Trump's attempt to overthrown 2020 elections

 Trump Whined to Acting Attorney General: You’ll Do Nothing to Help Me ‘Overturn’ Election

"On Jan. 3, days before Donald Trump’s supporters went on to ransack the U.S. Capitol, the president allegedly opened a high-stakes Oval Office meeting by complaining to his acting attorney general that he was doing nothing to help him “overturn” his election defeat by Joe Biden."

147 GOP Reps and Senators who voted to overturn the election should be expelled:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html

AND...

Don't forget the Representatives who signed on to support the Supreme Court case coup attempt, but who didn't vote to object to the votes on January 6th/7th. A lot of them are still seated Reps (bolded).

Sorted by state:

Bradley Byrne (of) AL (ran for Senate and lost, no longer Rep)

Tom McClintock CA (also signed a letter casting doubt on election legitimacy)

Ken Buck CO (also signed a letter casting doubt on election legitimacy)

Gus Bilirakis FL

Ross Spano FL (lost 2020 primary, no longer Rep)

Michael Waltz FL

Ted Yoho FL (didn't run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Doug Collins GA (ran for Senate and lost, no longer Rep)

A. Drew Ferguson GA

Austin Scott GA

Mike Simpson ID

Darin LaHood IL

Trey Hollingsworth IN

Steve King IA (lost 2020 primary, no longer Rep)

Ralph Abraham LA (did not run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Bill Huizenga MI

John Moolenaar MI

Tom Emmer MN

Pete Stauber MN

Ann Wagner MO

Greg Gianforte MT (ran for Governor and won, no longer Rep)

Jeff Fortenberry NE

Mark Walker NC (did not run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Robert Latta OH

Brad Wenstrup OH

Kevin Brady TX

K. Michael Conaway TX (did not run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Dan Crenshaw TX

Bill Flores TX (did not run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Kenny Marchant TX (did not run in 2020, no longer Rep)

Cathy McMorris Rodgers WA

Dan Newhouse WA

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/12/list-the-126-congress-members-19-states-and-2-imaginary-states-that-backed-texas-suit-over-trump-defeat/

"In one particularly egregious example, Rosen recalled that Trump opened an Oval Office meeting on the evening of Jan. 3 by complaining to the gathered officials: “One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren’t going to do anything to overturn the election.” The meeting would end with several DOJ officials and White House counsel Pat Cipollone threatening to quit if Trump attempted to replace Rosen with a MAGA loyalist.

Overall, the interim report lists nine calls and meetings with Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue between mid-December and early January, during which Trump asked for help in his mission to overturn the election and remain in the White House.

The interim report concludes: “Beginning on the day former Attorney General William Barr announced his resignation and continuing almost until the January 6 insurrection, Trump directly and repeatedly asked DOJ’s acting leadership to initiate investigations, file lawsuits on his behalf, and publicly declare the 2020 election ‘corrupt.’”

Trump Tried to Force the DOJ to ‘Just Say the Election Was Corrupt’

"President Trump led an extraordinary pressure campaign to try to get the Department of Justice to back up his voting fraud lies in the months after the November 2020 election, at one point telling them to “just say the election was corrupt,” according to new testimony from senior DOJ officials."

That's the other thing. He didn't say "leave it to me," he said "leave it to me and the R congressmen".

“Don’t expect you to do that, just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R[epublican] Congressmen” is how Donoghue recorded Trump’s response in handwritten notes.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/leave-rest-me/619621/

Republican elected officials were complicit in this and everyone is pretending that didn't happen for some reason.

Senate report gives new details of Trump efforts to use Justice Dept. to overturn election

"A Senate report on President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election offers new details about an Oval Office confrontation between Trump and the Justice Department, revealing the extent to which government lawyers threatened to resign en masse if the president removed his attorney general."

Link to the report. Worth at least reading the executive summary at the beginning:

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Interim%20Staff%20Report%20FINAL.pdf

Rudy Giuliani gets facts from Facebook

Rudy Giuliani admits under oath that he got some of his 'evidence' of alleged election fraud from social media

"Rudy Giuliani admitted under oath that his "evidence" of voter fraud in the 2020 election came partly from social media and that he did not interview or fact-check his sources, reports say.

