We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated

[BoSoxGal]

Opinion
We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated
The president and his enablers have replaced conservatism with an empty faith led by a bogus prophet.

By George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson
The authors have worked for and supported Republican campaigns.
Dec. 17, 2019

Credit...Samuel Corum for The New York Times
Patriotism and the survival of our nation in the face of the crimes, corruption and corrosive nature of Donald Trump are a higher calling than mere politics. As Americans, we must stem the damage he and his followers are doing to the rule of law, the Constitution and the American character.

That’s why we are announcing the Lincoln Project, an effort to highlight our country’s story and values, and its people’s sacrifices and obligations. This effort transcends partisanship and is dedicated to nothing less than preservation of the principles that so many have fought for, on battlefields far from home and within their own communities.

This effort asks all Americans of all places, creeds and ways of life to join in the seminal task of our generation: restoring to this nation leadership and governance that respects the rule of law, recognizes the dignity of all people and defends the Constitution and American values at home and abroad.

Over these next 11 months, our efforts will be dedicated to defeating President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line. We do not undertake this task lightly, nor from ideological preference. We have been, and remain, broadly conservative (or classically liberal) in our politics and outlooks. Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain, but our shared fidelity to the Constitution and the American character.

The 2020 general election, by every indication, will be about persuasion, with turnout expected to be at record highs. Our efforts are aimed at persuading enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College, and congressional majorities that don’t enable or abet Mr. Trump’s violations of the Constitution, even if that means Democratic control of the Senate and an expanded Democratic majority in the House.
DEBATABLE Agree to disagree, or disagree better? Broaden your perspective with sharp arguments on the most pressing issues of the week. Sign up here.
The American presidency transcends the individuals who occupy the Oval Office. Their personality becomes part of our national character. Their actions become our actions, for which we all share responsibility. Their willingness to act in accordance with the law and our tradition dictate how current and future leaders will act. Their commitment to order, civility and decency are reflected in American society.

Mr. Trump fails to meet the bar for this commitment. He has neither the moral compass nor the temperament to serve. His vision is limited to what immediately faces him — the problems and risks he chronically brings upon himself and for which others, from countless contractors and companies to the American people, ultimately bear the heaviest burden.

But this president’s actions are possible only with the craven acquiescence of congressional Republicans. They have done no less than abdicate their Article I responsibilities.
Indeed, national Republicans have done far worse than simply march along to Mr. Trump’s beat. Their defense of him is imbued with an ugliness, a meanness and a willingness to attack and slander those who have shed blood for our country, who have dedicated their lives and careers to its defense and its security, and whose job is to preserve the nation’s status as a beacon of hope.

Congressional Republicans have embraced and copied Mr. Trump’s cruelty and defended and even adopted his corruption. Mr. Trump and his enablers have abandoned conservatism and longstanding Republican principles and replaced it with Trumpism, an empty faith led by a bogus prophet. In a recent survey, a majority of Republican voters reported that they consider Mr. Trump a better president than Lincoln.

Mr. Trump and his fellow travelers daily undermine the proposition we as a people have a responsibility and an obligation to continually bend the arc of history toward justice. They mock our belief in America as something more meaningful than lines on a map.

Our peril far outstrips any past differences: It has arrived at our collective doorstep, and we believe there is no other choice. We sincerely hope, but are not optimistic, that some of those Republicans charged with sitting as jurors in a likely Senate impeachment trial will do likewise.

American men and women stand ready around the globe to defend us and our way of life. We must do right by them and ensure that the country for which they daily don their uniform deserves their protection and their sacrifice.

We are reminded of Dan Sickles, an incompetent 19th-century New York politician. On July 2, 1863, his blundering nearly ended the United States.

(Sickles’s greatest previous achievement had been fatally shooting his wife’s lover across the street from the White House and getting himself elected to Congress. Even his most fervent admirers could not have imagined that one day, far in the future, another incompetent New York politician, a president, would lay claim to that legacy by saying he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.)
On that day in Pennsylvania, Sickles was a major general commanding the Union Army’s III Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg, and his incompetence wrought chaos and danger. The Confederate Army took advantage, and turned the Union line. Had the rebel soldiers broken through, the continent might have been divided: free and slave, democratic and authoritarian.

Another Union general, Winfield Scott Hancock, had only minutes to reinforce the line. America, the nation, the ideal, hung in the balance. Amid the fury of battle, he found the First Minnesota Volunteers.

They charged, and many of them fell, suffering a staggeringly high casualty rate. They held the line. They saved the Union. Four months later, Lincoln stood on that field of slaughter and said, “It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”

We look to Lincoln as our guide and inspiration. He understood the necessity of not just saving the Union, but also of knitting the nation back together spiritually as well as politically. But those wounds can be bound up only once the threat has been defeated. So, too, will our country have to knit itself back together after the scourge of Trumpism has been overcome.

