This year, they are anti-trade Trumpikins. 4 years ago, they were pro-business small government Romney Republicans, in 2008 they were "Maverick" McCain supporters, 4 years before that they were family values born again bush christians. Whoever takes over the party after this election will have all of the freepers saying "Trump was an awful choice, we needed a real conservative in 2016. That is why we lost. I never supported him".

These people who have never voted before think Trump is their champion. They are the new base and they know nothing. Add that to the white nationalist who also have now, their champion...it's been decades for them. The Ron Paul supporters who were the first militant supporters of the late Republican Party are still extreme.

I'm not sure that the people in power of the Republican Party can move them like puppets again.

Either way, I don't give a shit about them. I only care about Democrats winning.

They found that people that voted for trump in the republican primaries this year were almost entirely people that have voted in republican primaries for many, many cycles and that trump does not seem to be inspiring any significant increase in first time voter registrations among republican voters. Trumpicans, Tea Partiers, Bush conservatives, Reagan republicans. Same people, different name.

They found that those "new voters" had voted and voted republican but that they didn't vote in primaries.

at the moment. It will be sharpened by a Trump-Pence loss.

Agree that there is a power vacuum for the GOP. There's no shortage of people who want to be their nominee in 2020. But the work of bringing the base together for a winning national election won't be easy, since it was the base who nominated Donald Trump.

Not sure how they can fix it quickly, or if they can fix it at all.

And I don't think the standard dog whistle is going to satisfy them
They got like this because of the rise of the tea party and gerrymandering. This episode is hard to wash away

I wish there was a way to stop it but they did it even before eliminating VRA

10 years ago, they were all pro-christian, family values, no swearwords on tv, won't someone please think of the children?! republicans. Now they are "alpha male", rape is a okay Trumpicans. They will go along with whatever the strongest member of their party tells them to go along with. If the next leader of the party tells them crocs are the most America footwear and that banana pudding cleanses the soul, then by god we are going to have a bunch of croc wearing, banana pudding eating republicans wondering around our towns.

I think trump will slink away a few weeks after the election and will become a pariah. Ryan and McConnell will be seen as the ineffective leaders that were too afraid or too weak to stop this disaster. Like Boehner and George W Bush, they will be pushed to the side and become an afterthought.

Treason and sent to prison. It's not insignificant that he is running for Putin.

is inevitably people won't know who you're talking about. Like, I can't figure out who Window's Peak is. It kind of sounds like you're ridiculing people for how they look--Turtle Face? I have friends with weak chins. Should I ridicule them? When you taunt a gay man with the name "penis" you get into actual homophobic territory. That's all kind of mean. I don't think you can be mad at Republicans for being heartless if you think it's okay to ridicule other peoples' looks & demographics.

Anyway, yes, a purge is probably in the future for the GOP, but probably not really as brutal as what Stalin did.

I mean, what the heck does "window's peak" even mean? It just sounds stupid.

His hairline.

Name-calling, like vulgarity, diminishes one's argument no matter how satisfying it may feel.

If they could find a way to prevent that, they'd antagonize a large portion of their base.

I hope it's as hopeless for them as I think it is.

...even metaphorically.

The problem isn't only the leadership, it's the base that places leadership in impossible positions. Stalin used raw violence to bring people in line. What's the tool, what's the stick that can be used to bring into line a base that can just melt away?

The Nazis are taking over and today's leadership looks to be well on their way to being yesterday's Rohms and Schleichers.

You may think I'm being hyperbolic but you are wrong and you endanger all of us by not taking it seriously.

And this time, they got a taste of the big leagues. Unless we do something to change our political system in a fundamental way, we're going to have a goddamned fascist trying to get close enough to overthrow the government every four years from now until they succeed, which will be the end of the United States of America.

The vacuum they leave is usually filled by a new party which is more moderate than the party that died. And that new party is almost always an offshoot of the surviving opposition party. In other words, the Republican Party certainly can die, and if it does it will probably be replaced by a conservative-leaning splinter off of the Democratic party.

so if any purge happens, it will be republicans cleansing the party of the teaparty/trump fringe...either way, the GOP is done, fractured, splintered for decades

The proof is in the pudding. If she can actually get equal pay for women, create jobs, reform student loans, raise taxes on the rich, do some modest tax reform, get immigration reform, get her judges seated, get child care, etc., then - and only then - can we begin to demonstrate that the Dems have better policies that actually help people live better lives. It will put the lie to GOP policies that hurt people. If Clinton can get some things done, it won't matter what the GOP does.

feel heavily in their wallets and lifestyles, they will go back to grumbling instead of shrieking.

among Republicans and some Democrats in Congress who don't want to upset their "friends across the aisle".

They planted the idea that his Generals etc were plotting against him

I have not checked on the latest research re this history.

The lesson is that dictators usually trip over themselves at some point.

Trump seems to be tripping over himself right now. He always has if you look closely,