Where are the Republicans?

That economy was the residual effects of Obama’s presidency. What you are experiencing now is the residual effect of Trump’s.

Well done.

One of the surprising things to me is how much people have already forgotten about Trump’s first term. Let’s ask farmers how the tariffs worked for them, if we are going to be nostalgic for his economy.

www.cfr.org/blog/92-percent-trumps-china-tariff-proceeds-has-gone-bail-out-angry-farmers

“In 2018 and ’19, Trump authorized payments to U.S. farmers of $28 billion to offset their losses from Chinese trade retaliation. This year, with farmers struggling under the twin crises of the trade war and the pandemic, bailouts have soared way higher. Trump promised angry farmers another $19 billion in April and $14 billion in September—bringing his bailouts to a grand total of $61 billion. He has pledged to continue these bailouts until the trade war ends.

That trade war has cost U.S. companies many billions in new import taxes (while undermining their competitiveness and increasing consumer prices), yet it has earned the government far less. As the chart above shows, payouts to farmers battered by Chinese retaliation have eaten up over 92 percent of the trade-war tax proceeds.“

I'm not American but from what I have seen in the past, Dems reacted as you did when a Republican was elected...not happy but accepting and it's not the end of the world. Sadly with Donald Trump it's different because he is a very divisive leader and is clearly someone that many other world leaders find tricky to work with.

I've never heard any of your past presidents say or do anything like he does (not to mention he's a convicted felon) ...so yes, it is different because HE'S different.

I tried to be nice...this was the best I could do.

P.S. Credit to you for doing this thread when no one else has.

In the past -- i.e., when we had normal politics, and real Republicans -- Democrats reacted as you said when a Republican won.... Some sadness, some eye-rolling perhaps, then life went on. Those who were more politically inclined probably continued to support their local candidates, those who were not just went on with their lives.

However... all that was with candidates and election winners who did not hurl racial insults at entire groups of people, threaten physical harm to those he doesn't like, choose a Christian Nationalist as his vice president, threaten to take control over women and their bodies, plan to chop at the federal government and public education, threaten our LGBTQ friends and family... 

If you can't see any difference between the old days and this new reality then you are too far gone for any of us to try even to discuss it. 

Hi, Cindy--

I'm still technically a Republican. I guess what I want to say is that I feel utterly betrayed by my party because of its illogical, insane embrace of Donald Trump, who I don't actually consider a Republican. Has he been a registered Republican longer than he's been a Democrat at this point? I don't know, probably. I did the math once and added up all the pivots from D to R and at that point the D years seemed to outnumber the R years. I guess I don't really care about that any longer.

It's important to me that the US President have some semblance of positive personal character. Something...anything. Family man/woman? Great. Military history? Even better. A passion for improving something in the country, in the world? Kind of getting close to the penultimate for me.

Our next president not only falls short in personal character--he fills the opposite space. He is the poster boy for everything I do not respect in a person--and especially a man.

Anyway, I appreciate your post. You asked where the Republicans are. Here's one answer. I'm sure it's not what you were hoping for. I hope nothing I wrote comes across as an attack. I'm mostly just sad, I guess. Sad and worried.

I understand what you are saying - nope, didn't come across as an attack. The republicans I know do not like his character, we were in better shape during his first term, for most of us that means a lot. 

Glad you are happy. I hope this works out for us.

YES to the first term. Obama created it.

Wages have gone up. Think fast food….which was once a place for kids to learn how to behave in the working world to adults supporting their families. The costs have gone up because of that.

Trump blows smoke….remember paying for the border? He is the ultimate “yes dude”. He plays to his audience. His audience is gullible enough to believe him. Look at what the people who directly worked for him has said. 

Think medical care……..thank you Mr Trump for enabling politics to run health care. Mr Trump you are planning on putting RFK jr in to oversee healthcare……ughhhhh

I’m a Republican who doesn’t discuss politics because I hate arguing. You aren’t going to change me, I’m not going to change you, so live and let live.

Hi, I am a lifelong Democrat but I appreciate this thread.
I think the Democratic party needs to do some soul-searching to find out why the nation voted as it did.
Part of the soul-searching involves listening respectfully to others.
The listening stops when someone bashes me or the people I love. That does not seem to be the case here.
I have been despondent since Tuesday night, but I refuse to hate people who are different from me.

There are other Republicans here. If you read any of the recent threads on the economy or women who vote for Trump, there are people who seemed to support Trump. IMO, they bury their head in the sand after dropping a post and don't respond to any other questions to support their view. We have spent a lot of time over the last 8-9 years explaining why Donald Trump isn't a "normal" candidate and why our disgust with him and his supporters is not about normal politics, it is about values, morals, beliefs and judgement. That is not any more evident than in the people who are able to "overlook" the fact that he is a malignant narcissist, compulsive liar, convicted felon, and just all around idiot whose policies are divisive, inhumane and racist and who makes us look like idiots to the rest of the world. If that appeals to you, I am a little suspicious to be honest. I don't know if I will ever fully trust the people in my life who I know support Trump--even after he is long gone. They have shown who they are and it isn't pretty, particularly in terms of racism.  This was the last chance to remove the cancer of Trump that has spread around the country, and people chose to keep it.

As for the economy--we are in the FAFO period now, IMO. Economists have said that his proposals are likely to cause a recession or depression, then you add Elon's plans in there and it could be disastrous. I mean, the tariffs he imposed last time weren't helpful, but it's one of those things that most people don't pay attention to or attribute to the higher prices, like Covid. They just say, "Oh, the price of eggs was less when Trump was in office so it must have been because of him" without looking at all of the other reasons BESIDES Trump that have led to price changes (including bird flu!! Not to mention that eggs are pretty normal prices here). I can only hope that they are so inept that they don't get anything done or they finally listen to someone who knows what they are talking about.

Anyway, I guess I am glad that someone is happy and we will see what happens. 

Enough said.

Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that trump is the lesser of 2 evils? Can you really look at his behaviour, his crimes, his opinions on women, the disabled, minority groups and say 'yes, he is the best choice'. That's beyond madness or party loyalty imo.