DU POLL: Do you think the GOP is morphing into some form of the KKK, Nazi Party, Supremacist Power or

[RKP5637]

something like that. I think there is a strong potential for this to happen. Credible republicans seem to be leaving the party, most moderates are long gone, others are retiring, and from what I understand new candidates are radically conservative and IMO nutty. Strange things have happened in other countries over the eons, why is the US different.

166 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes.
	120 (72%)
	No.
	7 (4%)
	Possibly.
	5 (3%)
	Never will change.
	0 (0%)
	Stupid question.
	6 (4%)
	Already is happening.
	28 (17%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. A big, fat K&R!

[RKP5637]

5. I'm a bit scared by it all ... I can feel it happening. n/t

[Eliot Rosewater]

127. OF COURSE they are, already have and Anyone who says they are not

well, I guess I cant say, can I.

I know I dont ever want to talk to anyone who says they arent, i know that

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

2. What do the new guys stand for in the gop?

1.) Guns ,guns,guns.
2.) Abortion ban. (for YOU guys, not him/them.)
3.) Corporations pay ZERO taxes. Profit from the public tax dollars largess, and kick-back dough to the repub.
4.) Govt should be run like business...their own little enterprise, preferably.
5.) Keep people scared.
6.)Scruples, ethics, and morals are on their own personal sliding scale on any given day.
Nice bunch.

[RKP5637]

3. It's a disgusting lot of people!!! n/t

[VOX]

10. Sobering. I wouldn't choose to live in a country that fit that description.

Nevertheless, here I am, watching the whole enterprise go full-on fascist.

If I were younger, I'd leave in a second.

[RKP5637]

26. If young I'd be out of here too. I do not see much of a future for the US if this continues. n/t

[VOX]

36. No. Even when 45 eventually goes down, the 30-40% who support him will still be here.

And they will still be contrarians, racists, conspiracy-theory addicts, white nationalists, etc., all waiting for the next Trump to come along.

All the anti-education, anti-science, anti-reason, anti-diversity, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-greater-good deplorables won't be changing their tune. I have no desire to mix with them, honestly. There is no common thread there. What they believe and what I believe are a full 180 degrees apart.

[RKP5637]

41. It is, and it will not heal. I really despise what the GOP stands for. Exactly as you say, they

will still be there after tRump has left the WH. There are quite a few negative things about the US. I too am 180 degrees apart from them.

[VOX]

47. We're two countries with two different realities that exist (for now) superimposed on one another.

But that superimposition is not drawing us any closer. Both sides are so fixed in their positions that compromise is impossible. It really is the worst division since the Civil War. In some ways, what's going on is actually a continuation of that war.

The best we can do is VOTE, protest, be active, but also preserve our sanity by getting involved in non-political interests we love and that affirm life, whatever those may be.

[RKP5637]

55. Yes, I definitely agree, and life is short. The core differences seem to be so out of phase that

melding a solution seems nigh impossible. I think the US will become two countries as people migrate toward states that are more in line with their beliefs. As you say, and I agree, "The best we can do is VOTE, protest, be active, but also preserve our sanity by getting involved in non-political interests we love and that affirm life, whatever those may be."

[VOX]

57. Getting shorter by the minute!

Not that I'm counting. But death is no longer something that "happens to someone else," thinking realistically. Let's enjoy what there is!

Good talking with you!

[RKP5637]

62. Good talking with you too!

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

69. Pip pip.

[pangaia]

81. And pense is worse

"...All the anti-education, anti-science, anti-reason, anti-diversity, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-greater-good deplorables won't be changing their tune."

fits the fucker to a T !

[RKP5637]

113. Yep! In many ways we might be better with Trump. Pence, is really a twisted person and to

me even more dangerous than Trump.

[CrispyQ]

122. This: What they believe and what I believe are a full 180 degrees apart.

As the republican party has gotten more extreme, I've found that I judge people more by their politics than I did in the past. It's a reflection of their world view. You are right that the problem in not Trump, but the ones who voted for him. The Jones/Moore race in Alabama shouldn't have even been close! But that's what we're up against. Thirty-five years of hate radio demonizing democrats/liberals/the left, to the point where a lot of red America believes the dems are worse than the devil. They will never vote dem, even as dem policies benefit them more than GOP policies. The dems lost the narrative a long time ago & don't seem to care.

[appalachiablue]

146. Well said, I share those concerns. It's a real mess now.

[Exotica]

140. I am not chomping at the bit to ever come back atm.

23 and a dual UK/US (Cali) citizen atm.

