Robert Reich
Although not all Republicans have condemned Trump’s dinner with antisemites and white supremacists, I’ve been struck by how many are heaping criticism.

Do you think they've had an epiphany? Or do you think they’re just no longer afraid of Trump?https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-is-the-gop-finally-splitting
Office Hours: Is the GOP finally splitting from Trump?

Or are they just mouthing words until the ruckus dies down?

Robert Reich
Nov 30, 2022 at 8:10pmWeb
Show threadRaoul PlommerNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think definitely the latter.
Show threadStevenDec 1, 2022
@Raoul @rbreich oh yes. Since 90% of his endorsed candidates crashed and burned, he’s not useful to them anymore. It’s sure not because they have developed a spine.
Show threadJennifer ResistsNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think that they knew how bad it would look if they didn’t condemn it. I’m sure they were lying just to make them look good.
Show threadAssiduous RabbitNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I'm skeptical so I'm going with they're no longer afraid of DFG. They have to work harder for me to forgive them for this ugliness they've fueled
Show thread72wagon Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich They feel like they may have a viable alternative. There are no come to Jesus moments in the Republican party anymore.
Show threadpop c corniaNov 30, 2022
@rbreich The latter.
Show threadStevesLowerLeftBallNov 30, 2022
@rbreich CYA
Show threadWren BirdieNov 30, 2022

@rbreich
I don't think they've had an epiphany. I think they're hedging their bet. I think they're looking at what happened in the midterms, coupled with Trump coming out of the gate having a dinner with Kanye and Fuentes and thinking, "I think I'm safe to distance myself from this guy."

I don't believe it has anything to do with them calibrating their moral compass at all.

Show threadVelvetBabeNov 30, 2022
@aBirdieOnaWire @rbreich Wonder if this dinner will have any impact on GA election results. One hopes so.
Show threadWren BirdieNov 30, 2022

@Velvetbabe @rbreich
At this point I feel like it's a roll of the dice.

I mean this is the same state that voted in Marjorie Taylor Green... TWICE!

Show threadAngry CentristNov 30, 2022
@aBirdieOnaWire @rbreich THIS. It's a calculation. They've done the math and realized the rabid MAGA base isn't enough to win their elections, so they'd better start connecting with the center again.
Show threadDixandraDec 1, 2022
@aBirdieOnaWire @rbreich Agreed. After all that they have sat through silently and without any condemnation, this seems to be merely an indication that they are sensing the winds may be shifting and that it will serve them to shift along with it. It almost seems to be a greater demonstration of weakness at this point than remaining consistent it their silence. There is nothing courageous or righteous about waiting to smell blood before speaking up.
Show threadpam_1965Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich
I believe that they're realizing that they're never going to advance with Trump at the helm. That's why they've been spending time building up their own brand of crazy for the base.
Show threadJames M.Nov 30, 2022

@rbreich
Did any Republicans at all criticize the nazi dinner before SIX DAYS after it happened, i.e. this past Monday? I:d love to see a timeline of when prominent Republicans spoke against it.

Considering how many Republicans first criticized Trump after January 6, then not long after that supported him and still do (McCarthy in particular), I can't take their words seriously. I expect them to reverse course on this too if they think it would help them politically.

Show threadPeanutzNov 30, 2022
@rbreich IMO GOP wouldn't be condemning this behavior if not for the Ga. senate race.
Show threadGuitarGirlNov 30, 2022
@rbreich They’re moving on to a different Florida fascist.
Show threadAllie HeyDec 1, 2022
@GuitarGirl @rbreich there are lots of Jewish people in FL, or at least south Florida and Palm Beach County and Boca Raton… so I am just confused how that has no sway on their voting numbers. More of Florida should be blue.
Show threadLibrary NinjaNov 30, 2022
@rbreich they don't care about the bigotry but do care about losing elections. Are using this as an excuse to drop him with the appearance of moral high ground
Show threadRCNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I don't believe it's any kind of moral "Trump bad man". I think it's more LOOOSSEERR is costing us.
Show threadRhinestone SquirrelNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think on the end, they'll still rally around him. I won't believe they've turned their backs on him until I see it happening long-term.
Show threadMark BurgessNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I'd say the latter. The GOP is still full of racists
Show threadJoe ❌👑Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich Some of them may want to move Trump aside in favor of a more competent fascist, perhaps the Orban of Florida.
Show threadBonnie Blue SUPPORT UKRAINENov 30, 2022

@rbreich
And yet, they'll still vote for that POS if he's nominated.