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer made the comments in a deposition on August 14 in relation to a defamation lawsuit brought by a former Dominion Voting Systems employee, Eric Coomer, first published by The Colorado Sun."

"In the deposition, Giuliani admitted that he got some of his information about Coomer's alleged role in the election fraud from his social media posts but couldn't be sure if it was Facebook or another platform, MSNBC said.

"Those social media posts get all one to me," Giuliani said.

When questioned about whether he saw any other evidence linking Coomer with election fraud, he responded, "Right now, I can't recall anything else that I laid eyes on.""

I'm numb to these stories by now, but I can't help but imagine this from the perspective of future history books:

A former mayor and lead defense lawyer for the President of the United States, while absolutely shitfaced-drunk, cited random-ass Facebook posts in national televised press conferences alleging that an election was stolen.

..All while The President would spend his entire working day tweeting, sometimes 200 times in a single day, all-caps screeching conspiracy rants. (Not to mention this was during the height of a deadly pandemic that was being completely ignored for tweets and FB conspiracies.)

It's just... fucking embarrassing.

The problem is that the right thinks the same way even though they’re wrong. That’s why they keep calling themselves the silent majority or something, because they think they’re some of the few speaking up but really they’re victims of the right-wing propaganda apparatus. People on top will gladly deceive their constituents and even con them into voting them into office by pointing their fingers at the other side since these people may as well be the equivalent of monkeys that can buy guns.

This country is already fucked, I’m gonna say that right now. Absolutely nothing will ever get done legislatively again beyond maybe this infrastructure bill that two senators are predictably tanking right now. Once Republicans cheat their way into power on a state-wide level in 2022 there is absolutely no shot they certify presidential electoral votes for anybody that doesn’t have an R next to their name. They’ll solidify their power and that will be that. There’s so much distrust in the electoral process that if we manage a win in 2024 they will still stage a coup, I’m calling it right now.

From a practical standpoint, this Republic is dead in the water. Republicans will overthrow the government then consolidate their power and make sure there is never a Democratic majority again. There is nothing special about democracy in this country and it has been flawed for some time; we’re already seeing results of Republican cheating because the conservative Supreme Court that Mitch pushed through refused to see a case about the new Texas abortion laws. I’m willing to bet the Roman Republic thought they had something great, too.

It reminds me of a quote from when I used to play World of Warcraft. A misguided king rose to power and was finally taken down by the protagonist, and the spirit of his father whom he assassinated tells him “No king rules forever, my son.” That king back then may as well be the spirit of our forefathers, but then again, a plutocracy is probably exactly what they had intended.

My goodness…..:::

Giuliani said he was too busy when asked why he repeated Oltmann's accusations without verifying them.

"It's not my job in a fast-moving case to go out and investigate every piece of evidence that's given to me," Giuliani said in the deposition, reported by MSNBC.

"Why wouldn't I believe him? I would have to have been a terrible lawyer… gee, let's go find out it's untrue. I didn't have the time to do that."

Trump’s Plans for a Coup Are Now Public

Trump’s Plans for a Coup Are Now Public 

"Last year, John Eastman, whom CNN describes as an attorney working with Donald Trump’s legal team, wrote a preposterous memo outlining how then–Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election by fiat or, failing that, throw the election to the House of Representatives, where Republicans could install Trump in office despite his loss to Joe Biden. The document, which was first reported by the Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their new book, is a step-by-step plan to overthrow the government of the United States through a preposterous interpretation of legal procedure."

Treason, Sedition, and Insurrection were heavily restricted by SCOTUS after WW2 because during WW1 and post WW2 those were used with extreme crookedness for political ends.

What we know now does meet the criteria for Sedition and/or Insurrection. They're STILL doing it, and they need to rot in jail for Twenty years, which is the maximum legal punishment. Not many of them got twenty years left in them anyway... so it's basically "forever".

The DOJ shouldn't just go after the insurrectionists on the ground, it needs to go after the plotters and schemers. And Manchin, Synema, et al. need to realize that American democracy and the right to vote are vastly more important then a stupidly devolved filibuster rule in the Senate.

What's sad and the worst part. All these so called constitutional loving patriots don't care, it's a hypocritical shit show. They are so deep in MAGA loving dick they don't realize how dangerous this is, even for them in the long run. To think that they support this shit and when the GOP comes for their social security and the little bit of medicare they have is completely insane to think they also won't be victims. The GOP hates their base and cares nothing for them.

