How Bad Will 2018 Be For Republicans?.. ByBen Shapiro

[Right_in_Virginia]

Think of what could've been accomplished if Trump'd received the unqualified support of his own party.  What a waste indeed.

It's not a waste --- it's principle!! The NeverTrumps in the Republican and Conservative political tribes will not support the President, cannot support the President based on principle and Christian law --- even if the President is the most conservative one to hold the office since Ronald Reagan AND is bringing Independents and Moderate Democrats into the fold.

NeverTrumps prefer bitching over accomplishment.  They bitch therefore they are.

[Fantom]

It's not a waste --- it's principle!! The NeverTrumps in the Republican and Conservative political tribes will not support the President, cannot support the President based on principle and Christian law --- even if the President is the most conservative one to hold the office since Ronald Reagan AND is bringing Independents and Moderate Democrats into the fold.

NeverTrumps prefer bitching over accomplishment.  They bitch therefore they are.

Oh, plenty of us Conservative tribes supporting President Trump. He has gained that support. This is a good thing.

The never-Trumpers you decry, a few ...Like Oceander are honest. That is a respectful position. No matter how wrongheaded it is.

Certainly there are many never-trumpers here who are little more than snakes. The community knows who they are. However Right... you and DC do not hold sainthood in the reasoned position dept.

[Smokin Joe]

You not only don't recognize reality, you live on a planet far, far away from it. A man so blind that he equates guys like Gorsuch, Alito and Scalia with Ginsberg, Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor....doesn't get to discuss reality as if he knows what that is.

Moral narcissism is not a good quality...nor is it a Christian value. Yet that is precisely what you wear on your sleeve every day. Your efforts to paint fellow Republicans and Conservatives as blind sheep...painting yourself as the enlightened one who sees the nakedness of the emperor...is just you inflating your own ego. Get over yourself, because its such foolishness that is willingly handing this country over to the Clinton/Pelosi gang.

So, did you have anything of substance to say? Enquiring minds want to know.

[Frank Cannon]

How Bad Will 2018 Be For Republicans?

Not bad at all. I'm planning a few cool trips and word on the street is I am a lock for Pimp of the Year for '18!

[dfwgator]

How Bad Will 2018 Be For Republicans?

Not bad at all. I'm planning a few cool trips and word on the street is I am a lock for Pimp of the Year for '18!

 

You've got competition!

! No longer available

[Smokin Joe]

From your keyboard to Gods ears. I would certainly hope so.

Probably the best thing is all the dark and gloom... Hillary is going to win...again so's to speak. The democrats are out of gas.. money, sure they can pour 14 to 1 spending against a Roy Moore ...soros can see to that. Now spend like that Nationwide.

I too, expect large R gains , particularly  in the Senate.... where we need them the most. I figure the House will stay 'Bout the same... +-10... likely on the downside of that marker.

It isn't just money, it is the media control, where every turn of phrase is calculated to its most demonic effect--where taking a high school senior to the movies becomes a child molester in popular parlance and thinking, and where elections are truly won or lost. Either the Liberal Media lock on opinion making musrt be broken, or those on the Right need to become a lot more savvy to the deceptive tactics of the LeftMedia.

I had thought the Right was getting wiser, more able to discern the vile attack tactics of the left, but recent events have proven me dismally wrong. I should have had far more faith in the inherent ability of people to be absolute suckers.

How bad will 2018 be for Republicans? It will be a slaughter. The Dems have their smear tactics refined, their timelines figured, and people are lapping it up.

And has Franken resigned yet?

[INVAR]

How bad will 2018 be for Republicans? It will be a slaughter. The Dems have their smear tactics refined, their timelines figured, and people are lapping it up.

Less because of media smears ( although they do help) and more to do with the fact that the Republican Party has demonstrated itself to be not only totally ineffectual and contemptuous of the very people who put them there, but absolutely no different than the Democrats that they have helped, enabled, and handed victory after victory to - even though they control all three branches.

The slaughter will be due the fact that many are staying home or doing like us, working to build a Conservative party.

[Mesaclone]

Show us where I have ever equated Alito and Scalia with the likes of Ginsberg, Kagan and Sotomayor.  You cannot, because I never have.

