The Republican Party is a Cult Says Fmr. GOP Congressman Mickey Edwards | Amanpour and Company 

So true

So true, because they realize that White nationalists are a MINORITY, and they just can't handle this reality. Simple as that.

"reality is for losers "I am god" DJT.

we're living in the twilight zone; not reality

Better to have four parties with ranked-choice-voting so your "enemy" won't win. If they had that in Egypt there wouldn't have been need for a coup since there were more secular-party voters than islamic-party voters, but the former split the vote.

Hear here!🥂

Unfortunately the coward lying NO INTEGRITY REPUBLICANS won't do it! They only care about POWER & CONTROL.

or exposed and locked up in Prison

Believe it or not, some people do believe in public service. Hard to believe when so many RU-vid commentors are pure cynics. But that's their problem.

Term limits for everyone....one election, one term and then they go home and live under the legislation they helped create.

He tells them what they want to hear, so they believe all the nonsense, too. This is what happens when people don't have healthy functional brains. We saw it in nazi Germany and it's happening here and other countries as well. Humans are generally stupid; how else can you explain that a majority of people on earth believe that there's an invisible man in the sky who watches over them? Because of leaders telling people what they desperately want to believe.

You said exactly what I've been thinking!

@@d.e.b.b5788 Haven’t been successful in finding it....what happened to the German people after the war? What did they do to restore hearts and minds? At the Nuremberg trials, nobody showed remorse’. Most said following orders, many said...first time hearing it. Arnold Schwarzenegger said recently...he was a kid in Austria...adult males were depressed and abusive alcoholics following WWII. What will happen when Big Lie people wake up. Things didn’t go well when Grant sent the Southerners home with their horses, what will happen with MAGA people. Losers don’t handle it well. They brood. When we meet ones who said they’d move overseas if Kamala and Biden were elected........hey, I thought you were leaving? Oh, the pandemic.

@@audraeden8923 I want to move overseas for healthcare, education, trains, and college...

@@mrmrmaples Ditto!

Today Repugs are about MONEY, POWER, and Control. They do not Honor their oath, nor the constitution, which thew swear to uphold. Repugs are not about acting on behalf of WE THE PEOPLE. Money talks, BIG MONEY Screams loudest!

The reality is that if the mega rich paid their taxes rather than paying accountants and lawyers to help them scam the IRS, the state would have more funds and less borrowing. Equally important is to boost the economy by paying a decent wage to low income workers. Simply put, if they have more to spend it will go straight back into the economy and that boosts all sectors. Keeping people poor is a deliberate policy that has damaged the US economy for decades, but the greedy rich simply can’t grasp the fact that more money being spent across the entire economy would probably make them richer too…

@@DaveRhumour Well said.

@@DaveRhumour 🎯

Exactly...

They do appear to march in lock step, don't they.

But the DCCC will go everything it can to stop them. That is its only job.

No it doesn’t. When you have one party rule the extremists pull the party further and further to extreme. Whether it’s the left or right. I’m liberal. I see a self righteous authoritarian streak in progressives that make them insufferable.

They need to recruit more young people and independents. For instance, getting Black women involved helped Democrats in Georgia and nationwide.

UGH, that would be more MTG 😢

"Non- Corporate"

Not everyone is at a loss... Cults have been studied and there’s a path forward if they choose to follow scientific evidence.

It's not really hard to figure out. I grew up with it, and I always knew where the GOP was headed. What has happened is Fox News, Limbaugh and the rightwing media, has created an audience that is literally addicted to being told what they want to hear, to the point that they can not accept any reality that deviates from their (ever-increasingly deluded) "worldview". American conservatives have always been jackasses, but when I was a little kid in the 1970s, they did at least have a coherent worldview. But after decades of propaganda, denialism and evasion of all responsibility for the consequences of their actions, that worldview has become completely malleable, in the hands of a narcissistic, psychopathic and deluded cult leader. Unfortunately this diagnosis doesn't really help with the cure at all. It merely serves to underscore how deeply deluded, and in many cases mentally disturbed, 40-plus percent of the electorate has become. I have never gotten anywhere with my mom, my dad, or any other rightwingers among my family, friends, co-workers, or anybody else. You have to take a jackhammer to layers and layers of bull$#!+ heaped on top of each other. Deprogramming 75 million drooling imbeciles (and I really don't know what else you can call someone who voted to RE-elect Donald Trump) is an impossible task. We're just gonna have to crush them. First electorally, and then physically, when they inevitably rise against democracy again. It's the only way the country can survive.

