Opinion of TJ in Cleve

[Mr. Morden]

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

I'm kinda curious what this post could possibly be about

I think he's trying to say neocons and/or socons screwed up in office, which combined with Obama-liberalism made Trumpism possible?

Yes. The Trump movement is largely a reaction among Republicans to people like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, etc, spoon feeding us this same toxic combination of social and neo-conservatism/"Reaganism" garbage year after year. People are so sick and tired of these kind of out of touch Republicans (almost all of whom are in reality no more right-wing than, say, Jeb Bush or John Kasich), and if the candidate most outspokenly and directly in opposition to that happens to be a borderline racist/probable rapist/philandering, orange skinned, loud mouthed, arrogant jackass mascot for a shadowy real estate conglomerate with exaggerated profits that he barely runs, then so be it.

So, we should blame the least Trump-like Republicans for Donald Trump because if only they would have been more like Trump, the voters wouldn't have rebelled against them by voting for Trump?

And you're not just talking about the politicians, apparently, since you're talking about blaming TJ, who's just a voter, not a politician.  Apparently regular Republican voters who dislike Trump and supported non-Trump candidates should have been supporting more Trump-like candidates all these years to appease the Trump supporters who they share a party with.  If only they'd pretended to agree more with the Trump voters than they really do, the Trump voters wouldn't have gotten mad at them and nominated Trump.

Makes sense.

[Mr. Morden]

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

I'm kinda curious what this post could possibly be about

I think he's trying to say neocons and/or socons screwed up in office, which combined with Obama-liberalism made Trumpism possible?

Yes. The Trump movement is largely a reaction among Republicans to people like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, etc, spoon feeding us this same toxic combination of social and neo-conservatism/"Reaganism" garbage year after year. People are so sick and tired of these kind of out of touch Republicans (almost all of whom are in reality no more right-wing than, say, Jeb Bush or John Kasich), and if the candidate most outspokenly and directly in opposition to that happens to be a borderline racist/probable rapist/philandering, orange skinned, loud mouthed, arrogant jackass mascot for a shadowy real estate conglomerate with exaggerated profits that he barely runs, then so be it.

So, we should blame the least Trump-like Republicans for Donald Trump because if only they would have been more like Trump, the voters wouldn't have rebelled against them by voting for Trump?

And you're not just talking about the politicians, apparently, since you're talking about blaming TJ, who's just a voter, not a politician.  Apparently regular Republican voters who dislike Trump and supported non-Trump candidates should have been supporting more Trump-like candidates all these years to appease the Trump supporters who they share a party with.  If only they'd pretended to agree more with the Trump voters than they really do, the Trump voters wouldn't have gotten mad at them and nominated Trump.

Makes sense.

There wouldn't be a need for the Trump movement if the GOP didn't embrace imperialism, economic nihilism, and preside over the degeneration of conservatism as an ideology of individualism to this new, emotionally charged form of collectivism that has embraced, say, anti-Muslim bigotry long before Trump proposed the Muslim ban that we all know isn't happening win or lose.

I still don’t get this.  You are basically saying that voters who support A are responsible for making voters who support B become more extreme in their support of B, because they’re pissed off at politicians who support A.  And so people who hate B should actually blame the voters supporting A for making B possible.  That’s absurd logic.  Seems clear that the voters who support B are the ones responsible for B.