this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I’m going to keep pointing this out until it becomes a part of the narrative.

The strategy of prominent Republicans flipping to vote for Harris is specifically designed to help Republicans win Congress.

If Republican voters are demoralized by the prospect of Trump, a lot are going to just stay home and not vote at all. That would lead to a Democratic electoral sweep.

Cheney, George Will and other Republican ghouls’ best option to avoid this is to give permission to their voting base to toss their Presidential vote to Harris, but also get them into the polls so they can be reliable Republican voters down the ticket and try to keep the House and take the Senate.

FFS, quit giving the enemy oxygen.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not everything has to be 18D chess. Maybe they just hate Trump.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It doesn't have to be 18D chess, but it can also be a result that republicans will take advantage of.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

Everyone will take whatever advantage they can from any result. Apply previous sentence to any scenario.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Interesting angle. If it wasn't so close (how tf is it this close) I might agree more. But gop voters staying home, this way they vote for Harris and GOP Congress is also an interesting point. But maga Congress right now is a disaster, shutdowns and defaults are insane. So I think they want maga gone.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I will join you in this

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not quite, Will de-registered as a Republican years ago... (checks notes) 2016.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/george-will-leaves-gop-224801

So he's not anti-Conservative or anti-Republican, he's just anti-Trump.

For those too young to remember, there was an era of intellectually honest conservatism. It was led by people like George Will and the late, lamented William F. Buckley Jr.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.

Buckley would have shot Trump in the middle of 5th Avenue and gotten away with it.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Intellectually honest in expressing their support for apartheid, ignoring the Constitution in favor of segregation, and promoting military coups against democratically elected leaders of foreign countries?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Intellectually honest in that they were open to having their minds changed through debate. Buckley saw his earlier positions were wrong, and regretted that he took them. This stands in contrast to the Republican party of today which is almost entirely dogmatic in its beliefs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This stands in contrast to the Republican party of today which ~~is almost entirely dogmatic in its beliefs.~~

Doubles down even when anything it believes is shown to be patently false/immoral/illegal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I approve this edit

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I am so confused.

George Will

Who? Has he played a significant role in past elections and I've never noticed?

and baseball fan

Why? Why is this part of this story? It makes me want to care even less. Is that the point?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

don't how old you are, but will is old school republican. hails from what what was known as the "intellectual" appendage of the gop's corpse. dude is wrong, but not dumb.

if we set aside the accelerated rightward sprint of the democrats since the 1980's, a public kamala endorsement from him really is kind of a pigs flying moment.

this move might signal to the remains of his caste that its ok to secretly pull that dem lever or just sit it out. effect will likely be minimal, but not inconsequential in a super tight race.

what is more intersting is that parts of the lobotomized right are still making gurgling noises.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

He's a power behind the throne kind of guy, but he's well known in wonkish circles.

He once didn't know what to write for his regular column, so he ranted about how blue jeans are a blue collar symbol taken over by elite coastal liberals.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yes, he has played a significant role in past elections all the way back to Reagan, and you haven't noticed.

He's an intellectual pundit that was on Fox News until 2017. He writes political commentary for the Washington Post; his column currently appears in 415 newspapers.

He won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

He continues to appear on MSNBC to this day.

He's also considered to be a baseball expert who has written extensively on the subject including his own book. Their "baseball fan" comment was intended to be cute, I think.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

haven't a clue myself.

I was like... "george who? King George? Curious George? George Costanza?"

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

George Will is a conservative commentator whose name is familiar to us olds. He used to write in Newsweek when it was a prominent magazine back in the day and was on TV. I imagine he is a never-trumper so what is surprising here is not that he would refuse to vote but that he will vote for Harris. That can only mean that the old guard conservatives recognize trump as an existential threat to the country which he is.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (7 children)

most of the super-rich folks prefer stability over chaos.

Like a lot of people talk about how rich Musk and Bezos are. They're likely not the richest people in the world- they're the richest people in the world dumb enough to talk about how rich they are. The Rockefeller family, for example, has who-knows-how-much stashed away in blind llc's etc, and all the Old Money types pay a fortune to maintain their privacy.

People like the Koch brothers (well except that fourth one that's not talked about,)... they endorsed trump last time around because he promised to deregulate everything- and they've been on a tear ever since they got dinged for benzene leaks in Corpus Christi.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This really isn't that surprising. The Republican party has become a cult of personality around Trump, putting it at odds with actual, ideological conservatives.

I don't know what Trump's ideology is, or if he even has one. He seems to only believe in his own ambition, for wealth, power, and control.

However, conservativism does lend itself to people like Trump rising to power, because it promotes a central authority and/or aristocracy that preserves tradition, culture, and the established social order. Conservatism doesn't just tolerate social hierarchies, like class, it promotes them, and, in fact conservatism believes that such hierarchies are not only necessary, but natural and essential. It makes sense that malignant narcissists would take advantage of such a system to try and take their "rightful place" at the top of the hierarchies, because they believe that they are inherently superior to everyone else.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Will is conservative, but also believes in America, and in Democracy. He knows that Trump is terrible for both of those things. So even though he's going to disagree with Harris on damn near every policy position that she has, he recognizes that she's the far, far better option for the country.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Yeah, he recognizes that the Republican party can survive a Harris presidency, but not a Trump presidency.

That would be a compelling reason to vote for Trump if I wasn't certain that the entire Republic will collapse if he gets another term.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

That guy’s still a cunt.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

George Will can eat shit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Was Will ever a Trump supporter? Somehow I thought he was smarter than that, but I haven't read an essay of his in decades.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is starting to get scary.

Why are all these warhawks endorsing Harris?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Because think of how Trump is now. Now add two, three, or four more years to his obvious decline.

Even if he doesn't end democracy, they're afraid he could literally end the Republican party.

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