Posted on 05/18/2021 8:39:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
Observing the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her House leadership position and her criticism of former president Donald Trump, reminded me of a '70s TV ad for Listerine mouthwash. The company attempted to use the product's bad taste to its advantage. The ad said: "It's got the taste people hate - twice a day."
The Republican establishment may hate Donald Trump, but they would be hard-pressed to deny how effective his policies were, pre-COVID-19. The 74 million people who voted for him is a formidable number. Whatever some may think of his personality -- and I deplore how he demeans others -- no one can credibly deny he was more successful than any modern Republican president. The question is, can he do it again? Last year's election was unique due to the pandemic with many using mail-in ballots, fearful of going to the polls. That appeared to drive up the number of voters.
Cheney's main distaste for Trump is that he continues to claim the 2020 election was fraudulent and that he should have been declared the winner. I won't go down that dead-end road again. I will point out that people have short memories, especially when the major media do not report that contesting election outcomes is not unique to Donald Trump.
An exception was a New York Times opinion column in January 2020. University of Iowa law professor Derek T. Muller, who specializes in election law, wrote: "After Republican victories in 2000, 2004 and 2016. ... Democrats in Congress used the formal counting of electoral votes as an opportunity to challenge election results."
Liz Cheney appeared last week on Fox News' "Special Report" with Bret Baier. She berated the network for what she said was their enabling of Trump's election fraud narrative and for promoting "The Big Lie." Cheney failed to mention four years of claims by Democrats -- augmented by the major media -- that Russia helped Trump "steal" the 2016 election. Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr, has spent two years investigating the source of that hoax but has not issued a report.
Trump could help himself not only with Republican leaders, but also voters, especially should he choose to run again in 2024, by focusing on the future, not the past. Joe Biden will not be removed from office, but if Trump stopped reliving 2020 and started concentrating on congressional races next year (while also continuing to attack President Biden's failed policies), Republicans would be in a far stronger position to retake the House and possibly the Senate. This would set the stage for a Republican presidential victory, assuming the issues and not Trump's personality are the focus.
Cheney is obsessed with Trump. She can't let him go and he won't let her go. Without his Facebook and Twitter accounts, Trump still issues statements -- sometimes several a day -- promoting people who support and praise him and calling people names who oppose him.
Name-calling doesn't persuade or win issues. Perhaps his rants, directed at people he dislikes, as well as his praise for those he admires is not his main goal. It is meant to keep his base engaged. Trump followers hate the Washington Establishment (aka The Swamp) and are preparing for the next battle with Trump as their leader. Trump's planned resumption of rallies next month may show how strongly he retains his base. He must also attract swing voters who largely abandoned him last year because they were turned off by his denunciation of others.
Like that old Listerine ad, some Republicans and a lot of Democrats and the media may hate him, but they are using him more than twice a day. He is also using them.
I love how people think they are smarter than Donald Trump. He’ll do exactly what he wants to do.
getting rid of those mean tweets has been really really expensive
Cal Thomas was one of people on the “Against Trump” cover of NR.
That’s a fact!
Cal is a never-Trumper Cuck.
Wonder what they have on him, he used to be good.

“Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr, has spent two years investigating the source of that hoax but has not issued a report.”
Give me a break. 2 years “investigating” when we already know the source was Hillary Clinton.
Next time just hire a private detective and save the country a few billion dollars.
Only Glenn Beck has done a mea culpa over his participation in that.
Katie Pavlich hasn’t that I know of but now acts like she has removed her head from her posterior at least.
The rest of them still have suffer from rectal-cranial insertion.
Why, in all these pieces by so-called conservatives, is there a BUT in every piece. Thomas supports Trumps policies BUT “deplores” how Trump “demeans” others. I guess he doesn’t mind how the Democrats and their media stooges smear and slander us.
It was pointed out in 2016 that although Trump was running as a republican, he was campaigning like a democrat. When the dems called him names and ridiculed him, Trump responded in kind, and it was very effective. Establishment republicans were horrified by Trump’s methods, even more so so because it was working.
Establishment republicans had been worried since the day Reagan left office that another real-life patriotic, America loving republican would appear on the national stage and upset their carefully contrived treason. They had spent all their political capital in outsourcing America’s manufacturing base, our primary source of wealth. They carelessly gave away our manufacturing base to China like a poker chip in a card game, ignoring the incredible damage they were doing.
Trump overcame all opposition and became the most successful president in decades.
The establishment hated his success, I loved it.
Keep up the ‘mean’ streak DJT, it works.
Keep up the ‘mean’ streak DJT, it works.
......when President Trump points his finger at someone and says “you’re fired”, or sends an insulting message describing a lowlife scumbag as ‘a lowlife scumbag’ , i applaud his efforts.
Septic tank pumpers have a literally crap job, and i applaud them, too.
That’s not a “Never Trumper list.” Those are people who weren’t on board with Trump a year before he took office. People who thought his candidacy was a joke or a disaster. Some of them became “Never Trumpers.” Others came around to support him.
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