From top to bottom, the national GOP organization could soon be rid of anyone seen as insufficiently MAGA.

First came the internal grumbling about Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

Then came McDaniel’s decision to step down from her post at the end of February as she lost the support of Donald Trump.

After that came Trump’s move to put forward a slate of loyalists to take over the party’s top spots—including an election-denying state party chair, a Trump campaign senior adviser, and the former president’s own daughter-in-law.

Next could come the purge.

“I think within 30 days you’ll see a purge of staffers from the RNC, because it’s a hotbed for anti-Trumpism,” Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and host of the War Room podcast told The Daily Beast. “That’s the open secret.”

Skeptical holdouts within the RNC have gotten the message: Their days are numbered.

    • hglman@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Trump has had 4 years to put together a revenge plan. Everyone loves to call him stupid, but he and his team can plan things for stupid purposes. He will purge the federal government he cannot directly profit from. That will have profound downstream effects and harm.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        thing is, it’s not so much that they’re stupid as they’re inept.

        Trump et al are cunning, like an animal. they have an instinct to strike out and get what they want. what they are not, however, is clever. many people mistake cunning and clever for being the same thing, but they’re not. cleverness requires the ability to plan ahead and to be able to competently execute said plan effectively, and, often, Trump and his allies cannot do this, or, at least, often fail to do so effectively.

        because they’re incompetent, inept, and, often, because they’re idiots.

        • snooggums
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          9 months ago

          Since it takes skill to build something, but even an idiot can burn it down through incompetence, they are a threat whether the people wanting to tear down the system are competent or not.

          Hell, they might be more dangerous because they are idiots who appeal to idiots.

          • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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            9 months ago

            I love that invariably conversations about Trump all end up acknowledging he is awful, then disagreeing in exactly what kind of awful he is.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        More to the point, a whole bunch of evil people a lot smarter than Trump have had 4 years to put together a plan. That one’s not just for revenge, though; that’s for turning the US into a full-blown dictatorship.

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          9 months ago

          You know, you’re right. I may not have been around during those times, but there’s plenty of examples I should have learned from by now (Israel, China x Uyghurs, Germany (WWII), USA (Japanese Internment Camps), etc

          There’ll be quiet supporters, loud supporters, secret police (looking at you losers in yellow and black here in the states) all the cards are there really

          However I will say that a purge (like the movie?) where everyone is killing each other? Probs not fam.

          War isn’t the same as a horror movie trope although they can still be compared of course

          • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I don’t think they are invoking the movie. The term purge means to remove unwanted parts of a whole. The movie just takes it to the extreme as it does its central premise

              • Promethiel@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Nah. Notice what happened here, it will happen again. The word “purge” has been used as a euphemism for so long that it’s simple meaning isn’t the first thought anymore.

                That programming ran on the moment you read the word, before you even though about the meaning of its inclusion in the context.

                This is normal human behavior, and it is exploitable.

                You will see Fascism (and the Media reporting throughout fascist times) get really funny with words. You will see fancy small syllable words for all kinds of innocent things, mean other things.

                Always question language, it’s a tool unto itself.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        9 months ago

        I don’t

        You clearly don’t have Facebook friends who are itching for civil war with the Democrats, or live in a rural area

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          9 months ago

          How many of those people are actually violent and or physical and would carry out those things?

          Also depends on your age, everyone’s a tough guy in high school. But regardless, there’s plenty of adults that would do these things (apparently - see Jan 6th) so I guess it wouldn’t be that far off from WW2 stuff, but a purge where everyone kills everyone?

          No.

          • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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            9 months ago

            How many of those people are actually violent and or physical and would carry out those things?

            How many citizens of the Weimar republic were violent?

            There was some street fighting, marches of early Nazis carrying signs and chanting, some unofficial law enforcement agencies charged with being loyal to the leaders instead of the law… but it’s not like it led to… oh wait… well, hang on…

            Also depends on your age

            Nice progression “depends on your age” -> “you’re probably in high school” -> “yeah you’re in high school”. I’m older than you.

            see Jan 6th

            This kinda undoes your “these people aren’t really violent” thesis. The threat of violence already impacts the decisions of election workers and politicians. The question we’re debating is simply, how much. Any amount is too much.

      • scofflaw@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        So you read the article and disagree that the removal of people insufficiently loyal to Trump in the RNC is going to happen (as already happened with the leadership)?

          • scofflaw@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I’m just curious why you think a purge of non-loyalists from the ranks of the RNC is far fetched when that’s what just happened to RNC leadership?

  • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Brink?

    Where’s John McCain, John Bohner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy?

    The purge happened a decade ago in the House. That’s what the fucking problem is. Do you seriously think the Party of George W. Bush / John McCain would be helping Russia right now?

    • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Well John McCain is… Not around for obvious reasons. But you can also add John Kasich, Liz Cheney, and Mike Pence to the list.

      • spamfajitas@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        You could probably replace John McCain with Mitt Romney? He has somewhat recently voiced dissatisfaction IIRC.

        Actually, hell, Darth Cheney himself is still somehow alive. He can’t be happy with the way his dream of American exceptionalism has turned out with respect to the current state of the Republican party.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    It is a purge, just without all the messy killing. But there’s a reason why Stalin finished the job the way he did, and why Putin operates the way he has. There is an entire generation of political experts who are getting thrown out of the party they have supported their entire lives. Where will they go?

    Also note that candidates that Trump personally endorses tend not to do that well. Some do win, of course, but not as many. Mitch has been bemoaning “candidate quality” as the reason why he doesn’t have a majority in the Senate.

    One of my favorite conspiracy theories of the moment is that if Trump wins, he would prefer to take office with a fully Democratic Congress, because it makes for better TV. And when he does absolutely nothing, he can blame the Democrats for it. Trump only needs 34 Senators on his side to vote against impeachment, and he can do whatever the fuck he wants without consequences.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Purges don’t need to be associated with violence, per se. That’s just how Stalin and Hitler liked them. You can also simply throw them out of their positions though, so they can no longer stand against you.

      Still a purge. Corporations sometimes do purges.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This is the dress rehearsal. Remember that your broken brained relatives, if they are reachable, are probably only reachable by YOU. It might be uncomfortable, but if Aunt Pat or Uncle Frank live in a swing state, you should think about trying to talk to them about how they’ll irreparably break the future for you and your kids if they don’t wake the fuck up.

  • Ekybio@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    To all those in the GOP that cinicly thought they could ride the Wave of Fascism and come out unscathed:

    You failed. Inevitably.

    Enjoy being dragged to the Gallows you eagerly helped raising.

    You will only be missed, because MAGA is slightly worse then you.

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      Turns out the party of lying about virtually everything in order to funnel money to the rich couldn’t figure out how to separate itself from the lies of populism when the liar in chief came along. They had no mechanism to say wait, not those lies, only these lies.

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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    9 months ago

    “Surely if I help with this purge, I’ll get to stay cozy and secure in my position after, because there won’t be any more in the future”

  • nexusband@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Okay - dumb European, that doesn’t really understand the finer details of the defacto two party system in the U.S.: Why don’t those former members of the RNC “just” from a new party?

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Answer from Canadian: They can but the Republican name is what lots of people will just vote for. That’s why the Trumpers want it too instead of making their own party.

      *They also know if they split the right wing vote between two parties, the Democrats will win.

      • dwalin@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        For a time, yes. But with 3+ you start having to form aliances, negotiate, compromise, and you know… Do politics.

        In theory at least