The Battle For The Future Of The GOP

[USUC]

We have a fair amount of threads of the various players, but not a centralized place to discuss the fracture of the current Trump coalition.

The Turning Point AmFest over the weekend was a good showcase of this. Ben Shapiro and Vivek Ramaswamy spoke on Friday calling out the antisemitic and Racist elements of the NatCons. This was followed By Tucker and Bannon pushing back. Vance spoke last night essentially saying he isn't going to denounce any side but reinforcing the "no enemies to the right" strategy of the populists.

The fact that the "intellectual core" of the current GOP is Turning Point USA is an indictment of just how vacuous the party is right now. There is no true intellectual base and those who have tried to make a patchwork of it in the Trump era are basically throwing their hands and finally bowing out.

What's going on at Heritage is telling.

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Unless something unexpected really shakes the populist movement to its core, they will be leading the GOP in the 2028. But without a true unifying core, they will collapse under their own weight. Heritage American discourse and tarrifs aren't going to deliver you victories.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The back and forth of Ben Shapiro vs Tucker/Owen/Kelly has been fascinating. I take back all of the bad things I have ever said about Ben Shapiro.

[frank ryan]

The back and forth of Ben Shapiro vs Tucker/Owen/Kelly has been fascinating. I take back all of the bad things I have ever said about Ben Shapiro.

Even some of my progressive fans have remarked on the obvious anti-Semitism that he is being slammed with.

[YOhio]

Unless something unexpected really shakes the populist movement to its core, they will be leading the GOP in the 2028. But without a true unifying core, they will collapse under their own weight. Heritage American discourse and tarrifs aren't going to deliver you victories.

This is a great point. The current unifying core is resentment. The Shapiro/Vivek wing of the party is focusing on economic/social resentment while the Tucker/Owens/Kelly wing are seeking to expand it into racial/tribal resentment. It's the biggest flaw of populism. The easy way to expand the tent is to expand the resentment. Addressing the root cause of the resentment is difficult. It requires deep thinking, access to the system, technical expertise, long timelines, and difficult choices that will harm members of the coalition.

[Northwestcoug]

This is a great point. The current unifying core is resentment. The Shapiro/Vivek wing of the party is focusing on economic/social resentment while the Tucker/Owens/Kelly wing are seeking to expand it into racial/tribal resentment. It's the biggest flaw of populism. The easy way to expand the tent is to expand the resentment. Addressing the root cause of the resentment is difficult. It requires deep thinking, access to the system, technical expertise, long timelines, and difficult choices that will harm members of the coalition.

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold...

The same can be said of the Democratic party. Affordability is a huge issue for the youth vote. They are ready to go all in on socialism-lite. I actually think a third party will come from the ranks of the left before it happens on the right.

[Shaka]

The back and forth of Ben Shapiro vs Tucker/Owen/Kelly has been fascinating. I take back all of the bad things I have ever said about Ben Shapiro.

Watching the fracture has been crazy. I generally like Shapiro. His directness turns some off, but I think it's refreshing. I like Kelly, but she loses me when she wants to play middleman between Shapiro and the others. Clearly, she should disassociate herself from Owen and pull back from Tucker.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Watching the fracture has been crazy. I generally like Shapiro. His directness turns some off, but I think it's refreshing. I like Kelly, but she loses me when she wants to play middleman between Shapiro and the others. Clearly, she should disassociate herself from Owen and pull back from Tucker.

She is a spineless grifter.

[USUC]

She is a spineless grifter.

She has such a massive ego that being perceived as wrong is far worse than walking back your support for antisemities and racists. Personality disorder.

[Northwestcoug]

She is a spineless grifter.

Her recent desire for alleged 'narco-terrorists' to suffer before being killed is either her jockeying for the most hard-right conservative pundit, or a reflection on her true character. Either option is despicable.

[Maximus]

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[falafel]

Funny how she kinda threw God in there at the end.

[Shaka]

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Many religious traditions include praying to a person in addition to praying to God. They don't mean it in the context that the person is another God. For them, it's a form of communication with someone who has passed on. In this case it could be argued it takes the form of dealing with the loss of a friend.

[falafel]

Many religious traditions include praying to a person in addition to praying to God. They don't mean it in the context that the person is another God. For them, it's a form of communication with someone who has passed on. In this case it could be argued it takes the form of dealing with the loss of a friend.

Bro.

[Shaka]

Bro.

Have you ever heard of Catholics and its various offshoots? Megyn Kelly was raised Catholic. Have you ever heard a Catholic pray to something other than God, saints, and Mary? I have.

How about venerating the dead?

Don't get me started on all the things I heard Africans pray to when I was a missionary. Some of these people considered themselves to be Christian and I heard similar from a couple LDS people.

Trying to assign some sort of nefarious intent based on Kelly's statement is dumb.

Bro.

[falafel]

Have you ever heard of Catholics and its various offshoots? Megyn Kelly was raised Catholic. Have you ever heard a Catholic pray to something other than God, saints, and Mary? I have.

How about venerating the dead?

Don't get me started on all the things I heard Africans pray to when I was a missionary. Some of these people considered themselves to be Christian and I heard similar from a couple LDS people.

Trying to assign some sort of nefarious intent based on Kelly's statement is dumb.

Bro.

Keep going, you are doing great.