As far as your failed party goes - the fruits speak volumes regardless of whether or not hacks like yourself insist we see that the emperor is fully dressed in Conservative finery when we can see for ourselves that your party is naked, poor and blind.

When the truth is not what a people beholden to tradition want to hear, equating it with moral narcissism is such a convenient tool.   Then again, people just like you declared Jesus had a Demon too.

The fruits speak.

And yet people like you refuse to see them and declare them to be exactly what they are not, because it doesn't fit the narrative and your blind faith in a wholly corrupted institution of men.

Fine.  What the hell do you intend to do about it tough guy?

Your party is every bit and more an enemy to liberty and the Constitution as the Clintons'/Obamas'/Pelosi/Schumer' and the Sanders' are.

Not a damn thing you can do to silence me.

Silence you? Why would I want that. Every post you make clarifies the absurdity of your position far better than any argument I could make. The more you blather and play internet hero (in your own mind) the better for those of us actually fighting to get more rational conservatives and libertarians into office.

As for when you equated Gorsuch, Scalia, Alito to Ginsberg, Sotomayor and Breyer....you do so EVERY time you assert that there is no difference between the two parties....when you proclaim a uniparty rules DC you make that absurd argument. This is true Because one party chose Gorsuch, Alito and Scalia....and quite another chose Ginsberg and Sotomayor....a uniparty NEVER would have nominated staunch conservatives like Gorsuch/Scalia. So their very presence on the court puts the lie to your entire...fantasy...argument.

So by all means, hero, blather on. You’re not a brave, insightful champion of embattled morality...rather...you embody the kind of self serving narcissism that divides the Right and empowers the Left in assuming control of this nation. Your Schtic is simple self serving defeatism mixed with a liberal smattering of arrogance.

[Mesaclone]

So, did you have anything of substance to say? Enquiring minds want to know.

Sometimes you meet smoke with more smoke. Would be glad to engage a substantive argument with a substantive counter....as soon as one is put forward.

[Night Hides Not]

Sometimes you meet smoke with more smoke. Would be glad to engage a substantive argument with a substantive counter....as soon as one is put forward.

I think a good start could come from Trump, as the titular head of the Republican Party. How does the GOP expect to carry 2018 with 24/7 fisticuffs via Twitter? Don't know about you, but I'm worn out with the inability of GOP leadership to work with each other.

It wouldn't take much for McConnell to get control of the Senate: strip McCain or Collins of one of their prized chairmanships, and that would send a message to the other Senators to step in line. Granted, it would be a risky move, with a two seat majority, but Mitch hasn't done so hot over the past year anyway.

If Mitch is going to keep fighting Trump, perhaps the Donald should send Mrs. McConnell back to private life.

[TomSea]

I read an editorial, it was by a black man, I forget who and he was obviously, of a Democratic liberal slant but he said Ryan and McConnell had carried water for Trump, so people see things differently.

McConnell is not perfect but I personally don't see him as the scapegoat for everything wrong.

[TomSea]

Sometimes you meet smoke with more smoke. Would be glad to engage a substantive argument with a substantive counter....as soon as one is put forward.

Mescaclone is a great thoughtful poster, my 2 cents.  Especially on some pertinent topics, I have read a few conversations that veered off-topic, not even relating to politics but for this forum, I usually read those posts and find them very civil.

[Oceander]

Think of what could've been accomplished if Trump'd received the unqualified support of his own party.

What a waste indeed.

Just think what could have been accomplished if the GOP had elected a president who deserved the unqualified support of his own party.

[Mesaclone]

Just think what could have been accomplished if the GOP had elected a president who deserved the unqualified support of his own party.

No politician deserves "unqualified" support...so you're chasing a mirage. The GOP has a range of ideologies within its ranks, as any "political party" must. Simply put, in order to achieve any kind of victory in a Republic/Democracy, a party must align a coalition of voters who are NEVER going to agree on all issues...and within that coalition you will have, of necessity, candidates supported by different factions. This situation creates two political realities; first, no single faction will get the candidate it favors into the general election every time...second, if any one party faction takes its ball and goes home every time it doesn't get the candidate it prefers, the party will lose the vast majority of general elections.

