Yeah, we hate what Donald Trump is doing to our party, but how do we express that without (1) riling up Trump and attracting a mean tweet; and (2) admit that the dirty fucking hippies were, once again, right?

Okay, (2) is easy, because nobody ever listens to the dirty fucking hippies, so we can continue to ignore them. But that mean tweet!

...we don't have the numbers to do more than gripe to each other in expensive restaurants and bars.

they are in. Using Grover Norquist comments, I want to see the Republic Party shrunk to the size that you could fit it in a bathtub and then fucking drown it.

The economy is because of BHO!
Low inflation is because of BHO!
Tarriffs are damaging and the potential gains don't outweigh the TVM losses!
America doesn't become great by damaging the FBI
But, no. They're cowards, too worried about the idiot fraction of the base.

trolling liberals. Period.

or at least go independent if corker, flake and one more go independent schumer would be majority leader

Neither the establishment republicans nor the Trump republicans are a large enough group on their own to win big elections. They need each other. Establishment repubs know that the Trump "phase" isn't going to last very long and when it ends...they'll be screwed if they attach themselves to it. But at the same time, if they DON'T attach themselves to Trump, they're losing their primaries to Trumpian candidates. It's just a matter of time until it all blows up, because demographics show that the country is becoming more diverse and young people are voting Democratic at higher rates than we've ever seen.

My dad is a good example of what they're worried about. He's been a lifelong Republican, always voted straight republican in every general and midterm election. Voted Trump in 2016...although he wasn't thrilled about it. He did it more because he's ALWAYS voted Republican, and he just really didn't like Hillary, so he bit his tongue and voted Trump.

Well, on the few times we've talked politics lately (I generally don't bring it up, just because it's more enjoyable not to), he's expressed disgust. I've asked him if he's going to vote for Trump again in 2016. He shakes his head, and says "No, not again." He's also not planning on voting in midterms this year because of his disgust. He's not voting Democratic...just not voting Republican. This is a man who's never missed a midterm vote in his life, who is purposely not voting this November. I was amazed.

Hate and breeding division is part of their brand. Chamber of Commerce republicans happily hitched a ride on that foul wagon, now a lot of those find themselves being forced out, people like Anna Navarro, Nicole Wallace, Steve Schmidt, George Will. The one question that I have for them. If they got control of the Republican Party back tomorrow, would they be more cordial toward Americans that don't agree with their policy prescriptions?

I get the idea from what Republicans like these "forgotten" ones say, that we are supposed to believe that things just started going south with Trump. Far, far from the case. Trump is simply the product, the inevitable culmination, of decades of American conservatism. I think that it isn't so much that they disagree with anything he says or thinks, it is that they don't like the way that he acts publicly like they think privately. Instead of burying the agenda under dogwhistles, euphemisms and soundbites, he just blurts it out. In short, they're upset that he is destroying their odious brand by exposing it for what it really is.

This is something we absolutely can't let Republicans and the media get away with. As I wrote back when Steve Schmidt announced he was no longer a registered Republican:

Various Republicans, including members of the media and retiring Congresspersons, have been critical of Trump. Steve Schmidt, Republican Party strategist turned TV pundit and Trump critic, has even renounced his Republican Party membership. Schmidt tweeted, "29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump."

Now, let me preface what I'm about to write by saying the more people that recognize the horrors of the Trump Administration the better. But let's be clear about a few things. Trump and his base of support is a monster of the Republican Party's making, a monster who was 50 years in the making. The Southern Strategy and racist dog whistling has been modus operandi for the GOP for longer than Steve Schmidt has been alive. Schmidt turned eighteen as Ronald Reagan's administration was coming to an end. I imagine Reagan inspired Schmidt to register as a Republican. Reagan, the man who basically kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign by giving a speech about "states' rights" less than ten miles from Philadelphia, MS, where three civil rights workers were murdered. Every other Republican presidential candidate, from Nixon to Bush to McCain to Romney, has also engaged in dog whistling.

In addition, the Republican Party has engaged in race-based gerrymandering and race-based voter suppression. The Republican Party has also fomented and exploited sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, jingoism and hatred of LGBTQ persons. The Republican Party has undermined trust in government by infusing government with incompetence and corruption. The Republican Party has also fostered the "liberal media" myth, which has contributed to a highly irresponsible infotainment industry that promotes false equivalencies and seems unwilling to label facts as facts and lies as lies (out, I suppose, of some twisted sense of what constitutes fairness or balance).

All of the above made the rise of Trump or someone like him almost inevitable. So, all I can suggest to Republicans who are critical of Trump is that you keep scrubbing those hands. The blood won't come out easily, but you have to keep scrubbing.

Let me make one more point before closing. Unless one is genuinely ignorant of history, it is utterly disingenuous to suggest that the Republican Party of today (or pre-Trump) is anything like the Republican Party that was started by anti-slavery Whigs. Nor is today's GOP the "party of Lincoln," as some like to claim (Lincoln, by the way, was no abolitionist). Mr. Schmidt, the pre-Trump Republican Party is no more the Republican Party of 1854 than today's Democratic Party is the Democratic Party of pre-1964 Strom Thurmond.

Why call out Republicans who are critical of Trump, one might ask. The reason is simple. Republicans need to take ownership. We need to be clear about who Republicans have been for half a century now. All persons of conscience must guard against this notion that all will be well or "normal" if we simply rid this nation of Donald J. Trump. All is not well. Republicans have very deliberately created a monster, which was born before Trump moved into the White House and will undoubtedly survive long after Trump is gone. Own it, Republicans. Own it.

Lastly, to all those persons of conscience, vote for Democrats in November. The party may not be perfect, but it's the only thing standing in the way of authoritarianism, the only thing standing in the way of fascism. If you've never voted before, 2018 would be a good time to start. Your Social Security, your health insurance or your child's health insurance, and your very life may depend on it. Please vote.

Very well said ... thanks!

Their plan was to sit back and let DJT take all the flack for being the crazy outsider while they continued their work of dismantling all the regulatory agencies of our government. These crazy f*cks even want to go back to appointing Senators so they can have even more power to block legislation. ALEC hasn't gone anywhere...Kochs are only upset the orange fool may screw up their lock on state government at mid-terms by making the brand look bad.

I’m usually an optimistic guy. But I have a creeping dread that we are in deep, deep trouble. Trump has been normalized. Even many who do not approve of his behavior are fatigued by outrage after outrage. It’s normal now.

I hope to my marrow I am wrong...

But when they say it a thousand times it becomes real to some. i think they are in for a big surprise.

At most...And it will hit the fan in ways no one knows.. It may be as low as 33 percent...

If 65 percent get real angry with them, only two things will happen,

...A. Angry ones will not vote at all
...B. Angry ones will show the assholes the door and vote Democrat....

That is all she wrote..You are correct, the base will shrink to a third..Trump will not get better, he will get worse..

He does not know "better"..Too stupid and stubborn to know better...

party of Lincoln. The Grand Old Party has 30-40% who are Forever Trumpers, ignorant fuckers. Where would you even begin to change them ? The evil the "genuine" conservatives have unleashed by their going along with Trump will be forever held over them. I don't see a future for the GOP. Then again, if the Dems don't take back the House at the least, we might be saying the same about the Dems.....

who can put it back undercover?