the war for the GOP's soul. let's choose sides from the only 2 options available: 1)Trump-DeSantis populist wing 2) moderate-establishment Sununu wing

[basquebromance]

it's the tension at the heart of the conservative movement: the forces of traditional, big business pulling against the populist wave. The free trade orthodoxy of old versus the new protectionist impulses. The ongoing debate about America’s role in the world, and the uprising of everyday Americans against the elite, Acela corridor bubble. the old Republican Party and the traditional understanding of what it means to be a Republican are dead

'Trump shredding the GOP' and setting off 'full-on civil war': Morning Joe

Donald Trump trashed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a preview of their Republican presidential primary battle, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said it could drag the party's 2024 chances down.The former president unleashed his insults during a speech in the same Iowa city where DeSantis had promoted...

www.rawstory.com

 

[mak2]

I will never, under any circumstances, vote for anyone who I think is even close to being a trumpster.

 

[Mac1958]

My guess is that it's still too early for any big changes. They're still full of rage, paranoia, conspiracy, mal-information and delusion.

That means either Trump or his cover band, De Santis.

 

[basquebromance]

By the time Donald Trump threw his hat into the ring in 2015, the Republican Party needed to change. It had become, in the estimate of two political observers, Salena Zito and Brad Todd, “consumed with the ‘big government versus small government’ argument,”4 and given in to the excesses of ideas over prudence, dogma over compassion. The Democratic Party wasn’t any better, moving ever leftward. The two sides were locked in ideological warfare, disconnected from the practical needs of voters. A huge swath of America had had enough. They wanted politicians to stop the exodus of manufacturing jobs and to help rebuild communities hollowed out by globalization and technological advances. They wanted someone to stand up to China, to stick it to the elite institutions and so-called elites who had left them behind, and to defend our nation’s values. They wanted someone to fight for them. Enter Donald Trump.

Trump’s nationalist argument was economically pragmatic from the start, devoid of the ideological language of the trench warfare that had stalemated presidential politics. Instead he recognized the wave of legitimate anger and disillusionment that cut across traditional party lines, and he rode it to victory in 2016.

 

[DGS49]

None of it will have any meaning in 6 months, let alone during the 2024 primary season. There is a fairly good chance that Trump's legal troubles will FINALLY force him out of the race, in which case there will be a fairly healthy fight during the primaries. It's all good.

On the other hand, the American people have proven in two straight election cycles that they are incapable of thinking as adults.

We are fucked.