Given the two rather obvious realities of ANY political party in a Republic, being a "NeverTrump"...or for that matter a "NeverCruz" or a "NeverBush" or a "NeverRubio"...becomes...not an act of moral principle, but rather, an act of defeatism and failure. Anyone who's principles are so rigid that they cannot compromise with their fellow Republicans and Conservatives...is...literally...the reason conservatism/Republicanism fail. That's why this is called moral narcissism...because it truly reflects a narcissistic belief that one's own moral code is so perfect that anyone who isn't 100% in total agreement with them is a reprobate, a hypocrite and a coward.

People hold to this idiocy, this moral narcissism, ignoring that all of the great Republicans of the past...Reagan, Lincoln, etcetera...have been consummate in the art of compromise. If these past great men could move the ball 80% their "moral" direction, they took that as a victory...today's NeverTrump Moral Narcissists take an 80% win to be the devil's work, a sure sign that someone has "compromised their values". This is idiocy. On its face. And yet many here persist in this foolishness. We should ALL be critical of ALL politicians, be they Republican or Democrat, but to proclaim them the same or toss aside a President governing in a very conservative manner...takes a special kind of fool.

And the biggest fools of all seek to form a "pure" party...a party that is 100% lockstep with their religious, social, economic, and political ideals. A party, that would be so narrow and utterly bereft of the kind of breadth of support necessary to govern, as to be nothing more than Democrat cuckoo that does little more than weaken the Right and gift the Left with perpetual power....thus defeating every goal and "moral" wish of the foolish members of the "Purity" party. Dumb is not a sufficient word to describe this sort of self flagellation.

[Mesaclone]

Mescaclone is a great thoughtful poster, my 2 cents.  Especially on some pertinent topics, I have read a few conversations that veered off-topic, not even relating to politics but for this forum, I usually read those posts and find them very civil.

Thank you, sir...very kind of you. I also greatly enjoy your postings and our discussions when our paths cross.

[skeeter]

Just think what could have been accomplished if the GOP had elected a president who deserved the unqualified support of his own party.

Think about what you just said.

[dfwgator]

Just think what could have been accomplished if the GOP had elected a president who deserved the unqualified support of his own party.

You mean like Romney or McCain?

[Jazzhead]

  All he needs to do is act like an adult, and plug the economy.  That's it.  What a waste.

That's right.  The economy's doing well, and is set to boom with the tax cuts, so now all he needs to do is the acting-like-an-adult part.

We're doomed.   

[mirraflake]

If the Republicans don't get health care problem solved they are doomed.  #1 issue facing America. Jobs are great of course but if you get hit with a huge insurance premium each month that kills your savings and being able to buy other goods and services.

$24,00-30,000 year now for a family plan.

My wife and I are mid 50's and we pay $1500 month = $18,000 year just for us two. We have a group plan with our company we own which pays for it but it is still coming out of our pockets

[Mesaclone]

That's right.  The economy's doing well, and is set to boom with the tax cuts, so now all he needs to do is the acting-like-an-adult part.

We're doomed.

I'm going to disagree. Trump won, because he's Trump. He's a boor. He's a bull in a China shop. He's an stubborn Ass that won't give an inch to those who attack him. In the political environment the Dems have built...in which every Republican is mercilessly attacked as "racists, homophobes, mysognists, and cultural neanderthals"...we MUST have a brawler. An ugly, street scarred, brute who will fight back even when the kitchen sink is being dropped on his head...daily. A Bush would get coopted. A Cruz would be dismissed as a fanatic. A Rubio would be a lightweight. A Romney an effete Thurston Howell III. Only a Trump stands a chance in this Dem wrought environment in which the Deep State, the vast majority of the media, academia, the entertainment industry and the Dem party are all aligned to smear, crush, investigate, arrest and impeach any Republican who stands up for conservative ideals.

If I'm going into battle, I don't want a nice guy(Bush)...or a whiz kid(Rubio)...or even an idealist (Cruz) on my flank. I want a Terminator, a Punisher, a Rocky Balboa. Trump doesn't need to "grow up" or back off from twitter...the very fact that the Dems so urgently want him to do so tells you all you need to know...nope...Trump needs to keep being an ornery Son of a Beech who just keeps pushing conservative agenda items forward (Conservative Justices, repealing regs, eliminating the Mandate, cutting Corporate taxes and individual tax rates, etcetera).

