Opinion of TJ in Cleve

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

I'm kinda curious what this post could possibly be about

I think he's trying to say neocons and/or socons screwed up in office, which combined with Obama-liberalism made Trumpism possible?

Yes. The Trump movement is largely a reaction among Republicans to people like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, etc, spoon feeding us this same toxic combination of social and neo-conservatism/"Reaganism" garbage year after year. People are so sick and tired of these kind of out of touch Republicans (almost all of whom are in reality no more right-wing than, say, Jeb Bush or John Kasich), and if the candidate most outspokenly and directly in opposition to that happens to be a borderline racist/probable rapist/philandering, orange skinned, loud mouthed, arrogant jackass mascot for a shadowy real estate conglomerate with exaggerated profits that he barely runs, then so be it.

The Trump movement isn't about Trump. Yes, it is probably true that only a man like Donald Trump could have been able to so expertly tap into that wellspring of disillusionment, but these "deplorables" that TJ in Cleve so detests are in reality the people who until now have carried his outdated, collectivist, bigoted vision of the world on his shoulders just like Atlas carried the world on his.

If Atlas were to shrug, as Ayn Rand wrote, then the world would fall apart. The Trump movement is Atlas, and we're shrugging off TJ, Ted Cruz, my grandma's brother-in-law, the GOP staffers and most of my former campaign friends. We're not going to toil for their vision of the world anymore. Now its their turn to carry us. I don't view any Johnson or Clinton supporters with any contempt. I understand their position. But every #NeverTrump Republican, the people who once called Ron Paul a terrorist sympathizer, the people who declared Gary Johnson the next Ralph Nader in 2012, only to hijack his candidacy four years later, destroy it, and then get on the McMullin bandwagon-these people are unforgivable. These people are the real Republican deplorables.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Did not know that we had to be so autistic when passing emotional judgement on people - thanks for letting me know guys.

Unlike at Oxford, where only non-autistic emotional judgment is passed onto people.

Oxford? I thought he was merely a Cambridge man.

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

I'm kinda curious what this post could possibly be about

I think he's trying to say neocons and/or socons screwed up in office, which combined with Obama-liberalism made Trumpism possible?

Yes. The Trump movement is largely a reaction among Republicans to people like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, etc, spoon feeding us this same toxic combination of social and neo-conservatism/"Reaganism" garbage year after year. People are so sick and tired of these kind of out of touch Republicans (almost all of whom are in reality no more right-wing than, say, Jeb Bush or John Kasich), and if the candidate most outspokenly and directly in opposition to that happens to be a borderline racist/probable rapist/philandering, orange skinned, loud mouthed, arrogant jackass mascot for a shadowy real estate conglomerate with exaggerated profits that he barely runs, then so be it.

So, we should blame the least Trump-like Republicans for Donald Trump because if only they would have been more like Trump, the voters wouldn't have rebelled against them by voting for Trump?

And you're not just talking about the politicians, apparently, since you're talking about blaming TJ, who's just a voter, not a politician.  Apparently regular Republican voters who dislike Trump and supported non-Trump candidates should have been supporting more Trump-like candidates all these years to appease the Trump supporters who they share a party with.  If only they'd pretended to agree more with the Trump voters than they really do, the Trump voters wouldn't have gotten mad at them and nominated Trump.

Makes sense.

There wouldn't be a need for the Trump movement if the GOP didn't embrace imperialism, economic nihilism, and preside over the degeneration of conservatism as an ideology of individualism to this new, emotionally charged form of collectivism that has embraced, say, anti-Muslim bigotry long before Trump proposed the Muslim ban that we all know isn't happening win or lose.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

TJ's brand of Republicanism is the type of brand that spiraled out of control and gave us the more annoying elements of the Trump movement. I don't think he gets a pass for being a "reasonable Republican" when he represents politically the worst leftovers of the Bush decade.

I'm kinda curious what this post could possibly be about

I think he's trying to say neocons and/or socons screwed up in office, which combined with Obama-liberalism made Trumpism possible?

Yes. The Trump movement is largely a reaction among Republicans to people like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, etc, spoon feeding us this same toxic combination of social and neo-conservatism/"Reaganism" garbage year after year. People are so sick and tired of these kind of out of touch Republicans (almost all of whom are in reality no more right-wing than, say, Jeb Bush or John Kasich), and if the candidate most outspokenly and directly in opposition to that happens to be a borderline racist/probable rapist/philandering, orange skinned, loud mouthed, arrogant jackass mascot for a shadowy real estate conglomerate with exaggerated profits that he barely runs, then so be it.

The Trump movement isn't about Trump. Yes, it is probably true that only a man like Donald Trump could have been able to so expertly tap into that wellspring of disillusionment, but these "deplorables" that TJ in Cleve so detests are in reality the people who until now have carried his outdated, collectivist, bigoted vision of the world on his shoulders just like Atlas carried the world on his.

If Atlas were to shrug, as Ayn Rand wrote, then the world would fall apart. The Trump movement is Atlas, and we're shrugging off TJ, Ted Cruz, my grandma's brother-in-law, the GOP staffers and most of my former campaign friends. We're not going to toil for their vision of the world anymore. Now its their turn to carry us. I don't view any Johnson or Clinton supporters with any contempt. I understand their position. But every #NeverTrump Republican, the people who once called Ron Paul a terrorist sympathizer, the people who declared Gary Johnson the next Ralph Nader in 2012, only to hijack his candidacy four years later, destroy it, and then get on the McMullin bandwagon-these people are unforgivable. These people are the real Republican deplorables.

Do hope you realize that your Trumpist "movement" has totally failed to penetrate congressional primaries in its prime, it's disproportionately old, and that Cruz, Rubio, and their ilk will still be around decades after the Trump run has mostly been forgotten outside of weird political history forums

Unlike past movements that have tried to take back the party, the Trump movement is so overwhelming in numbers that the risk of them turning is enough to scare many of our Congresscritters straight. Ask Paul Ryan about his conference call, he can tell you all about it.