But then it's to late, their fascist regime is in place.

It's no longer a question of IF TRUMP DID IT.

This is how cults operate. January 7 to March was denial that it happened. Trump's terrorist attack was "fake news".

Now 21 million people last week admitted that they want Trump to violently overthrow the government.

They are not denying that they want violence. They're saying that it's the only way forward. Trump will forever be their martyr.

Memo proves real Trump coup was underway Jan. 6

"Thanks to the work of the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 and journalists connected with the Washington Post and other outlets, we now know that an actual coup was underway before and on Jan. 6 when the Capitol came under siege from right-wing mobs. The conspiracy went far deeper than just the thugs and gangs that laid siege to Washington, D.C., that day, however."

"The Eastman memo makes it clear that the biggest security threat the nation faces now is not foreign terrorists, it’s not a fanatic wearing bull horns as he prances around the Capitol, or even the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a significant section of the so-called mainstream of America, including and especially the Republican Party itself."

Fox News, Newsmax, OANN, and others are conditioning people for fascism.

Well, it's obvious the executive branch was all about taking a dump on the constitution. We were fortunate in this case, the other branches of government held. Congress ultimately did their job, and the courts tossed out frivolous election challenges faster than yesterday's burrito exited my colon. It's hard to say what the future will bring, but I'm voting blue until the GOP scrapes this shit off their shoes. Quit pandering to extremists, quit pandering to right wing Christianity, quit pandering to QAnon and other ridiculous conspiracies, quit attacking women, quit attacking the LBGTQ community. How about start with some basic policy positions that we can comprehend and use this to convince Americans you can govern effectively.

Grifter keeps on Grifting

Trump releases statement falsely claiming GOP audit in Arizona uncovered 'undeniable evidence' of fraud after the audit confirmed Biden won.

"Former President Donald Trump backpedaled from praising a group of "highly respected" GOP auditors in Arizona after their audit of the state's election results confirmed that Joe Biden won the general election. Trump also released a misleading statement on Friday morning that said the audit found "significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD!""

This multi-bankrupt orange bloated trust fund weirdo who had zero taste and no class was judging people groveling for a job. He clearly didnt know anything about actual business, just spoke in vagaries and had a total lack of shame or self awareness.

He was a joke, but his confidence was as absolute as it was unearned. Since you can't understand it, you stare at it hoping you do.

I'm grew up in the media market he so desperately wanted to be the center of. It was SO obvious and SUCH a joke. He was a clown.

Who could have thought his transparent and silly attempts to hijack page 6 to stroke his own ego would ALSO work for national news outlets? And that people saw the disaster unfold and thought THATS MY GUY.

Fucking wild.

Trump has been saying for months that the AZ audit would prove he won. then the media gets a draft of the final AZ report hours before it's to be released saying that AZ lost even more bigly

so now trump is complaining that the media is calling the results prematurely.... although that's what he's been doing for months.

TRUMP PRETENDS ARIZONA ELECTION AUDIT FINDINGS DIDN’T COMPLETELY EMBARRASS HIM

"Donald Trump made clear over the weekend that he still wants to force Republicans to pay a political cost for failing to help him overturn the 2020 election results. “The people of Georgia must replace the RINOs [Republicans In Name Only] and weak Republicans who made it all possible,” Trump said at a rally in Georgia on Saturday, referring to his election loss. Trump called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the Republican who refused to help him “find” enough votes, “incompetent and strange.” He also turned Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he declared  “a complete and total disaster on election integrity,” into a rally joke. The former president suggested he would have preferred Democrat Stacey Abrams, who ran in 2018, over the incumbent Republican. “Stacey, would you like to take his place?” said Trump, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s OK with me.”"

 It’s not about shame or self reflection or empathy or anything a normal human being would factor in.

He is just continuing to push the narrative that repubs need to hear to overthrow democracy. It’s a long game and ppl keep missing it.

He is upset that he didn't get his way. He was raised in an environment that encouraged his antics and behavior. And being told "no" or "you are wrong" for the basically first time in his life (I count all the election shenanigans as one thing, so it might not be the "first time" if you consider different instance separately) and the fact that he isn't able to have enough money thrown at the problem to get his way is just so new to him. He simply doesn't know what to do because these tactics that have succeeded for him all his life are failing, and he has no sense of trying something new or thinking "ok, I didn't get what I want and I am not going to, so what do I do next?"

