The XYZelensky Affair and the Whole Impeachment Shebang

[Don Corleone]

I used to think of myself as a Republican. Similarly to George Will and Max Boot, I no longer think of myself that way. I am a conservative, listed as a Republican in my voting district so that I might participate in primary votes, but not truly part of the Republican party.

I used to argue that Trump's core of support was not the majority of the party and that he enjoyed the support of many simply as a way to oppose our political left. This is clearly no longer true.

The Republican party is shrinking, shedding membership as the party becomes more and more an expression of Trump's fickle will. When "Dubya" took the oath for a second time, office, roughly 32%% of Americans identified themselves with the Republican party (and 34% with the Dems). That number is down to 26% now, meaning that the party has more or less rid itself of 1 in 5. While Trump earned roughly 45% of the votes cast in GOP primaries in 2016, the erosion of membership has certainly NOT come from that cadre, thus suggesting that his 45% has morphed into a commanding 57%. Add in those who are 'yellow dog' GOP types regardless of who/what is the nominee as the only thing that matters to them is the power earned by winning, and Trump truly does enjoy 80+% support in the Republican party -- it is the party of Trump and his creature.

As Trump has a well-earned reputation for breaking/destroying anyone who opposes him from within his own "team," he is in a position to force those within the party who would otherwise oppose him to do his bidding (at least until the primaries finish), as he can get his majority of party support to oust most of those who do not do his bidding. As Profiles in Political Courage reminds us, those pols who will oppose their own parties when it is difficult of risky for them are few and far between. It is simple, as with Ryan, to opt out. It is even easier for opponents who do not hold office to opt out (Will and Boot from above).

My political home for nearly 4 decades has cast me off as dross, melted away in the smithing of a purer form. Regrettably, Trump is almost the archetype of that form.

Small government? Fiscal responsibility? Free trade? Opposition to efforts at conquest?

Now we have a party in love with the powerful executive who is not the lead voice of an administration, but THE voice; we have a party that seeks the decrease of taxation (good) without any real effort to address the system of taxation or the process of budgeting and spending (bad - the to be fair the GOP has had a problem with this part even before Trump), and we have a party pugnaciously using protectionism to enhance US trade and, worse, as a weapon for other political objectives such as immigration. And while blame over the lackluster response to Russian aggression in Ukraine and the Crimea can be laid at the feet of Obama and the rest of NATO/EU leadership at the time, Trump has managed to give away Syria to the Russians and is assisting in the decoupling of Turkey from NATO.

I no longer even feel much of a sense of lose in the GOP no longer being my home. But I pity what our political culture has become overall.

I was ready to agree with each and every word of your post Seamus, right up until you made the unqualified statement regarding reduction in taxes. Between the elimination of tax credits for the working poor and the reduciton in allowable deductions for the middle class, the GOP has effectively raised taxes on people not in their inner circle. I am proof. My taxes went UP under the Trump Tax Cut and Jobs act. Substantially. To the effect of 12% net increase in paid tax, and before anybody starts, please spare me the altered withholding / reduced refund canard... That's a crock designed to throw silt in the water. I calculated my taxes before I sent them to a CPA and we both agreed and whined.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I was ready to agree with each and every word of your post Seamus, right up until you made the unqualified statement regarding reduction in taxes. Between the elimination of tax credits for the working poor and the reduciton in allowable deductions for the middle class, the GOP has effectively raised taxes on people not in their inner circle. I am proof. My taxes went UP under the Trump Tax Cut and Jobs act. Substantially. To the effect of 12% net increase in paid tax, and before anybody starts, please spare me the altered withholding / reduced refund canard... That's a crock designed to throw silt in the water. I calculated my taxes before I sent them to a CPA and we both agreed and whined.

Fair counter. I meant reduction of taxes in a general sense. You might even say irresponsibly. The system has been suborned so as to ensure the preservation of real wealth while hammering the middle class family trying to step up further.

[Don Corleone]

Fair counter. I meant reduction of taxes in a general sense. You might even say irresponsibly. The system has been suborned so as to ensure the preservation of real wealth while hammering the middle class family trying to step up further.

I'm really not splitting hairs here... "Reducing taxes in a general sense" for whom? You're right in that what is currently happening is lacking in the true populism that is common among fascist systems. I see the current situation as a very well engineered direct drive to true plutocracy. The whole purpose is to extract wealth from the lower and middle classes, and when no longer needed, the upper 9% transitionals to the oligarchs. I mean, we can't even pass highway bills at this point, FFS, yet we're running defecits well beyond any boundaries of sanity. What do you call it?

To PVC's point, this is nothing new in the American Experiment. Landed aristocrats of Virginia, Robber baron industrialists, and now the latest. Americans like to tell ourselves that we are the land of the free, home of the brave, but in reality, we're not that different from feudal serfs (geographic restrictions aside).