Their criticism doesn't mean much IMHO...😒

Show threadAgoraNov 30, 2022
@rbreich they want to win back the WH in 2024, Congress and Governorships. They don’t believe they can with him around. This has nothing to do with an epiphany.
It’s about POWER
Show threadlaurie bNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
They are no longer putting up with the toxicity
Show threadRickNobodyBeinzNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
Sec'y Reich.
This is under discussion in Congress, sir. And there's not a damn thing we can do about it as voters, because you know and 150 million others of us know that the Republicans will have a majority in the House in 2023 and these kinds of "good for the people" legislation will NEVER get through.
I'm in NY state and on Medicare; but it appears that WS residents may suffer greatly if it doesn't go through.
Thank you for whatever you can do about this!!😟
https://www.wispolitics.com/2022/ike-brannon-wisconsin-residents-could-face-higher-healthcare-costs-if-pharmacy-benefit-managers-are-constrained
Ike Brannon: Wisconsin residents could face higher healthcare costs if pharmacy benefit managers are constrained

No one would argue that the U.S. has an efficient or comprehensible healthcare system, but neutering pharmacy benefit managers would do nothing to improve it while increasing its cost for Badgers and people across the rest of the country.

WisPolitics
Show threadHenryHill1Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich Oh yeah, really brave people. /s
Show threadHeadofgiskardNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
Epiphany? No, i think, not yet. Unfortunately not by a long shot. What about republican voters? They need the epiphany.
Show threadSpankMobleyNov 30, 2022
@rbreich People don't fear Trump as much as they fear their constituents, most of whom would presumably not proclaim themselves to be openly antisemitic, which is in contrast to both of Trump's dinner guests.
Show threadClara ListensprechenNov 30, 2022
@rbreich Ya, it's not that they ever were afraid of Trump--what fear there was, came from Trump's violent seditionists and where one seditionist goes, they go all. Hang one and they'll hang together. The previously fearful don't want to hang.
Show threadCaitlin plzNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think they have no integrity, values, or morals, and think that going against him now won’t ruin their political careers.
Show threadShield MaidenNov 30, 2022
@rbreich They're calculating which side their bread's buttered on...
Show threadJustin FloodNov 30, 2022
@rbreich they don’t fear him anymore. He’s not the kingmaker he once was. Also it’s an easy thing for most of them to condemn. It doesn’t cost them much politically to do so, and they can use the fact that they criticized this later as a way to soften the next horrific thing they do.
Show thread@batyalee 🌿Nov 30, 2022

@rbreich

No epiphanies. Just that the midterm elections are over and t**** has very little power over them right now.

More importantly, the Republican party has made it clear they're all in with the Christo-fascism and white supremacy. If they can demonize a few notable deplorables, it gives them cover.

But don't be fooled into thinking they don't want real harm to come to BIPOC, women, LGBTQIA+, Jews, Muslims, non-evangelical Xtians, and political liberals of all stripes.

Show threadDerrickLeftThis (CA40)Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich The midterms proved that Trump endorsed candidates are a losing ticket. I’m cautiously optimistic that they’ll snap out of it and go back to being the traditionally terrible party we’re used to.
Show threadRob HoneycuttNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think it’s less being afraid of Trump and more about being afraid of being primaried by the base.
Show threadTed Ewen (f)Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich Rats and a sinking ship. They are still plague carriers.
Show threadClara ListensprechenNov 30, 2022
@rbreich This just in: Merrick Garland just spoke to address investigations and to applaud the sedition trial wrapping up with 2 convictions. The fact that seditionists can and will get convicted with decades' long sentences will certainly generate a lot more fear of hanging together, as it were.
Show threadClara ListensprechenNov 30, 2022
@rbreich It's been a shrinking base, tho. And for the record, the GOP isn't a "traditionally terrible party" the country used to be used to. Here's a reminder that the GOP was the party of Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower. The GOP today is what Dixiecrats turned the Dem Party into until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when the Dixiecrats were horrified that this was actually a Democratic piece of law...as was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because that's stuff the Republicans would have been for.

