RNC Formally Absorbed Into Trump Grift

Yesterday, the MAGA-fied Republican National Committee formalized its coerced conversion to an arm of the Malignant Loser's campaign and legal defense with the election of his rabidly zealous daughter-in-law Lara Trump and true believing election denier Michael Whatley as co-chairs. Humiliated former chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, who was forced to drop her middle name at the Malignant Loser's vengeful insistence, stepped down as she was perceived to be insufficiently loyal to the cult leader, as the Washington Post reports:

"The outgoing RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, had also been chosen by Trump in 2017. She won a record fourth term in January 2023 that was supposed to last until 2025, but she offered to leave in February as Trump and his advisers grew increasingly critical of her leadership.

Her relationship with Trump became strained last fall as the RNC hosted Trump’s challengers in primary debates, which he did not attend and demanded to be canceled. Though McDaniel remained generally well liked among the RNC’s members and some major donors, she had critics who complained both that she was too subservient to Trump and that she was not MAGA enough. Trump had also complained to advisers that McDaniel was not doing enough to prevent ballot fraud, which he falsely insists cost him reelection in 2020." (our emphasis)

Meanwhile, as has been widely reported, Lara Trump intends to use whatever funds are necessary to the election of her twice impeached and felonious father-in-law and his legal defense against 91 felony counts in several jurisdictions. That's a recipe for down ballot disaster, as many candidates for office rely on RNC  funding to support their campaigns. A number of Republican lifers are expressing anger at the nepotism on full display:

"U.S. Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein vowed to withhold future donations in light of the installation of Lara Trump.

'Lara Trump is now Co-Chair of the RNC. After a lifetime of donating to every GOP nominee and multiple down ballot candidates every cycle….I’m out,' he said Friday. 'I donated to help win elections, not to maintain the lifestyle of a billionaire. No point donating now.'

Conservative Navy veteran Dan Stilwell concurred: 'I will not donate another penny to the GOP as long as she is involved in its leadership.'

@Noaharkmoney had a similar thought: 'MAGA [GOP] not getting a dime from me ever again. Good luck trying to raise money for Trump's legal issues.'

'I will focus on down ballot races this year,' Gen Z conservative Republican Ayden David Marietta said in response to the news. 'But if these idiots aren’t ousted or they don’t wake up nationally in 2024, I will see to it they will. We must RECLAIM THE PARTY OF LINCOLN, COOLIDGE, AND REAGAN!!' (our emphasis)

The cult of the Malignant Loser has a death grip on the Republican party apparatus, seeing it as a life preserver for his financial woes. As the saying goes, "Everything that Trump Touches Dies."

(photo: Replacing Ivanka in the Malignant Loser's affection? Sky News)

 

The Party Of Trump On Display In One Lying Ad

The Party of Trump, ladies and gentlemen:  authoritarians, sociopaths, nihilists, bigots, traitors, liars:



 He's already "fixing" it, you cocksplats.

There's no dealing with the likes of these pathologically dishonest Trump- before- party- before- country shitheels. We need a cleansing tidal wave to sweep them from American political life.

Republicans Meet, Remain Clueless

The reviews of the recently-completed winter meeting of the Republican National Committee are in, and they're not pretty:

A quick look at the media coverage confirms the party is still struggling: 

Politico: "After the 2012 election, establishment Republicans promised things would be different next time. They'd stop turning off women. They'd tamp down on rogue outside groups. And they'd get the tea party movement in line. But now that 2014 is here, those goals seem as elusive as ever and even insiders admit the party's got a long way to go — if it really wants to change." 

Reuters: "At the Republican National Committee's winter meeting this week in Washington, it was clear the panic that hit the party after the 2012 elections has subsided, although polls indicate that efforts to make the party more attractive to single women, minorities and gays, groups that favor Democrats by big numbers, have not made any headway." 

Associated Press: "Yet, awkward comments about contraception and women's reproductive systems and chatter over Michigan committeeman Dave Agema's derogatory comments about gays and Muslims obscured the party's attempt to feature its efforts at last week's meeting."

