I have been saying for a long time. Republicans are not afraid of Trump.

[boston bean]

Trump is doing everything they have wanted done since 1968. It is who they are.

It is their wet dream.

[Walleye]

1. It is discouraging to find out how many sadistic assholes are in this country

[Irish_Dem]

2. Yes the sheer number of psychopaths and those who love psychopaths is amazing.

And disgusting.

Greatest moral collapse in US history.

[Glaisne]

17. You can thank decades of brainwashing

by right-wing hate talk radio and conservative monopoly media.

[Irish_Dem]

20. Yep. Our enemies successfully destroyed our national character.

[mountain grammy]

23. back in the good ole 80's

they denigrated Democrats over abortion.. they pounded it and pounded it.. Democrats murder a half a million babies a year, over and over. the churches took up the mantra along with right wing media and even mainstream.

once they successfully branded Democrats as amoral baby killers.. all the rest followed.

I heard a lawyer named Mike Sacks explain this. He's now running for Congress

https://www.mikesacksforcongress.com/

[ananda]

25. Limbaughtomized Lunacy

Or Kirk Berserk

[Timeflyer]

3. The billionaires/conservative donors/talibangelicals are getting just what they wanted from him.

[Escape]

4. You are correct, Bean...

The racism, greed, corruption and cruelty of Trumpism are all part of the long established Republican Party platform.

[3Hotdogs]

15. Hell, they don't even have to put out a few $ for white sheets and have their wives sew them up.

[mgardener]

5. He knew his base well

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"

He can rape young girls with impunity, too and his base doesn't care

[Bohunk68]

32. I'd say they are envious of him.

They admire that he can get away with all of that Mafioso stuff, like Gotti. But, Gotti got his in the end.

[windje]

6. Trump -- Everyone's useful idiot!!

Every Republican owns this sh*tshow

[LuvLoogie]

7. This.

And his voters are all in on the Nazism

[Loubee]

8. Trump is the Liberator

of their worst selves that they had hoped Nixon would have been. It was a different time of checks & balances, regulations and taxes on the wealthy.

[duhneece]

9. I think it goes back even further..

I think they have wanted to stop The New Deal policies of FDR.

[LymphocyteLover]

11. No doubt. They are selfish, largely white supremacist psychos.

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. You are correct.

The wealthy felt that they were betrayed by Roosevelt because they saw him as 'one of them', and totally ignored the signs from his cousin and his entire side of the family. They were filthy rich but they did have a sense of morality. Franklin knew what had to be done and that it had to be done for ALL U.S. dwellers.

They never forgave him or that ideal being held as an absolute.

[duhneece]

14. I believe his physical condition that led him to healing therapies

…. Those mineral baths connected him to ordinary people and changed FDR for the better.

[OldBaldy1701E]

21. I would agree.

He was often in places that his fellow 'fat cats' would never be caught dead in, so there is a major influence there.

[LymphocyteLover]

10. Yes, but he also does a lot of crap that makes them look bad and they are afraid to criticize him

Like pardoning drug dealers & cop beaters, mocking dead people, insulting reporters, dumb statements and caving to China, etc

[Ol Janx Spirit]

12. True. What they are afraid of is that it is all going to go away with his demise and they are...

...going to have to go back to just wishing these things would happen.

He says and does the things they could never pull off themselves. They will miss him when he's gone.

We will rejoice.

[Glaisne]

16. Spot on.

Except I'd say they have wanted done since 1938. It is who they are.

[leftstreet]

18. DURec

[enigmania]

19. The only good thing about the 'Regime'

is the exposure of the multitude of charlatans that have wormed their way into our government.

[agingdem]

22. Mitch McConnell hated his guts but he used the degenerate clown

to stack the courts with unqualified ultra rightwing ideologues..incompetent assholes who would toss a woman’s right to choose and marriage equality….he also rewarded the uber wealthy with an obscene tax cut..

And when he had the opportunity to remove Hitler-wannabe from office he voted no twice probably because his wife, Elaine Chao, was still serving as the bloviating moron’s Secretary of Labor..

Years later, even after the revenge idiot disparaged McConnell’s wife (referring to her as CoCo Chow), Mitch still endorsed Trump’s candidacy ..