[japple]

54. Hey, you left out one thing...

the B-I-B-L-E., oh, and jeebus. Guess you left out 2 things.

[tavernier]

109. There are plenty of Democrats who are Christians

and Jews. Is it necessary to broadly insult all people who choose to follow their faith?

[Docreed2003]

94. Excellent points! Truth bomb!! Nt

[BlueIndyBlue]

121. A couple more

According to our GOP Senate Primary Candidates please add:
1). Building the wall (any wall just build it damn it!!)
2). Make English the Official Language of the USA
3). Outlaw Sanctuary Cities

Ugh!

[DemocracyMouse]

125. Time to retire the donkey and adopt the mustang

[appalachiablue]

143. That I like, donkeys are cool but mustang has more edge to it.

[Hortensis]

4. A trend to authoritarian and fascistic thinking is unmistakable.

[RKP5637]

6. I never knew the US had so much humanity in support of this, but looking at history in the US I was

not thinking it through.

[Hortensis]

43. The human race. At least 20% are strongly disposed to authoritarian

rule, virtually all of those strong conservatives, and poor fits for the responsibilities of democracy;
and growing up in a vigorous and mostly well functioning democracy shockingly does not reverse that.

Plus, many more on both right and far left are not as disposed as them but still vulnerable to authoritarianism, and even supportive depending on circumstances. In most humans, anxiety and fear about the future increase yearning for a strong man/government to take control, possibly increasing their numbers to a majority. And that's about where we are now. Many on the right, and a few dissident lefters, really want their own Putin to make things right here.

A huge reason why Hillary not following Obama and building on the advances he started is such a dreadful and dangerous loss. 12 or 16 years of sensible, stabilizing Democratic government that addressed problems and worked to advance economic and social wellbeing of all would have calmed down much of this dangerous anxiety so insidiously fostered by right wing enemies foreign and domestic.

[RKP5637]

52. Yes, at least 20-25%. Years ago at the university it was said about 25% of the country had some

serious mental health issues. I wonder what the cross-over is. Being tribal in nature, follow the leader always rings out ... along with survival of the fittest and all of that. In the 21st century, one would think humanity would have outgrown their tribal nature and prehistoric leanings ... but apparently not.

After 8 years of Obama, I had thought calmness and intellectual reasoning would prevail as the country seemed calm for the most part. Then Trump opened up all the wounds of the past, ripped the scabs off, and here we are today.

Dictatorial regimes seem vogue today. I seriously fear the future "might" not be too bright. I have a fair amount of trepidation. One concern I have is the percentage of Americans that will consider this to be a passing phase, that things will really be OK.

[Hortensis]

58. Another concern I have is that most American authoritarians

and also just plain conservatives believe "fascism" is a bad word but have no real idea what it is. Certainly not that it's quintessentially archconservative in nature and in this era coming strictly from the political right.

They also have no idea that, while there is such a thing as left-wing fascism under forms of government called left wing, liberalism is very different and is inconsonant with fascism. They have no more idea than their cats that liberals are the world's big anti-fascists. Instead, they've been taught that Democrats and liberals intend to impose fascist government and that they have to stop us.

Trepidation, yes. I want to read Madeleine Albright's new book, Fascism: A Warning, but am waiting for the price to drop a bit more.

[RKP5637]

65. Interesting times ahead, but I wish I were not part of the movie. n/t

[Hortensis]

71. I'd like to grab the popcorn and leave too.

[Nay]

131. Really. It's not a movie I want to be in, either. I CAN move to my second country

of citizenship, but I can't leave the kids behind.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

92. I think that strain of humanity also attracts psychopaths....

which are a small percent of the populace but they render massive damage. There seems to be a strange union between authoritarians, psychopaths and religious fanatics. Give that group access to money and we have a social disaster.

[Hortensis]

107. Yes. Seriously, just look at who's risen in the GOP

leadership and been on the GOP debate stages the last few elections. An astonishing and appalling collection right out in the open. Diagnoses would require cooperation of these people, but I've read a lot of observations over the years by experts that various people who've risen on the right exhibit strong patterns of behaviors of psychopaths, authoritarian leaders, dangerous "double highs," etc.

(There must also be some on the far left, but none have managed to rise through the Democratic Party to even congressional leadership from that side, and those among anti-Democratic leftists have never drawn enough followers to get power.)

Critically, massive followings of right wing voters have been elevating them to power on the right. As Bob Altemeyer warned when Trump was campaigning, "Over 40% of the electorate in November is going to vote for someone who openly revels in the belief that his followers will let him get away with murder. What are these voters thinking?" https://theauthoritarians.org/donald-trump-and-authoritarian-followers/#more-21 (Then he went on to describe how they think.)

