You can find Ray-SoCal's latest list here. As Ray explains:
I listed what the GOP should fight on.
My expectations are at best 2-3 will actually getting Gop support. Too many of the GOP leadership are happy with business as usual.
The joker in the deck is Trump.
Trump being ostracized by the elite has forced him to focus.
Overton Windows I expect Trump to move / shatter are:
- election fraud
- capital insurrection narrative - his question of who shot Ashli Babbitt is brilliant.
- our system of justice is politicized
Trump is actually fighting back, which is rare in the gop.
At a state level there is lots of good pushback against the left’s efforts. Florida is leading this.
Don Surber offers his own view: No More Mr. Nice Trump. He begins with what amounts to a rebuke to the likes of Codevilla:
President Donald John Trump seems determined to get re-elected for a second time in 2024. I am not going to tell him how to campaign, because I am confident in his political abilities. My concern is about governance. He must learn from the mistakes of the first term.
He was too trusting.
He was too dependent up Republicans in Washington, who are too interested in enriching themselves than in serving the public. Republican Senators Richard Burr, James Imhofe, and Kelly Loeffler cashed in on the stock crash after the intelligence committee (which Burr headed) was told about covid 19.
In Term II, Trump needs to clean house and fire every political appointee, because they are unreliable lifers.
Surber's solution is for Trump to recruit talent from state governments. There are obvious problems with that. How many state officials are only state, rather than federal, officials because they haven't had the right opportunity to climb the greasy pole and go to DC? We've seen plenty of corruption at the state level in the aftermath of Election 2020.
Still, Surber offers many other ideas, some entertaining, some serious.
He concludes as he starts:
Finally, in Term II, there must be paybacks. Red China must pay for covid 19.
So should Fauci and all his friends in Washington.
There also must be investigations of Hunter, Hillary, and Obama.
No more Mister Nice Trump.
I am a kind of political junkie. For seven years I have sent a daily Best of the Web email to several dozen friends and family members to are still too profitably employed to scour the Internet for good information on a variety of topics. After having a persistent gut feel that the GOP is simply not ready to lead--or even follow--us out of our current predicament, I did a quick exercise last week: I went through the GOP rosters of the House and Senate and gave a thumbs up / thumbs down rating on every single one of them.
ReplyDeleteCriteria 1: if I had never heard of them, then they were clearly not fighters or leaders and needed to be replaced by someone who was.
Criteria 2: if I was aware that they had voted against MAGA--or had equivocated--then they needed to be replaced.
Scorecard -- House keepers: 16 -- Senate keepers: 8
Were I to actually research the voting record of the more obscure congress critters, I might find that some of them were okay. But is "okay" good enough nowadays? I submit the answer is "no."
Given the paucity of talent and commitment in the ranks, working down Ray's list has virtually zero odds of being pursued--let alone achieved. The Dems know how to get their caucus to line up and stick together. I suspect that our current failed crop of losers reflects more about our voters than we would like to admit. The left's voters are more devoted to politics and amenable to being led. The right's voters are cantankerous, iconoclastic, and too busy working to pay sufficient attention to what the arseholes they are electing are actually doing while in office.
IMHO state level concentration makes far more sense than federal, Soros (I hate the example) has been highly successful in using state / local level operatives). However I don't believe we will get anything but the greasy pole climbers out of the Republican party.
ReplyDeleteI've taken notice of Arizona's state party balance... Two very weak parties and a very strong independent base. It's producing very liberty minded results and a audit we can't seem to get out of any other republican state. Nothing perfect but they seem to fight a lot of successful battle there.
I believe the states are the the overall key to ending / rebalancing power but (as the example given) the Florida Republican party is the example of what you DON'T want. I get the reference but you have to look at the mechanics of what happens here and not the over hyped propaganda. The party has either intentionally killed every piece of worthy (conservative orientated) legislation (2nd A, auditing, voter data, mail in voting, state currency, state budget etc) while pushing out more bad legislation wrapped in a cloak of tough sounding garbage. (Do nothing election integrity bills, protecting illegal immigration, B2 visa holders, etc). The Repub party follows the DC Chamber Of Commerce mantra to the "T". Maybe more sinister they are beholden to both Disney Corp and MSNBC Comcast which is a big part of why we have the immigration issues we have here. Theme Parks, tourism, life sciences and construction LOVE cheap, illegal labor!
We've slaughtered our tech industries with B1 visa and even worse B1 visa overstated holdovers that are employed by the 10's of thousands via temp and contracting agencies designed to thwart state and federal laws.
Over all the party here is 100% about growing, nurturing and expanding big progressive federalization, not bringing it in check.
