With Trump’s approval ratings so low, how does he keep ousting GOP rivals?
Wrong question. This is like asking why some inmate is really popular in prison when everybody hates criminals.
Trump can oust GOP candidates in GOP primaries because it’s the dum-dum club to begin with.
Turnout in the primaries is incredibly low. So you get a very low representative sample of the electorate choosing the candidates, typically the most avid party loyal voters. So this drives the primary candidates to extremes. This is further exacerbated by gerrymandering, because the district is considered safe enough for the one part that the primary is basically the actual election.
This right here is the answer. Plus, that low primary turnout is more likely to be composed of the diehards, so angry MAGA in this case. My hope is that some of those primary wins come back to bite the party in the ass in the elections, but I’m not holding my breath. So far, this country seems to prefer Trump’s bullshit chaos to whatever brand of “progressive” the Democrats are propping up. Sad thing is if the Dems do actually win big in November, they will take it as a sign that their milquetoast corporate-owned liberals are what the country wants, rather than just voting against the fascist racists they are running against.
Ranked choice voting is needed and is long overdue and can help with multiple choices, parties and candidates
Might also help with third parties.
3rd parties won’t be viable at the state or federal level without RC. or some other significant electoral reform. Over 99% of state and federal legislative seats are held by either Republican or Democratic nominees, and frequently an Independent or 3rd party incumbent won on the D/R ticket and then switched while in office. Not one EC vote for a 3rd party presidential candidate since 1968, and Perot won 19% of the national popular vote in 1992. We need to vote in the primaries to put progressives and pro-elecroral reform nominees on the ballot before we can effectively vote 3rds party beyond county level (unless you already have RCV).
This. My state had dismal primary turnout. Our good old boy, Regan-esque Republican incumbent governor won over his white nationalist challenger, but that win was carried by all those of us here who register Republican to vote in their primaries. He’s evil, but he’s a far more tolerable evil than his challenger. And that’s why our system is broken.
The elections are rigged
Money from AIPAC, and support from fascists, cowards, and morons.
That’s really what the state of our democracy is right now.
Yeah I share a mailbox with a MAGA person and they get fundraising letters from various MAGA orgs like The Heritage Foundation almost every day. Some of them are pretty elaborate, like a 8.5x11 flat envelope with a huge glossy full color US flag on the front and back, or one that had what looked like a $1 bill inside.
My Gmail also got subscribed to trump emails somehow, I marked them as spam but when I look in the spam box I see multiple emails every day with personal messages like “Donna, I am personally asking you to help.”
Add to that church preachers that tell their flock to donate X% of their money to Christian causes like this and there is a LOT of money from wealthy old people going into the hands of MAGA.
“Democracy” TM
If not outright election fraud, it’s money used to spread info/misinfo. Like the voters who talked about the video they saw of Massie in a threesome with AOC and Ilhan Ohmar. AI generated out the wazoo.
If it’s not money, it’s legal election fraud in red states where voters are suppressed, voter rolls are purged, etc etc.
All of these things combined make for a great recipe of “democracy.” Combine that with the fact that conservatives are, quite literally, not hyperbolic, a terrorist death cult, they truly do follow the leader right off the cliff’s edge.
Winning inside the bubble is no challenge. Winning in the real world is what matters.
In 2010, Republicans thought they were going to have a bloodbath Midterms against Obama, and they got a whole bunch of whack-job Tea Partiers (the proto-MAGAs) to win their primaries against incumbents. Then they got to the general election, and they all lost against normal Democrats, badly blunting the Republicans’ Midterms.
MAGAs always have a plan, but it’s always a bad plan.
This is stupid. We’re talking about primaries here and the approval rating among republicans are solid AF so yeah, Trump backed candidates are going to win because it’s a god damn cult.
I’m sure that someone is going to go “BUT WHAT ABOUT OPEN PRIMARIES?” Come on, really? You think that Democrats or Independents are going to vote in a Republican primary in any numbers? You can barely get anyone to vote in a actual election much less a god damn primary of another party.
Cultist are going to cult here.
Yes, non-Republicans will vote in Republican primaries if the strategy is there.
My state is (now) firmly red. Whoever wins the Republican primary will almost certainly win the general. As such, voting for the least shitty Republican in the primary is far more useful than voting Democrat in the general. On top of that, at least my Democrat primaries have been very milquetoast. It doesn’t make much difference who wins that.
That all makes it a very simple decision to vote in the R primary.
Uh huh… What state are you in? Let’s see how that goes, I’m sure there will be a record turn out in the Republican primary. I’ll be waiting here with bated breath.
Bud, protest votes are a big thing in states with open primaries. Minimalizing the bullshittery and all that.
I myself am in Texas and have up until a few years ago been a “Registered Republican” on the official books. I haven’t actually voted for anything remotely red since well before Obama. But that’s how the system works. When your state is cooked, you find a way to oppose it, inside or outside the system. We are finally hitting the point where what’s on the books vs what the actual sentiment is, it’s starting to finally matter.
