Romney: Trump is wrong to vilify the press. It's not the enemy, it's critical to democracy.

[dfwgator]

Exactly.  And McConnell's kinda of transformation to the point of at least working with Trump.  It will continue and Republicans need to finally figure out what's good for them.

And Trump has to understand that repeating his 2016 campaign won't work this time.   In 2016, he ran as the "outsider", which was precisely what was needed.   In 2020, he needs to run as the standard-bearer of the GOP, which means he may have to swallow his tongue more this time around.   Focus all the fire on the Rats instead of other Republicans.   But on the flip side, that goes for the other Republicans.   Like it or not,  they are all going to sink or swim together.

[Jazzhead]

Those that ran on the Trump agenda mostly won, those like McSally that were Neverturmpers pretending to
be conservative mostly lost. Without Trump there is no GOP. Even with Trump there might not be a GOP if
we don't get our border secured.

Wrong.  Here in Pennsylvania - which voted for Trump in 2016 - two unrepentant dyed-in-the-wool Trumpsters ran for Senate and Governor respectively.   Anti-immigrant Lou Barletta and "stomp 'em with golf spikes"  Scott Wagner.   Each got their clock cleaned.   

The GOP needs to absorb the lessons of Donald Trump while getting past the man himself.   The 2018 elections proved he could not grow his base, even while framing the election as an referendum on Trump himself.   

[dfwgator]

Wrong.  Here in Pennsylvania - which voted for Trump in 2016 - two unrepentant dyed-in-the-wool Trumpsters ran for Senate and Governor respectively.   Anti-immigrant Lou Barletta and "stomp 'em with golf spikes"  Scott Wagner.   Each got their clock cleaned.   
 

Being a "Trumpster" is not a help if you're still a poor candidate.  All politics is still local for the most part.

[Jazzhead]

Being a "Trumpster" is not a help if you're still a poor candidate.  All politics is still local for the most part.

I don't disagree.  They were both terrible candidates,  but they still refute @jpsb 's point that without Trump there is no GOP.    Each ran EXPLICITLY as a Trumpster, and each got his ass kicked.   

[jpsb]

I don't disagree.  They were both terrible candidates,  but they still refute @jpsb 's point that without Trump there is no GOP.    Each ran EXPLICITLY as a Trumpster, and each got his ass kicked.   

You didn't refute anything. I said mostly I didn't say every. FYI Trump did far better in his first mid-term than Obama.

You know what happen the Paul Ryan House got it's ass kicked but the Trump Senate didn't. The
house fought the Trump agenda where as the Senate (other than that back stabbing McCain) did
what it could to further Trump agenda. Explain that. Without Trump there is no GOP.

[Jazzhead]

You didn't refute anything. I said mostly I didn't say every. FYI Trump did far better in his first mid-term than Obama.

You know what happen the Paul Ryan House got it's ass kicked but the Trump Senate didn't. The
house fought the Trump agenda where as the Senate (other than that back stabbing McCain) did
what it could to further Trump agenda. Explain that. Without Trump there is no GOP.

Trump had the economic winds at his back, yet he still lost the House.   No other President presiding over an economic boom with record low unemployment would have lost the House.  Trump did, because he insisted on making the election a referendum on himself.   

The Senate barely survives in GOP hands, in a year when the map overwhelmingly favored the Republicans.   And the losses the GOP has suffered have been in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, states with blue collar industries that are benefitting economically.   All three went for Trump in 2016, and all three now have Dem governors.   Maybe Florida too.     

Trump is a flippin' albatross around the neck of our party.    Now that the midterms are over, and his weaknesses as a party leader have been exposed,  it is time to face reality that the 2020 elections - where the Senate map flips and overwhelmingly favors the Dems - are a looming disaster unless Trump is replaced as the nominee.   

[skeeter]

Trump had the economic winds at his back, yet he still lost the House.   No other President presiding over an economic boom with record low unemployment would have lost the House.  Trump did, because he insisted on making the election an referendum on himself.   

Yeah, the ratio of republican congresspeople retiring (high) to democrats retiring (low) being unprecedented had nothing to do with it. Lets go with CNN's 'its Trump's fault'.

[Emjay]

Trump had the economic winds at his back, yet he still lost the House.   No other President presiding over an economic boom with record low unemployment would have lost the House.  Trump did, because he insisted on making the election an referendum on himself.   

The Senate barely survives in GOP hands, in a year when the map overwhelmingly favored the Dems.   And the losses the GOP has suffered have been in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, states with blue collar industries that are benefitting economically.   All three went for Trump in 2016, and all three now have Dem governors.   Maybe Florida too.     

