GOP Politicians are not actually personally less honorable then they were in 1973

[OSR stands with Israel]

You hear this talking point a lot how the GOP is a lot less honorable then they were in 1973 and while the GOP of 1973 forced their leader out over less egregious scandals than the ones committed by Trump, it was not because they were more honorable. The reason for that was the voters back then expected politicians to put country over party, care about principles and generally the nation being a 37.5-37.5 nation instead of a 46-46 one meant politicians to win elections had to appeal to wide swath of the electorate meaning not turning on Nixon would have meant electoral disaster for the GOP.

Now we live in a completely opposite world where the voters except politicians to put loyalty to the party over anything else and actively punish politicians who actually care about principles. The nation being a 46-46 nation also means that politicians generally face more danger to their political careers from angering their base than alienating swing voters meaning they have absolutely 0 incentive to do anything to the contrary, and that is why the GOP hasnt turned on Trump.  If the Republican politicians from today were around in 1973 they would have forced Nixon out too, and if the GOP politicians from 1973 were around today they would stand behind Trump as well for the same reason.


This reason is why the idea that if the GOP magically disappeared you would get a "reasonable" center right party more like Charlie Baker is complete nonsense as the reason the GOP is like this is because a large portion of the party wants the party from the right to be like this and if the GOP magically disappeared the new right of center party would probably be even more extreme than the GOP . So while yes its easy to blame the politicians for everything at some point their has to be a realization the problem goes far worse than that.


The main culprits for our politics today is by far away the media who for the past 30 years have failed us miserably with how they have covered the news and politics general. Instead of covering the news in detail and talking about different issues in depth the media and especially cable news media have turned politics into basically sports and thats exactly what it has become where just like in sports you root for the teams no matter what and people who follow the team are expected to do the same.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The problem is that Republican politicians put their jobs over the well being of the country. If they were honest, they would turn on Trump collectively. They have failed to do so after he bribed the Ukrainian president and even after a violent insurrection on the Capitol.

Another reason Trump and the madness in general receive so much support is because of two main factors: media landscape and how voting is being done. Back in 1973, there were just a handful of TV channels all reporting basically the same and a bunch of trusted newspapers like the Times and Post. Today, there's Fox News propaganda, right-wing radio talk and countless social media channels. At the same time, the large number of safe districts and states remove incentives to work across the aisle. Most members in congress don't have to fear losing to the other side, but to a primary challenger, what causes them to go to the extremes and not the center.

In 1974, when Nixon's guilt was undeniable, Republicans turned on him. Today, the same didn't happen for Trump because (a) Republican officeholders, save a few exceptions, aren't honest and (b) a lot of Republican voters are fed with missinformation and conspiracies.

I’m not saying they are honorable today , I’m saying they aren’t less honorable meaning I don’t think these politicians were really honorable at all and think they do whatever needs  to be done to keep their jobs .

This just doenst apply to politicians but sadly to people in general cause how many people in general would really put their principles over their careers if given the choice . I sadly think not that many would anymore and what happened on Wall Street in 2008 kinda shows this as well , where the bankers knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway .


The expectation we have of politicians being then more honorable than the general public is the wrong one cause at the end of the day they are voted in by the general public to begin with . If the public expects politicians to be principled that’s what we will get , but if they expect politicians to put party loyalty first that’s what we will get as well .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Ugh, yes they are less honorable. 98% of them aren't honorable at all. Not saying everything was fine in the 1970s, for sure it wasn't, but Trump and his clownish cult followers are antidemocratic and corrupt scum. The GOP ultimately abandoned Nixon during Watergate for a break-in and its cover-up. That was far less of a crime than everything Mr. Trump has done. Instead, they enabled him, praised him and turned a blind eye to his many power abuses such as turning the Justice Dept. into his personal lawfirm. He didn't have to face consequences for that or January 6. McCarthy is now pushing anyone remotely critical of their orange buffoon out while MTG is getting a free ride. Anyone continuing to enable all the nonsense should have no place in public office.

And Cheney and alike don't need to appear as the big defenders of the rule of law now. She and many others who claim to be outraged, including ex-officers like Boehner, rode the tiger when it was politically expedient instead of telling their voters the truth than Trumpism and the Tea Party are crap and that Hannity and Limbaugh are lying to them. All in all, the Trump era has revealed to true colors of GOP politicans we previously could have seen as mere political opponents and not enemies of American institutions and democracy.

Yes , but why did they abandon Nixon back in 1974 . It was cause the American people completely turned on him and it was clear if they stuck by him republicans would get destroyed by their largest margin they have been destroyed since 1936.

Today it’s the exact opposite and politicians who actually care about things such as principle and honor are the ones who get punished and voted out . So is it any surprise republicans politicians are like this .

Politicians always were about winning, it’s just that the voters expected them to care about principles then while they don’t today .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Got it, so it’s not Republican politicians who are horrid and anti-Democratic, it’s all Republican voters.
I’m glad we can agree on this.

It would be disingenuous to say all politicians put loyalty to party above country.

By far and away that is a central characteristic of GOP politicians more than Democratic ones.

