How MAGA takes over the GOP...and it's working

[tarheelbybirth]

Listen here:
This American Life: Watching the Watchers
Read here:
This American Life: Watching the Watchers

Ira Glass: Precinct committeemen do all kinds of political grunt work-- door knocking, phone banking, leafleting. They often work as official poll watchers on election day for the party. But in addition, and this might not sound like a big deal but it's key-- they often elect officials higher up in the Republican Party, who elect the officials even higher up than that, who elect the state parties and the national party and decide where GOP is going to spend money and what races to back, they decide the party platform. They determine what the party officially stands for.

These are the jobs at the bottom that Steve Bannon wants to fill with people who believe that the last election was stolen, people who are very excited at the chance to do something, anything to prevent an election from being stolen again. And Bannon has kept the drumbeat going for months and months to get MAGA Stop the Steal people to sign up for these jobs.

...

Isaac Arnsdorf: One of the biggest things these Stop the Steal newbies are doing, now that they're part of the party organization at the bottom rung as precinct committee people, is that they're setting up an infrastructure to watch all the voting locations in the midterms, to catch the fraud they didn't catch in 2020.
They've signed up as official Republican Party poll watchers at voting locations. On primary day, outside one of those locations, a big suburban church in Mesa, we meet up with Peggy Dumas, someone who never paid attention to her precinct until she just became a committee member.
She's got her snacks, her knitting, a notebook, and a pen to take notes. It's her first time poll watching. She picked a quiet polling place. I thought Peggy would be excited to get a piece of the action, to catch the cheaters red handed. But actually she didn't want that.

Peggy Dumas:​

You know, I get worked up. You know me. And they'd probably throw me out.

Isaac Arnsdorf:​

Basically, she's scared she's going to hulk out.

Peggy Dumas:​

I have to confront somebody, it's not going to get pretty. So I have to watch my temper.

Zoe Chace:​

Like, what do you imagine happening?

Peggy Dumas:​

Not really nothing. I think-- I think it's because they know we're watching.


They've already manufactured the excuse for why they won't see the fraud they claim is happening everywhere...and after it's all over and they can't document it, they'll still claim fraud is rampant when their candidate loses. You listen to this and these people are unhinged from reality and, at least in AZ, they are absolutely taking over the party from the bottom up.

 

[FlickShagwell]

So lying to stupid crazy people.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Trump eventually dies, right? He's not immoral immortal...dude's health looks to be terrible, no way he makes it to 100. Please tell me I'm right.

 

[Titanhawk2]

What exactly is MAGA?

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Trump eventually dies, right? He's not immoral immortal...dude's health looks to be terrible, no way he makes it to 100. Please tell me I'm right.

Plenty of others just waiting to take his place.

 

[alaskanseminole]

What exactly is MAGA?

 

[B1GDeal]

The amnesia displayed around here over the past year or so is astounding.

 

[thewop]

I say go for it. It's highly unlikely any fraud at the polls is taking place, so if you sit there and see that rather than sit at home and assume there IS fraud, then great.

Not what I'd choose, but lacking any action by either party to ensure updated registration rolls, or otherwise putting measures in place to ensure confidence in election results, I suppose this is fine. They aren't going to influence the outcome.

I've little doubt the losers will still cry foul. If Ds lose, they'll say these people intimidated voters at the polls, or "supression", and if Rs lose, they'll talk show videos of vans and buses dropping people at polls in big cities, and were to believe those vans carried loads of voters illegally, and they all voted democrat.

 

[millah_22]

So lying to stupid crazy people.

Not to be that guy, but did you listen to the podcast?

 

[FlickShagwell]

Not to be that guy, but did you listen to the podcast?

These are the jobs at the bottom that Steve Bannon wants to fill with people who believe that the last election was stolen, people who are very excited at the chance to do something, anything to prevent an election from being stolen again. And Bannon has kept the drumbeat going for months and months to get MAGA Stop the Steal people to sign up for these jobs.

Like I said, lying to stupid crazy people.

 

[millah_22]

These are the jobs at the bottom that Steve Bannon wants to fill with people who believe that the last election was stolen, people who are very excited at the chance to do something, anything to prevent an election from being stolen again. And Bannon has kept the drumbeat going for months and months to get MAGA Stop the Steal people to sign up for these jobs.

Like I said, lying to stupid crazy people.

but it's much more than that. it's actually getting people participating in these positions. just saying "so lying to dumb people" is very simple. It's getting these dumb people active and turning systems in place on their head.

 

[FlickShagwell]

but it's much more than that. it's actually getting people participating in these positions. just saying "so lying to dumb people" is very simple. It's getting these dumb people active and turning systems in place on their head.

