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Steve Schmidt: "My fidelity is to my country, not my political party. Country first."

haymarket said:
I do not disagree that such a practice can be dishonest. And when it is done, one must look closely at it. But in the case of Schmidt, I do believe he makes a very thorough and reasonable case that the party of Reagan is not the party of Trump and Reagan would not recognize it today.

You talk about opinion evolving over time. Why then has George Wills not evolved to accept Trump? Why hasn't the recently departed Charles Krauthammer not evolved to do the same? What about Nicole Wallace? What about Joe Scarborough? Lots and lots of Reagan era and Bush era people simply have not evolved to accept Trump.
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Trump is a temporary phenomenon. Once he goes, the GOP will drift back to where it was before which, unfortunately, is as simply another bulwark for the establishment. It is that part of the GOP that old time conservatives like Goldwater and Reagan would reject.
 
Mizzy22 said:
It's simple if Republicans want to save their party,they have to Dump Trump!
In the end Trump is more a disaster to the GOP then to Democrats.
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Not true. The disaster to the GOP would have been nominating Jeb! Schmidt and Will would still be loyal republicans, but the GOP base would be heading for the exits.
 
veritas1 said:
Trump is a temporary phenomenon. Once he goes, the GOP will drift back to where it was before which, unfortunately, is as simply another bulwark for the establishment. It is that part of the GOP that old time conservatives like Goldwater and Reagan would reject.
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I hope you are right that once Trump departs the scene the GOP can clean itself of the stink of him. Right now, I would not bet on it.
 
Fletch said:
Not true. The disaster to the GOP would have been nominating Jeb! Schmidt and Will would still be loyal republicans, but the GOP base would be heading for the exits.
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The GOP base and Trump base are not one and the same!
 
Whether one likes Trump or not, it boggles the mind to think anyone that truly believes in conservatism will advocate placing power with the Democrats or a third party. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Regardless of how distasteful a personality may seem, as a Libertarian (fiscally conservative - socially liberal) I could not advocate for any group that would raise taxes, oppose tougher immigration laws, advocate for growing government, and defer to international bodies for domestic governance.

If a person voted for lower taxes, a more hawkish military, shrinking government, and a desire to lead and not follow (vs "leading from behind") on the international stage, why would that person want in any way to support a group that opposes all of that?


How could anyone truly believe either of them have faith in their convictions if so easily tossed aside because of personality? And I thought conservatives prided themselves on voting policy and not personality...at least, I pride myself for doing so.
 
dorsai said:
...How could anyone truly believe either of them have faith in their convictions if so easily tossed aside because of personality? And I thought conservatives prided themselves on voting policy and not personality...at least, I pride myself for doing so.
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Because they know the difference between right and wrong and between personality and character. How low would you sink? Would you vote for Jeffrey Dahmer if he got your issues passed?!?

...WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Personality is easy to read, and we're all experts at it. We judge people funny, extroverted, energetic, optimistic, confident—as well as overly serious, lazy, negative, and shy—if not upon first meeting them, then shortly thereafter. And though we may need more than one interaction to confirm the presence of these sorts of traits, by the time we decide they are, in fact, present we've usually amassed enough data to justify our conclusions.

Character, on the other hand, takes far longer to puzzle out. It includes traits that reveal themselves only in specific—and often uncommon—circumstances, traits like honesty, virtue, and kindliness. Ironically, research has shown that personality traits are determined largely by heredity and are mostly immutable. The arguably more important traits of character, on the other hand, are more malleable—though, we should note, not without great effort. Character traits, as opposed to personality traits, are based on beliefs (e.g., that honesty and treating others well is important—or not), and though beliefs can be changed, it's far harder than most realize....
 
Mizzy22 said:
Quoting Reagan!:doh

HowardBThiname said:
Dear, perhaps you should actually read the post. :roll:

He pretended to know what Reagan would think.

Come on, you can do better than that.
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Steve Schmidt didn't pretend to know what Reagan would think. What Steve did is cite a passage on Reagan's tomb and declare explicitly what Reagan would think.
"On Ronald Reagan’s grave are these words. 'I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.' He would be ashamed of McConnell and Ryan and all the rest while this corrupt government establishes internment camps for babies."​
The only way for Reagan (or anyone having uttered the words on Reagan's tomb) to be not abashed over the GOP leadership's "zero-tolerance" comportment and intents in implementing that policy is were he to disbelieve what he said and/or to have lied when he said said it. The same would be so of anyone making the remark found on Reagan's tomb.
  • Willful is the Admin's choice to use the separation of children from their parents/guardians as a deterrent was the intent of the Trump Admin's implementing zero-tolerance as they chose to do.

​
Jeff Sessions:​


  • [*=1]Q: Are you in favor of this new move announced by the attorney general early this week that if you cross the border illegally even if you're a mother with your children [we're going] to arrest you? We're going to prosecute you, we're going to send your kids to a juvenile shelter.

