Bring Back Political Factions

Smirnov iced.

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Mike is joined by Steve, Jonah, and Chris to set expectations for the primary in South Carolina.

Become a Dispatch member to join Steve, Jonah, and others in a special live panel marking the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

The Agenda:
—Haley and Trump in South Carolina
—We need more factionalism
—Haley keeps on trucking
—The Republican Party doesn’t want Reaganites
—Kari Lake vs. McCain family
—Did the “Biden crime family” narrative just implode?
—Is CPAC worth our time?

Show Notes:
—Jonah’s G-File on ranking presidents
—Subscribe to The Collision for more reporting on Trump’s indictments

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Comments (35)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Chany Ockert

    Chris stated that SC and other primaries were about expectations. He stated that if Trump’s victory had a 5 in front of it, it matters to the race. Could he come back to explain?

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    Guffia

    Trump looks like he’s going to get just under 60%. Man, if Haley can make a race out of then the likelihood of a good third party candidate goes up.

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  3. Porter38

    Well done gentlemen! Stirewalt killed it and gave me several laugh out loud moments. Thank you for an insightful discussion.

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  4. Phillyex1

    Chris said South Carolina awarded delegates by congressional district, but I’m sure I read in The Dispatch it was winner take all

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      JohnF

      It's both. There are 50 in total. Twenty-nine go to the statewide winner, while three delegates will go to the winner of each congressional district (21 in total). As I recall, Chris was just being optimistic about one of the congressional districts, which would mean a 47-3 split.

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        Chany Ockert

        Haley got her 3 as he predicted.

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      2. Phillyex1

        Thanks. I did find that information after I posted. I still do think I read in one of The Dispatch products that the winner would get all 50, but I could be wrong. There’s a first time for everything. 😀

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  5. Brian L

    Serious question: If not CPAC then where? I don't understand that faction well enough to know who has power.

    Is it right to think of the most recent CPAC as the core of MAGA talking to others within MAGA? Are they only talking to activists or are they also talking to the broader MAGA base or even normie republicans? Jonah & Steve seem to disagree about the role they would play in a potential trump administration.

    If CPAC is representing the MAGA wing, but only that wing, shouldn't I take what they say seriously? That faction seems most likely to use its power & Trumps posts on Truth Social pretty quickly either becomes the Republic position or at minimum causes real in-fighting.

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    1. Russell J

      CPAC is controlled by grifters like Matt Schlapp. It once was a useful forum but it sort of jumped the shark. It should be viewed as a signal of who is open to appealing to the worst of the worst actors. Not indicative of an important movement but there may be a very few newsworthy moments. I might have missed what the where question is about, like are you wanting to know where to find the thinking of Republicans? There isn’t consistent thinking on that side so there isn’t a representative conference.

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      1. Brian The 2nd

        Except, if maga is the bulk of the republican party, it is indeed an important movement.

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        1. Russell J

          CPAC isn’t the Republican voters. That is no defense of Republican voters or CPAC. They are just not the same so limited utility unless a speaker makes a huge gaffe.

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  6. Rblik

    Mitt Romney declared he won't be voting for Trump. Mike Pence declared he is starting an anti populism think tank. I expect Nikki will not endorse Trump. Of course Nikki is not going to win the nomination.....but I come here to hear about what the non Trump "factions" plans going forwatd......not about MAGA's dominance of primaries and how we all need to learn to love it.

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  7. Sunilsaha2

    So Russiagate … nothing to see there. Totally overblown. Democrats bad! Hunter Biden … evidence of the swamp. Biden is totally corrupt.

    What did Biden do that was corrupt? His son doing corrupt stuff doesn’t count in my opinion. Give me something tangible please … that Biden himself did.

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      JohnF

      Steve tends to get a bit hyperbolic when it comes to Hunter. Outside of the tax issues, the main complaint seems to be that Hunter was paid by people who thought he could influence his father. However, the problem that Comer and Co. have been unable to solve is that there's no evidence that Hunter was ever successful in getting Joe to do anything that benefitted his clients. So, the worst thing that Hunter may have done is to fail to deliver on any promises he might have made.

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      1. MathewA

        Biden's calls during these meeting definitely at least bolstered the appearance of access/corruption (I believe there was also at least one meeting).

        Also, I would argue that later in life, payments to the children are often in effect payments to the parents because what the parents really want is to setup their kids.

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          JohnF

          That's a pretty big stretch to try to turn into a corruption charge, no?

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          1. MathewA

            I very much doubt you could ever prove anything in court.

            But the stink is pretty clear to me

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  8. Don Thiry

    This is the lineup.