He’s not pretending. To the faithful, the “audit” findings didn’t embarrass him.

If you read the report, the Cyber Ninjas basically said “gosh, there are a lot of things we don’t really understand. Could be fraud, but maybe not! Someone should really look into that.”

Trump’s faithful supporters heard “could be fraud” and ran with it. They’re on Twitter blathering about deleted files (which weren’t deleted; they were archived and CN never subpoenaed the archives), bizarre scan images (which look bizarre because of how the files are stored, not because of something nefarious), duplicate ballots (not duplicate) and a dozen other things. Cyber Ninjas displayed a criminal lack of understanding of our elections system and the Trump faithful do not care because they also do not understand the elections system, and anything they don’t immediately understand MUST be fraud.

Don’t believe me? Go look at the Twitter accounts for Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ), Kari Lake (@KariLake), Karen Fann (@FannKFann) or Mark Finchem (@RealMarkFinchem).

These people are elected officials or are running for elected office. They are all amplifying lies about the findings of the audit. They might be stupid enough to believe that there was fraud, but I think it’s more insidious: they know that what they’re saying is based on a lie, but they don’t care because the lie personally benefits them and they won’t experience ANY repercussions whatsoever.

Exactly zero people were convinced that the election was safe and secure. We’re just more divided about the security of the election than before.

And Arizona was just the first. These audits are going to become more commonplace after every election until the ones running them and/or advocating for them are held accountable for their lies.

How to tank world economy?

 Mitch McConnell says the GOP will vote for the US to default on its debt

"As the White House stressed the urgency of raising the debt ceiling to avoid a government default, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that the House would pass legislation to fund the government that includes a debt-limit suspension through the end of next year.

It was a dare to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would need to lend ten Republican votes for it to avert the filibuster and clear the Senate. The Kentucky Republican was unfazed.

"We will not support legislation that raises the debt limit," McConnell said after Pelosi and Schumer's announcement. "Democrats do not need our help.""

Collapsing the U.S. economy and making the dollar no longer the currency most valued in the world... all to own the libs and play politics. What more needs to be done to show Republicans do not deserve office?

No. This is about collapsing the democratic government so it can be replaced with a plutocracy.

McConnell will never follow through on this threat. We've seen this every September with a democrat in the White House for over two decades. Next up is the government shutdown theater.

Edit for clarification: while McConnell and his bosses the rich want to replace the current government, they do not want to destroy the dollar as a currency... wealth is the foundation of their power. These late summer posturing shenanigans are a scheduled opportunity for republicans to pressure democrats for smaller things they want, because they know democrats will cave.

To quote a show that was super popular then suddenly not, "They're willing to burn the country down just so they can rule over the ashes."

Remember this Americans… the party supposedly of fiscal responsibility doesn’t want to pay its bills.

The party that goes out of its way to destroy the economy to prove government is bad.

"There's no such thing as a good boss"

takes a boss position and purposely bankrupts

"See?"

They’re doing it to wreck the economy and blame it on Biden. It’s worked in the past when Democrats are in power. I don’t know why the public doesn’t see it but this was common during Obama.

They want to make Biden look bad so much that they are willing to let the U.S. default, killing jobs in the process.

Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4: The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

The constitution is pretty explicit. These people are traitors to their oaths of office to allow American finances to become a joke.

The party of fiscal responsibility all.

2 trillion for war? Sure! (300 million a day for 20 years) 2 trillion for tax breaks? Sure! 3 trillion to fix infrastructure that would lead to jobs? No! Socialism!

The stock market didn't crash under Biden like they all said it would, so now they have to force it to crash.

It is going to crash, but because we never fixed shit back in 08, and the “solution” to COVID was to artificially prop up the stock market with trillions. The Fed prints 120B monthly, with pretty much all of it going straight to banks/HF to pump straight into the market.

Fed can’t taper because stock market will crash, Fed can’t raise rates to curb inflation due to printing and asset purchases. So either the market will crash and our shit will be worthless or we plunge into hyperinflation and money will be worthless. Don’t worry though, the Fed board managed to liquidate their personal holdings due to potential “conflicts of interest.”