    A: The name of the game to a large degree. Let me step back and tell you that the vast majority of the people that move illegally into United States are not bad people. They're not criminals. They're not MS-13....But a big name of the game is deterrence.

When one clearly states his/her beliefs, nobody need pretend to know the speaker's thoughts.
 
Xelor said:
This past week, George Will and Steve Schmidt, two long, long standing Republicans abjured the GOP for one and only one reason: The GOP's and Trump's turpitude.
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Assuming that the American public cares for the opinions celebrities and pundits is the reason why Trump is in office...
 
haymarket said:
Schmidt is one of the few political talking heads that is always well spoken and has something of value to say. He is intelligent and very much aware of what America is and what is happening to it under Trump.
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Same goes for Rick Wilson.
 
Hedgology said:
Assuming that the American public cares for the opinions celebrities and pundits is the reason why Trump is in office...
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Could America have picked a worse celebrity?
Gary Busey wasn't available?
 
<alt>doxygen said:
So Trump is a bridge too far but Palin was fit to be VP? Okay.

Glad people are calling Trump out, but why did they help it get this bad in the first place?
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Well, if you believe how Schmitt was depicted in the movie, "Game Change" he realized during the campaign what a mistake it was bringing in Palin.
 
Mizzy22 said:
Could America have picked a worse celebrity?
Gary Busey wasn't available?
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Maybe for you, but this celebrity is implementing the policies millions of people elected him to implement.

Regardless of what you may thing of Trump, he's going to go down a folk hero.
 
Hedgology said:
Maybe for you, but this celebrity is implementing the policies millions of people elected him to implement.

Regardless of what you may thing of Trump, he's going to go down a folk hero.
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with any luck, his story will end the same way as the kingfish
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
with any luck, his story will end the same way as the kingfish
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I'm unfamiliar with the tale, but the point is that if you want to succeed in democracy, you need to find out what people want and you need to give it to them.
 
Hedgology said:
I'm unfamiliar with the tale, but the point is that if you want to succeed in democracy, you need to find out what people want and you need to give it to them.
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Huey Long, who served as governor of Louisiana before electing himself as senator. he served during the 1930s.

he is a controversial figure in Louisiana history, as he is considered a demogouge
 
The legacy R's lost their followers mostly through years of lies, corruption, incompetence and immorality. Their refusal to own it serves to compound the righteousness of their demise.
 
lurchadams said:
Well, if you believe how Schmitt was depicted in the movie, "Game Change" he realized during the campaign what a mistake it was bringing in Palin.
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Yeah, and I know McCain wound up appalled with her, but they never admitted it until after we had dodged that bullet.
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
Huey Long, who served as governor of Louisiana before electing himself as senator. he served during the 1930s.

he is a controversial figure in Louisiana history, as he is considered a demogouge
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So with your "any luck" statement, is it fair to assume you hope someone will assassinate Trump in a similar way that they did this King Fish person?

In any regard, sometimes in democracy to develop (or change) you need to risk being controversial.
 
Mizzy22 said:
I'm truly surprised that Republicans have blindly followed this narcissistic monster with their heads buried into the sand.
The Party of Lincoln,the GOP no longer exist!
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A lot of that I suspect is do to focusing on what they can get done while Trump is in office. He is an endless source of all types of distraction which allows the GOP to pull out some of their policy favorites and get them through while they can. I can't imagine the GOP seriously being behind Trump; they sought to keep him from the ticket early on. Now that they're stuck with him he is a means to an end, and unfortunately provides them cover because he can be the fall guy if things go wrong.
 
Hedgology said:
So with your "any luck" statement, is it fair to assume you hope someone will assassinate Trump in a similar way that they did this King Fish person?

In any regard, sometimes in democracy to develop (or change) you need to risk being controversial.
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the man who shot huey long was the son in law of a state judge who was a longtime political opponent of huey long and the day that huey long was shot he was at the state capital presiding over the passage of a bill removing that judge from his position. to put it simply, the son-in-law took his politics personally and made huey long pay for what he was doing to his father in law.

i wonder how many people nowadays take their politics personally and also have an issue with trump
 
Hawkeye10 said:
The legacy R's lost their followers mostly through years of lies, corruption, incompetence and immorality. Their refusal to own it serves to compound the righteousness of their demise.
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LOL They replaced them with a bigger liar, whose far more corrupt, completely incompetent and totally immoral. Good going.
 
Mizzy22 said:
I'm truly surprised that Republicans have blindly followed this narcissistic monster with their heads buried into the sand.
The Party of Lincoln,the GOP no longer exist!
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Might have something to do with Trump being the only President in history to keep a campaign promise...
 
ElChupacabra said:
A lot of that I suspect is do to focusing on what they can get done while Trump is in office. He is an endless source of all types of distraction which allows the GOP to pull out some of their policy favorites and get them through while they can. I can't imagine the GOP seriously being behind Trump; they sought to keep him from the ticket early on. Now that they're stuck with him he is a means to an end, and unfortunately provides them cover because he can be the fall guy if things go wrong.
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A ticking time bomb
 
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