Trump is a flippin' albatross around the neck of our party.    Now that the midterms are over, and his weaknesses as a party leader have been exposed,  it is time to face reality that the 2020 elections - where the Senate map flips and overwhelmingly favors the Dems - are a looming disaster unless Trump is replaced as the nominee.   

So wrong @Jazzhead   Look it up.  Republicans lost far fewer mid-term seats than average for an incumbent.

[skeeter]

So wrong @Jazzhead   Look it up.  Republicans lost far fewer mid-term seats than average for an incumbent.

This, too.

Some folks are a bit too fast on the 'dump Trump' trigger. Makes me go 'hmm'.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Trump had the economic winds at his back, yet he still lost the House.   No other President presiding over an economic boom with record low unemployment would have lost the House.  Trump did, because he insisted on making the election a referendum on himself.   

The Senate barely survives in GOP hands, in a year when the map overwhelmingly favored the Republicans.   And the losses the GOP has suffered have been in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, states with blue collar industries that are benefitting economically.   All three went for Trump in 2016, and all three now have Dem governors.   Maybe Florida too.     

Trump is a flippin' albatross around the neck of our party.    Now that the midterms are over, and his weaknesses as a party leader have been exposed,  it is time to face reality that the 2020 elections - where the Senate map flips and overwhelmingly favors the Dems - are a looming disaster unless Trump is replaced as the nominee.   

Please, @Jazzhead stop presenting your wishful thinking as fact.  Below are the first midterm election outcomes for Clinton and Obama.  Each was gobsmacked with massive Democrat losses in both houses of Congress.  And remember:  Neither President Clinton nor President Obama faced the retirement of 44 members of his political caucus as did President Trump.

Yet, both Clinton and Obama went on and won reelection in two years.  If history is prelude, based on the outcome of the midterms in 2018, we just might be looking at a landslide victory for President Trump in 2020.   

But you keep hoping.

___________________________

2010:  Democrats lost 6 seats in the Senate and 63 seats in the House; 2012 Presidential Victor:  Barack Obama

1994:  Democrats lost 8 seats in the Senate and 54 seats in the House  1996 Presidential Victor:  Bill Clinton

[LMAO]

unless Trump is replaced as the nominee.   

@Jazzhead

The problem with that is there are few , if any, cases of an incumbent President winning re-election when he faces a primary challenge

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Trump had the economic winds at his back, yet he still lost the House.   No other President presiding over an economic boom with record low unemployment would have lost the House.  Trump did, because he insisted on making the election a referendum on himself.   

The Senate barely survives in GOP hands, in a year when the map overwhelmingly favored the Republicans.   And the losses the GOP has suffered have been in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, states with blue collar industries that are benefitting economically.   All three went for Trump in 2016, and all three now have Dem governors.   Maybe Florida too.     

Trump is a flippin' albatross around the neck of our party.    Now that the midterms are over, and his weaknesses as a party leader have been exposed,  it is time to face reality that the 2020 elections - where the Senate map flips and overwhelmingly favors the Dems - are a looming disaster unless Trump is replaced as the nominee.   

@Jazzhead
An undeniably accurate and fair analysis.  I'm glad nobody is listening to you.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Jazzhead
An undeniably accurate and fair analysis.  I'm glad nobody is listening to you.

Still pulling for your gal.  You must be verklempt over the possibility of BJ's bride ruling over you.

I continue to hope she rewards you for your hard work this time around. 

[sneakypete]

Somebody PLEASE explain to me why anyone should give a damn what that loser thinks about anything?

[Jazzhead]

Please, @Jazzhead stop presenting your wishful thinking as fact.  Below are the first midterm election outcomes for Clinton and Obama.  Each was gobsmacked with massive Democrat losses in both houses of Congress.  And remember:  Neither President Clinton nor President Obama faced the retirement of 44 members of his political caucus as did President Trump.

Yet, both Clinton and Obama went on and won reelection in two years.  If history is prelude, based on the outcome of the midterms in 2018, we just might be looking at a landslide victory for President Trump in 2020.   

But you keep hoping.

___________________________

2010:  Democrats lost 6 seats in the Senate and 63 seats in the House; 2012 Presidential Victor:  Barack Obama

1994:  Democrats lost 8 seats in the Senate and 54 seats in the House  1996 Presidential Victor:  Bill Clinton

You are missing the forest for the trees,  @Right_in_Virginia .    Neither Obama more Clinton had the booming economy that Trump has.   Trump should have gained seats.   The GOP squandered the best chance it had in years to become a true majority party.  And the reason is Donald Trump.

