Get In, Loser. We’re Going Losing.

Do populists want to win?

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Former President Donald Trump embraces Kari Lake at a campaign rally in October 2022. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

We all have bad luck sometimes. For someone who writes about politics, bad luck is when news breaks that illustrates the point of your latest column perfectly—right after that column has been published.

What a sweet lede this would have made for yesterday’s piece about the end of Reaganism.

We’ll have to settle for it being a sweet lede to today’s piece instead.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ We’ll know by next summer whether a majority of this degraded party still wants to win elections and make policy or whether we’re so far from Reaganism that they’d prefer to lose and revel in their dispossession. I know which way I’m betting.”

    Sadly you might be right…

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  2. S581122

    Republicans and their supposed media supporters are naval gazers and eaters of their own young. We are more destructive to our own interests than the MSM and dems because we go right along with them. Dems have avowed marxists, black nationalists, anti semites, overt socialists, gender idealogues, as well as traditional liberal democrats, but there is no introspective wailing and gnashing of teeth. When we stop letting others dictate how we destroy ourselves we will be much better off. Of course it is time to dump Trump and this whole Stop the Steal crap.

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    1. BenP

      The introspective wailing in is response to Trump's successful hostile takeover of the GOP. The Bernie Sanders left may have numbers, but Democrats aren't losing otherwise easily winnable elections on account of Marxists defeating normal liberals in primaries.

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    2. Paul in NC

      The fact that the GOP ever entertained a person like Trump or the Stop the Steal movement at all disqualifies them from being taken seriously. The Republican Party needs to pay for the damage its incredibly stupid, unpatriotic choices have caused the country.

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  3. Cpbogdan

    The Trump GOP is basically an emo teen who isn’t happy unless he’s miserable.

    It seems that doubling down on losers is the political equivalent of cutting.

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    The Bell Tower

    “that the GOP still hasn’t found an agenda that can make a majority after ditching Reaganism for Trumpism, is too terrible to confront.“

    There is no such thing as Trumpism. Acting like a jackass is not an ideology. That’s about the only serious through line I can find across this clown car of populist wind bags besides election denial.

    And that’s the real problem for Republicans. We know what Democrats stand for and most of it sucks but at least it’s a tangible ideology that people can readily understand.

    Trump Republicans are just a bunch of caustic miscreants. They’re like a radio after someone took the advice of those old metal shock jocks, turned the thing up and ripped the knob off. Of course that approach isn’t going to win elections.

    If Republicans can’t shake this stuff and find an actual ideology, they’d better get used to losing elections.

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  5. JG

    I think a huge problem is that there is now enough of a right wing media that we have been able to form our own echo chambers. The left has had this problem for years, we rarely see democrats change course even after huge mistakes because they are constantly reaffirmed by the MSM and pop culture and have convinced themselves that anyone who disagrees is an evil, biggoted, right wing nut. But now the right has produced the same thing and people like Kari Lake and Trump can just turn on any number of fawning media channels and never hear legitimate concerns from their detractors because anyone who disagrees is labeled deep state or elitist or globalist or whatever. We have let the extremists take over both parties and now we are screwed.

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  6. MathewA

    "We’ll know by next summer whether a majority of this degraded party still wants to win elections and make policy or whether we’re so far from Reaganism that they’d prefer to lose and revel in their dispossession. I know which way I’m betting."

    The vast majority of the Republican party cares about winning most of all. A large amount of them weren't sold on Trump until he won, then they really got on the Trump train. Now loss after loss after loss has made them rethink things.

    Look at the change in Vibes after 2022 election.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Rdpulfer

    A great analysis. I also perversely wonder what will happen if DeSantis wins the nomination . . . could Trump supporters accept DeSantis as the replacement of Trump instead of Trump's No. 2? Doubtlessly some would cling to hope that he'd pick Trump as his VP or for some cabinet position, though both seem equally unlikely for Trump.

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    Tim

    I read this article just because of the title, which is epic. I'm so glad that the GOP traded dependable suburban voters for these loser cult kooks who can't be bothered to show up to vote unless their loser king or queen is on the ballot. It's left us at the mercy of the Democrats and their kooky agenda, which we probably deserve. Thanks, losers.

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    1. JG

      You are spot on. unfortunately.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Mister D

    I know I am broad brushing here, but Populists tend to be people who are less successful than they feel they should be. Populists are big into "Themism"- my life sucks because of "Them". The "Them" changes, though rich people, immigrants, minorities, and "The Jooze" are frequent culprits. To be fair, we all fall into the trap of Themism, but it is easier to accept responsibility for failure if there are successes to buttress our egos (ironically, our successes are rarely credited to "Them"). When you have few successes in your column (not that they'd use those words), it can only be because of Them. When the populist leader fails, well, that can't be because you picked a lousy leader. She must have lost because of Them, which just proves she's one of Us. To concede honest defeat would open the door to being wrong, which could lead to "maybe I failed because I made bad life choices" and we can't have that.

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  10. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    I just want to maximize my chances of putting someone in power who will use that position responsibly. How do I do that? I don't think it's by voting for degraded candidates. My hope is that they will lose, because they ought to be out of power.

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