The Patriot Party

[Xyonai]

The Republican party fracturing would be a good thing, but thinking that it would result in the democrats being permanently in charge may be a bit too optimistic.

The democrats have two main factions, progressives and pragmatists, that are held together by mutual dislike of the republicans. If the republicans implode, that pressure goes off the democrats and I would not be surprised to see infighting start and the two Democrat factions seperate, resulting in a messy 4 way contest and who knows who comes out on top then.

It's a worst case scenario and one I'd hate to see but it is a possibility.

More realistically I don't see the Republican party splitting wholesale as much as we see a rerun of what happened with the Tea Party; wherein the crazy fringe was able to rile up the base enough into primarying out 'moderate' republicans and shift the whole tone of the party even further right.

That or the Fringe becomes marginalized to a nothing element of party policy because not-as-crazy republicans decide they want to maintain (at least the illusion of) power more than sticking to their whackjob ideology.

[Eggroll]

Well I hope he does go through with it, soon. That will encourage Senate Republicans to vote to impeach him, I guess.

[Egomaniac]

The Republican party fracturing would be a good thing, but thinking that it would result in the democrats being permanently in charge may be a bit too optimistic.

The democrats have two main factions, progressives and pragmatists, that are held together by mutual dislike of the republicans. If the republicans implode, that pressure goes off the democrats and I would not be surprised to see infighting start and the two Democrat factions seperate, resulting in a messy 4 way contest and who knows who comes out on top then.

It's a worst case scenario and one I'd hate to see but it is a possibility.

Not just that...but if the Republicans dropped their far right whacko component...they might be more appealing to Conservative democrats and independents.

[Kaleredar]

Not just that...but if the Republicans dropped their far right whacko component...they might be more appealing to Conservative democrats and independents.

I think the republican party is too shortsighted to do that in earnest.

They are a party that basically exists on a national scale in a state of teetering on the brink of irrelevancy. They can't pause to take the time to soul-search or take multiple election cycles to pivot their messaging and candidates; losing their wacko followers while failing to attract any new demographics that aren't the old people or non-college educated white men who already form the majority of their base means they basically lose any large-scale national race, and races in purple districts become harder and harder for them to win. And if they lose those national races democrats come in and do things like... undo gerrymandering, make it less obtrusive for people to vote, and other such enfranchisement that the republicans fight because it's the only other facet by which they can retain their power.

I think the GOP is dying a slow, painful death. We need to keep slow, steady pressure in ensuring that, if they don't clean up their act in a major, and I mean MAJOR way, they do indeed go the way of the dodo and politically relevant parties can take their place. The democrats need to run a concentrated, even keel in making that happen.

[Egomaniac]

I think the republican party is too shortsighted to do that in earnest.

The Republican party will say and do whatever it takes to get power. If that means leaning more towards the centre when the far right drops them for the patriot party...that's what they'll do.

[beanman12345]

It might also liberate the progressives from the prison tent of the Democratic Party eventually should a 3rd part manage to hold unto 25-30% of the vote.

ROFL, Trumpsters so scared they now have to fantasize Dem's splitting into two parties to help them cope with how stupid this Patriot party idea is.

[Kaleredar]

The Republican party will say and do whatever it takes to get power. If that means leaning more towards the centre when the far right drops them for the patriot party...that's what they'll do.

I don't think they can accomplish that goal in the short term, though. Especially if Trump does run some sort of spoiler candidate against them.

People are becoming less scared of the things Republicans need people to be scared of to get people to mindlessly vote for them. Especially because the thing that people ARE scared of right now... Covid... is the one thing they told people not to be scared of. Because they (well, more specifically, Trump, but they followed him to a T) couldn't sign some sort of token legislation that was never meant to actually do anything and pretend the problem was solved, like they tried to do with the "muslim ban" or "building the wall."

I'm sure the GOP will be back on fearmongering about illegal immigrants and socialism and muslims and all the other stuff they bitched about from 2000-2015 before Trump said the quiet part out loud and sank their discourse to the bottom of the sea. But so long as Covid is around, people keep hearing about death numbers, and its real and present danger is highlighted, it'll be a hard damn case to make people more afraid of the normal GOP boogeymen than of the actual lethal virus outbreak ravaging the world.

[PickleballAce]

lol /tenchars

[Santti]

Considering who the party is marketed for, it's a good name. These are the kind of people who are easily controlled by mere words like "patriot". A retarded, perpetual Manchurian Candidate kind of deal.

[Kathranis]

I think the republican party is too shortsighted to do that in earnest.

Hard to have long term strategies when your political ideology is reactionary.

[Thelxi]

I'm pretty shocked people are taking this seriously. Hell will freeze over before he declares all out war on the GOP with a spoiler party. This will never, ever happen. There is no such thing as "fracturing the GOP", it is one or the other. There barely is enough room for the GOP as is to exist to begin with.

Trump might threaten the GOP with this and Dems might dream of it, but even as a threat it is obviously laughable considering not even the slimiest of GOP opportunists would follow him. If he really did this A. his political career would end right there and then B. the GOP would all but have him assassinated before letting the Trumpist nutcases in their party defect to him.

Now if the GOP collapses in future cycles (zero chance of this happening during his lifetime but for argument's sake), maybe this can be taken more seriously.

