Benen: Modern GOP Eschews Policy, Prioritizes Preserving Power

Steve Benen, author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics," talks with Rachel Maddow about how Democrats and Republicans speak past each other as Democrats try to govern through policy and Republicans focus their energy on ideological interests and growing and preserving their political power. 
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56 comments

  1. I would like someone to list the things, anything, that the Republican Party has proposed and delivered in the last 20 years to specifically help the lives of working people who make less than $100,000 a year or protect their own power.

    1. There’s a non profit organisation in Belgium that records & publish the voting records, proposals, platforms, quotes, etc …. of politicians so that voters can make a better informed choice.. Maybe someone could start something similar in the US?

    2. Ummm, Trump’s tax cuts! I’m middle class and am seeing almost $200 a month in extra take home pay. Also have you tried living in a Democratic-run city? Sky high taxes, fees and crime.

    1. @Shin Good job! You have covered three narrative points in the same sentence! Outstanding! 😂

    2. @Msmayberry55 Nice book! Fiction isn’t really my genre though. Thanks! All caps for urgency and effect, a nice touch!

    1. @TeaEster Higgins Did you ever get the eery feeling that msm is just the propaganda wing of the democrat party and true independent and unbiased journalism is actually dead? Yeah, I feel it too.

    2. @Ebaneezer Scourge – Then you can also state that Fox and OAN are the propaganda wing of the republican party? There hasn’t been “unbiased journalism” since Reagan gutted the “Fairness Doctrine”. Not to mention the IDS/AIDS and Crack/Contra controversies….jus’ sayin’

    3. I agree, the republicans are going down the Nazi party route, if the Dems dont know how to wield power it will be AmeriKKKA in 5 yrs.

    4. @Ebaneezer Scourge Obviously you are unable to separate truth from fiction. You sound delusional in everything you post.

    1. @Ebaneezer Scourge That’s not a thing. Republicans are all insane just like Trump who is insane. Trump is taking all of you off a cliff. Super fun to watch.

    2. @Ebaneezer Scourge how fitting, using a fictional character (known for worker abuse) as an alias, trying to cover for a party that does the same?

    3. Like using the media to spread garbage about those who don’t agree with you? The Republicans have hijacked most media outlets to brainwash us into voting for them. Wait, I got that wrong.

  2. The base difference between Democrats and Republicans is simple: US versus ME…
    Democrats: What is best for US?
    Republicans: what’s in it for ME?

    1. You’ve got it backwards. Dems are trying to ram thru a 100% partisan bill that 80% of Americans don’t support, not to mention opposition from several dem party members and the entire GOP.

    2. @Bryan You got it backwards. There’s a requirement for voter IDs in the bill, that is a Republican requirement. So how is that partisan?

    3. @Ebaneezer Scourge Trump is insane and he is taking you morons off a cliff. Super fun to watch.

  3. This is in plain sight and has been for last 5 years. This is a chronic condition that has been getting worse each progressing year. This is power for power sake. Wake up and you need to create boundaries. Voting Rights Act needs to be passed NOW!

    1. did you ever feel like you’re chatting with someone who can’t legally vote in America? I feel like that right now?

  4. There should be fixed laws to punish these traitors to democracy and prevent them from doing anything that will destroy democracy.

    1. @Ebaneezer Scourge : Wow . . . Great comeback, Socrates 🙄 . . . No wonder everyone hates the fascist GOP 🤦‍♂️

    2. @Ash Roskell Biden (so-called) ‘won’ Georgia by 15k votes; however, a forensic audit just last week discovered that 100k Georgia votes were illegitimate, 80k of which were multiple scans. 🤷‍♂️ You can’t make this 💩 up

    3. @Ebaneezer Scourge : You just did, son. But, it’s good to know you’ll never vote for the GOP ever again. Since they lied to you about it being, “the most secure election in America’s history.” 🤷‍♂️😎

    4. @Ebaneezer Scourge People do make that sh!t up. Stop looking at Facebook and info wars.
      Our rating: False

      The claim that a preliminary audit in Georgia found 30,000 “fake ballots” is FALSE, based on our research. Three separate audits of Georgia’s 2020 election results found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. A review of absentee ballots in Fulton County has not started yet, and affidavits related to that review do not prove 30,000 ballots were fabricated.