George T. Conway III is an attorney in New York. Steve Schmidt is a Republican political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Weaver is a Republican strategist who worked for President George H.W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Gov. John Kasich. Rick Wilson is a Republican media consultant and author of “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and the forthcoming “Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America From Trump and Democrats From Themselves.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/opin ... oject.html

[Burning Petard]

If only it would be so. I have a brother and a brother-in-law, both college grads from decent schools. Both have retired after running a small business as sole proprietor. Both are life-long Republicans. Both they and their spouses think POTUS not only should not be impeached, but that EVERYTHING he has done is wonderful. The only reason they see for those like me who do not agree, is that we must have an irrational hatred for anyone with lots of money.

But I am an irrational optimist. I wish every success to this Lincoln Project.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

this president’s actions are possible only with the craven acquiescence of congressional Republicans. They have done no less than abdicate their Article I responsibilities.

[Bicycle Bill]

I don't think any Democrat really begrudges any Republican their money.  Just for the record, there are a boatload of Republican voters in the deep red states who don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.

I think, though, that what most Democrats hold against many Republicans is the WAY they are making their money — exploiting workers by creating meaningless and poorly-paying jobs in the service sector, lobbying for fewer and fewer regulations (including those related to workplace safety and health) to reduce costs even further regardless of the damage to workers and the environment, cutting as many benefits as possible — how many guaranteed paid vacation days do Walmart workers get versus what your old man got working at GM, US Steel, Boeing, Allis-Chalmers, Trane Company, or on the railroads?, doing all they can to stagnate wages, emasculating unions and all the countless other things that truly show just how little they care for the workforce on whose backs they are making their obscene profits and taking their equally-bloated CEO salaries and perks.  And should someone actually push back a little, out come the pink slips or the high-priced lawyers or the threat to relocate the company off-shore to stomp out that little uprising before any serious harm can be done.

-"BB"-

[liberty]

There are a lot of rich liberal Democrats that could donate half of their wealth to the federal government. They would set a good example for other rich Americans and demonstrate their moral superiority.

[datsunaholic]

A very telling part of the whole debate part of yesterdays proceedings came from republicans in their little speeches. To paraphrase, one legislator said that Trump was doing exactly what his voters elected him to do - shake up Washington.

I can't argue with that. Most Trump supporters I know, and I know a LOT of them, are just gushing over how he does things. Wiping his ass with the Constitution? Well, that ratty old piece of parchment was just in the way. To them, rules and procedures in the government were getting in the way and they wanted Trump to cut through the red tape and just get things done. Constitutionality be damned, they decided to vote in a Tyrant. If they had their way he'd be "president" for life.

The current Republican party is full of "single issue" voters, and the republicans have figured out how to use that to their advantage. Take any anti-liberal stance, the republicans have adopted every one of them (even if they are in conflict). The republicans embrace racists, homophobes, religious intolerance, misogynists, all with a promise of taking America back to the glory days when White America was supreme. As long as the working class republicans have someone they can look down on, it's all good. If the people they look down on happen to be a different race, creed, or sexuality then so much the better. Easier to identify who to hate that way. And the Republican party has embraced it whole heartedly. Because in the end it's all about power. And as long as it's your guy in power he can do no wrong.

Back in 2008 I sat through a speech by my local Caucus leader. He said something that turned me away from the Republican party, but described exactly why we see the Republican congress falling in lockstep with Trump today:

"We are Republicans first, and conservatives second."

Meaning, party comes first. You were required to bear allegiance to the party above everything else. And the people applauded.

I didn't see it then, but the party's willingness to embrace someone so opposite of the party's so called principles even in 2008 (when the party was fully willing to embrace the Libertarian Ron Paul if he had gathered a bit more support) was a pretty good precursor to the party embracing a completely non-conservative celebrity, complete with the cult of personality common with every one of the worst totalitarian dictators of the 20th and 21st centuries.

[Big RR]

To them, rules and procedures in the government were getting in the way and they wanted Trump to cut through the red tape and just get things done. Constitutionality be damned, they decided to vote in a Tyrant. If they had their way he'd be "president" for life.

that makes sense Datsun, but exactly what has he done? I'll agree he hasn't messed up the economy yet, but I don't see anything he has done to help it alone. This period of prosperity (and it is not in all areas) is more part of the usual ebb and flow of the economy, and not related to anything he has done or not done. But other than that, all we have is rhetoric and a few reworked trade agreements which are pretty much the same as what they were before. Taxes were cut, but the deficit and debt are soaring. There's no wall on the border, undocumented immigration has not been significantly curtailed, we still have high drug prices, troops are still in Syria (only this time protecting the oil fields and not our former allies (not something most of them really wanted I'll bet), etc. Is all they want someone who will stand up and yell--that's all they really get from him. I guess so, otherwise they'd see him as the failure he is.

