Crazy Ideas
“Who put’s these crazy ideas into Trump’s head?,” asks well-known Republican strategist Karl Rove in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, The Republican Party Is in Disarray.
If you have access to the article please read it. Here are the key ideas in my estimation, all direct quotes of Rove’s article.
Rove Places the Blame
- The Senate is lost, the GOP is bitterly split and Trump’s actions have consequences. A key factor was the decision by many independents and soft Republicans to vote Democrat—largely, it appears, in response to Mr. Trump’s actions since the presidential election.
- Mr. Trump’s unrelenting personal attacks on Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also drew attention away from the Senate race while igniting an intraparty civil war. That rarely leads to anything productive. It didn’t here.
- The Saturday call demonstrated not only the president’s awful judgment but also how poorly his lawyers have served him. Who proposed the call in which Mr. Trump begged and cajoled, threatened and pleaded for the Georgia secretary of state to conjure up 11,780 Trump ballots?
- And who puts crazy notions into the president’s head? Mr. Trump claimed Saturday that 50,000 Georgians showed up Election Day but were turned away because someone already voted in their name. That would be 1 in 20 Georgians who voted in-person Nov. 3. If this really happened, we’d have known it in real time with voters screaming at election officials, poll watchers raising alarms and cable news stations interviewing angry Georgians.
- The run-up to the receipt of the Electoral College votes also turned off swing voters that Georgia Republicans needed. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s announcement that he’d attempt to overturn results and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s declaration he’d seek a 10-day delay in accepting the Electoral College results for an emergency “audit” to resolve questions were unwise stunts that couldn’t succeed.
- So it’s a mess. The GOP is bitterly split, Democrats will control the presidency, Senate and House, and 34% of Americans wrongly believe the election was rigged. The Trump presidency is ending with his followers violently shutting down the Capitol. Helluva way to start 2021.
Helluva Way to Start 2021
The WSJ does not take op-eds from me, but I said the exact same things, only first.
Here are a couple of points I made yesterday.
- Trump 2024 is Now Officially History
- Senator Ted Cruz and his merry band of 11 Trumpian degenerates can likely kiss their presidential hopes goodbye as well.
I spent a month refuting garbage claims by Trump that he “won big”.
And I predicted Trump would morph into Hillary blaming everyone but himself when he lost, which I also confidently called.
Rove admits the truth while asking “Who puts crazy notions into the president’s head?“
So if you don’t want to listen to me, please listen to Rove. He tells the same story.
Rove’s bottom line is the most important: “34% of Americans wrongly believe the election was rigged.”
Please let that sink in.
Trump started a Republican Civil War. And delusional Trump supporters afflicted with Trump Cult Syndrome (TCS) cheer that war.
It’s a “Helluva way to start 2021“.
Mish
Fun to say “I told you so,” every now and then, isn’t it??
Trump is being nice because lawyers are looking at indicting him for insurrection.
I think Trump is an idiot but it was really due to demographics. I always thought W would be the last republic president due to demographics. I’m quite sure Trump is the last.
You think there will be one-party rule for the remainder of our republic?
“Last” implies forever. That’s kind of a long time.
trump is a verifiable psychopath which is not an issue for nearly 50% of voters…
Rove is right. Democrats tried the same stunt but not to this magnitude
I’ve always hated Karl Rove.
But he’s often right, and he’s right about this.
McConnell cost the GOP the senate. If he had passed the $2000 stimulus the two Republicans would have won.
Wrong! Trump cost Republicans the Senate
And why did that become an issue? Because of Trump.
Had Trump just signed or vetoed the bill, without demanding $2000 checks, it would not have been an issue in the run-offs. Pelosi, AOC, Schumer — they all saw Trump’s juicy pitch over the plate and knew it would be an issue for McConnell.
This time you are wrong….
While it may seem counterintuitive, this period after the election has been good for the country. A movement of mass delusion has surrounded Trump for the last few years, gaining momentum until November. Since then a lengthy series of failed predictions appeared and supporters have been stepping away from the Kool-Aid in droves.
Yesterday’s fiasco was probably the best outcome. A few people died but for the most part it was just a bunch of fools storming the Capitol, accomplishing nothing other than terrible optics.
I would compare the recent Trump movement with “The Secret” from the 2000s, a book that told people they can become rich by using the so-called law of attraction. Basically if you believe something hard enough, it will come true regardless of whether or not it makes any sense. This concept, spread over tens of millions of people and modified for political purposes, is of course dangerous. Watching it fizzle out like this is satisfying.
Those scenes at the Capitol forced people to ask themselves if this is what they want. The concept of MAGA being some vague abstract feeling is finally dead.
Good analogy.
Long term stategy–encourage Trump to start the POT (Party of Trump).
Great idea! Even better: call it Party of Trump United States (and no: I’m more than happy he‘s not any longer !)
Remember, half of the population is dumber than average….
When your leader says “Only I can fix it”, you know he’s lying.
Dumber than median.
80% of the population is dumber than average. At least.
“Remember, half of the population is dumber than average.”
Possible, by accident, but mathematically incorrect in general.
I believe you mean median not mean (average)
Median, mean. If it’s IQ, isn’t it adjusted such that the mean is equal to the median?
But, remember the Flynn Effect. If IQ is adjusted to people taking tests now – young people – then more than half the population would be older and under the median and mean. … Sounds good on paper, anyway.
“The WSJ does not take op-eds from me, but I said the exact same things, only first.”
I know.
Not sure whether you should be proud because the Wall Street Journal is reading your blog to get their ideas….or whether you should worry a lot because you think just like Karl Rove…..who reminds me a lot of Cardinal Richelieu.
A man’s true nature is only revealed when he is given (near) limitless power…
I would only add a “party” to it as well. Life goes in circles!
