Thursday, November 24, 2016

Not your father's GOP



"Donald Trump’s economic adviser Stephen Moore told a group of top Republicans last week that they now belong to a fundamentally different political party.
Moore surprised some of the Republican lawmakers assembled at their closed-door whip meeting last Tuesday when he told them they should no longer think of themselves as belonging to the conservative party of Ronald Reagan



ey 
They now belong to Trump’s populist working-class party, he said.
A source briefed on the House GOP whip meeting — which Moore attended as a guest of Majority Whip Steve Scalise — said several lawmakers told him they were taken aback by the economist’s comments.
“For God’s sake, it’s Stephen Moore!” the source said, explaining some of the lawmakers’ reactions to Moore’s statement. “He’s the guy who started Club for Growth. He’s Mr. Supply Side economics.”
“I think it’s going to take them a little time to process what does this all mean,” the source added of the lawmakers. “The vast majority of them were on the wrong side. They didn’t think this was going to happen.”
Asked about his comments to the GOP lawmakers, Moore told The Hill he was giving them a dose of reality. 
“Just as Reagan converted the GOP into a conservative party, Trump has converted the GOP into a populist working-class party,” Moore said in an interview Wednesday. “In some ways this will be good for conservatives and in other ways possibly frustrating.”
Moore has spent much of his career advocating for huge tax and spending cuts and free trade. He’s been as close to a purist ideological conservative as they come, but he says the experience of traveling around Rust Belt states to support Trump has altered his politics. 
“It turned me more into a populist,” he said, expressing frustration with the way some in the Beltway media dismissed the economic concerns of voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
“Having spent the last three or four months on the campaign trail, it opens your eyes to the everyday anxieties and financial stress people are facing,” Moore added. “I’m pro-immigration and pro-trade, but we better make sure as we pursue these policies we’re not creating economic undertow in these areas.”
After such a transformative experience — and after witnessing Trump’s stunning victory — Moore now believes Republican House members should be less ideologically pure and instead help Trump give the voters what he promised them."

42 comments:

The Dude said...

What a maroon - he is "pro-immigration". What does that mean? Is Trump anti-immigration? How about illegal immigration - that's something else altogether, is it not? Guy sounds like a leftist.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Heard an interview with Stephen Moore on Ross Kaminski show - and he said "Obamacare - GONE."

I'm watching.

edutcher said...

Reagan was hardly a pure Conservative, so what Moore is talking about is a bit ephemeral.

The thing is the Whigs have been trying to pass themselves off as Conservatives, which is a joke.

ricpic said...

Ditto what Sixty said.

I always wanted to do the ditto thing...and now I have!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Moore says: "pro-immigration"

Good Gravy. What about that big wall? What about ending the flow of illegals? What about enforcing the immigration laws we already have on the books?

Moore is "pro-immigration." OK - is that code for? 'Look for more broken campaign promises in your in-box?'

If we've lost Stephen Moore - where do we go?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

yes - ditto Sixty.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Moore is hardly a leftist. That's the thing. If we've lost Moore to populist boomerang - I have nothing to say but - Oh F***.

deborah said...

I assume he means pro-legal immigration. He says he wants to look after the rust-belt left behinds...does that require semi leftist tactics?

The funny Wednesday Addams clip Chip put up is a leftist message, but he used it to illustrate a changing of the guard in the election of Trump.

The Dude said...

Conflating legal and illegal immigration is what leftists do, hence my previous comment. If he cannot distinguish between the two then he is no different than Obama. Until I learn more I am going to consider that his intentional use of the word "immigration" means he is part of the GOPe/CoC branch of anti-Americans.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Who isn't for LEGAL immigration? Legal immigration isn't the issue. It's over-whelming illegal immigration that is weighing the us down.
So when someone says "I'm pro-immigration" - that feels suspect.

What does he mean?

When Moore states that he talks to the common regular Joe who says he is hurting - is that common man saying "You know what we really need - immigration."

I call bullshit.

Either that or we are being manipulated, again, by the liar press. I find this totally bizarre.

deborah said...

"When Moore states that he talks to the common regular Joe who says he is hurting - is that common man saying "You know what we really need - immigration."

I call bullshit."

I was taking at face value that he meant we need to look after the rust belt and the despairing youth there, and that free trade and (okay) illegal immigration would take a back seat.

This is obviously trying to co-opt the Dem's working-class champion bona fides.

Rabel said...

What was it Agnew said?

Oh yeah -

"In the United States today, we have more than our share of nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H club -- the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

This is obviously trying to co-opt the Dem's working-class champion bona fides.

Capturing the sentiment - OK.
Except the left are not working class champs at all. Remember "shovel ready?"
If Trump blows his wad on "infrastructure spending" and it isn't real - oh boooy.