DeSantis gets a LOT of publicity for his executive orders but few pay attention to the non-effective nature of the majority of them. (CRT, Covid, public schools) Yes he tossed out the covid guidelines but as a whole we still have state agencies and the school system running amuck DESPITE the orders. He reminds me of Rick Scott and jumps into every issue with a non solution for every TV camera he can find. Say big words, produce little result.
Sorry for the rant... The grass may look greener but trust me, it's weeds.
What I find amazing is the lack of understanding and appreciation given President Trump, and the widespread assumption that everybody and his brother could have done it better. Friend and foe alike swallow the koolaid about his terrible personality and lack of experience. He has dealt with his outspoken foes, his even more dangerous hidden foes in control of global finance and exerting pressure behind the scenes and his so-called supporters who lack confidence in his character and abilities. It must be understood that many in Washington may disapprove of things going on, but are fearful of doing anything that would threaten the system. They go along, and mostly oppose Trump. He himself has been careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, and to paraphrase Rumsfeld, you govern with the Washington you have. May I suggest that the future of the Country, as well as the Republican Party, will be Trump.
ReplyDeleteTrump was his own worst nightmare. He thought Washington works like a corporation - the CEO decides everything and can fire anybody. He did not seem to understand the thing about 3 co-equal branches of the government.
ReplyDelete> In Term II, Trump needs to clean house and fire every
> political appointee, because they are unreliable lifers.
The president does not get to fire/hire members of the legislative branch. He did get to pick his own cabinet, and his choices were atrocious. Tillerson, Mattis, McMaster, Bolton, hello? Do I need to list the issues where they were openly subverting Trump and working against him.
In the one area where the president has unquestioned supreme authority (defense and national security) he could never make his will stick. How many times did he say we are withdrawing from Syria, or declassifying Russiagate documents? He was so lame. He was a freaking CNC. He has either no spine or no brain.
He is a good motivational speaker. Sorry, he is a terrible manager. I hope he sticks to what he is good at. Being a president is not one of those things.
"he has either no spine or no brain" --you see that's the problem with anonymous comments on the internet, people with no spine and no brain feel free to give voice to their spineless and brainless opinions. Really like to see how much spine and how much brain any one of us would display with a special counsel microscope up our ass. How did General Flynn do? How much did he accomplish? Is he brainless or spineless? Mark A.
Deletehow did the Special Counsel force Trump to make his personnel picks? Did the Special Counsel force Trump to pick McMaster? Bolton? These we all unenforced (self-inflicted) errors. Don't hide behind SC; these picks were Trumps' picks and they show bad judgement on this part.
DeleteYou seem very naive.
Delete> You seem very naive.
DeleteHow so? Trump made a string of bad personnel choices. After Flynn he picked McMaster; was there no better candidate?. Mueller won't be appointed until May 2017. McMaster was the enemy within. He promoted/protected never-Trumpers among WH staff who were instrumental to his first impeachment.
If you argued that after 2016 election he was not ready, he relied on Pence, etc. Ok fine. Trump selected/appointed people who were demonstrably disloyal; he had agenda, he picked people who thought he was an idiot and his agenda is BS. How can you do worse?
You appear to have no clue as to how these things work--the tradeoffs, the interaction among the branches, etc.--in the real world. No president is simply free to make the appointments he prefers without reference to the entrenched interests. Not if he aspires to get anything done.
DeleteI think Trump got lied to by people he trusted. He could pick people from the audience at a rally and get more trustworthy people in his cabinet then by listening to anyone in DC.
DeleteYes, he could pick those people, but they would never be approved by the Senate.
DeleteTrump is above all things a deal- maker. I'm sure that he thought grew could make deals in DC, at least within his own party.
Forgive the sacrilege, but he came to his own and his own would not receive him.
The GOP are another head in the establishment hydra. I was really hoping trump would start a new party. Understand why he didn't, but I'm sure 50% of Republicans would have followed him.
Thanks Mark for the post.
ReplyDeleteMy goal was start thinking at a tactical level.
Trump’s appointments had the limitation of getting them approved by the Senate. Look at what it took to get his own Dni done. Or how Flynn was taken out. Trump ran against both parties, and the resistance was as much establishment Gop, as Democratic. Or what Ryan did not do. Or McCains actions. A great example of the state of the gop, is their support for the people being prosecuted for the “insurrection”. Much less how they let the Russian Mueller farce go on. Look at how Nunes was sidelined abetted by Ryan…
With all the headwinds Trump ran into, it’s amazing how much he got done.
Another thing that should be changed, is the gop actually paying for legal fees for lawfare against their members. Democrats do.
I’m not sure what can be done to stop what was done by the irs to the tea party. Or the lawfare against Trump. Or what was done to Flynn. Or Trumps first impeachment due to Vindemann due to something Ukraine. End immunity?