[datsunaholic]

They don't see it that way. They get their news from the official propaganda machine. Ask any Trump supporter... miles of wall has been built, jobs are being created, and the Cabinet has been culled of lifetime politicians (drained the swamp). And they believe it, because they are so blinded by the cult of personality. Trump says it is, so it must be so. Everything Liberals sat are lies, is what the working class Republicans are being indoctrinated to believe. And that indoctrination comes from several directions - the party, FOX news, and their church.

[MajGenl.Meade]

(CNN)A leading Christian magazine founded by late evangelist Billy Graham -- father of key presidential supporter Franklin Graham -- published an op-ed on Thursday calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office and urging evangelicals not to support him.
"Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment," Christianity Today's editor in chief, Mark Galli, wrote in the op-ed. "That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments."
Galli continued, "We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president's moral deficiencies for all to see."

"None of the president's positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character," he added.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/19/poli ... index.html

[BoSoxGal]

There’s a guy who is probably about to lose his job. God bless him for his patriotism and for putting his character ahead of personal gain.

eta: Further research reveals he’s retiring in two weeks - announced back in October. So perhaps this move was saved for when it was least likely to damage his own career, although it appears the magazine does largely reflect the liberal end of the evangelical spectrum.

[MajGenl.Meade]

The entire article is a good read. Franklin Graham, of course, is all a-froth.

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/20 ... ffice.html

[RayThom]

And now this from the conservative National Review:

Four Tests for Impeachment
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine ... t/#slide-1

[Burning Petard]

I have long dispaired over the tribalism and fundamentalism and authoritarianism that I see growing around me, locally and globally. I saw no way out but growing extremism on every side. There seemed to be no real data about how to move people to accept compromise.

Then I saw a reference to "The Five Percent" by Peter T. Coleman. He is an academic at Columbia University but leads a functioning think tank on conflict resolution. Hard-nosed businessmen pay real money for his services. He has a "Handbook of Conflict Resolution' that is priced like a a book that your employer will purchase for you on your expense sheet. BUT my local library has it. I strongly recommend anyone look at any of his books. Use your public library--your taxpayer dollars at work.

There is hard data on ways to get around emotional enertia and dissonance.

snailgate.

[Lord Jim]

Longtime Republican Strategist Rails Against What GOP Has Become Under Donald Trump

Mac Stipanovich said it “is so far from a shining city on the hill that it’s hard to remember that’s what we used to stand for.”

I became a Republican in ’83 during the time of Ronald Reagan. Then, if you went into the booth and voted Republican, you had a good idea of what you were getting, even if you did not know the candidate. You were getting fiscal discipline. You were getting a strong commitment to a forward-leaning foreign policy. America as the leader of the free world. Free trade. You were getting pro-home rule bias. You were getting personal accountability and you were getting, as you will recall, a shining city on the hill, to which the entire world looked for leadership and to which immigrants, beckoned by that light, were welcomed.

There’s always been a nasty underbelly in the Republican Party since World II. Basically, a virulent strain of right-wing populism, beginning with John Birchers who thought Dwight Eisenhower was a communist to the Trump people today who think that John McCain was a traitor. They’ve been movement conservatives, they were Tea Party people. And now they’re Trump people. The Trump party now is isolationist. It is protectionist. It is nativist. It is xenophobic. And it is so far from a shining city on the hill that it’s hard to remember that’s what we used to stand for — and I can’t stand it. That progressed over time. As I said, there was always roughly 20 to 30%, maybe a little more, of the Republican primary vote that were right-wing nuts.

Go back as far as 2006 to the Charlie Crist primary with Tom Gallagher. Remember, Gallagher reinvented himself as champion of the religious right. I told Charlie that’s poison candy, stay near the center. Don’t be drawn to the right by Gallagher. Charlie didn’t, he beat him 2 to 1.

Because of increasing economic dislocations and distress resulting from the transition from industrial economies to service economies around the world, because folks were roiled by very rapid social and cultural changes in America, it was very disconcerting to a lot of Republicans and conservatives. Add to that the continued browning of America, which was exacerbated by the Obama presidency. White fright increased exponentially until it is probably the dominant feature of Trump Republican Party today.

What had been a relatively stable minority in the Republican Party metastasized. And it became this majority. Trump’s genius was that he recognized the rot in the Republican Party. He didn’t transform the Republican Party, he reveled it. He could have gone the way of Ross Perot or George Wallace and had a third-party candidacy and been defeated. But his genius was to commandeer the party of Ronald Reagan. Which obviously I have not gotten over yet. And I’m unlikely to get over.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/31 ... a-politics