Re-read the whole thing. A whole lot of double talk going on.

The article doesn't go into it, but - breaking major campaign promises on repealing the ACA and border security-illegal immigration??? Good luck with that.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

You can count on me, Rabel.

edutcher said...

Pro-immigration can mean anything you want, including pro-legal immigration, pro-regulated immigration, pro-reasonable immigration.

Some people have been hitting the cooking sherry more than a little hard.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If Trump bulldozes LAX and Newark, and builds them shiny and new (and efficient) on-time and under budget.... I love you Trump!

deborah said...

April, that's why I said co-opting. The Dems have messed the unions over by colluding with the bosses to get them unsustainably high bennies that are not sustainable for the new kids coming up. The well is dry, time for them to move on to corporate-raid the rest of the globe.

Yes, it's possibly a cynical ploy, but as some just said, 2018 is just around the corner, and Trump might want a second term.

The Dude said...

I will leave speculation WRT imbibing to others, but stating that one is "pro-immigration" in the current political climate smells of globalization and open borders to me. It is simple to say "I favor enforcement of the current immigration laws" and "We will build a wall". He said neither. Less Moore the merrier.

deborah said...

"I will leave speculation WRT imbibing to others"

Ya know...you just speculated. You're going mean early in the day, maybe switch to decaf?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Update: If Trump bulldozes LAX and Newark, and builds them shiny and new (and efficient) on-time and under budget.... and forces Cher, Robert DeNiro, Bon Jovi, and Katy Perry pay for it - I LOVE YOU TRUMP.

edutcher said...

Keep in mind, the Lefties have been beating the drum that, if you want the illegals out, you're anti-immigration.

Moore sounds like he trying to take that one away from them.

YMMV

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Remember "shovel ready?"
If Trump blows his wad on "infrastructure spending" and it isn't real - oh boooy.


Shovel ready is something that Trump understands. Anyone who has ever been in the construction trades knows that there are a zillion hurdles before you can even think about wielding that "shovel". Permits, EPA studies, greasing the skids of the Unions, on and on and on and on. Anyone here ever tried to build a commercial building, start a business, deal with the layers and layers of petty bureaucrats? I have.

Trump KNOWS this stuff. He has lived it and built his business on it. Dopes like Obama who wouldn't know the business end of a shovel if it were shoved up his....oh nevermind.....have no idea on how things work. So, for someone like Obama and the rest of those administrative dopes to promise shovel ready, was a best a delusion and in reality one big lie.

The fact that Trump has hands on knowledge of these things gives me hope that something will actually be accomplished.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The working class, middle class have been wandering in the wilderness for quite some time now.

Abandoned by the Democrats who are courting Blacks, Illegals, Hispanics, LBQT (whatever) and any other splinter group that they can. Dividing and categorizing. Not feeling welcome by the Republicans, snooty snotty types like George Will, Krauthammer. Lectured by both parties on our low class desires for jobs, economic safety, houses, traditional values......and mainly just wanting to be left alone by all the SJW on one side and the rigid conservatives on the other side.

Called names and disavowed by both parties until....along comes Trump. An outsider who has connections through his upbringing with the average working class type of guy. Trump is called names for no reason, the same ones we are called, racist, buffoon, homophobic, crude, crass, islamophobic...DEPLORABLE. We know that WE are not any of those things. OK maybe some people are but that is beside the point :-D Trump is disdained by the people who actively disdain and hate us. Even though his is incredibly rich....we are the same!

So. Trump opens his arms and becomes the first person in decades to champion the causes, the worries of those of us wandering in the wilderness. Come home. We will band together and fix this. Come home and I will be your voice. Come home and we will protect your rights. Come home and we will honor and respect you. Fuck Yeah! Who doesn't want that instead of being the butt of jokes, being told lies, being played for fools, being dismissed for the favor of the splinter groups and being told to shut up and pay for it all. Coming home.

The Republicans and the Democrats made this happen. If they don't pay attention, the next incarnation of this movement will be something that they won't want to see.

Rabel said...

Eric, the Republican establishment was locked into that metaphor of "A rising tide lifts all boats" and the support of globalization that goes along with it. There was a time, twenty or more years ago, that I bought in too. But as I saw factory after factory and job after job (including my own) move out of the country in an insatiable quest for the cheapest possible wages while I waited for the tide that never came in it became obvious to me that it was a a mistake if not an outright lie. The ultimate and unavoidable result will be equalization of incomes as American standards move irrevocably downwards towards those of the third world.

We moved our low-skilled assembly jobs first to Mexico and then to China. After a few years of training and development the high skilled blue collar jobs followed. Then they moved the engineering and then most of the higher management just short of the executive level.