In short, the Dems have been waging war on us for many years now...since the early 90's in absolute earnest. Finally. Thankfully. We have a man who fights back. And he's scoring hard punches on them. And yes, this is pi$$ing them off. Keep at it, Orange one....keep at it.

[TomSea]

I'm going to disagree. Trump won, because he's Trump. He's a boor. He's a bull in a China shop. He's an stubborn Ass that won't give an inch to those who attack him. In the political environment the Dems have built...in which every Republican is mercilessly attacked as "racists, homophobes, mysognists, and cultural neanderthals"...we MUST have a brawler. An ugly, street scarred, brute who will fight back even when the kitchen sink is being dropped on his head...daily. A Bush would get coopted. A Cruz would be dismissed as a fanatic. A Rubio would be a lightweight. A Romney an effete Thurston Howell III. Only a Trump stands a chance in this Dem wrought environment in which the Deep State, the vast majority of the media, academia, the entertainment industry and the Dem party are all aligned to smear, crush, investigate, arrest and impeach any Republican who stands up for conservative ideals.

If I'm going into battle, I don't want a nice guy(Bush)...or a whiz kid(Rubio)...or even an idealist (Cruz) on my flank. I want a Terminator, a Punisher, a Rocky Balboa. Trump doesn't need to "grow up" or back off from twitter...the very fact that the Dems so urgently want him to do so tells you all you need to know...nope...Trump needs to keep being an ornery Son of a Beech who just keeps pushing conservative agenda items forward (Conservative Justices, repealing regs, eliminating the Mandate, cutting Corporate taxes and individual tax rates, etcetera).

In short, the Dems have been waging war on us for many years now...since the early 90's in absolute earnest. Finally. Thankfully. We have a man who fights back. And he's scoring hard punches on them. And yes, this is pi$$ing them off. Keep at it, Orange one....keep at it.

Exactly, and we are at the last chance saloon for our country, at least, of remnants of the America we knew.

 

[corbe]

I'm going to disagree. Trump won, because he's Trump. He's a boor. He's a bull in a China shop. He's an stubborn Ass that won't give an inch to those who attack him. In the political environment the Dems have built...in which every Republican is mercilessly attacked as "racists, homophobes, mysognists, and cultural neanderthals"...we MUST have a brawler. An ugly, street scarred, brute who will fight back even when the kitchen sink is being dropped on his head...daily. A Bush would get coopted. A Cruz would be dismissed as a fanatic. A Rubio would be a lightweight. A Romney an effete Thurston Howell III. Only a Trump stands a chance in this Dem wrought environment in which the Deep State, the vast majority of the media, academia, the entertainment industry and the Dem party are all aligned to smear, crush, investigate, arrest and impeach any Republican who stands up for conservative ideals.

If I'm going into battle, I don't want a nice guy(Bush)...or a whiz kid(Rubio)...or even an idealist (Cruz) on my flank. I want a Terminator, a Punisher, a Rocky Balboa. Trump doesn't need to "grow up" or back off from twitter...the very fact that the Dems so urgently want him to do so tells you all you need to know...nope...Trump needs to keep being an ornery Son of a Beech who just keeps pushing conservative agenda items forward (Conservative Justices, repealing regs, eliminating the Mandate, cutting Corporate taxes and individual tax rates, etcetera).

In short, the Dems have been waging war on us for many years now...since the early 90's in absolute earnest. Finally. Thankfully. We have a man who fights back. And he's scoring hard punches on them. And yes, this is pi$$ing them off. Keep at it, Orange one....keep at it.

   Gee @Mesaclone after reading that screed I want to go home and drown myself in the bathtub, Kudos to the Briefer that came up with that earlier, it was funny as h3ll.   
   Back on Topic, WTF were you doing in 2013 to miss when Freshman Texas Senator Cruz shut down the Govt for 13 days and when he stood in the Senate well and called the turtle a LIAR and you have the audacity to say you wanted a 'BRUISER'
   PPPPFFFFTTTT

   Your TRUMP love is showing, again. 