  5. Dems needs to grow a pair to do the Reconciliation to pass Bills without the autocrates GQP votes in the Senate. Federal Legislations HR1,HR4, For the People Act & John Lewis Voting Rights. To combat & Demolish GQP Jim Crow Vote Suppression Laws in all states.

    1. Ahhh no- that’s your hot potato fella! 48% of the congressional democrats voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while 72% of Republicans voted to pass it. One of the democrats was Biden’s very own mentor- one Robert Byrd (an admitted KKK klansman) whom Biden eulogized at his funeral in 2010.

    2. It’s not a matter of “growing a pair”. Reconciliation only applies to budget matters, and there are restrictions even then. You want those pieces of legislation through then either more Democrats need to be elected or convince enough Republicans that they should vote in favor of them. Filibuster reform can reduce the work for now (and may be good in and of itself), but it’s not without its risks.

    3. @Ebaneezer Scourge Robert Byrd joined the KKK at a very young age, and quickly realized he’d made a huge mistake. He fought for civil rights the rest of his long career. Quit spreading disinformation and spewing trump lies. Do a little research.

    4. @Ebaneezer Scourge AH! You hot potato 🥔 is bunch of baloney. The Republicans use the filibuster to block the Voting Right & Civil Rights. But LBJ & MLK & Dems pass the The Voting Rights & Civil Rights.

    5. @Ebaneezer Scourge Ahh no. You full of it. Get your facts right. Stop giving misinformation you Russian or Drumpf hacker.

  6. I don’t know this for a FACT: but i’d be willing 2 bet all my remaining income for 2021 – that more repug senators took acting classes at some point in their lives, than Dems ever did! I mean, for one, how else do you convince massive [even] maga supporters, to be more upset about the loss of a few Dr. Seuss books from their collection? or if Potato Head should or should NOT, remain gender neutral – etc…. than whether or not they want a spendy Infrastructure Bill? Better jobs with more Pay? to increase the coverage of Medicare? To literally – Build Back Better! SERIOUSLY! These People Got NUTHIN! regarding Policy, other than no more taxes on the rich, and let’s get more repug SCOTUS! Yet, they seem to have managed 2 sell it?! Well, enjoy your future with these pious pontificators, maga crew, cuz they have ZERO intentions of EVER improving the quality or the longevity, of ANY of YOUR LIVES!!!

  7. If their not making policy then what good are they? Time to take out the trash and save half a trillion.

  8. The GQP: Drain the swamp!
    DEMS: Agreed, let’s get dark money out of politics! Here is a law that makes political donations public information.
    McConnell: This bill is the work of the devil!

    1. Nic, Dementia Joe Fingers is like Hey Obama was the first clean intelligent black man and Democrats are like cool we are racist but we say we are not!!

  9. Perhasp 45 was counting on the Jan. 6th “incident” to fuel his own Reichstag fire moment whereby he could declare marshal law and make himself president until-further-notice?

  10. It’s not like they don’t _have_ policies, they just don’t feel comfortable sharing them with the electorate.

  11. Can’t the states that have Democratic Governors or Democratic Attorney Generals stop the changes in thee other states coming up there trying to change???

  12. Republicans lost their minds when we elected Obama after we did it again they went off the cliff and their love of trump just proves they’re never coming back as a serious political policy party. Authoritarian autocracy is what they want. They all need to move to Russia they’d fit right in

  13. Sparta will not be defeated by the most elegant Athenian rhetoric, been there, lost that, 1000’s of years ago.

  14. Maddow: “GOP is post policy. They have no policy at all”
    Also Maddow: “we need to stop GOP policies. They’re racist because they’re targeting democrats. Also voter “suppression””

  15. When one party is run by people who only care for their own power, and the other party is obsessed with trying to “share” power with the first party, than neither party is responsible or mature. They are both terrible.

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