Why I'm leaving the Republican party - The Republicans are now the party of situational ethics. Opinion piece in The Atlantic

Just to add its the supreme Court appointment of Kavanaugh and all of the political hypocrisy in the run up to it that is the straw that broke the camels back. He basically thinks the party is now without principle and has no moral purpose to its desire for power. Definitely worth a read.

Some times I disagree with Tom Nichols, but not often.

Best line of the piece - Small things sometimes matter, and Collins is among the smallest of things in the political world. !!!!

It was a brilliant put down of the awful and fake Susan Collins! [R2]

Most of you would do him

And great piece, thanks for sharing OP

I'd vote for him.

Best line: "Congressional Republicans now act like a parliamentary party facing the constant threat of a vote of no-confidence."

just fuck off asshole, dems hate you, as do the rethugs. go away please no one gives a shit

He can join the republican lite party.

Only an Independent is of stable mind

Republicans are the party of NO ethics, situational or not.

TLTR

So he just figured this out???

Wow. I guess Republicans are dumb.

The Republican Party has a lot of fake Republicans. It's kind of a catch-all for people who are sure they are not Democrats. Senators Flake and Sasse have run as Republicans just to get elected as the nominee of a major party, even though their beliefs don't fit with either party. We probably need some third parties to handle the people who neither fish nor fowl.

He isn't a fake Republican, he definitely isn't a Democrat. He's just too moderate for today's Republican party.

Also note it's a Republican tactic to focus on the messenger, not the message.

R12 Flake votes almost lockstep with the Republicans and uses the Maverick angle to stay in his seat. Unfortunately if you examine his voting record he is very much a Republican. He may talk a good game but actions speak louder than words. Don't buy his "I'm different" act which is designed to position himself for 2020 when he will most definitely run for President.

They turned into a caricature after Trump won. I have trouble taking these people, who voted for a two digit IQ candidate, seriously.

He's right that the republician party will ultimately be in a very poor position in the long run post Trump.

America is in a very poor position in that the voter has only two choices: much of a muchness or lesser of two evils.

[quote]Senators Flake and Sasse have run as Republicans just to get elected as the nominee of a major party, even though their beliefs don't fit with either party.

Their beliefs fit in fine with the Republican party; they just hate trump.

NOW the party of situational ethics?? Lololol. They’ve ALWAYS been the party of situational ethics. ALWAYS.

Centrist Refucklicans are so obtuse and willfully blind. No matter, they are still Refucklicans, doomed to eternally being on the wrong side of history and forever left behind.

Maybe [R18] but moreso nowadays much more so. The extent of it reeks.

If you look at the last forty years, the notable horrors and disrespect for the rule of law are from the Republicans as an institution. From Nixon and Watergate to Reagan and Iran Contra to Newt Gingrich Tom Delay to Bush and Iraq to Trump and everything. They are enemies of democracy and with every ounce of power they have they move the country closer to totalitarianism, kleptocracy, and oligarchy.

R16 you are so right. I'm in NJ and have to vote for the corrupt Menendez. I don't want to but I have no choice.

Call them what you will, they have managed to pull off a fairly major coup by convincing the white working class and rural poor that a party of wealthy businessmen is on their side and portray Democrats as the party of wealthy coastal elites

One hopeful sign is that there's a kernel of truth in that last bit: Silicon Valley and Wall Street skew heavily Dem and give heavily Dem. The GOP gets most of its money from old folks in dying industries. So long term that will not do them well.

They skew heavily Libertarian at the top, r22. Their policies and structures enable all of this. It's political nihilism.

[quote]Their beliefs fit in fine with the Republican party; they just hate trump

just not enough to vote against him,

the delusion of Dems that rethughs will ever do the right thing is dismaying

Fuck Menendez R21-- I mean definitely vote for him, but what a selfish asshole.

The party now has to spend millions in NYC and Philadephia markets to make sure he gets elected, while one of the many solid younger NJ Democrats would have been a shoo-in for Senator.

And what do we get out of it--someone the GOP can mock and taunt every time he opens his mouth because, to your point, he is one corrupt SOB.

[quote]while one of the many solid younger NJ Democrats would have been a shoo-in for Senator.

exactly, except for the fact that they would have had to actually run in a primary against him and get more votes.

R22, they'll claim to believe ANYTHING as long as they can have a known racist in power.

It's sickening isn't it [R27]

[quote] I'm in NJ and have to vote for the corrupt Menendez

Speaking of situational ethics.

How nice to finally obtain a firm grasp of the obvious.

Fuck Tom and his op-ed. He is still apart of the problem. He and many other republicans sat quietly for decades while the republican party was going in the wrong direction.

The racism, bigotry, xenophobia, treatment of minorities and women etc etc. Republicans think speaking out against any of these issues is going against the party line. And is being politically correct, instead of shutting down what was morally wrong and corrupt about the party.

The republican party has always had shades of racism to it. Going back decades. But trump showed up and really turned the volume up and revealed it to be what we all knew it to be anyway. And all this time he stayed his ads right in the GOP. So fuck him.

He should've left the moment trump became the nominee. I'm my opinion he has zero credibility.

I love these clueless fucks sniveling, "This is NOT my Republican party!". Yes it is, dummy- you just finally got a clue.

Trump supporters are all racist, if you abhor racism, you won't be a trump supporter.

I agree, Susan Collins is just disgusting...how can any woman vote for her, or vote for any Republican woman who voted for Kavanaugh.

It was just a disgusting show of ignorance that Collins sided with the obvious liar, Kavanaugh.

I wish more people would realize that even though they are Republicans the conservative establisment doesn't give a shit about them. They all support the Republican Party because they believe that it will put money directly into their wallets and make them feel all big and superior, but with shit like Trump's tariffs they (finally?) see themselves as the exposable pawns they are. Unless you are part of the 1% the Republican Party isn't doing you any favors.

My apologies: the conservative establishment ... see themselves as the disposable pawns they are.

Totally agree, R32.

From the Nichols op-ed: "I will vote for Democrats and Republicans whom I think are decent and well-meaning people"

Oh dear.

One of the most confusing things in my lifetime was seeing neocons allign with liberals based on aggressive foreign policy, even when honest liberals rightly attacked George W. Bush and the neocon agenda of bombing the entire middle east.

The Atlantic? Why not publish the article where some Republicans will read it?

[R39] it could well get read by plenty of Republicans via it being shared on social media.