In this corner, you have the Romneys, McCains, Cheneys, Bushes, Roves, and more. Across the ring, you have the Lauren Boeberts, Greenes, Jordans, Gaetzs, Donalds, and the rest of the far-right factions.
Begin at the Beginning
To understand today’s pronounced split within the Republican Party, we must understand the history and what caused the reshaping of the party as a whole. Back in 2009, shortly after Barack Obama was sworn in, the economy was not doing well. Rick Santelli, a commentator on the business news network CNBC, was called upon to give his thoughts about the state of housing and home loans. This was when he delivered his famous rant, which gave birth to the modern-day Tea Party.
Within days, Tea Party rallies began happening across America. Rallies were held from Connecticut to Texas and beyond. Some of the more significant rallies (with tens of thousands in attendance) were held in places like Orlando, Florida, and Des Moines, Iowa. With the roaring success of these first Tea Party rallies against Barack Obama and the new administration, groups such as Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express exploded in popularity. Names such as Amy Kramer and Jenny Beth Martin (Founders of these two Tea Parties) became almost household names. Former Vice-Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin became one of the superstars of the new movement. Her flamethrowing rhetoric and speeches quickly mobilized millions into the movement.
At one point, national radio hosts Glenn Beck and Jenny Beth Martin held a rally at the Mall in Washington, D.C., where “patriots” were waving yellow flags and taunting the White House.
In effect, what Santelli, Jenny Beth Martin, Amy Kremer, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh (who was huge on the radio at that time), and many others had accomplished was to “give voice to the silent majority.” The silent majority had risen, and they were angry! As time went on, with more and more “rallies” happening, a few (as always seems the case) had designed a way to “rake in large sums of cash” off of the new movement of patriotic, angry Americans. The Tea Party Patriots had registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a “tax-free” educational organization. Between the rallies, online advertising, social media, etc., Jenny Beth and the company managed to garner tens of millions of donations over a very short period of time.
One would have thought that with this massive movement of “conservative Americans,” the needle would have been moved dramatically on Capitol Hill to the “Right.” So why wasn’t it? How in God’s good name did Mitt Romney lose to Barack Obama in 2012? We have rallies with millions attending across our land. We have multiple emails going out daily touting how “we will overturn Obamacare” and that President Obama is the first cousin to Joseph Stalin. How did we (on the right) get our butts kicked so harshly under these circumstances?
And here is your answer, and to be candid, it is about to happen again if we haven’t learned from history.
- The Tea Party morphed into a giant money scam. Americans donated hugely, but the organizations, due to their tax status, could not assist (donate) to the conservative candidates. They could only hold “educational” rallies, but the rallygoers did not understand that no candidates were being aided in their efforts financially.
- The movement’s primary message became “constitution, constitution, constitution,” and the rallies became repetitive and boring for the attendees.
- The supporters of the Tea Party movement quickly became disenchanted when they saw that little was being accomplished politically other than noise being created.
- When Mitt Romney became the nominee all the while, the Tea Party wanted Sarah Palin (the firebrand) to carry the Republican torch against Barack Obama. The Tea Party sat out the election and effectively killed the movement. This meant tens of millions of voters who simply did not go to the polls. In other words, the Tea Party was ‘butt-hurt’ and pouted on election day.
However, as the Tea Party organizing began to wither and die, the passion, patriotism, and love for the Constitution and America did not die among these millions of yellow snake flag-waving patriots. They simply began looking for a different leader to carry the torch and message of ‘America First.‘
There is no disputing that Donald Trump is a marketing genius. For decades, he managed to brand and market the name Trump and turn it into a global nameplate for excellence in whatever arena he chose to push his name. This time, he decided to see just how far he could push the name Trump, and his target became the White House. While the old Tea Party’s political naiveness might have failed at the polling stations, the passion for our nation was still there, and Trump knew it. Fortunately for the Former President, the Democrat Party had decided to nominate the most reviled candidate they could find in Hillary Clinton.
Trump brought the Tea Party with his now infamous slogan “MAGA” (make America Great Again), and he brought the more moderate Republicans by not campaigning on far-right extremism. He had calculated correctly on a message of inclusion for all Republicans and won the day with catchphrases such as “Make Liberals cry, “Crooked Hillary,” and many more.”
Then, January 6 Happened
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it likely is a duck! If you close the counting stations to outside poll watchers, shut the machines down (all at the same time), and then have massive number changes in multiple states with no votes for the incumbent, chances are you have massive voter fraud.
Trump knew, the Trump team knew, and most of America knew, but between November and early January, there simply wasn’t enough time to prove it (legally speaking) to convince Federal Judges to halt the confirmation of the vote. The mass media (in conjunction with the DNC) immediately called “DEFCOM 4” and went into protecting the vote of the stolen election. The media ran with the story that the stolen election was all “tin-foil-hat” theory, while most Republicans knew better. Between the media carrying the message from the Democrats (that don’t look behind the green curtain, nothing to see here), and now even many Republicans jumping on board (to save their political skin), Trump was left out in the cold and all the while he knew in his heart that Joe Biden did not win the election.
In retrospect, Donald Trump should probably not have suggested that tens of thousands go “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capital on that cold and windy day. By doing so, he unleashed the dragons of the mass media and the Democrat Party to mount an all-out assault on his Presidency both prior to and during. Now, he faces a Mount Everest of legal issues that threaten his re-election chances.
It is now likely that Trump could be convicted of several federal charges in multiple trials prior to the convention in Milwaukee. The question now becomes, “Will the RNC nominate someone with felony convictions hanging over their heads?”
And once again, we have a split party. We have the Donald Trump loyalists who will vote for him even though he is a convicted felon (if he loses his court cases), and we have the more moderate factions who will support the nominee no matter who they are. WE ARE SPLIT DOWN THE MIDDLE!
Is there any way to convince the “Trumpsters” to support someone else if need be? Will the Trumpsters stay home, like the Tea Party, and re-elect Joe Biden to protest the Republican leadership’s decision? If the RNC leadership decides to strip Trump of his delegates at the convention, we can expect a war on the convention floor. And once again, we have “Deja-Vu” 2012, and we lose the general election. If this happens, you have just witnessed the demise of America as we once knew her.
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