 Voters in district after district say they voted as they did in order to send a message about President Trump.  Either for or against - but about two-thirds of those who treated their Congressional votes as referendums on Trump voted against the GOP.    Trump got the referendum he sought, and so did the Dems.

Trump foolishly played into the Dems' own strategy.    What were the Dems supposed to run against, historically low minority unemployment?     

The time has come to start the conversation about replacing Trump as the nominee in 2020.   I concede that the Trump has transformed the GOP coalition.   Its appeal can and must be to the working man.   But Trump has accomplished his mission,  and cannot go any further.  He cannot grow the base, cannot expand the coalition.  The election results should be a wake-up call that while Trump's lessons must be absorbed,  a new standard bearer must be found if the GOP is to reclaim the suburbs, reclaim the educated, reclaim those who want the President to be someone to be proud of.   

And a final word:   2020 is absolutely critical, because Trump has radicalized the Dem party, pushing to the forefront real socialists.   We can't afford to lose in 2020,  or it's the deluge.   

[sneakypete]

Mitt is running in 2020.

@dfwgator

Of course he is. It is the family bidnez.

That doesn't mean he deserves any free press or that anyone wants to hear anything he has to say.

[Jazzhead]

Somebody PLEASE explain to me why anyone should give a damn what that loser thinks about anything?

Loser?  The man just won a resounding victory in the Senate.   

[sneakypete]

Loser?  The man just won a resounding victory in the Senate.   

@Jazzhead

Various Kennedy's,Clinton's,and other scum have also been US Senators. They were still losers and they will always be losers.

[Suppressed]

Voters in district after district say they voted as they did in order to send a message about President Trump.  Either for or against - but about two-thirds of those who treated their Congressional votes as referendums on Trump voted against the GOP.    Trump got the referendum he sought, and so did the Dems.

The problem, @Jazzhead, is that the audience who could make that happen is more interested in propping up a man than in winning on principles.  It will be very difficult to make that change, and it means the country is in for some hard-left movement that was predicted as a long-term result of Trump being elected.

[Jazzhead]

The problem, @Jazzhead, is that the audience who could make that happen is more interested in propping up a man than in winning on principles.  It will be very difficult to make that change, and it means the country is in for some hard-left movement that was predicted as a long-term result of Trump being elected.

I think you're right, @Suppressed , which is why I think the GOP needs to continue the direction laid out by President Trump, but not with Trump as the leader.   Trump/GOP policies have worked in many respects, unleashing animal spirits and economic growth that Obama had consigned to the dustbin of history.   Yet the GOP was not rewarded for those policies.   I believe that is because Trump has become bigger than the GOP,  his personality (especially its negative aspects) displacing the GOP's message.   

Some here have argued that without Trump there is no GOP.   That picture of the GOP as a cult of personality is dangerously flawed.  Now that the midterms are over,  the focus must turn to 2020 and the hard-left turn of the current Democratic party.   That leaves opportunity for the GOP - among those who will gladly choose to support rational policies that keep us safe,  keep us working, and keep us as free as possible from the government leviathan.     But not if our figurehead is Donald Trump.    It is only because of the distraction represented by Mr. Trump that the Dems may be able to trick us into voting for socialism.   

[dfwgator]

@dfwgator

Of course he is. It is the family bidnez.

That doesn't mean he deserves any free press or that anyone wants to hear anything he has to say.

And he'll get crushed like a bug just like in 2012.

[Suppressed]

It is only because of the distraction represented by Mr. Trump that the Dems may be able to trick us into voting for socialism.

I think there's a segment of the population who feel the need for the cult of personality, but as we saw this election, that's more than offset by those who are turned off.  I think many of the latter could be won, especially if we spend our focus on the Democrats' far-left turn instead of the Donald Trump brand.

As you pointed out, there was a YUGE underperformance relative to the economy.  With a booming economy (even if it's accompanying a booming debt), we should have done far better than we did.  There was such and opportunity, and such an opportunity is coming in 2020, but I fear we'll make the same mistake again.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Let's just face facts @Jazzhead   You want liberals/socialists controlling the reigns of power, and to your credit you don't care if they're called Democrats or RINOS.

I do not. 

You and I are never going to agree ... and I've given your political gospel more daylight than it deserves.

We're done.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

We're done.

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/305906786408480770?lang=en

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

I've had enough of this - good night!
9:07 PM - 24 Feb 2013

 

[WarmPotato]

Poor confused Romney... he thinks he's still relevant!