Episode V: The Swamp Strikes Back
It seems clear to me that the RNC establishment is now trying to purge the party of everything Trump. We'll see how far they'll go in their attempts. and how far the party's base will allow them to get with these efforts.

With regard to Cheney, there might also be her own career ambitions in play, see this recent article in one of the more prominent conservative newspapers:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/replace-kevin-mccarthy-with-liz-cheney



My takes are well-summarized in this article:
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2021/01/11/if-you-think-liz-cheney-is-the-future-youve-learned-absolutely-nothing

they will go with a cheney/mccain/romney type in 2024 and for every icepeon inflexible overused playdough type they get back they will lose two or three that Trump helped them gain in 2016 and 2020

prepare for the GOP to become a warmongering country-club swampscum pale pasty privileged people only group again. back to getting like 3-7% of the minority vote when the minority population keeps growing. the only consistency is their stupidity (they tried to undermine all their successful Presidents starting with Theodore Roosevelt since the 20th century) the cowardly suburban white karens/male karens may return (more likely they vote for kamala in 2024 to “apologize” for their privilege) but who cares about those emotional and mushy wussies.

This post was edited by excellence on Jan 12 2021 10:37pm

After 4 on copium and multitude of rainbow hair dyes I think you are perma damaged

its funny a moloch/weinstein worshipper like that user is mentioning Christmas

The rabid cynicism is back.

This was a principled and courageous move. There's zero political incentives to pissing off Trump's base. Getting praise from actual conservatives in the media is worth exactly nothing in the realm of politics. The figures who matter in the media are all Trumpy and they will never divorce themselves from him.

We had 139 House Republicans object to the election results. Those people are never going to want Cheney as their leader in the House. And primary voters aren't going to pick what they believe to be a turncoat if she runs for president.

As far as McConnell, there's been some reporting he might support convicting. I'm highly skeptical. But what do you expect? Why would he want a disgraced clown like Trump to continue to be the leader of the party?

Also worth pointing out... the "Trumpy" Republican leadership are basically mainstream Republicans... they just kiss Trump's ass sufficiently. Trumpism is about the performative assholery, not policy.

Trump essentially staged a hostile takeover of the GOP in 2016. Of course the main figures from the "establishment wing" of the party will try to seize the opportunity to roll this development back as much as they can, now that Trump is powerless, silenced, disgraced and with cratering approval ratings. Especially after the Georgia debacle, most of the GOP figures who were opposed to trumpism on ideological grounds anyway will have concluded that trumpism is a net negative for their party and that they want to get rid of it. The next day's riots/insurrection only exacerbated this assessment.

And the timing is good, we just had the general election, the next cycle is almost 2 years away. If you have to risk drawing the ire of Trump's base for some higher objective (keeping the party palatable to moderates and independents, rolling back the ideology toward fiscon and neocon), now is the moment to do it. So yes, right now, all the political incentives for mainstream Republicans (who never were true believers) are there to divorce themselves from Trump and, if possible, also from trumpism.


I agree with you, however, when it comes to Cheney and the House Republicans not wanting her as their leader. McConnell is hard to read for me right now. I mean, he's clearly beyond done with Trump, but I dont know how he will handle the impeachment vote from a strategical point of view. I think his main concern right now is getting over with impeachment without fracturing his caucus or party. If all GOP senators but Romney vote against removal, he'd probably be fine with it, and he'd probably be just as fine with 45 of his 50 Senators voting in favor of removal. What he wants to avoid, imho, is a situation where 15 of his 50 senators vote for removal, so that the impeachment falls short.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 13 2021 07:45am

The decision by 139 House Republicans to object to the results was an incredibly poor one, and one that will age even worse. Cheney has calculated that breaking from Trump is the most expedient play. She may well believe it, as McConnell appears to, but it would be exceedingly naïve to take their motives at face value. They are trying to make rational decisions.

How does Cheney going out on a limb by supporting impeachment help her political career? How does it roll back Trump's takeover of the GOP?

This makes no sense at all. If Trump is powerless and disgraced, as you say, the politically expedient move is to just let him leave in 7 days. Cheney could run with the bullshit message that we need to unify, and impeachment is divisive. Her move doesn't move the needle for her or the party, therefore, it's reasonable to think it's a courageous and principled position.

This post was edited by IceMage on Jan 13 2021 08:01am

She is a coward afraid of the media and big tech

That's just a really naive take. She's a necon swamp demon, and thanks to her last name, she will never really be able to pivot to something else. Her political career hinges 100% on whether neocon swamp demons regain control of the party or not.

Yes, Trump will be out in 7 days anyway, but his supporters and enablers in the party are not. This is not a fight about Trump, the person, anymore. This is effectively a proxy battle over the future direction of the party, between those who want to try some sort of "trumpism-without-Trump" and those who want to go back to the McCain/Romney era and platform.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 13 2021 08:10am