[aligncare]

I'm going to disagree. Trump won, because he's Trump. He's a boor. He's a bull in a China shop. He's an stubborn Ass that won't give an inch to those who attack him. In the political environment the Dems have built...in which every Republican is mercilessly attacked as "racists, homophobes, mysognists, and cultural neanderthals"...we MUST have a brawler. An ugly, street scarred, brute who will fight back even when the kitchen sink is being dropped on his head...daily. A Bush would get coopted. A Cruz would be dismissed as a fanatic. A Rubio would be a lightweight. A Romney an effete Thurston Howell III. Only a Trump stands a chance in this Dem wrought environment in which the Deep State, the vast majority of the media, academia, the entertainment industry and the Dem party are all aligned to smear, crush, investigate, arrest and impeach any Republican who stands up for conservative ideals.

If I'm going into battle, I don't want a nice guy(Bush)...or a whiz kid(Rubio)...or even an idealist (Cruz) on my flank. I want a Terminator, a Punisher, a Rocky Balboa. Trump doesn't need to "grow up" or back off from twitter...the very fact that the Dems so urgently want him to do so tells you all you need to know...nope...Trump needs to keep being an ornery Son of a Beech who just keeps pushing conservative agenda items forward (Conservative Justices, repealing regs, eliminating the Mandate, cutting Corporate taxes and individual tax rates, etcetera).

In short, the Dems have been waging war on us for many years now...since the early 90's in absolute earnest. Finally. Thankfully. We have a man who fights back. And he's scoring hard punches on them. And yes, this is pi$$ing them off. Keep at it, Orange one....keep at it.

 

Come...come over to the Orange Side. 

Trumpism is working fantastically. In fact, as an added benefit, hatred for Donald Trump’s presidency has brought the snakes out of hiding, so that now Americans can see just how infested Washington DC has become.

[TomSea]

   Gee @Mesaclone after reading that screed I want to go home and drown myself in the bathtub, Kudos to the Briefer that came up with that earlier, it was funny as h3ll.   
   Back on Topic, WTF were you doing in 2013 to miss when Freshman Texas Senator Cruz shut down the Govt for 13 days and when he stood in the Senate well and called the turtle a LIAR and you have the audacity to say you wanted a 'BRUISER'
   PPPPFFFFTTTT

   Your TRUMP love is showing, again.

What's this about then?

    Cruz: I didn't threaten to shut down the government the last time. I don't think we should ever shut down the government. I repeatedly voted to fund the federal government.

    Schieffer: Senator, if you didn't threaten the shut down the government, who was it that did? ...

    Cruz: It was Harry Reid and President Obama. … The reason we had a shutdown—Look, the Democrats were very candid. I know they told you, they said, “We think the shutdown benefits us politically.” Right now the Democrats are telling you that they want another shutdown, because they think it benefits them politically. Why is it hard to understand that they forced the shutdown, when they think it benefits them politically?”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/saletan/2014/01/27/ted_cruz_government_shutdown_his_revisionist_attempt_to_blame_obama_and.html

Also, I don't know why one would accuse someone of Trump love just for supporting the president in his first year in office. We just had 8 years of mayhem by the Democrats, we are fortunate it was not longer.

[Mesaclone]

Exactly, and we are at the last chance saloon for our country, at least, of remnants of the America we knew.

 

Agreed.

I'd compare our current situation with that of early 1861...we sit on the precipice of civil conflict. Not in the military sense, but no less significant in the way it will set the future of the nation for the next 100 years.

The Deep State is truly waging war against the ideal of government by, of and for the people...and attempting to supplant it with a kind of overarching liberal-regulatory hegemony. The Deep State's means of control is subtle and dispersed...imposed via regulation, alliance with media and academia, and advocated by control of federal funding...and so is more difficult to oppose than a Hydra. Trump is fighting this monster, and I think few of us are optimistic he can defeat it...in part because too many on the right are sitting this out or even opposing him out of factional jealousy...but at least he's engaging in the battle. Too many on our side of have already surrendered, taking refuge in stupid ideas like third parties or simply "living off the grid".

Not a conspiracy guy, but for the first time in my life I fear that the Republic is in grave danger of being supplanted by something truly sinister. Something that seems less than tyranny...but also far from democratic.