The clear solution for Republican voters who put country above party is to leave the Republican Party and commit to vote for Democrats so that maybe GOP politicians will get the message. If you remain a Republican and continue to vote for Republicans they’ll continue on as they are now.

I identified the main culprit behind why our politics is this bad today , and it’s the media . They have totally failed this nation in every possible way in the past 25-30 years , but it’s even worse than that because they are directly responsible for how polarized our nation is . They were the ones who treated politics like a sports for decade after decade , they are the ones who instead of actually discussing about the news in depth have done the exact opposite and they are the ones who disproportionately give coverage to crazy politicians as well leading to more to more of  them getting elected .



Also no democrats aren’t any better and the last summer proves it
 

[OSR stands with Israel]

Got it, so it’s not Republican politicians who are horrid and anti-Democratic, it’s all Republican voters.
I’m glad we can agree on this.

It would be disingenuous to say all politicians put loyalty to party above country.

By far and away that is a central characteristic of GOP politicians more than Democratic ones.

The clear solution for Republican voters who put country above party is to leave the Republican Party and commit to vote for Democrats so that maybe GOP politicians will get the message. If you remain a Republican and continue to vote for Republicans they’ll continue on as they are now.

I identified the main culprit behind why our politics is this bad today , and it’s the media . They have totally failed this nation in every possible way in the past 25-30 years , but it’s even worse than that because they are directly responsible for how polarized our nation is . They were the ones who treated politics like a sports for decade after decade , they are the ones who instead of actually discussing about the news in depth have done the exact opposite and they are the ones who disproportionately give coverage to crazy politicians as well leading to more to more of  them getting elected .



Also no democrats aren’t any better and the last summer proves it
 

Protesting (and admittedly a few riots) = Trying to topple the World’s greatest country (although I know you don’t believe it is)

 January 6th was worse but the summer wasnt just a few riots . There were major riots all summer in many cities in America and Dems did absolutely nothing to stop it . The riots also resulted in a massive spike in crime rates so they made cities more unsafe too .


The people who did January 6th deserve way worse prison sentences than the rioters over the summer But that doenst make what the democratic governors did not disgraceful

[OSR stands with Israel]

Ugh, yes they are less honorable. 98% of them aren't honorable at all. Not saying everything was fine in the 1970s, for sure it wasn't, but Trump and his clownish cult followers are antidemocratic and corrupt scum. The GOP ultimately abandoned Nixon during Watergate for a break-in and its cover-up. That was far less of a crime than everything Mr. Trump has done. Instead, they enabled him, praised him and turned a blind eye to his many power abuses such as turning the Justice Dept. into his personal lawfirm. He didn't have to face consequences for that or January 6. McCarthy is now pushing anyone remotely critical of their orange buffoon out while MTG is getting a free ride. Anyone continuing to enable all the nonsense should have no place in public office.

And Cheney and alike don't need to appear as the big defenders of the rule of law now. She and many others who claim to be outraged, including ex-officers like Boehner, rode the tiger when it was politically expedient instead of telling their voters the truth than Trumpism and the Tea Party are crap and that Hannity and Limbaugh are lying to them. All in all, the Trump era has revealed to true colors of GOP politicans we previously could have seen as mere political opponents and not enemies of American institutions and democracy.

Yes , but why did they abandon Nixon back in 1974 . It was cause the American people completely turned on him and it was clear if they stuck by him republicans would get destroyed by their largest margin they have been destroyed since 1936.

Today it’s the exact opposite and politicians who actually care about things such as principle and honor are the ones who get punished and voted out . So is it any surprise republicans politicians are like this .

Politicians always were about winning, it’s just that the voters expected them to care about principles then while they don’t today .

Yes, but these get replaced by less honorable people who only care about keeping their mandate rather than doing the right thing. The vast majority of Republicans with integrity and reasonable political positions who understood there needs to be compromise were thrown out since 1994 and particularly after 2010. Someone like Richard Lugar for example, or now even Brad Raffensberger, who became a target of Trump cultists for simply refusing to overturn an election he didn't have the authority to overturn. Many others refuse to do the right thing because as long as repeating Trump's lies or starting endless investigations on opponents like Benghazi that produce nothing but hot air keeps them in office, they're fine to get along with it. And the worst aspect of all that is that these people know better. Lindsey Graham or Kevin McCarthy know that the 2020 election wasn't stolen. They can't be that stupid. However, they repeat Trump's big lie anyway because doing the opposite would cause the cultists to come after them (heck, Graham wouldn't even have to bother since he was just reelected for a six year term).

Of course Nixon losing support over scandals and Trump not is a result of the media landscape today. But the solution can't be to go along with it, but for Republicans of honor to stand up it. Unfortunately, the John McCains of the world have almost extinct in the modern Republican Party.

I 100% wish there were more John McCain's and Mitt Romney's but you only get those types of politicians if the voters also want their politicians to be like John McCain and Mitt Romney rather than Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham.  Sadly I dont think its just politicians but I think its society as a whole that punish principle now days.


People who take shortcuts, and seemingly dont care about principles seem to get promoted, get more investors etc while people who do the right thing and care about principles many times the exact opposite happens