It led to many very entertaining answers to her recent tweets...

Rep. Fred Upton on his censure by MI GOP for his vote against Marjorie Taylor Greene:


“Really? She taunted a Parkland school shooting survivor, argued that California wildfires were started by a Jewish space laser, accused Democratic politicians of running a pedophile ring out of a pizza parlor, and questioned whether 9/11 really happened. Does the Cass GOP really think someone like that represents Republican values and should be serving on the education committee?...I stand by my vote”

Nothing to add.

After these state GOP censures of people acting decently, I’m curious to see what it will take for people to leave the GOP.

Has anyone here renounced their affiliation with the GOP in the last year? I’d like to know details— even just basic: how, when, why. No judging, I promise.

Leaving the GOP seems like a pretty strong statement (and also reversible). What needs to happen before there is truly a mass exodus?

Happy to have one of the rational Republicans as my rep in a very right leaning area.

His niece is pretty hot too.

Also, is the GOP just censuring everyone that doesn't vote the party line? Well functioning organizations usually allow or even invite some level of disagreement amongst its members. Punishing dissenting votes/opinions is bad management 101.

'We did not send him there to do 'the right thing' or whatever'- Pennsylvania GOP on Toomey.

At least they're being honest

I would love to see the legislators who are censured change their party affiliation and issue a statement that the GOP has indicated that their values do not appear to align so they have no other option, but that they would love to return if the party's values return to what they once were.

You get a handful of legislators changing party affiliation to Democrat and this bullshit will stop

I'm a GOP-registered voter in the State of Maryland. My family (from Delaware) has been heavily involved in Republican politics for years (grandmother was an alternate delegate at 1964 presidential election, for instance...). Through college I became more centrist in my views, but held onto my registration primarily to vote in primaries because while Reps don't do well nationally here in MD, at a local level in matters especially for gubernatorial and county executive-type positions.

I'm not sure what leaving the party would do other than be symbolic at this point, for me anyway as I vote all over the place. Publicly I've been more anti-Rep than any other point in my life, but I still believe in the supposedly core values of measured, slow change, fiscal and personal responsibility, etc. (not that our current GOP exhibits a hint of any of that.at the national level..).

"When and why" was during the run-up to the election and the support of disenfranchisement over and above the normal gerrymandering (though it's interesting to note as a GOP'er I'm a victim of g-mandering in MD), the purposeful destruction of the USPS, and then everything that happened after the election.

I've never really gotten worked up about politics. I was so upset on January 6th my wife was afraid I was going to get into a fist fight.

So, I guess my decision is that I will never vote for anyone that exhibits the attributes of the Trump republican or supports Trump, locally or nationally.

I can always burn my voter card if it makes everyone feel better...

Something I've noticed is Trumpers labeling non-Trumpers as RINO's that somehow need to be driven out of the GOP, while the Trumpers are reluctant to leave the GOP even though they keep throwing the idea of things like forming a Trump-supporting "Patriot Party" around.

I guess it's tough to leave that whole GOP brand recognition, fundraising apparatus, "RINO" voter base etc behind despite all their rhetoric.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Mike.

I saw a news story that 33,000 Republicans in CA have left the GOP since Jan 6. Because it’s easy enough to re-register to be re-affiliated with the GOP later, I wondered if leaving now would send a strong message to GOP leadership. It seems like a stronger message than sending them an email or tweeting about it.

My in-laws are traditional Republicans, not Trump Republicans. I have never felt closer and more loving toward them than this year. It broke my heart to see how angry and stressed they were during September, October and November. They’re 87-ish. They were livid. Sleepless. I think and hope they’re doing better now.

I hope you’re not still experiencing the stress of your anger. I had a friend whose fiancé cheated on him, and he had a ceremonial burning of stuff she had given him. Ceremonies can be powerful, but I certainly don’t need you to burn your card to feel better myself. Your ceremonies should be geared to your own healing.

I’m kind of embarrassed to say that I shouted “fuck Trump” as loud as I could while running trails this fall. I really had so much anger. It’s mostly gone now. I still hate what he’s done and continues to do, but I’m not overwhelmed by it like I was before.

