Senator John Thune says he’s sick of “cancel culture”… and he’s complaining about the Republicans who are practicing it:
U.S. Sen. John Thune on Thursday criticized Republican activists and party leaders for engaging in “cancel culture” by rushing to censure GOP senators who found former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection.
…Thune suggested he would be taking steps to assist candidates “who don’t go off and talk about conspiracies and that sort of thing.” He praised Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, who was censured by the Wyoming GOP for voting to impeach Trump, for doing an “exceptional job on most issues” and said he was ready to jump into primary battles like the one she is sure to face [Stephen Groves, “GOP’s Thune Says Trump Allies Engaging in ‘Cancel Culture’,” AP, 2021.02.19].
Our senior Senator also suggests that his party has two kinds of candidates: the ones who act like the man who was impeached twice, and the ones who can win:
“At the grassroots level, there’s a lot of people who want to see Trump-like candidates,” he said. “But I think we’re going to be looking for candidates that are electable” [Groves, 2021.02.19].
Yet even as Thune complains about Republicans complaining about Republicans like him who occasionally utter faint strains of reasonability, he’s still and always will be one of the Senators who refused to convict a President of inciting an insurrection and refusing to do his duty to disperse a murderous mob from the United States Capitol. He’s not laying out principles here; he’s just saying things he thinks may help his incumbent allies keep their seats.
Call me when you figure out who you are, John. And Republicans, you go ahead and keep cancelling all of your fellow Republicans you can and nominating all the spear-toting, horny-helmeted primary candidates you want. We Democrats welcome your assistance in holding Congress and making the 2020s a safe and sane decade of saving the planet.
RINO Thune is already canceled by the main man of the Republican Party golfing in FL. Noem will follow orders in 2022. Spineless Johnson will be jumping up and down waving his arms as he works tirelessly for the residents of D.C. to get them connected to the great state of Maryland. Rounds is on easy street for the next 5 1/2 years unless he happens to comes back to South Dakota and starts driving around… just make sure, Rounds, it is at night and to tell the 911 operator “help something hit my car”… seems to work for Republicans running over people lately.
I’ve lost count. Does anyone know how many times Thune has turned himself inside out and flipped 180*? He has been complicit in the Trump Tragedy for 4 years and is now starting to do the Susan Collins crawl away from the Orange down Show by saying, “Oh my,” and expressing “concern.” John, you may look good in a photo op, but you are still a WEASEL!
John, John, John,
You voted with Trump 90% of the time.
You voted to not convict The convict for unleashing a mob of useful idiots on the
Capitol of the United States of America.
Then, you said that what Trump did was inexcusable.
Now I know why you have that crap eating grin on your face.
Crap in , Crap out.
In Marlboro Barbie’s defense, he did vote with drumpf over 90% of the time, he just does not know why. He was just following orders. Or was that odors?
The republican party since the 1980s owns the cancel culture. Speaker gingrinch and other zealots led republican cancel culture. “Ever since then, Republicans have gotten comfortable lying to their voters.”
“Over time, the party was taken over by the increasingly frustrated mob.” GQP moderates then, like those today, meekly stood by or enabled. Modern republican cancel culture included the right-out of the Dixie Chicks, to the state party branches censoring national republicans impeachment moves on the worst US president. The national party is weak – unable to control its radicals and zealots. In 2016, the Republican Party could not come together to defeat and purge Trump.
“According to a recent American Enterprise Institute survey, 56 percent of Republicans believe “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” Thirty-nine percent backed an even stronger statement: “If elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves even if it requires taking violent actions.” These are not views compatible with democracy.””
Thune continues as enabler of the republican radicals. He’s a generation too late to claw it back. South Dakota has no ‘statesmen’ – not thune, rounds, johnson, noem. None of them work for democracy, for their voters, or for constitutional principles.
attribute quotes to Fareed Zakaria: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mainstream-republicans-have-tolerated-extremism-for-years-can-they-finally-control-it/2021/02/18/f3c2cd72-722c-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html
Johnny can’t find his own ass even using both hands, can he?
Thune’s foremost priority is Republican power; upholding democracy is secondary. With Democrats now controlling the presidency and both houses of congress, Thune is focused on the Republican party regaining control of both houses of congress in 2022 and the presidency in 2024. During Trump’s presidency, Thune was largely silent about Trump’s repeated attacks on democracy. With Trump’s loss and the loss of both Georgia senate seats, Thune, McConnell and other Republican leaders realize that in blue states and swing states, Trumpista candidates are not a formula for success. His latest statement about supporting current Republican office holders and more moderate candidates is a cynical political calculation and only demonstrates leadership in support of the Republican party.
Thune’s republican cancel culture extended to the anti-maskers and anti-covid and anti-vaxers.
Once upon a time the republicans were the educated intelligentsia, the doctors, lawyers, academics, etc. That spun down the drain quickly to the likes of Bachman, Palin, Graham, McConnell, Boebert, Majorie Taylor Greene, etc.
If, if the corporate democrats can pull their heads out after decades of failure – and make DC and Puerto Rico states — then the US may FINALLY have majority led government in the US senate. A vast minority of the country carries out-sized representation in the senate. It’s long past the time for one-person, one-vote representation.