We are at the beginning our Wars of Roses. It will last a generation or two.
May be both political parties should take a step back. Drop the team red vs team blue and set some policies that will benefit America as a whole. Republicans need the right vote but their policies only benefit the top 5 percent. Relying on fear and voter suppression / gerrymandering to maintain power.
There really is only one party – the pro war tax and spend party.
Critical thinking, the other national deficit.
Excellent article. The only place I disagree is that I think Trump knew that his actions would cost the Senate elections, and he did them deliberately. I think he delayed signing the Coronavirus relief as long as possible, demanded the $2000 checks, and attacked the Georgia Governor and Secretary of State all in a deliberate effort to sabotage the Senate races. I think he did so to punish McConnell for recognizing Biden as the winner, and make McConnell Minority Leader instead of Majority.
Pet lama giving suspicious looks found watching Trump replays ?
Is there anything he cannot be blamed for “with 99.99%” certainty ?
“Rove’s bottom line is the most important: “34% of Americans wrongly believe the election was rigged.” “
Wrong believers ? How far can anyone go with a theme like that, all the way to the ministry of truth ?
Only in America.
There is no evidence of significant fraud in the election. If there was, Trump would have introduced it in court. In court, rather than arguing fraud, Trump’s court cases were mostly cases saying that Democrats made it too easy to vote. What I don’t understand at all is, if Trump didn’t even have any evidence of fraud to introduce in court, how has the propaganda side of the internet become so powerful that they can convince 34% of the people to believe something with no evidence at all?
uh, try, really do try, not to repeat that 34%
Not hard. If you are for a transparent audit, an electoral commission, or even just an official fact finding mission that is non partisan and open to public scrutiny and that is willing to address each and every claim of wider fraud (including by agreeing to and allowing a supervised private audit), you then are able to rebuff the accusations (for the large majority of doubters) as well as ruining Trump’s reputation if that is sought. What I saw (and I follow both sides) was not that, instead no-one was willing to handle or investigate the accusations in an efficient or transparent manner. Almost as if purposefully that way, whether because of the weight of involvement, coverup, or to push a story further and agitate. You know that apart from not liking dems particularly, I have little or no stake in the outcome because of not being from the US, all I know is that I am no way convinced by what I have seen. I don’t see why proper scrutiny of the election results was not, or is not, held. I know the standard reply is to wave the recounts or cross-checks that have occurred as proof, that those skeptical are fanatic and will never be satisfied, but I’m just looking at it from a critical angle of what proper scrutiny or investigation has taken place. My answer is “very little”, certainly not enough to persuade someone who might demand a clear answer.
So that is where it is left, believers vs believers. Sure the US can do better than that – it’s about the only direct say people have in how their country is run, no matter how corrupt politics actually is. If they stop believing they have a say, well you are going along the path of total demoralisation – not good.
Given that trust in elections is essential to maintaining a Democracy, investigation into fraud is always appropriate. It is always done, too, and, yes, it has been done this year, too, multiple times. Each state investigates all causes of fraud within it’s borders. Furthermore, the Justice Department also investigates it, and so does the Department of Homeland Security. The states found only minor cases of fraud. The Justice Department found only minor amounts, not enough to affect the outcome. The Department of Homeland Security found the least amount ever.
Two of those investigations were conducted by the Republican administration, and the result of their finding was for Trump to fire the Republican who did the investigation. I suppose you could investigate it a fourth time, but obviously you wouldn’t expect to find anything different. The problem is, the people that believe there was fraud wouldn’t believe it anyway, so why bother? They know from their sketchy conspiracy websites that there was massive fraud, so why try to confuse them with facts? The facts are already out there, if they cared.
If Trump had any sense he would have gone quietly into the sunset and be glad he lost.
Trump STILL has at least 30% of the voting age American public under what one might reasonably describe as a sort of hypnosis. The other 70% have been disabused, along with the entire international community. The far right is suffering from a case of “everyone is dumb except for us” or perhaps we can call it Dunning-Krueger Syndrome.
Definitely D-K syndrome!
House may move before the weekend, maybe a Senate trial next week. I know it is kind of stupid and symbolic, but actions should have consequences, or else we will be here again.
“I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the Vice President to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the vice president and the cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.”
If you or I pulled something like this we’d spend the rest of our short lives being tortured in a Federal prison if we weren’t executed either by the police during the arrest or after being convicted of inciting a riot, murder charges , and a huge list of other charges.
You are true liberals just like Rove,
Da komrade! Warm extensions of welcoming on komrade’s first comment!
Is it really worth it just to have Pence as President for a week?
Great analysis!
Not what we needed at a time when we needed coolheaded, clear thinking to combat this pandemic.
“Who puts crazy notions into the president’s head?” Trump. All you have to do is read his tweets to see that he is deranged.
Assuming he is not foaming at the mouth in 2023, yes he will run again. I don’t understand why anyone thinks he would not? The only question is whether the GOP clown show puts up 20 candidates again so that his ‘base’ gets him the nomination with 25% support.
Hey, I believed all of the the guys like Rex Tillerson who said Trump was a eff’n moron.
its clear that the election was stolen. sadly no one cares.
the georgia runnoff was on the democratic side. a kook and a real kook.
yet the runoff election was stolen in the exact same manner as the presidential perdue’s totals decreased when votes were taken away from him, on national TV. despite a court order, republicans could not observe counting. Whether the voters like or disliked perdue and loeffler made no difference whatever.
while trumps conversation with raffensberger was probably foolish, he did say anything except what most of his supporters think.
it would appear that one can buy victory through a transaction with Dominion. That would mean that some or many republicans have made a deal with the devil.
When one make a deal with the devil, one usually gets screwed by the devil