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My Party is in Denial About Donald Trump - Sen. Jeff Flake

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Newenglanddeac

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Who could blame the people who felt abandoned and ignored by the major parties for reaching in despair for a candidate who offered oversimplified answers to infinitely complex questions and managed to entertain them in the process? With hindsight, it is clear that we all but ensured the rise of Donald Trump.

I will let the liberals answer for their own sins in this regard. (There are many.) But we conservatives mocked Barack Obama’s failure to deliver on his pledge to change the tone in Washington even as we worked to assist with that failure. It was we conservatives who, upon Obama’s election, stated that our No. 1 priority was not advancing a conservative policy agenda but making Obama a one-term president—the corollary to this binary thinking being that his failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime. It was we conservatives who were largely silent when the most egregious and sustained attacks on Obama’s legitimacy were leveled by marginal figures who would later be embraced and legitimized by far too many of us. It was we conservatives who rightly and robustly asserted our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government when a Democrat was in the White House but who, despite solemn vows to do the same in the event of a Trump presidency, have maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued. To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial...


http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/31/my-party-is-in-denial-about-donald-trump-215442
 
So let me get this straight. The whole time this was going on, Trump's rise to power in the Republican Party and Trump's general election victory, this MF was writing a book?

And he has the nerve to write this in his book:

"Too often, we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country, passively, all but saying, “Someone should do something!” without seeming to realize that that someone is us."

Fuck him and his Obamacare repeal vote.
 
This would probably go here. Apparently Robert Reich posted this on Facebook yesterday:

-------
This morning I phoned my friend, a former Republican member of Congress.

Me: What's going on? Seems like the White House is imploding, and Republicans are going down with the ship.

Him (chuckling): We’re officially a banana republic.

Me: Seriously, what are you hearing from your former colleagues on the Hill?

Him: They’re convinced Trump is out of his gourd.

Me: So what are they going to do about it?

Him: Remember what I told you at the start of this circus? They planned to use Trump’s antics for cover, to get done what they most wanted – big tax cuts, rollbacks of regulations, especially financial. They’d work with Pence behind the scenes and forget the crazy uncle in the attic.

Me: Yeah.

Him: Well, I’m hearing a different story now. Stuff with Sessions is pissing them off. And now Trump's hired that horse’s ass Scaramucci -- a communications director who talks dirty on CNN! Plus Trump’s numbers are in freefall. They think he’s gonna hurt them in ’18 and ’20.

Me: So what’s the plan?

Him: They want him outa there.

Me: Really? Impeachment?

Him: Doubt it, unless Mueller comes up with a smoking gun.

Me: Or if he fires Mueller.

Him: Not gonna happen.

Me: So how do they get him out?

Him: Put someone else up in ’20. Lots of maneuvering already. Pence, obviously. Cruz thinks he has a shot.

Me: But that won’t help them in the midterms. What’s the plan before then?

Him: Lots think he’s fritzing out.

Me: Fritzing out?

Him: Going totally bananas. Paranoia. You want to know why he fired Priebus, wants Sessions out, and is now gunning for Tillerson?

Me: He wants to shake things up?

Him (chuckling): No. The way I hear it, he thinks they’ve been plotting against him.

Me: What do you mean?

Him: Twenty-fifth amendment! Read it! A Cabinet can get rid of a president who’s nuts. Trump thinks they’ve been preparing a palace coup. So one by one, he’s firing them.

Me: I find it hard to believe they’re plotting against him.

Him: Of course not! It’s ludicrous. Sessions is a loyal lapdog. Tillerson doesn't know where the bathroom is. That’s my point. Trump is fritzing out. Having manic delusions. He’s actually going nuts.

Me: And?

Him: Well, it’s downright dangerous.

Me: Yeah, but that still doesn’t tell me what Republicans are planning to do about it.

Him: Look. How long do you think it will be before everyone in Washington knows he’s flipping out? I don’t mean just weird. I mean really off his rocker.

Me: I don’t know.

Him: No all that long.

Me: So what are you telling me?

Him: They don’t have to plot against him. It will be obvious to everyone that he’s got to go. That’s where the twenty-fifth amendment really does comes in.

Me: So you think…

Him: Who knows? But he’s losing it fast. My betting is he’s out of office before the midterms. And Pence is president.
--------
 
I doubt Reich's conversation went exactly like that. He will definitely not be running unopposed in 2020, though, assuming he gets that far.

The Flake article says a lot and absolutely nothing at the same time.
 
Flake is taking his "voicing concerns without actually doing anything" game to the next level.
 
Newenglanddeac said:
Who could blame the people who felt abandoned and ignored by the major parties for reaching in despair for a candidate who offered oversimplified answers to infinitely complex questions and managed to entertain them in the process? With hindsight, it is clear that we all but ensured the rise of Donald Trump.