Some positions (e.g. DNI) do need Senate confirmation, some (e.g. National Security Advisor) do not. DNI appointments story does show maybe there is a ray of hope for Trump. Maybe by 2020 he did wise up how the DC game is played. There was that Dan Cotes, sneaky little snake. Then Trump appointed Ratcliffe and all these RINO senators were like "pooh, we don't know, he cannot be confirmed, the votes are not there", etc. and Trump widthdraws the nomination. And then appoints Grenell as acting DNI (who knows that he wont be confirmed anyway, probably does not want it anyway, so he does not care) and starts declassifying stuff and laying it out, and suddenly all these distinguished gentlemen of the worlds greatest deliberative body discover the Ratcliffe is such a fine candidate after all "mister President why don't you send over his name ASAP so that we can confirm him tomorrow, so that this a-hole Grenell hits the road". That was hilarious how this worked out. Too bad Trump did not figure it out in 2017, how this game is played.
ReplyDelete@anon
DeleteOk be honest here. Before 2018 or 2019 did you really know that Trump should not have and could not have trusted any of the GOP people around him advising him on appointments? I.e., what would YOU have advised him in 2016 re personnel? None of us had any idea how thoroughly rotten the DC Republicans were in 2017. And i submit that we didn't know about Pence until 2021. If Trump couldn't trust his own VP, how is he supposed to discover quality people? Who does he rely upon for advice? And how on earth did he get anything done w these creeps all around him?
Wrench
@wrench,
Delete"Before 2018 or 2019 did you really know that Trump should not have and could not have trusted any of the GOP people around him advising him on appointments?" ... Yes, some of us were up in arms and screaming "WTF"!!!
"what would YOU have advised him in 2016 re personnel?"... Directly call out the party and keep in place the conservatives aka outside DC operatives he brought in with him. Whereas I don't think anyone could survive DC without insiders as well those outside voices were needed for balance.
If Trump couldn't trust his own VP, how is he supposed to discover quality people?...
If you didn't know Pence was a republican before 2016 you were missing something. I'm not sure why anyone thinks any individual who has climbed the party latter would be anything but an issue. My finger would have been more pointed at his Chief(s) of staff. There were many leveling their barrels at the Whitehouse hiring manager during that first year time frame.
You saw this issue plain as day in the beginning of you were paying attention with Trump surrounding himself with his own security, advisors guys like Erik Prince, etc. He should have stayed that course.
"Who does he rely upon for advice?".. The outsiders he brought into DC that were chased off.
"And how on earth did he get anything done w these creeps all around him?" ... He should have kicked the party to the curb if his principles were what they were.
Anyone that pays attention to what these people do vs what they say pretty much knows better.
In retrospect, the second someone else like Trump sets foot in DC funding needs to be cut to every department in every direction. No one will win against 10,000 civil servants, the POTUS however had the ability to divide, consolidate, abolish, or create agencies of the U.S. federal government by presidential directive alone.
If your intention is to blow up the system and honestly drain the swamp, then by God go in with guns blazing.
Yes I recognize I am an extremist...
"the conservatives aka outside DC operatives"
DeleteHave you not been paying attention to what's been going on in the states that were most afflicted with fraud? Those weren't DC operatives.
@dm
DeleteFirst let me congratulate you on your perspicacity viz the GOP establishment.
Now then, exactly, WHOM would you name to the cabinet positions that (a) were known outsiders in 2016 not tainted by the fetid GOP gangrene and (b) could get confirmed through Cocaine Mitch's Swamp?
Second, you're no extremist, or rather, we are all extremists now I suppose as far as taking down the swamp and measures necessary thereunto. Whether you are guilty of Monday Morning Quarterbacking or not is a different matter.
Huh...Quarterbacking.. there's something I haven't thought about since April 2020 when the Redskins ceased to exist.
Wrench
@mark...
Delete"Have you not been paying attention to what's been going on in the states that were most afflicted with fraud? Those weren't DC operatives."
You know I have and they state issue further goes to show why party operatives should not be trusted.
It's also a good show of how/why the party will never be "taken back" (back from what?) Or made to follow a "conservative path".
Excellent point Wrench!
ReplyDeleteBefore 2018 or 2019 did you really know that Trump should not have and could not have trusted any of the GOP people around him
This is one of the huge achievements of Trump!!!
On the appointments:
Tillerson - Quickly fired. From what I can tell did some house cleaning. Problem was not effective against internal resistance. Problem of hiring a person without government experience. Also showed how converged big business is.
Mattis - what a disappointment. Showed the convergence in the military.
McMaster - What a snake. Showed how converged the top leadership of the military is. Who would have thought?
Bolton - agree on being a disappointment. Seems he was trying to run his own foreign policy. What a rat. I expected better of him, and thought initially he was a good choice. He had the infighting chops to get Trumps agenda done.