I know. Who do you think you’re explaining this to? You used the word “simple,” which is what I did with my response. I simplified the Trumpturd strategy: lie to stupid crazy people who in turn f*ck our democracy from the inside.

 

[millah_22]

These are the jobs at the bottom that Steve Bannon wants to fill with people who believe that the last election was stolen, people who are very excited at the chance to do something, anything to prevent an election from being stolen again. And Bannon has kept the drumbeat going for months and months to get MAGA Stop the Steal people to sign up for these jobs.

Like I said, lying to stupid crazy people.

I also wouldn't write them off as "stupid". Crazy, ya, but they're finding policies and loopholes to get what they want.

 

[FlickShagwell]

I also wouldn't write them off as "stupid". Crazy, ya, but they're finding policies and loopholes to get what they want.

This is a really stupid argument you’re wanting to have with me. Can’t do it this AM, though.

 

[millah_22]

This is a really stupid argument you’re wanting to have with me. Can’t do it this AM, though.

I don't think it's stupid at all. I am listening to the podcast, and I am discussing it. As per the topic of the off topic board.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Trump eventually dies, right? He's not immoral immortal...dude's health looks to be terrible, no way he makes it to 100. Please tell me I'm right.

If you listen to the piece, they cover that at the end. Ensuring that MAGA survives Trump is at the heart of Bannon's plan.

Bill Petsas​

Well, first of all, Trump's 77, 78.

Zoe Chace​

But Kari Lake's 52.

Bill Petsas​

Yeah, but without Trump, there's not Lake. I mean, I know they're trying to make the movement without Trump, like to survive it. But I'm not as optimistic for them that that will happen.

Isaac Arnsdorf:
I told Bill I wasn't so sure. Making the MAGA movement endure without Trump is what the precinct strategy is all about. It's making election denial a permanent fixture of the GOP, institutionalized within the party organization itself, so deeply ingrained that you can't extract it. You can't just lop off the head. It's MAGA all the way down.

Steve Bannon​

So we're taking over the Republican Party with the precinct committee strategy. We're taking over all the elections. Suck on this!

 

[tarheelbybirth]

I say go for it. It's highly unlikely any fraud at the polls is taking place, so if you sit there and see that rather than sit at home and assume there IS fraud, then great.

Not what I'd choose, but lacking any action by either party to ensure updated registration rolls, or otherwise putting measures in place to ensure confidence in election results, I suppose this is fine. They aren't going to influence the outcome.

I've little doubt the losers will still cry foul. If Ds lose, they'll say these people intimidated voters at the polls, or "supression", and if Rs lose, they'll talk show videos of vans and buses dropping people at polls in big cities, and were to believe those vans carried loads of voters illegally, and they all voted democrat.

The "fraud" will be occurring at the places they don't watch. Hell, the person who's watching at Precinct A will claim fraud at Precinct B even though they have someone there watching, as well. And the person at Precinct B will say the same thing about A...and they will f'n agree with each other. Seeing is NOT believing. Their beliefs are so deeply and tightly held there is nothing that will dissuade them. If they lose, the election was stolen. Period. End of story.

Here's the proof. They got the recount in Maricopa Cty they wanted by a firm hand-picked by the state GOP. The recount showed that Biden won the county by an even larger margin than originally reported. The AZGOP base is STILL convinced that the election was stolen. The MAGAts live in a fact-free reality and they are dragging the entire Republican party there with them.

That should worry everyone regardless of your party affiliation.

As for confidence in the election...THEY undermined it with lies. And now they're using that lack of confidence - that THEY engineered - to justify everything they do.

 

[alaskanseminole]

If you listen to the piece, they cover that at the end. Ensuring that MAGA survives Trump is at the heart of Bannon's plan.

Bill Petsas​

Well, first of all, Trump's 77, 78.

Zoe Chace​

But Kari Lake's 52.

Bill Petsas​

Yeah, but without Trump, there's not Lake. I mean, I know they're trying to make the movement without Trump, like to survive it. But I'm not as optimistic for them that that will happen.

Isaac Arnsdorf:
I told Bill I wasn't so sure. Making the MAGA movement endure without Trump is what the precinct strategy is all about. It's making election denial a permanent fixture of the GOP, institutionalized within the party organization itself, so deeply ingrained that you can't extract it. You can't just lop off the head. It's MAGA all the way down.

Steve Bannon​

So we're taking over the Republican Party with the precinct committee strategy. We're taking over all the elections. Suck on this!

