The myth of the good Republican survives because ever since Tricky Dick, the next iteration is orders of magnitude worse than the last. Nixon begat Reagan. Reagan begat Gingrich, Delay, Armey, Hastert. That bag of rats begat W and Cheney. And the war criminals begat Trump. And Trump begat Gaetz, Traitor Greene, Bobo, Biggs, Perry, Jordan and the rest of the Christo-fascist MAGA horde.
I really don’t understand how our six- and seven-figure political media stars can reconcile “Trump is an aberration in the Republican Party” with “Trump is cruising to his third straight Republican nomination,” but then I’m not one of them and have no desire to be.
Also, I had multiple conversations with conservatives in the late 1970s and the 1980s where they’d say “I WILL say ONE thing for the Soviet Union” followed by like five minutes of nonstop praise for the Soviet Union, so even that aspect isn’t new.
Thank you, Oliver Willis. This narrative is important, as memories are short and those who didn't live through the Old GOP's Sins rely on truth from the rest of us, who did.
I saw an anti-Trump Republican group hitting Trump for his comments about building heights on 9/11 on the anniversary this month (which in full context Trump's comments weren't even that bad). I just got kind of angry that a group of people who spent two decades weaponizing and politicizing 9/11 to maintain their power would somehow try and claim the moral high ground over Trump.
There are those of us with long memories in politics and we remember all the crazy things Republicans have done. I wish it was more common than it is.
Always wondered who was responsible for Sarah Palin. Stupid move, he didn’t know her. He showed total lack of judgment. Who suggested her? Who foisted her on the American public?
So-called conservatives like Romney aided and abetted the Republican descent into Trumpism. Re the Coppins excerpt, I lost track of the number of times Romney didn’t see something coming. How can anyone not in denial miss what is in front of their face? It’s easy when you’re culpable, I guess.
It’s more than a matter of degree. It’s the difference between being the opposing team versus upending the rules of the game. The Bushes and Reagan were the opposing team by and large, Gingrich and his progeny like Trump are qualitatively different in that they want to bring down the entire constitutional superstructure. McCain was merely the opposing team, as are Cheney and Romney. Your essay fails to make this distinction.
Mitt Romney, John McCain And The Myth Of The 'Good Republicans'
The myth of the good Republican survives because ever since Tricky Dick, the next iteration is orders of magnitude worse than the last. Nixon begat Reagan. Reagan begat Gingrich, Delay, Armey, Hastert. That bag of rats begat W and Cheney. And the war criminals begat Trump. And Trump begat Gaetz, Traitor Greene, Bobo, Biggs, Perry, Jordan and the rest of the Christo-fascist MAGA horde.
Brilliant Oliver. Powerful. Thanks for this brutally honest assessment of the mess we are in.
"The reality of the situation is that Trump is the logical endpoint of what his predecessors did."
1000x this. Thank you.
I really don’t understand how our six- and seven-figure political media stars can reconcile “Trump is an aberration in the Republican Party” with “Trump is cruising to his third straight Republican nomination,” but then I’m not one of them and have no desire to be.
Also, I had multiple conversations with conservatives in the late 1970s and the 1980s where they’d say “I WILL say ONE thing for the Soviet Union” followed by like five minutes of nonstop praise for the Soviet Union, so even that aspect isn’t new.
Thank you, Oliver Willis. This narrative is important, as memories are short and those who didn't live through the Old GOP's Sins rely on truth from the rest of us, who did.
Afraid that whoever comes after Trump will be worse than him. After Eisenhower there was a steady decline to the bottom of the barrel.
I saw an anti-Trump Republican group hitting Trump for his comments about building heights on 9/11 on the anniversary this month (which in full context Trump's comments weren't even that bad). I just got kind of angry that a group of people who spent two decades weaponizing and politicizing 9/11 to maintain their power would somehow try and claim the moral high ground over Trump.
There are those of us with long memories in politics and we remember all the crazy things Republicans have done. I wish it was more common than it is.
Always wondered who was responsible for Sarah Palin. Stupid move, he didn’t know her. He showed total lack of judgment. Who suggested her? Who foisted her on the American public?
So-called conservatives like Romney aided and abetted the Republican descent into Trumpism. Re the Coppins excerpt, I lost track of the number of times Romney didn’t see something coming. How can anyone not in denial miss what is in front of their face? It’s easy when you’re culpable, I guess.
Romney is quitting because his poll numbers are like Biden's. 41% approve, 53% disapprove.
Only, Romney's poll only includes his home state of Utah. One that he won in a landslide after begging for and receiving Trump's endorsement.
The mainstream media, predictably, is fellating him like he was Liz Cheney.
For some reason they do not remember:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2gvY2wqI7M
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/retroactively-retired-a-laugher-even-by-washington-standards/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxUsRedO4UY
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/romney-no-ones-ever-asked-see-my-birth-certificate-flna963300
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/romney-on-immigration-im-for-self-deportation/
Fuck this Republican!
It’s more than a matter of degree. It’s the difference between being the opposing team versus upending the rules of the game. The Bushes and Reagan were the opposing team by and large, Gingrich and his progeny like Trump are qualitatively different in that they want to bring down the entire constitutional superstructure. McCain was merely the opposing team, as are Cheney and Romney. Your essay fails to make this distinction.
There was also the attempted coup against FDR.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/trump-fdr-roosevelt-coup-attempt-1930s
100% 👏👏👏
Great piece, Mr. Willis.
I guess one difference between Republicans, then and now, is that more and more of the worst examples are getting elected.
Now, on to what can we do about it.
I was not aware that there were any...
Thank you so much for this, it summarizes how I have thought about this all along perhaps the only halfway decent republican was Eisenhower