little narrative the US mainstream media spent decades selling us on.

Lorraine Lee reshared this.

in reply to Tofu Golem

The Republican base almost instantaneously turned anti-Bush when the shit hit the fan in the financial markets in 08. American conservatism is adaptable in that way.

Trump bulldozing the rest of the Republican primary field in 16 was a brilliant hack, which I do believe Russia played a role in, but the popular demand has to be there first. The Democratic Party is much more resistant to that type of hack of presidential primaries due to the superdelegate system, which the Republican Party lacks.

At least twice in my lifetime, the Republican Party has undergone a hostile takeover by its less moderate faction, and been strengthened by that process. As in many things, strength comes from resilience, not rigidity.

in reply to Lorraine Lee

@lori
What happened in the 2015 Republican primaries still shocks me.

Whenever you get a “First Black X” to hold a particular office in the USA, the next person to hold that office will be the white candidate who is perceived to be the most racist.

So whoever was the most racist during the Republican presidential primaries was guaranteed to win in the general election.

I get why the average white Republican voter didn't understand what was going on in the primaries, but Republican politicians are usually so sophisticated about how to use racism for political gain, and yet none of the other candidates understood that the assignment was to be as racist as possible during the primaries.

I don't know if Trump understood this. I think he just really is that racist and was being himself, but I still shake my head in wonder that none of the other Republican politicians understood what was happening.

in reply to Tofu Golem

Coordination problem. If the other Republican candidates were to draw straws or something, choose one among themselves to be the Republican alternative to Trump, MAYBE they could have stopped him. For one election cycle. Coordination problem because egos get in the way. No other plausible explanation.

Thing is, since about 2015 (the year of Gamergate or the year of Brexit, take your pick) practically every country in the world has had at least one anti-immigration party that has emerged seemingly out of nowhere and at best even established democracies are hard pressed to come up with a majority coalition of non-fascist parties. Like in the 1930s the entire world is going through a fascist phase, and it's obviously for the same reason. Working class economic prospects have become BLEAK. Waving raw meat around works.

in reply to Lorraine Lee

@lori
That would show that they did not understand what was going on.

Any of them could have defeated Trump just by being more racist than Trump, and in so doing, would have guaranteed victory in the general election.

The fact that NONE of them grasped this is shocking because Republicans are generally very sophisticated when it comes to the political use of racism to win elections.