The only possibility in my opinion is that the republicans believe they have someone as a strong enough candidate for 2024 that they could name (and keep the "trump" voters) at this point isn't the entire goal of the republican's party to hold out until 2022 to gain back senate seats and then 2024 to beat biden?

Therein lies the problem . All the 2024 contenders are Trump loyalists and come from red states who worship Trump... from Hawley to Cruz. At this point in time, going against Trump is political suicidal. I think the only one who isn't a Trump sycophant is Nikki Haley and Pence, but the GOP won't vote for someone with Nimrata as a first name or a dude who all Trumpers believe committed treason by certifying the votes . I could see the Trump koolaid fizzle out if his Twitter account remains suspended after a few months , though .

It's actually easier for the GOP to take back the House than the Senate. The Dem majority in the House is so slim that Republicans can flip the chamber on redistricting alone, so all they need to achieve is a repeat of the D+3.1 environment from the 2020 House election. In a Biden midterm, this should be easy to achieve, even if the GOP is still suffering from post-Trump woes.



Pence not a Trump sycophant, seriously? The guy was slavishly loyal to the orange one, only to be stabbed in the back and scapegoated in the end.

But yes, a lot will depend on how much sway Trump still holds over the party and its voters when the next primary season comes around.

I believe Pence saw Trump's true nature when the orange man was desperately trying to force his hand through Twitter to block the certification. It was like an awkward test of loyalty and Pence royally failed it. I don't think they can ever salvage whatever relationship they had after that day and Trump probably considers him an enemy at this point. Seeing how some of these politicisns denounced Trump's incitement language and two weeks later protect him, maybe you are right.. the boot cravings are worse than nicotine.

This post was edited by kenw on Feb 10 2021 02:23am

Trump reportedly was super paranoid about Pence being the key chess piece in a coup plot where his cabinet would have turned on him, invoked the 25th and replaced him with Pence. He really went off the deep end during his last 2 months in office.

Regarding Republicans: they were in a really awkward spot ever since election day. They had to toe the line until the Georgia runoffs because they knew that they couldnt win these without high turnout from Trump's base. Then, after Trump had fucked that up and incited the Capitol riot the next day, a lot of them were willing to break with Trump. McConnell in particular tested the waters when he very publicly and intentionally announced that he's in favor of holding an impeachment trial. It's very obvious that party elites during these days thought and hoped that they could start an avalanche and purge their party from everything Trump. When the first polls came in showing that the overwhelming majority of their voters still stand by Trump despite the insurrection, they had to slam the breaks (again) and fall in line.

Viewed from a distance or without context, the behavior of Republican officials during these 2-3 months looks like ridiculous flip-flopping, but it actually makes perfect sense from a cynical, macchiavellian perspective.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Feb 10 2021 03:36am

I'm curious how Trump "fucked that up" with the Georgia runoffs. Please explain. Every statement Trump made was for his supporters in Georgia to get out and vote, and he went out and actively rallied in Georgia in an attempt to get his supporters to vote.

If you are pointing at idiots like Powell and Wood who told people that the system's so broke that they should just not vote in Georgia, that's fine. They're idiots. How exactly does that imply Trump fucked anything up?

Had he received the same round the clock coverage from CNN/MSNBC/etc. that Wood and Powell did with their Shenanigans, it's likely Georgia would have gone the other way, tbh.

Maybe campaigning more in Georgia and telling his followers to fly and canvass there instead of squandering plane tickets to DC would have helped. I think he did one rally there and peaced out lol.

trump is still the party for the forseeable future
no secret vote, no conviction
nobody wants to lose the base

That's factually inaccurate and not even relevant. First, Trump held several rallies in Georgia, including a rally on the day of the runoff, January 5th. Even Biden held a rally in Georgia on the 5th.

Whether or not a Trump supporter voted on the 5th has zero impact on their ability to get to DC on the 6th. It's not a multi-day flight. One could easily vote, catch a flight, and be in DC that night. It's only an hour and a half (roughly) flight.

Trump campaigned plenty on behalf of the Georgia runoff. Outside of Fox News, no major media outlet covered any of his campaigning except to call his events "Super spreader" because omg covid!

You do know 468 thousand anerican are dead right? That's a hell of a lot.
You guys still keep going on about 9/11 and that was 3,000.