They took their outrage out on the GOP until the GOP became the Dixiecrat Party except in name. That lot needs to get uprooted out of the GOP, never to return to the Democratic Party, and should have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no means to ever control any government ever again anywhere.
Show threadMarie HenselderKimmelNov 30, 2022
@rbreich Tfg's negative results on midterms has likely given GOP congressional members a teeny bit of courage but not much since it took almost a week for them to finally condemn!
Show threadDarth Kumsquat SquatsNov 30, 2022

@rbreich

It's just optics.

Show threadCYGNov 30, 2022
@rbreich unfortunately, I don't think either of those things are true. They have expressed disappointment about his behavior before. However, they will all fall in line if he wins their party nomination. So, I caution everyone about giving too much credit to those Rs who have condemned DJT. They have awakened a nasty monster (racism) in their base and they haven't figured out how to put that nasty genie back in the bottle. Republican leaders will do whatever their base wants them to do.
Show threadMaysyMan Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich all of Trump’s candidates failed in the mid term elections. Trump is nuclear waste for the GOP so they want to bury that waste deep and as far away from their re-election bids as possible
Show threadMaysyMan Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich they are using Trumps cozying up to nazis as their “trigger”
Show threadmartin scorsese's eyebrowsNov 30, 2022

@MaysyMan @rbreich this narrative has become quite popular, but I think we'd be doing ourselves us a disservice if we ignore how popular trump remains amongst voting Republicans. He still dominates the polls.

We tried to pretend he wasn't popular in 2016, look how that turned out.

Show threadMaysyMan Nov 30, 2022
@ScorsesesBrows @rbreich fair. I’m also hoping that he’s in jail by this time next year
Show threadmartin scorsese's eyebrowsNov 30, 2022
@MaysyMan @rbreich were all crossing our fingers.
Show threadChris MingusNov 30, 2022
@rbreich Either way if the Republican party turns against him his chances of getting reelected go down the toilet.
Show threadDesert DwellerNov 30, 2022
@rbreich Even cowards find strength in numbers
Show threadDoug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich Both. They smell it in the air and know that soon association with him will cost votes.
Show threadKevinNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I thought this moment would have come long ago…esp. GOP could have divested themselves from Trump during and after any of the Impeachments. If it was raw real-politick they would have crushed trump then. The reality…they really are Nazi loving white supremcists.
Show threadLiz HammondNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
They are swaying the way the wind is blowing today. Anything changes? They will happily swing the other. Things just got too hot for a minute. I hope it lasts but I hold out no hope.
Show threadPaminaNov 30, 2022
@rbreich Based on an NYT article from the 28th ("Jewish Allies Call Trump's Dinner With Antisemites a Breaking Point") I would say the answers are "not really" and "no." Republicans are still bending over backwards to pretend that Trump himself is not a racist or an antisemite. That leaves room for them to come back to him.
Show threadFlying_Donny for democracyNov 30, 2022
@rbreich I think it's that, since the midterms, Republicans realize that Trump is an albatross. Claiming to be upset by his association with antisemites and white supremacists seems much more principled than just admitting that he can't do them any good anymore.
Show threadRuby S.Nov 30, 2022
@rbreich Nah, they're just sniffing the political winds and the media climate. They didn't say anything or have any problem with Steven Miller, Seb Gorka, etc were working in the White House. And they still don't want to alienate their base which is at mostly racists at this point.
Show threadRWRNov 30, 2022
@rbreich The party moving on now to Ron DeSantis. They are probably looking for more immigrants to deport or transgenders to keep out of bathrooms or text books to ban. Those are the priorities.
Show threadJucaNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
I think it's possible that, all along, it was their voters they were actually afraid of. They've been such cowards.
Show threadcoderipperNov 30, 2022
@rbreich It’s a political calculation. They still need the neo-Nazi vote to get elected. Republicans have read the tea leaves and know that a failure to criticize hurts with Independents.
Show threadJennyDNov 30, 2022
@rbreich
It's no epiphany. It's a lean on the fence to try and save their own hides and jobs. They are what they are and showed it in blazing lights for all these years. I give not one pat on the back. Animals, greedy animals.
Show threadSteveDec 1, 2022
@rbreich
Losing their fear, I suspect. The _New York Post_ editorial gave them permission.