 

[thewop]

The "fraud" will be occurring at the places they don't watch. Hell, the person who's watching at Precinct A will claim fraud at Precinct B even though they have someone there watching, as well. And the person at Precinct B will say the same thing about A...and they will f'n agree with each other. Seeing is NOT believing. Their beliefs are so deeply and tightly held there is nothing that will dissuade them. If they lose, the election was stolen. Period. End of story.

Here's the proof. They got the recount in Maricopa Cty they wanted by a firm hand-picked by the state GOP. The recount showed that Biden won the county by an even larger margin than originally reported. The AZGOP base is STILL convinced that the election was stolen. The MAGAts live in a fact-free reality and they are dragging the entire Republican party there with them.

That should worry everyone regardless of your party affiliation.

As for confidence in the election...THEY undermined it with lies. And now they're using that lack of confidence - that THEY engineered - to justify everything they do.

Look, whether you're even close on the details there is really beside the point, but I'm certain you're not wrong that they'll cry foul if they lose. But dems will too.

I guarantee the loser of the senate race in PA will cry foul, D OR R.

Graceful losing is dead in close races. Crying foul is now in, and until we do something to fix it systemically, it's going to continue.

 

[LuteHawk]

The MAGA element of the GOP has put forth some
terrible candidates like Hershel Walker in Georgia
and Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania. When the GOP fails to
regain the majority of the U.S. Senate because of bad
candidates, then begins the downfall of MAGA.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Look, whether you're even close on the details there is really beside the point, but I'm certain you're not wrong that they'll cry foul if they lose. But dems will too.

I guarantee the loser of the senate race in PA will cry foul, D OR R.

Graceful losing is dead in close races. Crying foul is now in, and until we do something to fix it systemically, it's going to continue.

Your attempt to "both sides" this is duly noted. The 2020 election wasn't close. Not remotely close. W's election in 2004 was closer both in popular vote and in the EC and NO Democrat claimed it was stolen or that fraud was rampant. Clinton gracefully conceded the 2016 race in the early morning after election day.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

The MAGA element of the GOP has put forth some
terrible candidates like Hershel Walker in Georgia
and Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania. When the GOP fails to
regain the majority of the U.S. Senate because of bad
candidates, then begins the downfall of MAGA.

I hope you'e right....but if they've taken control at precinct level across the country, they won't care about winning. Losing fuels their delusion that they're being cheated at every turn. How do mainstream GOP candidates even find traction when the party calls them RINOs?

Isaac Arnsdorf:
Kathy [Petsas] is old school, an OG Republican, she says. She was stuffing mailers for the party when she was 12 or 13. When she was a teenager, she was awarded Outstanding Teenage Republican. She got to meet President Reagan in the Rose Garden. Puts a McCain sign on her lawn every year for his birthday.

She's been a precinct committee member for 40 years. As district chair, she had 454 precinct committee slots. And she had a clear idea of who a precinct committee member should be-- someone who knows the neighborhood and the people in it, someone knowledgeable about local Republican politics.

The MAGAs took over and forced Kathy out of her position because she said something nice about a city council candidate who happened to be a Democrat in what was a non-partisan race. In 2007. Kari Lake VOTED FOR OBAMA a year later but that doesn't disqualify her because she spews the MAGA bullshit, now.

 

[thewop]

Your attempt to "both sides" this is duly noted. The 2020 election wasn't close. Not remotely close. W's election in 2004 was closer both in popular vote and in the EC and NO Democrat claimed it was stolen or that fraud was rampant. Clinton gracefully conceded the 2016 race in the early morning after election day.

Clinton? Lol, not at all graceful. You guys screamed illegitimate president for years after Trump was elected! Im certain I could search the HROT archives and find you whining about it. Cities burned, businesses ruined. Remember resist? Antifa? LoL that's priceless.

Stacy Abrams? That just didn't happen right?

It's both sides, no matter how far you want to stick your head up your a$$ it won't change.

Come on man, wake up!

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Clinton? Lol, not at all graceful. You guys screamed illegitimate president for years after Trump was elected! Im certain I could search the HROT archives and find you whining about it. Cities burned, businesses ruined. Remember resist? Antifa? LoL that's priceless.

Stacy Abrams? That just didn't happen right?

It's both sides, no matter how far you want to stick your head up your a$$ it won't change.

Come on man, wake up!

Oh...Clinton didn't concede the election to Trump in the early morning after election day? You sure about that? Here's the beginning of her speech the day after the election:

Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for and I’m sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together, this vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energized campaign. You represent the best of America and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too, and so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful and it will be for a long time, but I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election, it was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

Maybe your definition of graceful concession doesn't match mine. Or maybe you're so desperate to "both sides" every issue that you just make shit up. Why don't you post Trump's concession speech and let us judge who is or is not graceful?