Let's not forget (and we won't) to add in the remarks at the meeting by potential Republican presidential candidate and gyno-fetishist, former Arkansas Gov. Mike "Huckleberry" Huckabee (R-Genitalia). Many electrons are still being used up across the internetz and on op/ed pages on Preacher Huckleberry's choice of language and, more to the point, how the "thinking" behind that language is in the DNA of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party.  With DNA as strong as that, we (again) despair of the rebranding.

BONUS:  Meanwhile, let's see how well misogynist Republican attacks on Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis will go over.  This collection is particularly offensive.

BONUS II:   For the "Are you shitting me?" file, the Arizona Republican Party has censured Sen. John "Grampypants" McCain for... not being conservative enough.  These crackpots love to eat their own, don't they?  Maybe we should pass them some forks and knives.

Today's Dispatches From The Stupid Party - Year End Edition

Starting on the West Coast, if you're a Republican/Stupid Party congressman, even having a safely gerrymandered district doesn't guarantee that you'll know what that district is (that would imply having a discernable IQ):

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) is seeking reelection. And after a brief slip last week, he's doing so in the right district. 

Royce's statement of candidacy for his re-election filed last week listed California's 40th Congressional District instead of the 39th, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Sad to say, the numerically- and geographically-challenged "Rolls" Royce is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Turning to the "rebranding" efforts by the Republican Party, someone at the Republican National Committee put out a "Happy Kwanzaa" greeting on Facebook.  The blowback from the knuckle-dragging base demonstrates the difficulty of "rebranding" when you have to rely on moron crackers*  to get elected.

Staying with "rebranding" and the Republican National Committee, Salon has the "10 Biggest GOP Rebranding Fails of 2013". We picked #5 as representative:

5. The Republican National Committee tweets: “Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism.”
This one was fun for a couple reasons. First, it was the most high-profile example yet of the GOP’s asinine “post-racial” meme, a defense used to dismiss or deny that any criticisms of the president or his agenda are influenced by racial thinking. Second, it led Twitter user @FeministaJones to come up with the wildly popular #racismendedwhen hashtag. When your best attempt to show you’re racially sensitive results in widespread mockery, it’s fair to guess that the whole outreach thing isn’t going so well.

As ever, we despair of your "rebranding" efforts, Stupid Party!  Also, Happy Kwanzaa!

*To wit, there's this.  Damn apes!

Quote of the Day

The great Charles P. Pierce, reviewing yesterday's "news" programs, on Rethuglican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party Chairman Reince Priebus' "plans to hammer out all the dents" he put in the Rethug brand, including "technology:"

I believe that many Republicans now feel their party's primary "technology issue" is that Reince Priebus has yet to stick a fork into a toaster.

We'd pay to see that, hey.  Meanwhile, the more things (don't) change, the more they stay the same.

The Shizzle To Bow Out?

Tonight Rethuglican National Committee Chairclown Michael "The Shizzle" Steele is expected to announce he won't seek a second term as chairclown, to the great disappointment of Democrats and stand-up comedians everywhere. The Shizzle not only has been a one-clown gaffe machine for the past two years, he's also succeeded in driving the RNC deep into the hole financially (those bondage strip club junkets can be expensive!). We await the inevitable retrospective on all things The Shizzle from Colbert/ Stewart/ Maher!

UPDATE: The Shizzle announced he's running!! Yay!!

(Image: Don't go Shizzle!!!)

"Party of No-No"

As we noted yesterday, Rethuglican National Committee Chairclown Michael "The Shizzle" Steele has some 'splainin' to do, and is drawing some serious fire from big Rethug donors for the lavish expenditures by the Committee, including the now infamous evening at LA's "Voyeur" club, featuring topless dancers simulating bondage and lesbian sex acts.

This story has prompted some wags to come up with some memorable tags, including:

-- "Leather and Steele"
-- "RNC Cracking the Whip"
-- "Risque National Committee"
-- "Off the Hook Schnook"
-- "Grand Old Par-tay"

We're having loads of fun watching the Rethug apparatus deal with this latest pratfall, at a time when the President is celebrating a major legislative victory. The best part is that The Shizzle will be the gift that keeps on giving to the Dems for the foreseeable future.

