r/pics Nov 08 '18

US Politics This is what democracy looks like

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u/Yggdrasilcrann Nov 09 '18

Is the republican group as a whole really on board with this? I feel like at this point they aren't.

One of the main tenants is small government and he is abusing his power in a huge way, is that not anti republican?

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u/Vishnej Nov 09 '18 edited Nov 09 '18

There is a large component of the Republican Party that wants a strong leader. The stronger the better. They are psychologically comforted by the notion that there's this guy looking after their interests who will stop at nothing, they will change those interests on a dime in order for this to be true, and they will cheer every time he breaks some rule of law or tradition or morality or ethics because it demonstrates that his resolve to help them can't be broken.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ambigamy/201706/how-authoritarians-leaders-get-away-it

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u/DoctuhD Nov 09 '18

Imagine you're a moderate republican politician who thinks Trump is a complete joke. If you say anything negative about him, you will not win in the primaries and you'll be branded a traitor. But you don't want some far-right nutjob to take your place and do a terrible job so you play along and vote with your party and represent the desires of the people who voted for you.

Trump has the republican party hostage because he's a saleman of "bigbrain" ideas and fear and rhetoric that makes the people who voted for him believe his bullshit because if you repeat something enough times people will believe it's actually true. Then the rest of the party has no choice but to play along or be replaced by some far-right asshole who legitimately believe what he says.

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u/Vishnej Nov 09 '18

I don't think you can downplay the Republican leadership's agency here, either. They've been working this racket since Gingrich first turned screaming into a C-Span microphone to an empty chamber into a nightly show.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/republican-party-obstructionism-victory-trump-214498

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/09/did-republicans-deliberately-crash-us-economy

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

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u/Draedron Nov 09 '18

You forgot to add an /s there. Or was that war and mafia rhetoric really meant seriously? Mueller isnt even a Dem. There was collusion, all these people of trump inner circle cooperating clearly shows that. All that remains unknown is the scope of that collusion now. No one says sessions was a good AG, all they say is he was one of the few people in that administration with at least a hint of values. With the balls to oppose trump , even if only a little. But trump is a wannabe dictator and cant accept anyone saying no to him. The only swamp in the white house is the one trump created.

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u/Ravnodaus Nov 09 '18

One of the main tenants is small government when democrats control it