Yep. That has occurred to me on another forum I belong to. I told them that if being a Republican means that I have to support a lying con man and be happy about what happened at the capitol then they can have it.

The Trumpers are numerous and loud. I say let them have the Republican party because they've soiled it so much that independents and moderate Dems will not want anything to do with it.

I hope that corporations will quite donating money to the trump Republicans and all who showed their cowardice with their impeachment votes. That will get their attention more than anything else.

I'm stuck with Walberg.

He's the worst. Can we trade?

Nothing a little cathartic and passive-aggressive unfriending of Facebook people couldn't fix. :-)

I switched my party affiliation to Dem last week after being a registered Repub in Florida for the past twenty years.

I was never a Trump supporter (voted Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020), but I generally voted R down the ballot every election.

Up until 2016, I thought that the Republicans were the party of the grownups: Rational, had integrity, and had the US's best interests in mind. But after Trump got elected and the party leaders began to sidle up to him (if not outright pledge their fealty to him), it was obvious what the party's true intentions had become: Maintain power.

I don't have time to write up or articulate all that the Republicans will have to do to earn my respect and affiliation again, but in a nutshell:

1) Leave no room for interpretation that the party will no longer make QAnon or white supremacist groups have a home with a major political party.

2) Stop trying to disenfranchise minority voters. It may cost the party over the next couple of elections, but take control of the message and let it be known that voting rights for all Americans is a high priority.

3) Stop cozying up to evangelicals to push this narrative that the Rs are the party of values, honor, integrity, etc.

4) Either be about fiscal responsibility or shut the fuck up it.

5) Do some serious soul searching and figure out why half the country doesn't care what Republicans have to say anymore.

It seems that the Republican party platform has become "Whatever Trump tells us" rather than having ideals that they stick to.

I thought it had become "Own the Libs" and Kiss trump's Ass.

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Suffer Well.

Just to tag on... Thanks for replying. Sometimes it can be tough to dig into people's heads and that was a really valuable insight.

I am a registered Democrat, but I could see myself voting for Republicans that espoused this.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

Of course you can, but that shouldn’t be a surprise because the vast majority of people just want representatives that are simply good people that walk the talk. Having a D or R next to names is there to scare people into thinking of the worst associations with those letters.

It’s posts like yours and MikeH’s that do the most for building unity.

I looked to see how many Floridians have left the GOP since Jan 6, but I didn’t see any recent stories. Immediately after Jan 6, there were reportedly “thousands” who left.

Thank you for your thoughts.

MTG claimed it was Antifa that broke into the Capitol Building. Turns out one of her “closest friends” was among those who did, and who also proudly said she was wrong.

https://www.cnn.com/...pitol-mob/index.html

You are right, it shouldn't be a surprise, but in this age where politics seems more like a team sport I like to say it out loud to reinforce it.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

This is by all means an N=1 experience, but I'm just not seeing that here. In fact, my parents seem to have dug in their heels and are more firm in their belief that it was Antifa that fomented the insurrection last month and not a pre-planned attack. They're no longer on Facebook "due to censorship of conservative thought" and get their information from "patriot" news sources (I've heard her mention Newsmax and OAN. I'm not terribly familiar with either of them, other than their reputation).

I'm also seeing a lot of number stickers with references to QAnon that I never noticed before the election. White rabbits with a "Q" and others with something like "Where We Go One, We Go All," or some such nonsense.

All that being said, political discourse has gotten a bit more polite. I don't think Righties are as emboldened to say whatever they want now that their guy has left the White House. In fact, outside of the British expat that I work with, I'd say there hasn't been a single mention of politics since January 20th.

She posted this on the wall of her House office today, in response to an LGBTQ flag being placed outside an office door opposite hers:

Pre-Trump GOP had Michelle Bachman, who for all her crazy conducted herself like a church lady, relatively speaking. It's no coincidence that the new era "conservative" culture warriors are making their name by being as obnoxious and confrontational as the party leader. This isn't going away any time soon, in part because it sells with the base, and in part because the GOP is largely a gaggle of unprincipled cowards.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W