@@Booklook111 - my job is helping people recover from severe narcissistic abuse - its no mystery to me why people follow Trump, a narcissist...

@@mattburns8839 You nailed! Omitted was Ronald Reagan /cohorts removal of the Fairness Doctrine (enacted in 1940's). Reagan enabled the propaganda media such as Limbaugh/ FoxNews to come to full bore starting in the 1980's. Curious: The average age of those blinded by these propagandists confirms it too! Oh that nasty car radio while driving to/from work! Thanks for your posting...you said it well.🇺🇲👍

@@mattburns8839 Want to add: the Powell Memorandum (1970's) deserves attention. He was a Supreme Court justice appointed by Richard Nixon. A YT commenter pointed it out to me. It can be found at Wikipedia. 👍

The People will tire of all this BS eventually.....wake me up when that occurs

And it’s dozens of things….why did southern senators and others go to Russia to talk about…what now? Business. Oh and what do we trade with Russia or want to? Who paid for the trip? It all started with Gingrich. Aided ever since by McConnell. I never fail to say to my two senators….oh, you are McConnell -era. There’s only one Witch. 99 Enablers, any of whom could have dropped a banana peel. They could have stopped it long ago. .

Start with Ronald Reagan, especially during the transition period where Reagan knew important information about the american embassy in Teheran, in 1980. He kept that for himself....and passed for a hero when he, basically, have nothing to do with it. And Carter was, then, a weak president

it started earlier, Gingrich's senator stint was just early victory in that campaign.. Roger Stone is one of the direct links between the Nixon, Agnew era... & the current GOP

@@laurentsaint-laurent3659 Yes…read Nixonland, any book or interview by Rick Perlstein. He was too young, but was drawn to the era, and became a scholar. Reagan announced his candidacy in Philadelphia…Mississippi, that is. Enough of a dog whistle? Want to think the pendulum is about to swing….Rush is dead, that’s a start. Get rid of McConnell. Kill the Fox. Many things to like about Mickey. Not least….he gets their phonyisms….guns, abortion. religion as long as it’s mine…… it’s all they know, it’s all they have. Republicans are no more Ding Dong , tbe wicked witch is dead.

Well said. Doesn't matter what political stripe you are, for what can be done to one, can be done to all. "We the People" have needed to wake up for a very long time. Just one indicator of our societal delusion is the fact that literally tens of millions believe in the QAnon conspiracy. Suggested reading: www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html by Timothy Snyder, Ph.D.

@Chance Robinson and @shaney. Thank you both for expressing what I was struggling too. It is so foreign to see this here I don’t know how to wrap my brain around it.

That's why we must remove every corrupt and greedy people in the house and senate !!!

ARIZONA IS CRAZY TOWN.

This is repeating another Trump-era lie. Stalin, who was all-powerful dictator of Russia, did not have to worry about any votes, counted or not. It was Boss Tweed of New York and later Hughey Long of Louisiana who uttered these words.

The guy talked about gerrymandering but completely ignored the Hofeller files which break down in detail, exactly how republicans have been exploiting gerrymandering to cheat for decades.

Less.

I can go back to this minute.... Ukrainian collusion???? No charges...no evidence..... Russian Collusion....had a fake trial at the expense of the taxpayers and proved nothing....the opposition of a conservative ( Kavanah) to the Supreme Court....lies that proved nothing....Ga. voting law....a law to stop voter fraud....but the press lies and calls it Jim Crow. And if you want to get historical( Democraps only know what the press tells them) Jim Crow, the KKK, and slavery all came from the Democraps. The democrap voter of today is a childlike, ignorant person, not capable of independent thought, and not capable of doing independent research. They park their mindless ass in front of the Leftest news media, accepting anything ( no matter how far fetched) just like a toddler watching Sesame Street....then they turn around and try to lecture adults with opinions that aren't theirs !!!!!! Conformist Sheep !!!!!!

@@theprettybunny you talking bout Tom DeLay

@@bryanlongshore6182 not true

Don't yell at me but the spelling for the word you intended is dissent.

Of course the GOP has no tolerance for anything "decent".

Absolutely! They can't handle the truth! Kinzinger, Romney, and a few others are proving this.

@@emilyfrench6839 yes hunny but I do talk to text and it does produce something crazy sometimes . Horribly embarrassing. Trust me. LOL 😬

@@emilyfrench6839 thanks! But I wasn’t saying dissent. I meant decent (respectable, moral behavior) but I get what you’re saying🦋

I totally agree. I was surprised and wanted to see more. The questions were relevant and timely, the answers were straight forward and honest. OMG. Was this an interview in the USA? (Sarcasm there).