Of course, we know there is a strong overlap between authoritarian followers, fascism, and the hard-core religious right. After all, a diety is the ultimate authority.

And they have been given access to money. Right now we have religious right "Christian reconstructionists" allied with libertarian and archconservative centimillionaires and billionaires (some of whom are also religious right), all ruthlessly working to undo our democracy and reconstruct to suit them.

I don't doubt for a minute their leaderships are full of psychopaths without conscience or compunction. Honor, honesty, decency, justice, cooperation, respect for others are all the words of weak fools to them.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

147. Thanks, Hortensis - well said.

I, like you, had to know why people carried a Republican mindset that was so hard-cast as in concrete. Being plagued with an unyielding curiosity about everything, I had to know, and found good psychology references on the web. Unfortunately, I lost all my web bookmarks early this year due to a hard drive crash. Thank you - you've helped me to start rebuilding that library. The Altemeyer article is one of the best summary ones I've seen on the topic and should be read by any serious progressive.

Another factor I learned about is how young people acquire cast-in-stone attitudes and beliefs. Some experts say this happens at ages between late teens and mid-twenties, on the average. That time slot also determines if we'll be open-minded or more closed-minded throughout our lives, and they say that those raised by strict authoritarians are highly likely to be close-minded in adulthood. In addition, they will likely carry their parent's hard-core beliefs with them, such as racism, religion, and authoritarianism. Therefore, when we mix that type of personality with genetic psychopathy - and give them lots of money - we have a very dangerous human.
--------
With all this knowledge in hand, it's much easier to see how people can be so damned hard-headed and difficult to reason with, but it is depressing when I realize there's little that can be done to change them once they've reached full maturity.

.............

[Hortensis]

148. Very interesting. Little to change us, perhaps, but

given the reportedly immense influence of the leaders we accept on most of us, that should be a route to changing behavior. Just look what increasingly bad leadership has done to normal Republican voters since the beginning of the 1990s or so. (My observation was that the end of the Cold War left conservatives without an existential threat to fight and that very bad leaders, like Gingrich, turned their fear and hostility inward to replace Russia with Democrats.)

If it's true that people adopt their leaders' views, responsible leadership with the better ideals conservatism has to offer could reverse their decline. The enmity would be greatly decreased, their goals and ours would once again have a great deal of overlap, and many differences would once again be within compromise distance.

I'd love to learn about any resources you find especially interesting, and even perhaps see threads on them. At least we know now that it's impossible to understand what's happening in politics without understanding ourselves and how large social groups think and act.

[RKP5637]

114. Absolutely!!! And Trump knows how to unite them while leading in people that can't

think for themselves ... and vote how their psychopathic masters tell them to vote, on command.

[True Blue American]

99. So True

Hortensis, your post is so true and down right scary.

I think you really pointed out why so many of us are actually in a depression as to what took place in 2016, and is getting worse each day.

As the Corporate media rants and raves, yet continue to show each and every lie this thing in the WH says.

[lastlib]

39. The Republican party is the new face of Fascism.

In college I was assigned to read a book titled "The Three Faces of Fascism". It laid out fascistic ideology through Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco; I still remember the ideas of that book, and tRump emphatically fits the same pattern in both thought and personality. It scares the living S**T out of me that he is now in power! And the GOP is hanging on to his diaper; they have literally gone off the Depend.

[RKP5637]

115. It's like we're repeating the past. We had thought these creatures had died off and humanity was

improving ... and then along comes Trump and the GOP with a herd of mindless voters. It is, it's the SOS, just new names and places. What also concerns me is the educational level of the US. I do seriously wonder how many can relate to those horrific past times.

[S.E. TN Liberal]

7. It is not morphing...

...these conservative groups have always worked together.

Check out Nixon's "Southern Strategy".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

[appalachiablue]

14. Recently I was thinking about all the havoc brought by the GOP's

use of the SS. So how about we devise a very strong, effective "strategy" to try to counter this mess.

We can't omit GOP Barry Goldwater's use of the opening up, Southern Strategy to cultivate conservative voters in the South especially in his 1964 campaign.

[RKP5637]

15. Yep, but it feels like it might be on steroids this time as it moves along. n/t

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. has morphed.

[RKP5637]

29. Definitely, and growing IMO. n/t

[BannonsLiver]

9. I voted yes but to me it's not unlike UKIP in Britain

[lunasun]

82. Isn't UKIP weak now in Britain after Brexit blahs? GOP has almost complete federal level and many

state & local too. I don't see it dissolving that soon as UKIP looks to be imo
If fact UKIP just had more local losses .
That's the only good thing we have seen lately some local GOP losses
but they still win elsewhere

[BannonsLiver]

133. It's always been weak

My point was about similar ideologies which both parties have.