Uh huh… Sure looks like lots of people are sure using that open primary to affect Republican primaries in Texas. Glad that sane Republicans are winning races there…oh wait…
I mean I got the less shitty sheriff out of the deal. The judge I wanted lost. A few years ago I got the better justice of the peace. There hasn’t been a dem contender in years for any of those positions. I would say I’ve done the proper and right thing. I have no actually affiliation with the gop but it has allowed me effectively fulfill my civic duty by helping elect the most fit local officials. My situation is not rare or unique.
Get the feeling you’re responding to… not a person.
That being said I’m in the same boat in GA. Registered independent.
Money from a specific foreign nation.
for Massey, this was mostly AIPAC money even more than they spent on previous primaries to defeat Cori Bush. The playbook for successful APAIC operation is to never mention Israel. Just smear opponent. Not sure how Massey primary was conducted, though.
No the funding came from the tech sector because Massey opposed the building of an AI data centre.
I would doubt this. I’d especially doubt that a winning campaign would be to promise to give all KY electricitity to a datacenter. AIPAC did make a victory tweet. I didn’t see campaigns, but I doubt it was focused on who loves AI the most.
It’s AIPAC, not Trump. AIPAC controls even Trump.
With approval ratings so low, how was Jim Jones able to convince 1000 people to drink poison?
🙃
Honestly, they were going to die even if they didn’t drink the cordial. They were forced to drink it at gun point.
The point is they’re a cult.
Oh, I know. I was just making the point that they had no choice.
It might be the same picture?
The threat of violence is present in this case, as well.
Wait, are you seriously asking?
Money. The answer is shitloads of money.
It’s not really an answer. If it were, his approvals would be a lot higher. The question is why, despite low approval rates, people still listen to him.
You can use money to win elections even if people hate you. You can use some fake group to take credit for your political ads so people don’t know the money comes from you.
Okay, fake group makes positive political ads about you. Everyone still hates you. Why do they care about who you say they should vote for?
You’re using the word “you” to refer to different people.
Okay, fake group makes positive political ads about you.
Here, “you” refers to a candidate that the hated person supports. (And by the way, usually in these cases, the political ads are not positive about you, but negative about your opponent.)
Everyone still hates you. Why do they care about who you say they should vote for?
Here, “you” suddenly refers to the hated person themselves. People hate this person which is why the message uses a fake group to hide where the message is coming from.
Here, “you” refers to a candidate that the hated person supports
…huh? No, the candidate is the hated person. They’re the same person.
The article we’re discussing was prompted by Rep. Thomas Massie getting defeated in the primary by the candidate that Trump supports, Ed Gallrein.
Massie is Trump’s GOP rival because he supported releasing the Epstein files, so Trump supported Ed Gallrein.
The article goes on to list several other Republican politicians who have lost to the politician Trump backs.
I don’t know how the topic could be any clearer. I can only assume you didn’t read the article.
Yes, thank you for the recap. I’m not sure what part of this is confusing you.
E: Ah yes, the classic “Everyone I don’t understand is a troll!”
And why the spineless democrats won’t fucking do something. Anything. About him.
Isn’t his approval rating still solid amongst his base? Are the oustings happening in the pastures or in more competitive areas?
His base by definition approves of him, the more interesting question is whether that base changes in size
What was republican voter turnout in these primaries, is what I’m interested in. How many turned out compared to the past might indicate the rats won because of fewer votes. If you plan to vote for a Democrat or Independent in the midterms, why would you want a good Republican candidate? If turnout this primary was lower, or much lower, compared to the past, that might point to something bigger come November.
As a citizen, I prefer the most competent people in both parties, because sometimes your opponent wins.
No where did I ask or suggest they voted for the tRump pick or something. But if you were a MAGA buttsucker and have decided to finally be a human being in this society, why vote in the primary? It’s why I was asking about overall voter turnout for this primary compared to past primaries.
If you plan to vote for a Democrat or Independent in the midterms, why would you want a good Republican candidate?
Exactly, his approval rating isn’t “low” at all. It’s 39%, well above the approval rating of, say, Merz (19%) or Macron (27%).
I dont know the historical approval ratings of leaders of Germany and France at various points in their terms, but not sure if this is an “apples to apples” comparison. Macron won 28% of the vote in the first round, and Merz had something like 24%. Your point may be fair, but Trump won 49.8% of the vote in his last election, so the decline looks a lot more dramatic.
Call me a conspirisist but I’m of opinion that these are trial runs for rigged elections. Why not rig your own parties election as proof that you can do it bigger?
Agreed. He already gave away the playbook like day 1. Said there won’t be anymore red and blue states. Said you’ll never need to vote again. Guaranteed there will be no blue wave in November, but a surprise “win” for Republicans all around. They will use this to pretend they have the public’s support in moving forward with all the terrible shit they’ve had to slow down recently. They are not popular. Massie is incredibly popular right now for the Epstein files. Trump wanted him out and had his people make him go away. I’d bet if Massie demanded a hand count, the results would be different. Elections are going to be a compromised joke moving forward until he is dragged kicking and screaming from the Whitehouse. They will continue to hold all the branches of government and claim they are winning elections in a landslide. Pretending they have the support of the populace when they don’t.
Fucking hell. These news sources are deliberately stupid… The reason for it is that there will always be a permanent group of followers who will be convinced all the time. So his most loyal will continue to primary Republicans who even have a whiff of centrism.