Well, he found it intolerable to be in the GOP -- that's a good sign. He does seem to be an ethical, smart individual. Maybe he can do some teaching in a new, late career!

@@iadorenewyork1 If he didn't get 'cancelled' and discredited by his ex-buddies, sure, why not?

It's a breath of fresh air for me to be able to listen to the other side without cringing inside out from their repulsive arrogance.

@@judychandler8485 Yes, exactly. How long four years ago seems.

Me too. Term limits would also have an effect.

I have said this for years.

It has to happen

Me too! Vote in those who believe in, and want, what is best for us! Unfortunately, some think everything that works for them works for every one else. It seems like most of us used to have some basic values in common. Now a lot of people seem to think it is their way or the highway.

Now would be a perfect time to end party conventions and primaries. How Iowa and New Hampshire got to tip the balance of history…not known. Say too germ spready, say time for cost cutting, say people don’t like candidates running for 19 months on end. Say anything, but get rid of the 19th Century way of doing things. End it. We won’t participate. Corn dogs went out of fashion. We don’t need the circus. We have important work to do. Start a new party…..Anti-Incumbent Party.

You nailed it.

I grew up in the 70s...I'm into freedom...I'm actually a Libertarian...but Democrat politics are so far left... it's brainwashed communism

@@bryanlongshore6182 You're painting with a broad brush. The people in the Democratic party are not clones and hold different opinions on many issues. You are judging and making statements about all Demorats based on your opinion of far left extremists. I'm a Democrat and dislike far left and far right extremists.

@@richardivonen3564 good...but what about their policies that have been becoming increasingly radical....then you have the leftest attacking Democrats like Manchin for being moderate....Keep in mind I remember back to Jimmy Carter ...I'm 58....and the first thing I've never liked about the Democrats is them constantly raising taxes, and expanding govt.....I'll say this....you moderates need to cut those radical SDS clones loose...they have no business in any party. I'm actually a Libertarian, and a historian, and I said back in the 90s during the Clinton era.....there should only be 2 parties....the Republicans...and the Libertarians.. .then I can vote Libertarian.....I only vote Republican because I have no choice. I vote defensively....

@@bryanlongshore6182 What is your definition of radical?

Simply…as Edwards and other formers say…..they like it. Think of it….cameras, lights, everybody hanging on your every word, This is a fact….lobbyists start in on them before they raise their hand to take the oath. Didn’t get sworn in and they’re getting lobbied.. What is said is that it takes too much money to run. Dump the primaries. That’s direct action which will effect voters in a positive way. Nineteen months of running for office wears everybody out,. Air travel, press following them around, same tired Gotcha Questions. Problem is primaries. Ditch the concept. Trouble will be had with state party chairs….slow learners……"don’t vote conscious, vote party". We are 25 years into the Digital Age and this is what we got? Get rid of primaries, get rid of party conventions. You need a platform? Zoom. It’s not like they do anything with a platform anyway. While we’re at it….take away tbe punch bowl for Congress. They get too many vacations. Limit them to two holiday RT fares and one for summer.. Anything else….make out of pocket. No more sleeping in the office because oh, those high rents in DC, I can’t manage on this paltry salary. Take away the punch bowl until they get some work done,

Too bad that this only leads to a more obedient cult member being elected. It’s a lose lose situation.

💯💯👍

To Authoritarians, anyone who is not largely as they themselves are - are unacceptable.

There is no center. Just people who don't vote, and complain "why can't the two parties get along." These so-called Centrists also don't stand for anything that they'd protest about. They've had a chance to demand non-partisans be in charge of drawing districts, and didn't stop the two parties from taking the presidential debates away from the League of Women Voters.

Too little, too late.

I agree , we need progressive idea's implemented . Bernie's input surely has some effect , I hope.

I agree and Bernie is, unfortunately, ahead of his time. Someday he will be the inspiration for a popular progressive candidate who will sweep the nation.

Be careful what you wish for. I think Biden's team is trying to hold the line. Working to get things done calmly and quietly. If they appear too progressive, the right will be energized in 22. Not that the right isn't already pushing the socialist progressive narrative.

@@johnnyerm3893 the right will run on "Biden's a socialist, he wants open borders, and they will keep the Hunter Biden narrative going because of the Trump family being under investigations. But mostly they will run on the big lie and just make up all sorts of things to go with it. It is a huge fundraising point for Republicans which is scary. Also look for Republican states that now can to vote to overturn any elections won by Democrats in their states. Texas and Arizona come to mind.