[MANative]

11. The morph is 99% complete. Started back in the '80s. nt

[sharedvalues]

13. Yup. +100

Ever since LBJ pushed the racists out of the Democratic Party, putting country and principle above politics, the GOP has cravenly courted racists to get power for their billionaire donors.

This is what the GOP built.

[RKP5637]

17. Yep, as LBJ said when he signed the civil rights act, I've forever lost the south for the democrats,

something like that.

[rzemanfl]

76. It was, I believe "a generation." n/t

[RKP5637]

80. Yes, that was it! Thanks! n/t

[rzemanfl]

102. You're welcome. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

104. I'd say it was 100% complete by the time Dumbya got into office.

Most just didn't realize it at the time. Spanky made the cockroaches unafraid when the light turned on. But, that party has been nothing but one huge roach motel for years.

[sharedvalues]

12. Morphing? The GOP propagandists and billionaires built this party

For forty years the GOP has used hatemongering and racism to get votes. Trump took over the base that GOP billionaires built and thought they could control. Trump showed that explicit racism could rally the base that GOP propaganda had dog whistled at for decades. Now the base is loyal to Trump.


Today’s GOP is the natural consequence of the modern Republican coalition— billionaire funders and identity politics and racism to get votes.

Today’s GOP is the 1970s GOP of Nixon’s Southern Strategy and the Koch Institute. It is the 1980s GOP of Lee Atwater and Grover Norquist and Reagan’s racist-courting at Neshoba County. It is the 1990s GOP of Newt Gingrich and anti-gay anti-marriage identity politics. It is the 2000s GOP of lies to get us into wars on a credit card, of attacks on McCain’s black child. And it is today’s GOP.

Nothing new under the sun. The GOP is the party of lies and propaganda to get votes for billionaires. Has been that way for forty years.

[RKP5637]

22. Excellent analysis! ... it feels like it is radically coming to a head under Trump for the grand

move forward.

[sharedvalues]

27. Yup. I just wish the national media would talk about this

Because most of the national media has met very few trump voters, the media doesn’t understand the role of GOP propaganda. The media doesn’t understand the 40 year arc and especially the last two decades since 1997 when Fox started and right wing radio was kicked up to 11.

So the media covers Trump as if he came out of nowhere. Worse, they think if trump goes away, our problems will be solved. False. We need to fix our GOP propaganda problem.

[PatrickforO]

40. Yeah they do. Their bosses are just paid to ignore it.

They only come out with 'news' that helps ratings, not the real thing.

As to fixing the right wing noise machine, three things:
1. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that Reagan killed in 1987. Force the news once again to be about who, what, when, where and how. Make it be sacrosanct from the ratings. Freedom of the press is supposedly the cornerstone of this country, so allow them to be free from the ties of what advertisers do or don't want reported. Report the facts.

2. Get rid of Citizens United. Dollars don't equal free speech, and corporations aren't people.

3. Force changes in corporate charters to expand fiduciary responsibility beyond increasing earnings for shareholders. Expand it to also include the economic welfare and safety of workers, the safety of consumers, the welfare of the communities in which they do business, and the environment.

And get rid of the giant tax cut for billionaires, raise taxes even further so our tax dollars can be used for stuff that actually benefits us, like universal healthcare, expanded Social Security, strong safety nets, strong funding for public infrastructure projects, bigger subsidies for childcare, early childhood education, K-12 and debt-free postsecondary training at state schools. Among other things.

Oh, and reinstitute the EPA regs Pruitt has overturned, lift the silence on federal studies that cite actual science, and de-privatize things like prisons, which should NEVER be run for profit.

In fact, we should talk about sensible, life-saving safety rules, and the virtue of public works. Stuff we can all be proud of.

[sharedvalues]

95. Truth all around

But one thing I will add. I have friends in the national media. A lot of them have grown up in cities and don’t know ANY GOP base voters. That sounds unbelievable to people like us who live outside of big cities, but it’s true. Because they only have experience in cities, they know almost nothing about propaganda- about Fox and Limbaugh.

Here’s an example. Jake Tapper. I love him. One of the best and most patriotic media members around. But he grew up around Philly (before Fox started). The areas around philly are city areas. Not like central PA. Jake pretty clearly doesn’t understand the influence of Fox and Limbaugh. Jake was on Pod Save America recently and talked about the Trump phenomenon as if Trump created it. As if GOP propaganda had nothing to do with it. If Jake had a connection to a GOP base area, he’d know why so many love Trump.