People in the industrial Midwest saw this up close and personal. They're still seeing it as the work of turning raw materials into marketable products continues to flow out of the country and as anyone with their eyes open sees that the tide is only lifting the big boats at the top. As a result, Trump took the rust belt and the election.

Maybe Stephen Moore has had an awakening. Maybe not. I trust him no farther than I can throw him. But I do firmly believe that Trump sees the short and long term disaster that unfettered globalization presents to the USA and the American worker and that he will do what he can to find a solution. It won't happen overnight and he will meet a powerful and motivated opposition but he was the only man who offered hope of reversing the trend. I wish him the best.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

We shall see. I wish him the best, too. More so, I wish the country the best.

mean time - this will stir the pot. (
Ben Shapiro on the what "alt right" means.
Don't miss the Milo part. interesting.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Excellent, Evi. Happy Thanksgiving.

(I like how you included Omorosa)

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

My Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Sadly - I'll be here all day. Stop booing.

deborah said...

From April's 117 link:

"Cuck, according to the alt-right, means that you’re a white person who wants to watch his wife have sex with a black man, right? Because you’re poisoning the racial stock of the United States, so you want your own racial stock “poisoned.”"

-Ben Shapiro

Rabel said...

Ben Shapiro is a worm, a weasel, a stinkbug, a dirtbag, a liar. And those are his good qualities.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

BTW: Happy Thanksgiving to all. We all in this country have a great deal to be thankful for and we shouldn't forget it!

We are having a low key, laid back day. Just the two of us (plus the cats). Hubby is working today, because he is self employed and he can. Winterizing a couple of houses for absentee owners. While I am making a pumpkin pie to go with the brined Cornish Game Hens, stuffing, garlic and olive oil roasted asparagus and Cesar salad WITH anchovies on mine.

I haven't decided on the glaze for the hens yet. Probably something with orange juice, brown sugar.

No family drama. No traveling. No fuss. No muss.

Rabel said...

"KKK...probably a few hundred nation wide." A few thousand if you count the FBI agents.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Deborah - I know, right? I had no idea that is what "cuck" meant.. I'm so naive.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

There are crazies on the fringes of both the far right and the far left. Yes - media is currently on a mission to dutifully exploit and exaggerate only one side. (No talk of Roger Water's antisemitism) Shapiro discusses how that isn't going to work out for the left.

"...going around shouting, “Racist, racist, racist!” I think one of the big problems here is that if you called Mitt Romney a racist in 2012—as Bill Maher said, if you turned it all the way up to 11 for Mitt Romney—it’s very difficult for people to hear you when you turn it up to 12 for Trump."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Brined Cornish Game Hens

mmmmm.

What do you use to brine, DBQ?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Brine (this time I just wing it)
1 Quart water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 small onion chopped
3/4 (or less) cup brown sugar
3 star anise
some soy sauce...1/4 cup maybe
pickling spice 1 tbps
Dozen or so whole pepper corns
2 tbsp (about) chopped candied ginger

Boil. Cool. Strain. and brine overnight. Just the right amount for two hens or a small chicken.

Probably going to do an orange juice, soy, honey glaze I might add some red pepper flakes for zing when cooking the glaze. Winging it again. I get more wind under my wings as the day goes on and we have imbibed wine or scotch. :-)


The Dude said...

I have consumed my Thanksgiving meal and it was good. Good and plenty. Too much, in fact, but there you go.

While it was cooking I did some work in the shop - I normally wouldn't, but I noticed my neighbors were away, so I ran some machinery.

Now it is sunny and warm - after this morning's rain I am thankful for a beautiful afternoon. I think I will sit outside and drink some tea that was grown in South Carolina and which was given to me by a friend after a journey to the low country.

Given my diet I often thought that I should have moved to coastal South Carolina where I could grow all the food I need - rice, tea, peanuts - man, that would be the life.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

mmmmm that sounds fantastic.

rcocean said...

If being for the working class means:

- Stop trying to reduce the minimum wage
- Stop trying to cut social security
- Stop talking about farm subsidies.

Then I'm for it.

ndspinelli said...

Trump got DOUBLE the Muslim votes over Romney. DOUBLE! Happy Thanksgiving to all you good people.

deborah said...

April, I seem to recall Trooper giving a different def ages ago...can't remember. I think it's one of those words that catch on and people morph the meaning...like the article said happens with the term alt-right. I assume Trump will come down hard on all this.

DBQ...mmmmm. Must try on a chicken. I'm so lazy I buy the ready roasted whole chickens at the market.

Trooper York said...

Asked and answered.

deborah said...

I noticed...