This is something that I’ve been mulling over for a while now. Donald Trump is a vile, horrible man who has no redeeming qualities that I can see. He’s a blowhard, a bully, and a bigot. He was born on third base and is convinced he hit a triple. He doesn’t seem to care about anything that doesn’t feed his ego. All of these things are true yet he is not the problem with the Republican Party. The problem with the Republican Party is the Republican Party.
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I would love to say that this started with Donald Trump. It didn’t. I would love to say that this started with the Tea Party. It didn’t. I would love to say that this started with Newt Gingrich. It didn’t. I’m not even sure is this started with Richard Nixon and his Southern Strategy, although this is about as far back as I can trace it concretely.
Donald Trump is just another Republican. He may be the ugliest version of a Republican president but he IS a Republican president. The party keeps moving forward. They got Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, an institution that the Right has long seen as a target. The policies of many Republican controlled state houses and legislatures are pushing the same types of things that Trump has been touting.
Trump has had no trouble finding people to espouse his policies. He is not an aberration. He is a symptom. The cure is not losing sight of the fact that Trump is the ugliest version of the GOP.
See this article from The Atlantic Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected. I don’t see a lot of difference between what ALEC is espousing and what Trump is doing, save that he is doing it more openly and less civilly.
Huckabee calls for repeal of 17th Amendment after healthcare failure from The Hill. I expect to hear this disseminated to Fox News and then Trump’s Twitter account shortly. By the way, there is also a draft Alec bill on the website.
Section 1. The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. Senators shall be elected exclusively by the State legislature, upon a majority vote of legislators present and voting in a joint session. If a vacancy shall exist for more than one hundred-eighty days, then the Governor shall appoint the Senator to serve the remainder of the vacant term. This procedure may not be modified by state initiative or referendum.
Section 3. State legislatures may issue instructions to, or recall, their Senators at any time.
Section 4. Any Senators serving at the time this amendment becomes a valid part of the Constitution shall complete their current term of office.
A Constitutional Amendment needs to be ratified by three quarters of the states, either by legislatures or in amendment conventions. Thirty-eight state legislatures is within reach for the Republican Party. They currently control both chambers in thirty-two states and Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, which is titularly non-partisan, is under effective control of the GOP.
That means that there doesn’t need to be a convention to ratify such an amendment, not that a Constitutional Convention would be a good thing either. That would probably throw all of the Constitution into chaotic transition. Such a convention could re write the entire document.
I don’t suggest writing off Trump, his utter vulgarity, or any of his policies or statements. I suggest tying the entire party, every single Republican up for re election, to this administration.
On a brighter note, today I attended my local Healthcare on the Line rally and got to watch Ana Kasparian take down Coulter on Facebook from sonething called Politicon, whatever that is. Should you care to watch … check it out here
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from twingrace:
onionjim's comment pulls together familiar sayings and current reality in a real zinger. Appetizing!
It's from rufe's diary WATCH THIS: McCain and Murkowski before the vote last night
Thanks so much for the assist on these gizmo!
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