Same problem at the NYT. They keep running articles about Wisconsin diners filled with GOP voters. The articles cite the ridiculous views the voters hold. But never do the articles note that those views are EXACTLY the talking points repeated on Fox and Limbaugh.

The reason the national media misses the influence of GOP propaganda is because the national media barely knows any Trump voters, and the national media doesn’t live in places where Fox and Limbaugh are big.

[lastlib]

120. And de-privatize education! And FULLY FUND it!

This is vital to stop the dumbing-down of our culture. The corporatocracy is bent on making us less capable of intelligent thought, less capable of resisting their agenda.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

89. Agreed. The big boys will just throw more money at it and...

put a new paint job on the monster. They will come up with new emotional triggers to get votes and sweep some of the more radical groups under the rug (and save them for resurrection later).

Same old GOP game with a new face - every ten to twenty years or so. We'll be living with this so long as we continue to have massive world-wide economic inequality.

........

[RKP5637]

116. Yep, fresh coat of paint on the clown car. Sand, patch a bit and paint over the rust ... and forget

about the rust rot. Many will see it as brand new and want a ride in it.

[BlueJac]

101. 100% true!

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. That happened 50 years ago?

Nixon, "Southern Strategy".

Lee Atwater explained it back in 1981:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/

[Haggis for Breakfast]

19. Never forget

Lee Atwater apologized for the pain and suffering he unleashed.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. And meanwhile his erstwhile partners Manafort and Stone are unrepentant (n/t)

[sharedvalues]

30. +100

Can we put that quote on a T-shirt?

[johnp3907]

18. No.

Happened long ago. Everyone pretended not to notice. Many are still pretending.

[RKP5637]

24. Yeah, I think that's a lot of it, and tRump pulled the scab off of it. n/t

[Garrett78]

46. As I wrote earlier today, there's a danger in denormalizing Trump.

For all the talk about not normalizing Trump, we need to recognize that most of the policies Trump promotes are GOP SOP (standard operating procedure).

50 years of Southern Strategy/dog whistling, race-based gerrymandering and voter suppression, a racist "Drug War," xenophobia, a highly effective "liberal media" narrative, an all-out assault on feminism, anti-intellectualism and attacking public education, jingoism, denying science or getting in bed with those who do, off-the-charts hypocrisy and actively undermining trust in government (via procedural war) has led to this moment. The GOP is Dr. Frankenstein and Trump is their monster.

So, to all of the Republicans who write articles or appear on TV to express their outrage over Trump, look at the blood on your hands. Take responsibility. What, you're bothered (or even surprised) by the influence Putin's Russia is having on Trump and Congressional Republicans? That's a bridge too far? Guess what, Putin's goal of undermining the US government (or the trust in said government) has also been your goal. So, congrats, I guess.

[bronxiteforever]

21. Think of the fear we now inflict on immigrants.

To me the way immigrants have been demonized and abused is the signal that millions of Americans, who call themselves republicans, desire to ape the proud lack of empathy displayed by the thing presently inhabiting the White House. They emphatically hate the other and boy does that echo in history.
Great op and poll.

[RKP5637]

32. It's a frightening country, one I would cross off my list to visit. And, the next election

will not be a reset IMO. Far too much water has flowed over the damn. The ass in the WH has managed to unlock an evilness in the US once hopefully forgotten, but he has unleashed it again along with an ugly hateful cast of characters void of humanity.

[bronxiteforever]

37. I really wish I could disagree with your forecast but I can't.

You are absolutely correct.

[RKP5637]

42. Yep, it really makes me sad to have come to that conclusion, but over and over I work and hope

for better, but it just keeps sinking. If young I would be looking for a better country if they would have me. Many people have no use for Americans anymore.

[bronxiteforever]

50. Again sad but agree.

[Elwood P Dowd]

23. A Nazi crime family.

[RKP5637]

25. That's my feeling! n/t

[Elwood P Dowd]

31. "Make Germany Great Again"

Sound familiar?

https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/yes-adolf-hitler-really-said-he-would-make-germany-gre-1789261081

[RKP5637]

33. Yeah, brings back some painful memories. I fear tRump idolizes Hitler in secret. n/t

[gay texan]

28. It's up to us to fight this n/t

[RKP5637]

35. It is, it's the only way. It must be fought. I hope more Americans are waking up to what is going

on. IMO far too often many take things for granted. Sadly, some likely think this is just a phase. I do not. This is damn serious. The most on the edge I've ever seen the US. The GOP tentacles of hatred, money, evilness and corruption run deep.