You’re correct in that Republicans are not afraid of him but they are afraid of his brain-dead militia ready to threaten and intimidate their families..

[erronis]

24. A great, simple, and accurate post.

[Miles Archer]

26. It shocks me that it is probably the SIMPLEST of ALL simple concepts, and America doesn't get it...

AND / OR, America JUST DOES NOT CARE.

But yeah. Trump is also fulfilling Saint Ronnie The Gipper / Zombie Reagan's wet dream to fuck up the lives of everyone he labeled as a "WELFARE QUEEN" (as in, "not a millionaire."

[Upthevibe]

27. Kick. N/T

[democrank]

28. There may be a zillion reasons why Trump made it to the top of the R's heap.

I think Trumpster types were always here….always. They seethed through the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Equal Rights Movement.They were furious about equal pay for equal work, same sex marriage, people of color making some headway, on and on.

They believed in one ruling class-whites. One ruling religion- their form of Christianity. New laws prevented them from out-loud, in-your-face discrimination.The United States belonged to them. Their land, their banks, their police departments, their honor rolls, their flags. The “others” were intruders.

Trump said what they were thinking. He was one of them in all the ways that really mattered. They could bully, discriminate, kill, hate right out in the open. Laws be damned. Rules don’t apply. Institutions worthless.

We’ll have to start from scratch when we regain power.

[jgmiller]

29. I think it's a mistake to group them all into one type

Yes I completely agree there are many that are not afraid of him and wanted to do these things forever. There are also a group that while they might not like a lot of what he does they are fine with it because certain things he's done, generally I think this group is centered around the evangelicals, Johnson is a perfect example. He's not afraid of him and a lot of what he does Johnson probably bugs him but he turns a blind eye because he thinks this is all God's plan. Then there is the group that is afraid of him, they don't like most of what's going on but they are too deep now and see no way out so they just go along with it.

This is why it's so important that we see people like MTG jumping ship. I don't care if she's being genuine in her reasons or not, it's a sign that even the ones deep in have realized that the end is coming. They know the first ones out survive, that doesn't mean the end is super close but it's on the horizon.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. You are wrong

Despite enacting many desired policies, Republicans have, until just very recently, have been terrified to incur Trump’s wrath if they dare to cross him. (See Graham, Lindsey and Rubio, Marco for textbook examples of Trump Terror)

Although they like some of his policies, many republicans disagree on others, especially the ones that damage their chances in the midterms.

ACA subsidies, Ukraine aid, and of course the Epstein files among others.

That is why we are seeing a record number of retirements from congress- nobody wants to lose to a more MAGA opponent.

I’m Not defending republicans’ support of Trump’s heinous policies on immigration, tax cuts for billionaires, etc, just challenging the overly broad nature of the OP.

[Attilatheblond]

31. Thinking secondary reason Trump fights releasing the files is it removes blackmail to control a lot of people

Once the child abuse is outta the bag, being able to blackmail pols and very rich backers loses a lot of power.

[returnee]

33. Nah.

I find it virtually impossible that there aren’t 5 R’s in both houses that aren’t saying to themselves, “Well, yeah, he’s doing SOME things I would agree with, but THIS, this is a bridge too far,” and then do nothing about it. Most of them may be maga-friendly or maga-adjacent jerks, but not all. It’s got to be fear of some sort: kompromat, violence, loss of office, something. Five who would do the patriotic thing were it not for fear, i.e., “I may be anti-New Deal policies, but I’m not actually pro-fascist.”

[Mblaze]

34. Right on

They've been chasing that car for decades. Now that they have caught it, let's see what happens.

[markodochartaigh]

35. I think that it is both.

If someone joins a gang of bullies because they want to beat people up, they probably will realize eventually that if they desert the gang things will go badly for them. I think that a lot of Republican politicians are true believers, but also fear that if they are seen as weak they will end up like the Minnesota politicians who were shot.

[Clouds Passing]

36. Since they murdered Abe and doubled down since Franklin

[electric_blue68]

37. Respectfully, there were A Few LIBERAL Republicans back in the '60s, early '70s...

NYC Mayor John Lindsey
and
Senator Charles Goodell.

The only two Republicans I ever volunteered for at 16, andc17 yrs old.