Full-Scale Republican Meltdown

 Biden’s COVID Vaccination Strategy Triggers Full-Scale Republican Meltdown

"Let’s begin with the obvious: Joe Biden is not a “dictator” for expanding vaccination and testing requirements, nor is he “trampling on civil liberties.” None of the steps outlined Thursday to combat COVID-19, which is still rampaging 18 months into the pandemic despite the widespread availability of safe and free vaccines, amount to “tyranny.” Those seeking to give you a Pfizer shot are nothing at all like the “gestapo,” and Americans should absolutely comply with public health guidelines—regardless of what some hysterical guy standing in a cornfield at night might tell you."

Well, the Supreme Court already ruled that a vax mandate is legal.

Mandatory vaccination laws were first enacted in the early 19th century, beginning with Massachusetts’ smallpox vaccination law in 1809.7

Jacobson v. Massachusetts is the seminal case regarding a state or municipality’s authority to institute a mandatory vaccination program as an exercise of its police powers. In Jacobson, the Supreme Court upheld a Massachusetts law that gave municipal boards of health the authority to require the vaccination of persons over the age of 21 against smallpox, and determined that the vaccination program instituted in the city of Cambridge had “a real and substantial relation to the protection of the public health and safety.”

This kind of reminds me of something extremely ironic:

• Conservatives suggest that Biden's vaccine strategy is communist/socialist/authoritarian/anti-democratic.
• Conservatives understand that we have selective service and they could -- if the need arose -- be required to report for military duty.
• They do this while knowing they probably will never have to actually report for duty because other people have volunteered to go instead. Kind of like how they feel like the pandemic is no big deal and they don't need the vaccine -- but it's really only true that the pandemic has gotten better because other people have voluntarily gotten the vaccine.

Biden’s Vaccine Push Aligns Him With a Fed-Up, Vaccinated Majority

"Polling from across the country shows that broad numbers of Americans support tightening vaccine requirements for schools, hospitals and workplaces. Majorities favor showing proof of vaccination to travel by airplane, attend a concert, eat at a restaurant or stay in a hotel. And most vaccinated voters blame the unvaccinated — not the administration — for the skyrocketing resurgence of the virus."

"After President Biden resisted comprehensive vaccine mandates for months, his forceful steps on Thursday to pressure the 80 million unvaccinated Americans to get their shots put him squarely on the side of what had been a fairly quiet but increasingly frustrated majority: vaccinated Americans who see the unvaccinated as selfishly endangering others and holding the country back."

All the politicans and pundits melting down publicly "own" the fall and witer spikes we'll inevitably be dealing with. joe Biden has done all he can. He's not a perfect president but he's put his entire legacy on the line in a last-dicth attempt to help the American people get out of this mess whether they want to or not. Those fighting back are 100% responsible for what comes next.

Critics Remind Dan Crenshaw That Mandatory Vaccines Have Existed In U.S. For Decades

"Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) ominously warned of a “revolt” after President Joe Biden unveiled new COVID-19 vaccination requirements — and critics on Twitter piled on to remind the lawmaker that mandatory vaccinations have existed in the U.S. for decades. 

He also called vaccine requirements “cheap governance” and ordered the Democrats to “leave people the hell alone” in a tweet on Thursday."

Does he not remember getting mandatory vaccines while in the military? Perhaps time for one of Trump's cognitive tests...

What a disgrace to the code.

The SEAL Code

• Loyalty to Country, Team and Teammate • Serve with Honor and Integrity On and Off the Battlefield • Ready to Lead, Ready to Follow, Never Quit • Take responsibility for your actions and the actions of your teammates • Excel as Warriors through Discipline and Innovation • Train for War, Fight to Win, Defeat our Nation’s Enemies • Earn your Trident everyday

United States Navy SEAL

Republicans Want the Freedom to Live in a Pandemic Forever

"The Department of Labor will enact an emergency rule to require major employers to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested on a weekly basis, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday. The move is a significant step toward ensuring that enough Americans are vaccinated to put the pandemic behind us, and it naturally prompted immediate outrage from Republican politicians and conservative pundits, who drew from a familiar arsenal of strange notions of “liberty” and fantastical understandings of American history."