[RandomAccess]

34. Just in the process now of making it more visible and out in the open

THey've been actively dog whistling / enabling / encouraging racism for decades now -- since the Southern Strategy.

We've got at least one White Supremacist in the oval office (Stephen Miller) and had at least 2 others -- Gorka and Bannon. General Kelly is an incredible, horrible openly racist guy, but I don't know if he's actively, openly or closeted "white supremacist or neo-Nazi."

The GOP is and has been racist through and through. It's all over but the shouting.

[RKP5637]

38. I hope it is over, but it's so deep rooted now and has so much money and power behind

it.

[Doodley]

44. Out of 17 candidates, they picked the one who was by far the most bigoted.

There is no doubt that Trump is a white supremacist, a misogynist and an all-round bigot - from being sued for discrimination, to the Central Park Five, to wanting to ban Muslims and calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. The GOP picked him and still support him because he represents their values.

[RKP5637]

56. All are cut from the same piece of cloth! n/t

[TheSmarterDog]

45. It happened a long, long time ago

This first aired 17 years ago

[guillaumeb]

48. It started in 1968.

[AmandaRuth]

49. The party of tRump

sure is, no doubt

[Amimnoch]

51. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

it’s a fucking duck.

When the President, and so many in his administration continually all 14 long accepted and established traits of fascism, it’s a fascist administration.

So many of the trumpublicons in Congress.. the same ones who openly opposed him leading up to the 2016 primary ending have fallen into line. Some right out the starting gate, many others after being threatened, and bullied into falling into line behind him (another trait by the way). In my lifetime, there’s been politicians that I didn’t like. Some I really didn’t like. Never before now though have I felt that the entire Republic is at risk of falling to a fascist dictatorship.

[RKP5637]

60. Yep, it's the whole lot of them. If one or two, several, one could say it would go away, but frankly

it's turned into an entire army. I still fear many Americans still don't comprehend what is going on.

[louis c]

53. It already happened on Nov. 8, 2016

[Quixote1818]

59. That would be a losing battle. The base is but a lot of the leaders don't want anything to do with

that occurring. Yes, a lot do but I don't think the party can survive in that mode.

[Blaukraut]

61. They always were. They just managed to be polite about it until now n/t

[RKP5637]

66. Yep! n/t

[forgotmylogin]

63. The good Republicans are leaving the GOP.

They don't like it either. That leaves the fringes.

[vi5]

64. "credible republicans"

Ha! There hasn't been one of those in at least 25 years, and that's the problem. Everyone has been pretending that wasn't the case.

The media. Voters. Even most elected Democrats were until recently insisted on treating this group of batshit insane, evil dolts as though they were a legitimate group of people who they needed to "negotiate with" or meet in "the middle" (HA!).

[RKP5637]

67. That is my hope, that the majority of Americans are waking up to what the GOP is about.

tRump has been a great spokesman for demonstrating what the GOP is made of.

[vi5]

117. Part of the problem is....

the media, and unfortunately too many Democrats are treating Trump like an anomaly. The exception rather than the rule. And our obsession with impeachment and "GOTCHA!" moments is going to either backfire or not have any lasting impact because when and if he's gone the same positions will be there, the same reprehensible beliefs, but they will go back to being clouded in and obscured by more polite words and faces.

What our leaders and what few media figures we do have should be doing is pointing out that Trump is the Republican party. That there is literally nothing he believes or is doing that the Republican party has not done or wanted to do or played into for the past 25 years.

What we need is fewer clips on here and around the liberal blogosphere of "OH NO! THIS REPUBLICAN SAID THIS.....WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE!!!!!" or "THIS REPUBLICAN GOT OWNED BY RACHEL/JOY/WHOEVER!!!!!" and more of our leaders and Democratic politicians pointing out over and over and over and over again that this is what the Republican party has always stood for and will continue to stand for after Trump is done.

Also too......better messaging with regard to what WE stand for and what WE want to do.

[RKP5637]

119. Agree so much. In essence, Trump is not the problem, he is the symptom of what lies

underneath. It's Whac-A-Mole. Get rid of Trump and another will appear, pushed up by the republican machine.

[TalenaGor]

68. I don't think they're exactly morphing....

I think they've been this way all along it's just that they had to hide it and now they don't have to.... But I don't think their position or mindset or philosophy or whatever you want to call it, I don't think that's new....

[RKP5637]

70. Yep, agree, morphing was not the best word choice. They have been there, but now they are open

about it and have their masks off.