(photo: The Shizzle gettin' down with the bad sound; all together now, "whip it, whip it good")

The RNC's New Poster Child

The Obamas took a short trip to New York City last night to take in a Broadway play, a promise the President had made to the First Lady during the campaign. Well, guess who's in a high state of phony outrage at the trip? The Rethuglican National Committee. RNC spokesperson Gail "Gotcha" Gitcho tried her best to spin the trip as a slap at ordinary Americans trying to make ends meet. Yes, Gotcha, thanks of course to 8 years of Rethuglican economic policies that brought us to the brink of a depression. And what would the RNC say about Dumbya's record vacation time -- 490 days! -- at his Crawford "ranch"?

*crickets chirping*

Increasingly desperate to find some issue or event that will reverse their downward slide in the public's opinion of them, the Rethuglican apparatus is looking more foolish each day as they throw spitballs against the wind.

. . . .And Don't Let The Door Hit You Where The Good Lord Split You

We see where the new Rethuglican National Committee chairman Michael "Tin Man" Steele has asked for the entire 100 person staff of the RNC to resign effective February 15. Now they can return to their former jobs marketing Confederate flags, or back to the RNC after the smoke clears -- same difference.

(photo: "Observe the exits at the rear of the room, and use them please," Steele says to startled RNC staffers, who then broke out in a defiant chorus of "Dixie.")

Rethugs Pick Steele

Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael "Tin Man" Steele was elected by the Rethuglican National Committee to be its butler, er that is, chairman. Tin Man, one of 17 African American Rethugs, will undoubtedly attempt to sell Rethuglicanism to minorities, while proposing policies that would do them great harm. He was recently quoted as saying, "this notion that I'm a moderate is slightly overblown, and quite frankly a lie."

Tin Man also happens to be the ex-brother-in-law of Mike Tyson (pictured), who was seen biting the ears of several RNC members before the vote.

Missy McConnell's Song Of Woe

Senate Minority Leader Mitch "Missy" McConnell addressed the Rethuglican National Committee yesterday, saying that the party is in danger of becoming marginalized as a "regional party." In danger of? Missy, you're already there. Your party represents the Old Confederacy and some states stretching from Idaho to Nebraska, sparsely populated with paranoid militia members. The demographics over the last 6 years are shifting the Democrats' way: youth vote, Latino vote, college-educated vote, suburban vote, all trending Democratic.

When the Rethugs want to dictate how you conduct your most personal activities, while letting corporate pirates run amok and plunder your retirement funds, when they want to write the prayers for your kids to say in public school, while their leaders spew hate against minorities and immigrants over "talk" radio. . . .well, you've got more than image problems. And you need to be marginalized.

Rethugs Abandon A Sunken Ship

Displaying great timing, the Rethuglican National Committee is just now getting around to distancing itself from the former Preznit. The RNC's current chairman, Mike "Donut" Duncan was a loyal Bushie when it was still OK in Rethug circles. Now, many Rethug party bigwigs want him out, along with the Bushie scent. However, showing their impeccable political sense, these Rethugs want to steer their wounded party even further to the far right. They didn't think Dumbya was "conservative" enough. Yeah, that's the ticket to your future success.

They're floating a resolution that calls upon the RNC to oppose any further "bailouts" of the economy (take that, you middle class whiners!), and want to oppose what they call "President-elect Obama's public works program." You read that right: they're referring to the President as "President-elect." What, he wasn't sworn in enough times for you clowns?


photo: "To the [glub glub] lifeboats [glub] men! [glub glub glub]"

Rethug Donors Taken To The Dry Cleaners

The Rethuglican National Committee is acknowledging that Alaska Gov. Winky You Betcha's $180,000 designer wardrobe is still sitting in trash bags at the RNC, allegedly waiting to be inventoried and donated to "charity." Donors are furious that their money was spent on expensive duds for the Governor and her snowbilly brood, instead of on lying, Swift Boat-style campaign ads.

Suck it up, Rethugs, there are better days ahead. Repeat after us: Palin/Wurzelbacher 2012!

Rethug Quitters, Cont'd.

Sen. Mel "Hasta La Vista" Martinez, chairman of the Rethuglican National Committee since January 2007, is calling it quits after just 10 months. Martinez claims he's accomplished the goals he set for the Rethug Party. And those would be continued corruption, scandal, and obstruction. Heck of a job, "Hasta"!