@@johnnyerm3893 .. yes and Biden and Dems see this as its been going on for decades ..just getting worse..miracles still happen though..!!

Precisely stated.

This guy's a founding member of the Heritage Foundation, opposing just about everything I stand for, and only bailed on the Republican Party after Jan 6. Even the Lincoln Project didn't get it together until 2019. These so-so Republicans could have bailed in 2016 after Trump won the nomination, but didn't. I think their hatred of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats was greater than their aversion to Trump.

Hello how are you doing?? Dave

What the biggest Trump tragedy is. Is he hasn’t been jailed or in prison by now. Hence, white privilege. He sucked at being a president.!!! And EVERYONE knows that deep down. Or... they are just as delusional snh

The Republican party can be described by one word. (COWARDS)

@@nancyhelm4808 tRump loves the poorly educated 🤣😂🤪😜

He is only a symptom of, and even a distraction from focus on a very sick system. Both the DNC and RNC are corrupt tools of their corporate puppeteers. We must get money out of politics to ever have hope of an actual *democratic* republic. Until then, We the People are doomed.🗽

This guy was a founding trustee of the Heritage foundation and stopped being a Republican after Jan 6.

We have completely lost the idea of government for the people by the people now we not only have government for special interests we have government for only self interest

Yup trumps dictatorship..!!

Lp

@@MichaelTheophilus906 It is both. The U.S. is a constitutional republic with a democratically elected government.

@@MichaelTheophilus906 The state electors are determined by the democratically votes cast by the voters.

@@MichaelTheophilus906 Not good. Needs revamped or abolished to prevent the person losing the popular vote for president--which has been Republicans in the last 7 out of 8 elections--from winning the presidency. States exist due to arbitrarily drawn lines and most did not exist when our constitution was written.

The terms "liberal", "conservative", "moderate", "independent", etc. are ill-defined. At least with parties, you know the party platform and can expect those who run to be on board with that. Without that, we'd just have a bunch of liars who say one thing and do another, and a boss determining who gets on the ballot. Of course the Republican Party uses code words to their flock for other ideas as they really aren't against "big government spending" and aren't for "family values".

Have you researched the “cultural Marxist conspiracy theory “? You must it’s Nazi era and the GOP are using it wrapped in new words but the same. You should look. It’s scary AF

None of it will matter after the democrats have flooded the country with illegal immigrants and then grant them amnesty.

For real

Definitely with the Ranked Choice program! There are plenty of people who would vote for another party on their side of the aisle if they know their vote won't let their enemy win.

We need to help it along with ranked-choice voting so there can be a Righty-alternative to the Republican Party since its voters hate the Democrats.

These things are scripted. Each side knows the questions and answers beforehand.

Asks excellent questions

@@chancerobinson5112 That is fine.

@@Clusterboy That is correct.

the dems are the pubs. both sides just means the establishment

Don't expect anything else from a Heritage Foundation leader.

T-Repubs are evolved into neo fascists.

Hes the Money MAN orange Messiah

Funny thing is, one would think the 24hr news cycle would offer much longer interviews because it's 24hrs long.

@@1MarkKeller It's like watching the Olympics all day and night. I ended up seeing the same events 3x.

@@sandal_thong8631 yep!

If we have ranked-choice voting we won't need open primaries as there could be 4 parties. I don't want Republicans determining the Democratic candidate. Moderates chose Jimmy Carter over Ted Kennedy, then jumped ship and voted for Reagan. Ted would have swept the floor with that so-and-so.

Hello Douglas how are you doing??

@@nancyhelm4808 Ummm....I'm pretty good, happily vaccinated, worried about the demise of America, and getting old and creaky.......do we know each other?

@@nancyhelm4808 tRump loves the poorly educated 🤣😂🤪😜

This guy's just late to the party. He founded the Heritage Institute and opposed the Democrats for 40 years. He only jumped after Jan 6.

Hello Toni how are you doing??

@@nancyhelm4808 tRump loves the poorly educated 🤣😂🤪😜

He said dems barely won presidency. Thats a lie. 7 million is not a tight race. Biden won suck it up republicans. Democrats are in charge and we like it like that!

@@sophiasage1379 Don't worry. 87 million people said otherwise. And it will only grow. P.S. He's pushing 80 and in AWFUL physical condition.