I will let the liberals answer for their own sins in this regard. (There are many.) But we conservatives mocked Barack Obama’s failure to deliver on his pledge to change the tone in Washington even as we worked to assist with that failure. It was we conservatives who, upon Obama’s election, stated that our No. 1 priority was not advancing a conservative policy agenda but making Obama a one-term president—the corollary to this binary thinking being that his failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime. It was we conservatives who were largely silent when the most egregious and sustained attacks on Obama’s legitimacy were leveled by marginal figures who would later be embraced and legitimized by far too many of us. It was we conservatives who rightly and robustly asserted our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government when a Democrat was in the White House but who, despite solemn vows to do the same in the event of a Trump presidency, have maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued. To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial...


http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/31/my-party-is-in-denial-about-donald-trump-215442
Click to expand...

Nice fairy tale
 
Flake is worried about winning in 2018. He will get back in line with Trump once his primary challenger starts getting public backing.
 
avalon said:
Flake is taking his "voicing concerns without actually doing anything" game to the next level.
Click to expand...

I believe his voting record is 99% with the Republicans. He's only voting the GOP's concerns.
 
PhDeac said:
Flake is worried about winning in 2018. He will get back in line with Trump once his primary challenger starts getting public backing.
Click to expand...

So here's my question - which AZ seat is easier to flip, Flake's or McCain's (assuming a special election for McCain's next year)? Flake is being primaried by a Trumpite. Haven't seen any polls yet, but I'd have to favor Flake. Though his popularity in AZ is weak, he's a center-right type who would be tough to topple in a general. The Dem bench in AZ is weak, and no Dem has announced yet. I think Flake is taking the smart route of being critical of Trump and running as a center-right guy. With McCain likely retiring, this creates 3 winnable senate seats, the 2 in AZ and Heller in NV. I'm betting Heller goes down. Pick up 1 more, and that could offset the 2 likely losses in IN and MO.
 
cville deac said:
So here's my question - which AZ seat is easier to flip, Flake's or McCain's (assuming a special election for McCain's next year)? Flake is being primaried by a Trumpite. Haven't seen any polls yet, but I'd have to favor Flake. Though his popularity in AZ is weak, he's a center-right type who would be tough to topple in a general. The Dem bench in AZ is weak, and no Dem has announced yet. I think Flake is taking the smart route of being critical of Trump and running as a center-right guy. With McCain likely retiring, this creates 3 winnable senate seats, the 2 in AZ and Heller in NV. I'm betting Heller goes down. Pick up 1 more, and that could offset the 2 likely losses in IN and MO.
Click to expand...

I agree that IN is a goner, but McCaskill should win.
 
cville deac said:
So here's my question - which AZ seat is easier to flip, Flake's or McCain's (assuming a special election for McCain's next year)? Flake is being primaried by a Trumpite. Haven't seen any polls yet, but I'd have to favor Flake. Though his popularity in AZ is weak, he's a center-right type who would be tough to topple in a general. The Dem bench in AZ is weak, and no Dem has announced yet. I think Flake is taking the smart route of being critical of Trump and running as a center-right guy. With McCain likely retiring, this creates 3 winnable senate seats, the 2 in AZ and Heller in NV. I'm betting Heller goes down. Pick up 1 more, and that could offset the 2 likely losses in IN and MO.
Click to expand...

I think AZ appoints a replacement from the same party instead of a special election.
 
RJKarl said:
I agree that IN is a goner, but McCaskill should win.
Click to expand...

Dems have a lot of seats up in red states. That said, I like Tester's, Manchin's and Heitkamp's chances in MT, WV and ND. I wouldn't call Donnelly a goner, especially with no Pub declared yet. Give him a mediocre opponent, and Trump becomes increasingly unpopular, and I can see him hanging on fairly easily. McCaskill is in a similar boat. She's only still in DC because Akin liked talking about rape. MO is about as red as IN is these days. I'll give her the same fighter's chance I'm giving Donnelly, but I'd call both of those races slightly uphill battles. Here's another monkey wrench to consider. Say Trump gets 25th amendmented, resigns or is impeached if Mueller wraps up his investigation early and finds a smoking gun, do a lot of his followers say screw it and not show up to vote? I'd rate the chances of Trump not being president in 15 months as slim, but within the realm of reason.
 
cville deac said:
Good point. I have no idea what AZ law is on that matter. Any Arizonans care to weigh in?
Click to expand...

Not an AZ resident, but I googled this once. I think AZ nominates, and is legally bound to match the party of the departing senator (so a Dem governor wouldn't help us). I think PA and CO are the only states with Dem governors and Republican senators.
 
Any chance Mark Kelly would take a shot at politics for either of these seats in AZ?
 
deactherunner said:
Not an AZ resident, but I googled this once. I think AZ nominates, and is legally bound to match the party of the departing senator (so a Dem governor wouldn't help us). I think PA and CO are the only states with Dem governors and Republican senators.
Click to expand...

NC
 
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