As for Abrams, she should never have denied the results of the election but she lost to an asshat who refused to recuse himself from his role of supervising the very election he was running in. Can you point to where you expressed outrage about that? Or does your "both sides" only go so far?

 

[NCHawk5]

Oh my god! They’re taking everything from us

 

[franklinman]

Clinton? Lol, not at all graceful. You guys screamed illegitimate president for years after Trump was elected! Im certain I could search the HROT archives and find you whining about it. Cities burned, businesses ruined. Remember resist? Antifa? LoL that's priceless.

Stacy Abrams? That just didn't happen right?

It's both sides, no matter how far you want to stick your head up your a$$ it won't change.

Come on man, wake up!

Clinton may not have been graceful, but she bowed out that same night, big difference with crying Corrupt Filthy Don.

 

[thewop]

Clinton may not have been graceful, but she bowed out that same night, big difference with crying Corrupt Filthy Don.

She bowed back in the next day...then the legal challenges... she did handle it MUCH better than Trump, but theres no justification for her actions nor her supporters.

Any other evidence that ONLY Republicans pull this crap?

 

[tarheelbybirth]

She bowed back in the next day...then the legal challenges... she did handle it MUCH better than Trump, but theres no justification for her actions nor her supporters.

Any other evidence that ONLY Republicans pull this crap?

Good lord...you're such a hack. Do you have evidence that the most dangerous segment of the Democratic party is taking it over from the bottom up to subvert it?

THAT'S WHAT IS GOING ON HERE WITH THE GOP.

You'll claim you're "NOT a Trump supporter" and throw in a few indignant harumphs and then dismiss the ongoing effort to embed Trumpism in the fabric of the Republican party with your "both sides" bullshit. It's almost like you welcome it. You're so f'n desperate to divert attention from what's happening and make it look like there's no difference between the two that you'll say any shit at all. Submit your evidence that the equivalent or anything approaching it is occurring on the other side or STFU.

 

[SA_Hawk]

People were doing much better financially under Trump.

Also Trump didn't have the United States on the brink of global thermonuclear war.

 

[thewop]

Good lord...you're such a hack. Do you have evidence that the most dangerous segment of the Democratic party is taking it over from the bottom up to subvert it?

THAT'S WHAT IS GOING ON HERE WITH THE GOP.

You'll claim you're "NOT a Trump supporter" and throw in a few indignant harumphs and then dismiss the ongoing effort to embed Trumpism in the fabric of the Republican party with your "both sides" bullshit. It's almost like you welcome it. You're so f'n desperate to divert attention from what's happening and make it look like there's no difference between the two that you'll say any shit at all. Submit your evidence that the equivalent or anything approaching it is occurring on the other side or STFU.

Name-calling...where you go when you've lost. Conversation over.

If you ever step back into reality, you'll recognize the difference between substance, and agenda driven rhetoric. It takes a bit of intellectual maturity and objectivity to do it, but I've little doubt that in time, you can get there.

 

[Huey Grey]

People were doing much better financially under Trump.

Also Trump didn't have the United States on the brink of global thermonuclear war.

Trump lost 10 million jobs and people had to get government stimulus checks under him.

 

[SA_Hawk]

Trump lost 10 million jobs and people had to get government stimulus checks under him.

Did you forget about Covid or only use it when convenient? It's like Biden saying he created 10 million jobs.

 

[Huey Grey]

Did you forget about Covid or only use it when convenient? It's like Biden saying he created 10 million jobs.

Weird how your side is doing this with inflation. Just convenience?

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Name-calling...where you go when you've lost. Conversation over.

If you ever step back into reality, you'll recognize the difference between substance, and agenda driven rhetoric. It takes a bit of intellectual maturity and objectivity to do it, but I've little doubt that in time, you can get there.

LOL...the only name you were called is "hack". It's accurate. If you wish to demonstrate it isn't, answer the challenge. Provide evidence that what is happening in the GOP is also happening in the Democratic party. The most extreme elements of the party are taking it over at the grass-roots level to embed their agenda into its fabric. That is Bannon's stated goal and it is working...but you dismiss it with your "both-side" BS. Are the Bernie Bros doing this? AOCs followers? Is there anyone on the Democratic side calling for their nuttiest people to fill up the lowest rungs of the party infrastructure?

The only opinion in that entire paragraph is that you're a hack. Prove me wrong. Demonstrate that this is happening on "both sides". Or you can do exactly what you did in this post. Declare victory and walk away...your choice.