General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThey're so twisted up in their own gambit they can't shoot straight.
I do believe over the next few weeks we're going to see them turn on each other in the worst way. The Nazis and the Religiously Insane versus the Corporate Greedheads, I suppose, is how this will splinter.
They're desperately trying to hold the coalition of Evil together here in the face of loss, something that I think was easier for them before they went full death-cult in the last four years.
The combination of mounting deaths during the holidays, especially centered in their hometowns -- along with the continuing economic freefall as their own party stalls any attempt to relieve the nation in a sort of a combination burn-it-all-down and self-flagellative frustration -- is going to increase the stress daily as Dear Leader continues his personal meltdown. His stress is their stress, his weakness is their weakness, his loss is their ultra-loss because he has painted it as the End of the World and they believe him.
They've talked each other into standing up in public and threatening a hot civil war, but the truth is deep down 1) they know this is all sick and 2) they are primarily mentally ill and/or cowards, and the inability to push past their fear and actually attack any liberals they can identify who are certified as defenseless enough to pick on (usually three large men with AR-15's to one grandmother with a pink hat is the required ratio) is going to burn their internal world to the ground. These people aren't resilient anymore. They're brittle, hysterical, and dimly aware their lives have gone over a cliff.
Mark my words, Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey are going to spark their rage first. These primates are going to turn in on themselves, beat their wives and kids, drink heavily, commit random acts of violence in their own red districts, and hunt down the suits they think of as the Betrayers of the Cause.
Any of the quasi-normal conservatives (the few, the only mildly evil) who won't instantly join in the attempt to seize power in the name of the Proud Boys are in real trouble.
Howard Bloom wrote about this stuff in The Lucifer Principle. The closer to primate you are, the more the logic of the pecking order rules you. And there are very specific reflexes and outcomes in the event of Great Loss.
Any sane Republican is going to pay a price. Unless they're out there in the street alongside the Oathkeepers threatening to put an end to this horrifying assault on whiteness (that's how they view it), they'll be pegged as Enemies even more then we are.
And if we stay strong with each other, each of us taking a deep breath and standing up to give what we have to offer this nation -- sensible, American strength and love, honor, intellect and skill -- we'll win. Let's treat each other with the civility and respect that has no home in conservatism. We'll make everything better.
nuxvomica
(12,823 posts)All this year people have lost loved ones and have been reminded of that loss on various birthdays and anniversaries but Thanksgiving is the one day we all take stock of who remains and I think the effect could be seismic. It is going to be a profoundly sad day across the country.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)The legal options are failing and becoming less of a likely path for the republicans. Many have as you mentioned lost loved ones or are seeing normal holidays disrupted. Areas are locking down more, grocery stores are rationing some items. It may cause the light 💡 bulb to go off in a rew heads.
My concern is the direction that comes from their realization. They may feed on each other or they may lash out against society in general.
hwmnbn
(4,285 posts)treatise. I concur with many of your observations and expect to witness them soon. I suspect the "reckoning" will be epic enough to possibly broadcast it as pay-per-view.
I'm intrigued by your book suggestion, The Lucifer Principle, thanks for sharing.
Most of all, your last paragraph is a killer! After reading it, I got pumped! Although I was in bed, I was jumping up and down, metaphorically.
Those sentiments are so close to mine, it's spooky. Send it to Biden campaign. It would be a great closer for his inauguration speech.
I'm not kidding!
Until then, whatever little pebbles of positivity we can each throw into the pond, let's do it.
Raven
(14,075 posts)it is beautifully written, scary, and lays out clearly and unemotionally what we are up against. After that, I take hope and strength from your last paragraph. Your last sentence will be my Thanksgiving prayer. Thank you.
wendyb-NC
(3,729 posts)BumRushDaShow
(140,314 posts)to take a "Jeff Flake/Lamar Alexander fake 'high road' and equivocation, with asterisks" stance, never truly throwing their party under the bus, which needs to be done.
Toomey will leave what might become, as an open Senate seat here in PA, the biggest contest in the nation when that seat comes up in 2022. We will also have an open gubernatorial seat that year, which will be a hard slog to keep in Democratic hands.
The Genealogist
(4,726 posts)Otherwise, let them divide up into a passel of competing tribes, each one of them trying to out-misanthrope the others. I'd love to see the Republican party split into at least two competing factions, each unable to pull in enough support to hold any real power.
Midnight Writer
(22,856 posts)Every night the yahoos get drunk and beat the hell out of each other.
Nobody much cares.