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  9. Chris

    Nikki Haley has been graded on a curve this entire election cycle and I can't stand it. I would agree with Jonah's point about factions if Haley was saying what she's saying now 8-10 months ago when it looked like Trump might the vulnerable. Instead, she was happy to spend her resources kneecapping DeSantis and watching on the sidelines while Pence and Christie took on Trump directly and paid the price. Now when the primary is effectively over she wants to tell every reporter how unfit Trump is to be president and how he's too old or can't win a general election, as if it just dawned on her. I'm disliking her more and more by the day, it honestly seems to me her goal is to spend the next few years presenting herself to moderates, liberals and corporations as the "good republican" who stood alone against Trump, for which she will probably get paid quite well. Put another way, her ego to accomplishments ratio is way off. Yes DeSantis has a big ego too, but he's also the most effective conservative in elected office. What exactly has Haley done to get the press coverage she's had? The fact that they said on this podcast that her losing 59-41 in her home state would somehow be an under-performance for Trump seems crazy to me, but that's been the narrative around her for some strange reason.

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    1. MathewA

      While I wish Haley had gone harder after Trump sooner, it's quite apparent from how Chris Christy did there wasn't that much of an appetite for that.

      Of course what really needed to happen was the whole field to work together to tear down Trump. But sadly that didn't happen.

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      1. Chris

        There's not much of an appetite for what she's doing now so I don't see why she should get any credit at all. There's nothing principled or courageous here, its just vanity and delusion at this point. At least John Kasich won his home state

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        1. MathewA

          I consider 40% to be a lot of appetite, just not quiet a majority

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          1. Chris

            Maybe in the abstract, but not for that state's former governor in a two person race.

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    2. Russell J

      I’ve posted several negative comments about Haley. She ran a pretty solid political campaign though and the conditions aren’t suited for a truth teller. Christie would never accurately be described as a truth teller but we saw what being an open Trump antagonist got him, single digit polls in a single state. Nikki started with fewer backers and personal resources than a handful of opponents and she took probably the most successful approach to consolidating anti-Trump voters without turning off Trump skeptics. Turns out Trump skeptics are pretty comfortable returning to Trump. Constantly knocking people who supported Trump once but have second thoughts is easy but doesn’t move the political needle in any good direction. We should hope Nikki holds out and refuses to endorse the leader b/c the pressure will be enormous going forward.

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      1. Chris

        Sorry I have to disagree. Haley ran a solid campaign if you assume the goal was to finish second. Some of her ads in Iowa about DeSantis look like they came straight from the Trump campaign. Like I mentioned earlier, her entire objective seems to have been to help Trump undermine DeSantis without a serious plan of how to win once DeSantis dropped out. At this point, I don't see the purpose of holding out or "truth telling" when the primary is over. Not that I think Trump needs her endorsement anyway, we saw tonight what the people of her home state think of her.

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        1. Russell J

          I thought she tried to win. It wasn’t possible for anyone to finish higher than 2nd but a year ago it seemed there was a chance. Like I said, I have criticisms of some tactics she used but it doesn’t seem like the voters who would be annoyed at those tactics were the ones who voted against her. 40% isn’t something to dismiss. She has support from the hardline Trump opposition but also seems to retain a number of voters who gladly voted twice for Trump and will probably do so again. The health of our politics depends on having rational parties. They aren’t rational now but I will give credit for anyone sticking their neck out to defeat the irrational actors. I’ll then heap criticism on Haley if she turns to kiss butt in a few weeks.

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    3. Pohl

      I completely agree. I have judged Haley a feeble, pandering milquetoast since always. I will vote for her if she’s around for my state’s primary, which I highly doubt, but, in the general election, I will vote for Biden, Biden’s corpse, or one of Biden’s old biting dogs over any GOP contender, especially Haley.

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      1. Chris

        Yes, there's nothing courageous or principled about what Haley's doing. In a weird way she's kind of behaving like MTG or Boebert- she's either grandstanding and being self-righteous on camera, or she's asking for money on social media.

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        1. Pohl

          I mainly dislike her for being TrumpLite like DeSantis but in denial about it, also like DeSantis. When she raised her hand in that debate like an obsequious weather-vane, that was it for me. She’s probably nice enough, but I find anyone who reported to Trump to be disqualified from coming near the White House.

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          1. PROMETHEUS

            I think Nikki Haley has decided that there will be a Republican Party AFTER Trump, and there may be a place there for her.

            You may have the opportunity in the future of re-evaluating Nikki Haley.
            I wouldn't vote for her, but I have never voted for a Republican anyway.

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