McConnell, Ryan, Rubio and Cruz have all made their beds with Trump.
With McConnell, once Trump advocated giving Big Coal an infusion of support, he was all in. Trump having [McConnell's] wife Chao inside his administration just sealed the deal. McConnell's last Senate race, by Kentucky historic standards, was much closer even in the primaries than any before, but McConnell won fairly handily. McConnell went all in for Trump in the end, so whatever semi-muted misgivings he may trying to subtly convey publicly now are a case of too little, too late.
Ryan publicly dithered throughout the 2016 election, taking a half-assed stance of somehow still supporting Trump's candidacy while disavowing controversial things Trump said and did on the campaign trail, all of which was clearly calculated to give Ryan wiggle room to move away from the nature of Trump's candidacy when Trump presumably lost in November, thus providing Ryan with the ability to rebuild the Republican Party in the wake of Trump's assumed loss and - at least publicly - move away from the contentious racial undertones (in Trump's case, blatant overtones) that many Establishment Republican politicians and pundits came to believe over the last decade helped ensure their defeat at the Presidential level. Well, Trump won, so you don't hear too much about THAT anymore. Ryan also seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the Muslim Ban, although I couldn't tell if his vague unease had more to do with the way it was rolled out than the core merits of the ban itself. Ryan was initially reluctant to become House Speaker, doubtless because he has some Presidential ambitions himself, and it's easier to run for President when you're not directly tied to Speaker Leadership and legislation in terms of a definitive record for an opponent to run against. While that flexibility for Ryan will soon evaporate - he's the Big Cheese in the House now and will be taking ownership of legislation going forward - Ryan's Wisconsin seat is also (for now) very safe.
Marco Rubio is among the more vulnerable of the 4 politically. He won in 2010 in no small part because he was part of the Tea Party wave, but also because the 2010 race was a three-way contest. He managed to win a 4-point victory this year, but considering his opponent was a virtual unknown in terms of name-recognition, it wasn't a clobbering. Rubio's problem is he straddles the fence too much, and from the day he was elected in 2010 has bought into the press-hyped notion that he is the GOP's Latino version of Barack Obama in terms of a rock star political profile and potential. He also has no substantive legislative accomplishments he can attach his name to. This wasn't a problem for Trump, and wouldn't be for any outsider by the nature of what being an outsider means. However, when you have been in the Senate, you kinda want to be able to say "I was a part of this thing or that thing, and thus made x, y and z happen as a result." Outside of a failed immigration bill, Rubio has nothing to his credit. He is also clearly looking at another run for the Presidency down the road, even as soon as 2020 if Trump flames out. Like Paul Ryan, Rubio crafted a dubious record last year of opposing much of what Trump said and did on the campaign trail while (at times simultaneously) advocating for Trump to be elected.
Ted Cruz has a long history as a strident conservative. In terms of his conservatism, his consistency to the ideology can't be questioned. He certainly is the least willing out of the 4 to even go as far as calibrating the language he uses in describing his political beliefs to win over voters with less rigid ideological views: with Cruz, you know what he stands for. He made it the farthest against Trump in the Republican Primaries, and it took him the longest out of the 4 to come around and publicly endorse Trump, which I suppose is saying something (although I'm not sure what, exactly) considering he has a face made for radio and the personal charisma and charm of a skunk at a garden party. He might be in trouble in 2018, as his level of support demonstrates he has a level of vulnerability much greater in his home state than any of the other three do in theirs. Cruz's fate might also be tied into Trump's to a degree, but even beyond that a lot of Texas voters just don't like Ted Cruz anymore...apparently more as of right now than those who want to see him remain. A lot of that bad feeling is leftover from Cruz's own history of grandstanding theatrics that pre-dated Trump's appearance on the political scene as a candidate in 2015.
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Reagan - even at his worst moment of Alzheimer's dementia - never said "what's the point of having nuclear weapons if you don't use them".
Granted, being a Hollywood actor, it literally took a movie ("The Day After") to make him see the full reality of what his arms race was leading to, so he woke up and started talking to Gorby. Or so the legend goes.... who the fuck knows how much at this point he was consciously aware of at all?
Does this mean we need a "reality TV" show about a nuclear holocaust to lower it down to the mentality level that Cheeto can understand?
Doesn't sound like a trigger happy maniac to me.Leave a comment:
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Reagan - even at his worst moment of Alzheimer's dementia - never said "what's the point of having nuclear weapons if you don't use them".
Granted, being a Hollywood actor, it literally took a movie ("The Day After") to make him see the full reality of what his arms race was leading to, so he woke up and started talking to Gorby. Or so the legend goes.... who the fuck knows how much at this point he was consciously aware of at all?
Does this mean we need a "reality TV" show about a nuclear holocaust to lower it down to the mentality level that Cheeto can understand?
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Yeah Yeah Yeah. The Republican is going to get us into a nuclear war. That shit goes back to the Goldwater campaign. Heard plenty of it when Reagan was president. Come on liberals. Thinks out of the box. Your game is old.Leave a comment:
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Sessions was said to have responded to the protestors, saying "See, it's goddamned potheads like you that made me quit the Klan in the first place!!"Leave a comment:
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Protestors Dressed as Hooded Klansmen Crash Jeff Sessions’ Confirmation Hearing
‘GO JEFFIE GO!’
by J.D. Durkin | 9:39 am, January 10th, 2017
Moments ago in Capitol Hill, two protestors dressed as Klansmen stood up to interrupt the proceedings into Donald Trump‘s pick for Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
As soon as Sessions entered the chambers, the protestors could be seen standing up in the back of the room, immediately drawing media attention. The protestors, donned in white hooded robes, wore makeshift foam fingers fingers inscribed with the words, “GO JEFFIE BOY,” presumably in mock support for Sessions’ previous allegations of racial insensitivity. The protestors were promptly removed before the beginning of the hearing.
“Beauregard, thank you so much for being here for the people!” one of the men can be heard saying, addressing the potential Attorney General by his middle name (yes, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is his full name). “Wait a minute — you can’t arrest me, I’m white!” he continued. “White people don’t get arrested!"
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