[TalenaGor]

84. I'd say public opinion is morphing for sure LOL

Again everyone has to face the facts that the Liberals were right again ffs lol

[RKP5637]

85. Definitely!!!! n/t

[diane in sf]

72. To me they're like members of some kind of crime syndicate, funded by scumbag oligarchs like

Adelson, Kochs, etc. and skeezy industries like private prisons, drug companies, arms, war machinery in general, bad banks like Wells Fargo. I can go on...

[RKP5637]

74. It's damn scary when a large portion of the voting population of the US favors a corrupt and highly

dangerous government.

[MarkEzra]

73. Sadly, Yes

Yes!

The Republican Party is Racist and fascist. We no longer argue over how much or what "Provide for the common welfare" should be. In fact this Alt Republican party doesn't even know what that means. They speak only of fear, hate, and suspicion of all who are not exactly like them.

This social cancer must be excised from the American Body Politic. First surgery scheduled this November. Not Planning to use anesthetics... their Republican Health plan doesn't provide it.

[RKP5637]

75. Yeah, they are like an evil empire that has hijacked the US government. n/t

[Bok_Tukalo]

77. No.

<POE>

[Cryptoad]

78. "morphing" ???????

Where the hell y all been for the last 40 years??????

[jimlup]

79. No because they have always been for sale ...

they accidentally let ragged underbelly of democracy that they had been manipulating for decades gain the upper hand. Now their party is doomed.

[RKP5637]

83. I certainly hope they are doomed. I just can't believe that the majority of Americans want to

live under a nation like tRump embraces.

[Blue_true]

86. For sure. Next question. nt

[Initech]

87. They've been on that path since 9/11.

And now they have a president who has emboldened the worst of us and it's come full circle.

[RKP5637]

88. Scary times for sure! There is a major fork in the road ahead, hopefully America will

take the right one. There have certainly been enough road signs along the way!

[Initech]

91. I thought with Obama we were on the right path.

Something went horribly wrong between Obama's first term and now, and i think that we need to analyze and fix the problem. The entire world is alarmed at the growing white supremacy problem in this country. We need to fix it before it's too late.

[MarvinGardens]

90. Yes and

I think it became correct for me to answer "yes" to this question when Trump was nominated at their convention.

[workinclasszero]

93. When Dump defended the nazi kkk scum

that murdered an innocent girl in Cville and the republicans either backed him or remained silent...they crossed the line of no return.

Also when turtle stopped Obama’s judge for like a whole year, the lawlessness of the Republican Party was made clear.

[roamer65]

96. It's turning into the National Party from South Africa under white rule.

[Jim Lane]

97. No, because it's still the money boys who have the most power.

The people running the Republican Party are cynically exploiting the simpletons who blame all their problems on the blacks, or the Muslims, or the gays, or the feminists.

The nomination and election of Trump constituted a small bump in the road for the GOP's corporate paymasters, but they're coping. Think of all of Trump's faux-populist promises: border wall? Not built. Muslim ban? Thwarted by the courts. New and better health care for all? Not even tried. Now think of what he has gotten done: huge tax cut for the rich? Check. Evisceration of environmental protections? Check. Right-wing ideologues given lifetime appointments to the courts? Check.

In other words, Trump has not significantly advanced the agenda of bigotry, but he has significantly advanced the agenda of greed.

The OP mentions the KKK and the Nazis. There was also the National Party (South Africa). The difference is that all three of those organizations had leaders who genuinely believed in and prioritized the racist goals. In the contemporary GOP leadership, there are certainly some sincere racists, but most of them are just using racism as a political device.

[Kablooie]

98. They hold the power and it may be more difficult than expected to wrest it away.

I have a strong feeling that by November the landscape will not be nearly as favorable towards Democrats.
Trump will have N Korea in his resume and it will be hard to knock down the spin even if it is really nothing at all.

[RKP5637]

110. I've been wondering the same. If NK goes well and the 2018 elections allow them to keep

congress it's damn frightening as to how emboldened they will be.

[BlueJac]

100. K&R from Florida...

[catbyte]

103. It's morphing into a cross between the Christian Taliban & The Republic of Gilead.

[The Wizard]

105. It's been like that since 64 when they were the champions of States' Rights

code for restoring Jim Crow laws and ultimately slavery.
Trump gave them the gonads to come out of hiding. He mainstreamed bigotry and hatred.

[UCmeNdc]

106. I think the members of the Republican Party are in the middle of a "Power Grab".

They will use Russia or any other means to stay in power.

[RKP5637]

112. I'm wondering how far it will go. I know this sounds far out, but I'm starting to

wonder just how far this can go ... would they actually try to start a revolution of some type to seize permanent power of the US. We never thought Trump would get in and here we are with this mess.