Honestly, it’s the stacking of unsafe behavior that bothers me more than anything. Like, if you’re worried about the vaccines but take full precautions like masks and wash your hands consistently, that’s fine. You get vaccinated and wear masks, but don’t like social distancing, that’s okay. But when EVERY step to reducing the spread of COVID is rejected, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that you’re dangerous to society, regardless of your motivations.

They have the problem that if they do ANYTHING about it, that is tacitly admitting its a problem. And if its a problem, you have a responsibility to do something about it. And if you do something about it, that's just following the direction of "liberals" and "experts" who are pushing them.

By doing absolutely nothing about it, you are 1) making a statement that you aren't afraid, 2) reaffirming your "freedom" to make your own choices even if they are stupid, 3) not accepting "mainstream" conclusions and instead sticking to your "trusted" conclusions. Thats why they are so eager to take unvetted and unapproved medications because "Their Side" is pushing them, not the mainstream.

‘It’s about time’: Biden puts the screws on the unvaccinated

"Joe Biden finally figured out he’d been talking to the wrong people.

For months, it was the vaccine-resistant that the president treated with kid gloves, sprinkling words like “unity” into his remarks about fighting the pandemic and sidestepping others, like “mandate,” for fear he’d scare off vaccine holdouts."

If you want to put the screws to them have the insurance companies cover nothing if their are hospital or health related costs for covid patients who are unvaccinated without a reason.

I had a boss explain to me once that everyone has a choice in life. Have a good job but dont like it? You can quit. Tired of working then get unemployed. You always have a choice, but those choices come with consequences.

Unemployed too long? Hard to find a good job. Bounce around to alot of jobs? A lot of jobs won't hire you.

Consequences for your choices. The choice to not participate in public safety should have it's consequences also.

The Trump brand is in crisis

  Donald Trump Bled Tonight in Texas:' Reaction As Trump Pick Defeated in House Runoff

"Donald Trump's power as a GOP kingmaker has suffered a blow after voters chose Republican Jake Ellzey over the former president's pick for a vacant seat in Congress, sparking claims that he is "not bulletproof.""

He's the most important figure because that's all they have to run off. They have nothing else to give their voters except Trump and social wars.

Can't run on policy. Policy is fuck the climate, fuck poor people, fuck Healthcare, fuck voting rights, fuck anything that helps you. But look at Trump, guns and the how bad the libs are ....Maga!!!

It’s worth noting that his endorsements rarely go over very well, regardless of what’s happening now. Only 45% of republicans say they’d support a candidate endorsed by Trump; it’s critical to understand that registered republicans comprise only around 25-27% of the electorate. For independents and Democrats, around 12% and 7% respectively say they’d support a Trump candidate. Consequently, it’s clear the Trump endorsement game isn’t really a success story waiting to happen.

Also worth noting that the raw win rate for Trump-endorsed candidates is among the lowest of any recent president/Vice President/presidential candidate.

Republicans backed themselves into a corner, and really should have hit the brakes/nipped their extremism in the bud somewhere in the 2012-2015 timeframe, or at the very latest, before Super Tuesday during the primary for 2016. Now they're damned if they do, damned if they don't. Allow the party to be led by Trump, who is reviled by 65% of the public, or ditch Trump and probably lose a chunk of voters to deflated enthusiasm.

They're riding with the guy and banking on keeping the loonies mad so they turn out in midterms for anyone with an R, so long as Trump is the face of the party. As good a strategy for the party as they can muster, but a really dogshit strategy for the longterm health of the country.

I'm not sure he necessarily has them on lock but the other way around. The GOP base won't give him -- or at least their idealized versions of him -- up. He's never really been able to lead his base anywhere they didn't want to go. Instead it is the base that ends up pulling him around.

COVID vaccination is clearly the latest example but there has been several times he would be talked into positions that were broadly popular but would quickly abandon when the base rejected such as vape regulations and legislative deals with Congressional Democrats.

It is somewhat splitting hairs because ultimately the GOP won't give him up. But it is a significant distinction on who the stranglehold is really on.

The takeaway from this is not that a Republican won, that goes without saying, but that Donald Trump has lost touch with the Republican base. Even worse for him, he may have driven the vote away from his recommended candidate. The Trump brand is in crisis.