How did GOP morph into the party of alt facts or was it always like this but covered up at the surface? I do not think the party of Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan/Bush I was like this. How did it change to the party of Trump? Was it the tea party movement?
This is the final solution...er, final result of an 8-year long hissy fit by the extreme right of the GOP, aka the tea party. Anyone who didn't automatically oppose anything and everything Obama did was demonized as a sellout on talk radio and ultimately sacked. Boehner - gone. Cantor - gone. It happened to Kasich in the primaries too. All the while, Trump was watching and waiting. Just waiting for the perfect time to jump on that wave. And he rode it all the way to the Presidency. It was a brilliantly executed hostile takeover of the GOP. Half of those guys still hate him, but they're trapped. You can see it in Paul Ryan's eyes whenever they're in the same room. Trump's whole campaign (and presidency) is just payback to Obama for that roast he made at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner. Trump is so petty, he probably decided that night to run for President just to get back at Obama. No hyperbole.
Fox and Rush (Fake News) have had a symbiotic relationship. The GOP talking points and those of Fox and Rush have been identical for about 15 to 20 yrs. A few yrs ago there were stories about how Rush and Murdoch (Fox) had gotten to the point where they were calling the shots for the GOP leadership to the point where it night not be good from an electoral point of view.
If you would step out of the echo chamber for a bit you might objectively admit that this problem exist on both sides... I really don't expect that to happen though.
So... basically, you admit the GOP has become the party of alternate facts, but its OK, since you believe that the Democrats also deal in alternate facts. And you believe this,case you stepped outside your echo chamber.
Certainly there are extremists on the left, but they do not control the Democrat party like extremists on the right control the GOP.
I admit to nothing. Lies are lies, and facts are facts, the fact that you open with partisan crap intended to start a fight says to me you really don't give a crap about determining the truth. Which to me says you are just as likely to accept lies that fit your ideology as any right wing nut job. Voters control the Republican party or we wouldn't have Trump. Elites in Washington control the "Democratic" party or wouldn't have Trump either.
My exasperation is the casual way you accept that lying is the way of politics. While I didn't agree politically with Reagan, Bush and Bush, I didn't believe any of the three were (1) evil and (2) an outright liar. Sure, they may have put their political spin on things, and while I think the reasons we entered the war were built on untruths, I largely respected and liked GWB. Its still early in Trump's presidency, but I can't say the same for him or the people he has surrounded himself around. I certainly don't think he has my or most other's best interests in mind. And the more I see and hear, the more I worry.
Trump's action is out of the expected/accepted range of elected presidents. Would people in this country be willing to accept an authoritarian president if he can bring more economic prosperity while he is president?
Yes Obama and Seth Meyers both. https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...ad050f76d7d_story.html?utm_term=.8b15f82f9341
This is largely the result of the general population no longer having an interest in honest reporting of or news. News used to be about facts and you had to put up with 'opinion' pieces. Now there is nothing but opinion pieces in the news and we only listen to or read the opinions we like. We are fed an opinion... which we then argue about. It's sad really but it isn't a partisan thing.
You are right. I think the big difference is that Bannon, part of the "opposition party" for the last 8 years,is now in a very powerful position. I'm not worried as most as I still believe our institutions won't put up with that BS for much longer especially if the GOP congress gets fed up.
So... you blame the news? Despite the fact that Trump supporters can easily watch Fox, or read the Washington Examiner or Wall Street Journal and Trump opponents can look at MSNBC or CNN or NYT. Or listen to talk radio, or get their news off Facebook. News is news. There are spin sources, and there are more straight forward sources (I like PBR myself, but get a range of news using Google News). Look at Trump... his ongoing battle with "the news" is over the amount of people that attended his inauguration.
Trump uses the media as a distraction and or free advertising depending on his needs. I'm sure he thinks it's pretty funny the amount of press his inauguration attendance receives. I didn't vote for the guy but I keep telling people that he keeps winning and doing what he says. One thing his actions to this point have told me is, he doesn't want a second term. He wants to get it done in one... he may retire early and hand it over to Pence.
OK, but which party currently controls the presidency and the congress? So naturally more attention is focused on Trump. And Trump has already told some doozies. As has nominated members of his cabinet.
My gosh... no one voted for Trump. Especially no one in the republican party here in Texas, despite having almost 1 million more votes than Clinton.
I'd also chime in on these with my own. The Republican Party fundamentally adopted racial hatred as a political strategy in earnest during the Civil Rights era and in 1987 Reagan had the Fairness Doctrine abolished which began the spiraling death of the news and the emergence of conspiracy theorizing, hate peddling conservative entertainment "news" . Peddling hatred has historically been politically successful but also incredibly damaging and destructive and that's Trump.
