this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Have you noticed the rush of House Republicans calling it quits in the last few weeks?

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) announced his exit Nov. 1. He explained that to be a member of the Republican House majority means putting up with  the “many Republican leaders [who] are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.”

Buck is predicting that even more House Republicans will leave “in the near future.”

The day before Buck said good-bye, House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) also quit. Granger had been a leader among House Republicans who prevented the far-right, election-denying Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) from becoming Speaker of the House.

Also in October, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said she was quitting. “Right now, Washington, D.C. is broken,” she said. “It is hard to get anything done.”

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[–] [email protected] 217 points 9 months ago (21 children)

This isn't a victory. They will just be replaced with Trumpites.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Trumpite replacement candidates have been losing close congressional seats to Democratic challengers so this may open up some pathways to retaking a majority.

[–] atzanteol 46 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It's a risk though. Many people vote party line. It will depend a lot on what district or state the seat is in.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

I'm not saying get complacent, but looking at the all the elections from 2020 on, it's less of a risk & more of a pattern.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago

Exactly. The ones that are closer to being moderate (there are currently no moderate Republicans in the house) are leaving. They're less crazy in general, so not only are there fewer Republicans to push back against the MAGA crowd, it leaves spots open to be filled by even crazier Republicans.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I feel like the sinking ship is a "sane Republican party". We're just going to see more Boebert's, MTG's, and Jim Jordan's in Congress now, which will lead to even more dysfunction and gridlock.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The fact that there's even a debate to be had about whether it's a victory just shows how fucked up our system of government is—in this case, our electoral processes. Government policies in a democracy should be highly predictable based on what's popular with the voting-age public, but instead, the policy effects of something as minor as some people retiring are so unpredictable we may as well be trying to read the future in chicken entrails.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think part of that reason is due to the fact that half of Congress has an arbitrarily capped headcount and we're no longer able to represent the popular opinions of the constituency. Last I checked, we should have something like 3x the representatives in the house that we have currently.

We also need to ditch the electoral college. There's no reason to have it any longer. We won a civil war that forced the South to start evolving beyond chattel slavery to prop up their economy, there's no need to continue with that farce.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (3 children)

The numbers I've seen are that if the House wasn't capped it would have around 10,000 members.

I agree with your points but I don't think they go far enough. Approval voting (or RCV) and proportional representation are needed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Oh for sure, I've advocated for that for several years. Here in multinomah county, Oregon USA, we went with a version of RCV and our next election will be run that way. There's a lot of detractors, and while I personally would have preferred STAR voting, I think almost anything is better than FPTP.

You're right, I was off by a factor of 10 or so on the rep count.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Nice. Instead of staying to fight for America, they turn tail and run like the yellow bellied cunts they are.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

How many years did they spend sweeping the ground ahead of Trump and his cronies to support them and bring us to where we are today - only to act like they are taking some principled stand in quitting now?

They made this bed.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

What else you expect? If they legitimately try to govern or talk sensibly, they get primaried. The GOP is so completely broken, there's no point trying to hang in there.

[–] CaptDust 82 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (13 children)

"right now Washington DC is broken"

Oh Debbie, it's not Washington honey. It's one specific party that happens to reside currently.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 9 months ago

Both can be true at the same time. The system itself is broken, and the fact that it allows fascists to gain so much traction is a symptom of that brokenness.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Easier to quit than actually try to fix what you broke in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

why put themselves at risk confronting the problems in the party, when they can just leave, with their money and influence, and let the crazies run the nuthouse

[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So the bastards are quitting the machine they built after it got out of hand and are leaving it to be run by crazy bastards.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Yeah, but they'll be safe, because they were a Republican once, right? Right‽

[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Assholes rather flee than work with Democrats. Fucking trash

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago

More importantly, flee rather than fight the crazy

[–] [email protected] 38 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Rule: They are not allowed to become Democrats.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Moderates and old guard are leaving to be replaced by extreme right wing types.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There really aren't any moderates.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

The moderates are the Democrats (on average). The majority of the Republican party supports treason so any that call themselves Republicans fall into that label as well.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

I for one don’t think they are choosing to leave. I think they are being forced to leave. The GQP is holding Kompromat over their heads, and because they didn’t support Qult45 are being forced out, less all the evidences against them all come to light.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

Fuck ‘em.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Now this is the Great Replacement theory I'm interested in. Soon, the right will only be Trump and his luddites.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Every Republican still in the House next year will be forced to run for reelection while possibly supporting a convicted felon at the head the GOP ticket. They will also have to say they believe the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. 

Anyone want to bet against that happening exactly that way?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

If they aren’t voting blue, they’re doing fuckall.

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