[Adam Jensen]

I hope they have a crack suicide squad like the Judean People's Front.

[D Luniz]

The Republican party will say and do whatever it takes to get power. If that means leaning more towards the centre when the far right drops them for the patriot party...that's what they'll do.

Hahahaha, no, they'll spend money to learn what they'll need to do to survive longterm, then jump on the short-term gain

[Egomaniac]

Hahahaha, no, they'll spend money to learn what they'll need to do to survive longterm, then jump on the short-term gain

That doesn't actually counter my point. If the far right splits off and they need to court centrists to survive...that's what they'll do. If the PP crumbles and the right wing comes back... they'll push back in that direction. They'll always move in the direction that allows them to keep power.

[Kaleredar]

That doesn't actually counter my point. If the far right splits off and they need to court centrists to survive...that's what they'll do. If the PP crumbles and the right wing comes back... they'll push back in that direction. They'll always move in the direction that allows them to keep power.

They'll fight tooth and nail to hold on to those crazies, because those people are easier to secure than courting centrists who are slowly, but surely, shifting ever-more left. It's exactly what happened in 2008. And as I said, any gradual shift of platform, policy and messaging might be too slow for the GOP to shift away from without them losing all national-scale political relevance to the democrats. Which I'm personally fine with, but the GOP is obviously not.

Remember why the GOP exists today: To enrich itself and be a lobbyist for corporations and the mega-rich. It's real damn hard to sell middle-class and poor people on that if you can't ALSO make them scared of the boogeymen the GOP fall back on to disguise their lack of actual policy, and as I posted previously it's getting harder to make people afraid of those things, especially when a lethal pandemic is at the forefront of everyone's mind. Put on top of that four years of the GOP just going along with Trump's bullshit and the GOP is a more and more difficult sell to the centrists.

If there's any "soul-searching" (and I use that term very lightly) going on at the GOP right now, it's about how to reclaim Trump's base as a solid GOP voter block, especially if their inside research reveals that they might have lost the Georgia senate because of GOP voter apathy following Trump's loss or Trump-propagated claims of fraud.

[Mormolyce]

I wholeheartedly support this.

Cynically, in the short term this would severely split the Republican vote and they'd have zero chance of taking office (they will move heaven and Earth to stop this happening for exactly this reason).

If it were successful, long term the far right would flock to the racist party and that would leave the Republicans free to reorient themselves - the US would wind up with a proper left and right wing (still tilted immensely to the right no doubt but one thing at a time) and not have to worry about a major party constantly pandering to fascists and racists. Well, not so openly anyway.

This is how it works in most other countries, we have fringe parties for the nutcases which keeps them out of the main political axis.

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The Republican party fracturing would be a good thing, but thinking that it would result in the democrats being permanently in charge may be a bit too optimistic.

Yeah, people think of political parties as immutable fixtures but in reality that's all a fraud, political parties are short-term alignments of special interest groups painstakingly calculated for maximum success by cynical pollsters, lobbyists, politicians etc. It winds up as an equilibrium, that's why come hell or high water the vote is only a few percent one way or another (unless something really drastic happens, and that's usually temporary).

So really it would just be like the 1960s where the alignments shifted and effectively a new party system came into being. In an election or two the Republican Party would've totally repositioned itself, the Democrats too most likely.

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It might also liberate the progressives from the prison tent of the Democratic Party eventually should a 3rd part manage to hold unto 25-30% of the vote.

I mean ideally you'd have a sensible electoral system like ranked choice voting so that vote-splitting wasn't possible. But since America insists on being a third world country apparently not.

I'd rate the likelihood of a split in the Democratic Party much, much lower than in the Republican.

[Wilian]

I for one welcome Patriot Party and I hope it'll fracture GOP for good. It is partially why I almoust wish Trump wouldn't be succesfully impeached so he could break more havoc to the US political system.

[Breccia]

Trump's campaign specifically and directly refutes claims they're forming a third party.

Well, 2024's a while away. To date, the Republican Party has taken no steps to ensure Trump can't run. If he survives that long on a diet of Whoppers, Doritos and regret, it seems fairly likely he'll run again. If so, we'll see who's brave enough to try to primary him and how far that gets him. Yes, him, I'm also going to predict he'll be white and older than 60.

[Felya]

Trump's campaign specifically and directly refutes claims they're forming a third party.

Well, 2024's a while away. To date, the Republican Party has taken no steps to ensure Trump can't run. If he survives that long on a diet of Whoppers, Doritos and regret, it seems fairly likely he'll run again. If so, we'll see who's brave enough to try to primary him and how far that gets him. Yes, him, I'm also going to predict he'll be white and older than 60.

You don’t like Cruz, Rubio or Haley chances to primary Trump?

[Breccia]

You don’t like Cruz, Rubio or Haley chances to primary Trump?

Cruz can't out-Trump Trump. He's a joke anymore.

Haley would be viewed as a traitor if she did, costing more votes than she'd earn.

Rubio maybe, but it would take a massive, deliberate effort from what's left of the Republican Party to push back against Trump running. What they should have done in 2016, basically. The impeachment trial is their best shot to make that happen and even now it looks like they don't have the balls. They wait, it gets harder.