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May 13, 2022·edited May 13, 2022Liked by Jeffrey Carter

The dirty little secret about GOPe and RINO's is that most of their wives are secretly Democrats. No man that is married to a Democrat should be allowed to run for office as a Republican.

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I read your tribute to your friend who passed away. It was a nice post. The part about socializing with Rostenkowski was a good reminder that one can get along with people they disagree with on policy topics. Almost everything you write today is the antithesis of that sentiment. Which is sad. I've seen too many smart people buy the "Flight 93" baloney. This new world of the right is populist, backwards looking, and pessimistic. I honestly don't understand how anyone who was alive in the 1980s and identified as an R can say anything good about the "new" party. A few points follow.

It's reasonable to say the recent past group of GOP leaders was ineffective and deserved to be replaced. But the replacements are not only ineffective they're nuts. Greene, Gaetz, Cawthorne. Nobody in their right mind would want anything to do with them. They're by definition grifters. They're performers and not legislators. Then there's the wink and grift of people like Vance. There's no way he believes 10% of the BS he's spouting. But along with him there's the possibility true believers like Barnette in PA. She belongs in the Mike Flynn wing of the rubber room. The nuts are calling McCrory, who was kind of like DeSantis, in NC a RINO.

The current populist right is far from free trade and was more than willing to add tariffs and implement "buy American" programs. Programs that all make US consumers poorer. Today the baby formula fiasco is exacerbated by trade barriers that nobody of either party wants to deal with.

The broad anti-immigrant sentiment is shooting the country in the foot. And "conservatives could get wholly on board with that [with reforms]" is hopium, to borrow from Kass. Immigrants are not only consumers. They're suppliers. Even "low skill" people. Trump's policies were as equally harsh on legal immigrants as illegal. Imagine keeping people like Musk or Thiel out of the country. Immigrants who start businesses in the US are the among most dynamic people in the country. The US population is over 50% larger than the 1970s. In almost every way the county is better off today. And it's not out of room. Spending reform will never get the debts paid. Growth is the only way.

You know who else was born with a silver spoon? Trump inherited $100m and has done roughly as well as an index fund. So not great, not bad. Romney gave a small inheritance away and built his business and wealth with a mix of smarts, skill, and luck. It's goes without saying which one has lived life and done business with more integrity.

Illinois governance sucks, no matter the party in charge for the reasons you state. It will not ever change unless and until the banks turn off the money. The debt overhang makes the effects of any non-BK needed reforms as impactful as peeing in the ocean.

I think you are right when you say conservatives understand the principles of economics. It's too bad the "New Republicans" aren't very conservative any more. Wouldn't it be better to try to get back to the 1980s/90s style of both Rs and Ds?

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Exactly. Both sides play the same game; they just wear different colored jerseys. Sigh!

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Nice article Jeff. The rest of us "conservatives" need to disavow these "rinos."

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And people are moving out.

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I've been following the Ace blog for a number of years, and I don't miss a day. Whoever he is, he has an incredible writing talent, and is the avante garde in conservative politics, as far as I'm concerned. He's been talking about the GOPe and RINO's for many years. He has a phrase, "Failure Theater," which describes how Republicans bark about all of our issues, but then secretly set up legislation to never pass. Most of this is because they are part of the Big Corporate donor class, which are basically Democrats. The GOPe does not appreciate traditional conservative values. Lindsay Graham is Exhibit A in Failure Theater.

Trump awakened the conservative beast, and for that the Left and GOPe will never forgive him. Trump got the fight going, and the Left doubled down. Now it is all out war, and the GOPe is left looking at their shoes, wondering what to do.

This is why the primaries are more important than ever, where getting the true conservative on the ballot is almost as important as winning the race itself.

Great article, Mr. Carter. The more people that are aware of the GOPe idea, the more we will consciously not allow these people to conduct Failure Theater.

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