Thought that too........ Geezers be on Hawaiian Time.....but Biden’s got a well oiled team.

Hes a GOP loyalist til the end...Have to "both sides" it

Democracy is evidently too far left for these GOP cult member.

@@elburko9453 But here’s the thing.....the Old Guard Republicans didn’t say anything before tRump. Now wonder how it got this bad. Gingrich started all of this. They never worried about being primaried before. So pull the primary rug from under all of them.....lobbyists and candidates. End primaries.

The man is a centrist, but he has an occasional progressive viewpoint. Recall the strong Bernie Saunders campaign, and Bernie's current influence. So, Biden has been nudged (a bit) in the leftist direction. For there to be mudslinging about the current administration being too leftist is so ridiculous!

Oo

Thats a good explanation of why 80 million people voted for a Chinese Agent to be President.

Wow....that was an intense comment. Thanks.

@@stephenpalmer8072 Another delusional Trumper.

@@stoverboo And yet you are the one who is believing the word of proven liars on CNN. I think that makes you the deluded one, doesnt it?

Thanks for your comment. If you'd like to make huge money Investing in cryptocurrency with little capital I will refer you to Garry Williams T. For more guidance..

W•H•A•T•S•A•P•√ +=1= 9= 4 =9 =3= 1 =7 =1= 4= 2= 1..

* cites

He's a Heritage Foundation founder. I don't expect him to be on my side.

I don't want Republicans determining who the Democratic candidate is. And after all the time and expense to win the party's nomination only to find you have to spend and fight the same guy, now with open Republican-support? Better to have ranked-choice voting to open it up to 4 parties in competitive districts and 2 lefty or righty ones in one-sided districts.

Yes, I read it as a young person. It was a thought provoking eye opener.

Hoffer's book was written in the 50s but explains a lot about modern extremism. If Trumpism and the modern GOP puzzle you, have a look at this book.

Thanks for your comment. If you'd like to make huge money Investing in cryptocurrency with little capital I will refer you to Garry Williams T. For more guidance.

W•H•A•T•S•A•P•√ +=1= 9= 4 =9 =3= 1 =7 =1= 4= 2= 1.

The Republican party is currently awash in a tsunami of ultra right wing rubbish and diving into a tsunami is usually counterproductive. It seems that choosing to stepping aside until the opportunity to do something productive presents itself currently appeals to many Republicans.

They hated Hillary Clinton so much, that there's nothing Trump could say or do for most of them to denounce him and vote Democratic to stop him.

Well their sure getting paid like it’s a job.

They've been lying for years, or at least speaking in code to their base (e.g. "family values" means we're against the Blacks, who don't have any).

did you mean "The Family"? beginning with the Doug Cole episode?

@@Ujeb08 umm maybe it’s the Spanish version? Or they speak Spanish? Familia means Family

Hello Andy how are you doing??

W•H•A•T•S•A•P•√ +=1= 9= 4 =9 =3= 1 =7 =1= 4= 2= 1..

I had to watch it again since you didn't say what those were: Infrastructure Bill has things not related to infrastructure. Biden should be careful not being pushed to the Left. Look, polls show that a majority of Americans favor what the things the Democratic "Left" stands for: maternity leave, universal healthcare, etc. In my opinion they need someone to advertise their successes and say, "Do you want some more? Vote Democratic."

Only if we're cowards. I'm not a coward. Are you?

@@coolbreeze2.0-mortemadfasc13 I’ve never been a coward but we live in times where people believe in lies. God bless us to uphold truths that are clear.

W•H•A•T•S•A•P•√ +=1= 9= 4 =9 =3= 1 =7 =1= 4= 2= 1..

He wants his Republican Party back from Trump. He's not turning Democratic anytime soon; they're the enemy.

Thanks for your comment. If you'd like to make huge money Investing in cryptocurrency with little capital I will refer you to Garry Williams T. For more guidance..

W•H•A•T•S•A•P•√ +=1= 9= 4 =9 =3= 1 =7 =1= 4= 2= 1..

I LOVE THAT! SO FUNNY, BUT SADLY SO TRUE.

That's how it should be. If you spent time and money to beat someone in the primary, you shouldn't have to face him again in the general because he's a bad loser.

Ranked-choice Voting is the solution to allow other parties people would vote for so as not to fear their enemy would win by splitting the vote (Perot vs Bush >Clinton, and Nader vs Gore >Bush).

Good deal. I was hoping to see what the Princeton Gerrymandering Project has to say, but CA is too blue to tell.