Regarding Republican moderates: an acquaintance from Nebraska, so he should know, told me decades ago, that the defining characteristic of Republicans is the need to follow a leader. Republicans are not iconoclasts. They don’t like like to stand out on their own. They are followers and they look for leaders. It is one reason that Republi…
Regarding Republican moderates: an acquaintance from Nebraska, so he should know, told me decades ago, that the defining characteristic of Republicans is the need to follow a leader. Republicans are not iconoclasts. They don’t like like to stand out on their own. They are followers and they look for leaders. It is one reason that Republican primaries, pre-MAGA, were always so predictable, because there is always some senior person who was presumed the winner. Academic political scientists refer to this as an authoritarian trait; the Republican party being dubbed by John Dean as the daddy party. So the “moderate” Republicans will ultimately fall in line behind whoever has the most swagger. The intractability of the MAGA Republicans give them swagger. It is their leaders who will call the shots.
If there was any doubt that MAGA Republicans are opposed to the democratic process in general, the speaker fight should be the proof. MAGA Republicans are not simply opposed to Democrats, and thus refuse to accept the election of a Democrat as president, but they are opposed to any process which does not result in victory for them. They have an election for speaker among Republicans only, the MAGA lose, but they do not accept that they lost, and continue to press for victory, through threats of political, and physical, violence. They are modern Brown Shirts. If only the MSM would take note. I’m not holding my breath.
Very solid points, for sure, but one other characteristic of Nebraskans is Evangelical Christianity. I grew up knowing several families of such who were definitly followers.
Regarding Republican moderates: an acquaintance from Nebraska, so he should know, told me decades ago, that the defining characteristic of Republicans is the need to follow a leader. Republicans are not iconoclasts. They don’t like like to stand out on their own. They are followers and they look for leaders. It is one reason that Republican primaries, pre-MAGA, were always so predictable, because there is always some senior person who was presumed the winner. Academic political scientists refer to this as an authoritarian trait; the Republican party being dubbed by John Dean as the daddy party. So the “moderate” Republicans will ultimately fall in line behind whoever has the most swagger. The intractability of the MAGA Republicans give them swagger. It is their leaders who will call the shots.
If there was any doubt that MAGA Republicans are opposed to the democratic process in general, the speaker fight should be the proof. MAGA Republicans are not simply opposed to Democrats, and thus refuse to accept the election of a Democrat as president, but they are opposed to any process which does not result in victory for them. They have an election for speaker among Republicans only, the MAGA lose, but they do not accept that they lost, and continue to press for victory, through threats of political, and physical, violence. They are modern Brown Shirts. If only the MSM would take note. I’m not holding my breath.
All very solid points.
Very solid points, for sure, but one other characteristic of Nebraskans is Evangelical Christianity. I grew up knowing several families of such who were definitly followers.