On Wednesday, Donald Trump made a pointed statement on Truth Social directed towards Nikki Haley’s donors, writing, “Anybody that makes a ‘contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” and less than 24-hours later, Haley flipped the attack into a campaign merchandise opportunity.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    10 months ago

    is that a crack in the base? are ‘moderate’ republicans coming out of the ‘i sold my soul to donald trump to be a republican’ fog?

    i doubt it. its not like they had high moral ground to start with.

    doesnt matter what they say, the Rs are going to vote straight R no matter what no matter when. zero critical thinking happening there.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      No, there’s been a big backlash against Trumpism for awhile now. It’s just not nearly big enough to defeat it. But it’s still something we can use.

      Don’t paint them all into one big camp. That’s what they do to us, and it’s dumb. We’re better and smarter than that. They’re all individuals, otherwise it would just be 100% Trump-train.

      Really, saying all repubs are the same is no different from saying all dems are the same. It’s just not accurate, it’s not the truth. Anything telling you otherwise is shitty propaganda, trying to mislead us from the inside.

      We value truth and honesty, because they’re necessary for progress. The truth is hard, often very ugly and challenging to work with, but its important.

      • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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        10 months ago

        do you really think those moderate conservatives arent going to hold their nose again in the general? i dont think they know of any other way.

        thats the real test of ‘humanity vs party’, and conservatives consistently fail.

        • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Yes, there are a lot of moderate conservatives that also paid attention in history class and know exactly what a fascist takeover looks like.

          Fascists, libertarians and religious true believers are not always fond of each other. Their party is a coalition party, a function of our two party system. We gain nothing from ignoring this.

          Think about it. Does it help them in any way when they paint us out as all rabid communists trying to destroy America? Not really, it just keeps their base dumb.

          Us painting them out as all happy fascists similarly does nothing helpful for us, it’s just circlejerking.

          Listen to some actual conservatives, so you know what the opposition is up to. It won’t hurt you, you won’t get converted or something, so long as you actually believe in progress. Progress is the unifying element that ties our coalition together, while resistance to change is what ties theirs. Chris Christie fucking hated Trump though. Liz Cheney wants him in prison, and led the Jan 6th committee thing.

          It’s important though. We need a firm grasp on reality, not our own fantasies and oversimplified dream worlds, if we are actually going to put fascism down where it belongs with the massive numbers it will require. We need to focus on the truth, if we want our progress to go in any kind of helpful and healthy direction. I can’t understate how important this is.

          • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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            10 months ago

            i use the term ‘hold their nose’ for this reason. i do not have as much hope in the critical-thinking arena of the general conservative population as you do. …only by judging by their actual actions the last few cycles.

            • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I don’t think its as much “nose holding” as “spite voting”. Conservatives are prickly and a number of them have been caught in embarrassing or damaging situations because of trump. Roe vs Wade overturn is a big one, for instance.

            • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I don’t think you seem to be aware of their actual actions as much as you have misconceptions about the actual statistics.

              Do you honestly think 100% of them voted for Trump, even the first time around, before he showed his true colors? You got facts to back that up, or just circle-jerking beliefs based on your feelings?

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Most Haley supporters in NH said they would not vote for Trump in the general.

          i dont think they know of any other way.

          The other way is to stay home on election day. Everyone knows how to do that.

          • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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            10 months ago

            Every time you vote in a primary in NH you declare a party when you choose a ballot. Then after voting you stop at a table on the way out and can revert to undeclared. So you can do it again next election.

            Most republicans in NH voted for Trump. NH let’s undeclared voters vote in either primary. And a lot of undeclared are just straight up Democrats and vote in which ever primary we think needs the support (speaking from experience). So a lot of Nikki voters were dems with wishful thinking.

            An interesting exit poll question would have been to ask how many Nikki voters would vote for her in the general (vs Biden). I bet a lot of NH undeclared would still be voting Biden, like me.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    She uses the same weapon his PR team carried. She forges an ultracontrarian identity, contrarian to MAGA contrarians. I guess it may work. I’d like to see their voices split and\or her becoming a republican candidate.

    And now imagine trumpie crowd voting blue just to protest her on elections. A thin blue line leading to a president from democrats. As a part of a minority and a woman she would do better to herself and her voters even in spite of what she actually says. Oh, this charming, earth-shattering drama, let it be everything but an empty dream of popcorn.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Trump is really slipping on the nicknames. He’s gone from ‘Little Rocket Man’ to ‘Birdbrain.’

    Birdbrain hasn’t even been an insult since like the 1960s.

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    10 months ago

    "Enough said…Grab your shirt here!” Haley fired back on Thursday in a post on X (formerly Twitter) along with a link to a t-shirt that reads “Barred. Permanently,” which donors can purchase for five bucks.

  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Remove Trump from the picture entirely. Pretend he died of COVID a few years ago.

    Can anybody really imagine the current GOP base voting for Nimrata Haley (born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa)? In the general election, it would be a “young” non-white (but maybe white-passing) woman who was the child of immigrants from one of the “shithole” countries going up against perhaps the whitest man that has ever existed.