[Achilleaze]

108. republicans are pissing on the American vision that truly made America great

and embracing the ideas and practices of foreign, totalitarian regimes.

[RKP5637]

111. This really sums it up well! n/t

[loyalsister]

118. The US is rooted in white supremacy

One does not have to be a member of the KKK or GOP to participate in or defend white supremacy. I frequently see liberals practice subtle bigotry with defensiveness or dismissals when people of color voice perceptions of racism and share their perspective.

People who are aggressively bigoted toward people who are not white tend to support politicians who voice their hate. And they feed off of each other.
And, pretending it's just that group over there helps preserve a system where white people are the default and superior to people of color.

I think what is happening with the GOP is not limited to racial animosity, but exploitating it does serve an agenda.

[Mc Mike]

123. Like the statue that already exists in the giant lump of marble.

[nini]

124. Most of them have always been like that

They just don't need to hide it behind closed doors anymore. it is ok to put your hate, racism, greed and ignorance right out there for all to see these days.

[Eliot Rosewater]

126. Thank you for this, this is VERY ENLIGHTENING, isnt it.

Wow

[RKP5637]

134. When will they change the name GOP, to something like:

The Nationalist Supreme Party of the USA.

[Eliot Rosewater]

136. Of non POC since that W word is dangerous to use.

[Eliot Rosewater]

128. This poll and its repsonses is very valuable, it needs to be on the greatest page, how do we get

this there?

I will want to refer to the poll in the future for obvious reasons.

WANT to CHANGE my answer from yes to already happening, can I?

[RKP5637]

132. Yes! n/t

[Cary]

129. It's a done deal

They morphed into the 21st Century version of National Socialism years ago.

It's a slippery slope. Once they went down the Southern Strategy road they sealed their own fate. Fascism is subversive. It requires a scapegoat and that never ends well.

[RKP5637]

137. And sadly Trump is good at finding scapegoats and rallying his idiots. n/t

[DFW]

130. It is an already completed process

Like the Soviet Communist Party under Stalin or the NSDAP, they exploit weaknesses in their system to amass power to the point where any dissent or opposition is eliminated--by peaceful means or otherwise, in the long run, it ceases to matter. Intimidation or a firing squad--one way or the other, opposition to the orthodoxy of the small ruling elite is silenced.

The one thing the radical right has not yet accomplished is to seize total control of our media and methods of communication. They can't falsify ALL elections without that. Republican-run states are doing the level best to eliminate Democratic voters via their voter-suppression measures, but they haven't been 100% successful because they have not replaced all fair-minded judges--YET. But they want to, and they WILL try. Indeed, they are already well on their way. Look at Trump's judicial appointments and the Republican Senate's rubber-stamp confirmation process.

We have only one still-effective measure at our disposal, and that is GOTV--while it still means something. Don't forget that it gave Hillary a three million vote margin of victory in 2016, and she STILL was not allowed to take office. The ugly process HAS started. We can either stop it while we still can, or we can watch as they take the attitude of Georges Marchais. Marchais, head of the PCF, was asked if he would relinquish power after being elected président, but then voted out of office one election later. His response was, "why would the people ever want to vote us out of office?" The Republicans have come to believe that "God (spell that $)" has awarded them a permanent lease on the White House. We can either vote and prove them wrong, or sit at home (or vote third party) and prove them correct.

[RKP5637]

135. When/if Sinclair Broadcast Group takes over they will have significant control. This country is

flying out of control. My fear is, eventually, other nations will have to join to control the US. The hatred being unleashed in this country is astounding. And, if Trump has an opportunity of appointing one or two to SCOTUS.

[Nitram]

138. I voted "no" because my take is the the party has no consistent ideology or values anymore.

They are swimming against the tide of demographics and culture, and they will do anything to keep getting elected. The only way they know to stay in power is to manipulate the fear and resentment of a certain portion of the electorate, and obstruct voting for the rest of the electorate. The Nazis had a powerful ideology. The Republicans have Trump.

[RKP5637]

141. Good point!!! n/t

[ProudProgressiveNow]

139. KR NT

[RKP5637]

142. It is, he's following his playbook. Very reminiscent! n/t

[OxQQme]

144. Purity's been in the closet since '1492'

sticking it's ugly head out once in a while.
Each of the options.."some form of the KKK, Nazi Party, Supremacist Power or..." would have one or all of these attributes:

Ethnic purity.
Religious purity.
Ideological purity.

All lead to the need to subdue the "others".

[RKP5637]

145. And a Trump hero! n/t