[late]

"The Republican Party in the 1920s, ’30s and early ’40s was steeped in pessimism, and that pessimism showed up as it often does: as nativism, isolationism and protectionism. In 1924, Republicans set strict immigration quotas with the Johnson-Reed Act. As World War II loomed, Senator Gerald Nye urged the passage of several neutrality acts to keep us from exporting arms to warring nations and opposed Lend-Lease to Britain. Senator Robert Taft supported the America First movement before the United States joined the war, and after the war he opposed the Marshall Plan, NATO, the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was designed to lower trade barriers.


It turns out that some political tendencies never really die; they just lie dormant for a few decades, waiting for the emotional mood to change. It’s conventional to say that Trump destroyed the postwar Republican establishment. That’s not quite right. The Tea Party’s extreme disgust with the course of American life was already flowing by 2009. The Pew Research Center detected a surge in American isolationism back in 2013. In 2004 only 8 percent of Republicans thought the United States’ power in world affairs was declining. By 2013, after Iraq and Afghanistan, 74 percent of Republicans thought American was in decline. By 2021, nearly a third of Republicans thought violence might be necessary to save America.

People often say that history is a battle of ideas, but sometimes it is just a succession of moods. It was a culture of pessimism — Trump’s belief that we’re living in an era of “American carnage” — that restored the old G.O.P., not any set of arguments. America has a dazzling economy and dominant military strength. Military spending as a percentage of G.D.P. is dangerously close to its postwar low. But the Republicans apparently lack the self-confidence to believe they can improve the world, or the willpower to substantially try.

Some of my friends believe that after Trump the showman is off the stage, the future of the G.O.P. will be up for grabs. I disagree. Today’s Republicanism has deep roots in American history."

Reminds me of those old ads, where an old lady falls down, pushes a button, and hollers "I've fallen and can't get up". While it remains to be seen if Republicans can get back up, they have definitely fallen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/opinion/donald-trump-republican-gop.html

[Puffer Fish]

"The Republican Party in the 1920s, ’30s and early ’40s was steeped in pessimism, and that pessimism showed up as it often does: as nativism, isolationism and protectionism. In 1924, Republicans set strict immigration quotas with the Johnson-Reed Act. As World War II loomed, Senator Gerald Nye urged the passage of several neutrality acts to keep us from exporting arms to warring nations and opposed Lend-Lease to Britain.

In some ways the Republicans of the 1920s were more like the Democrats today.

But of course things are not entirely that simple.

I provided a long discussion about this in this thread:
Is the U.S. Democratic Party really "democratic"? (in Conservatism, 20 Jan 2023)

[Puffer Fish]

In my opinion, a lot of these progressive writers don't really seem to want to care about the real truth. They just want to combine facts and history together in any way that can be used against the other side. And they have a lack of consistency in principles. They'd make a completely conflicting argument tomorrow from the one they made today if they thought it would help support their side.

Yes, while all the bare facts they cite may be true and indisputable, their interpretations and characterisations of those facts are often not.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people in society too stupid to tell the difference.

(A fact is a claim about something that is very concrete that can easily be proved, and relates to the type of claim that is simply either true or not true. An interpretation is like one level separated from that, what the proper meaning of those facts is, a simplified way to understand a collection of many facts that are put together)

[Puffer Fish]

But the Republicans apparently lack the self-confidence to believe they can improve the world, or the willpower to substantially try.

The Democrats didn't believe they could improve Afghanistan.

In 1924, Republicans set strict immigration quotas with the Johnson-Reed Act.

And you don't believe the Democratic Party at that time supported those immigration quotas too?

That one fact alone is a red flag to me that this article may be dishonest, trying to twist and shoehorn historical facts to create a convenient narrative, in a totally disingenuous way.

[late]

The Democrats didn't believe they could improve Afghanistan.


And you don't believe the Democratic Party at that time supported those immigration quotas too?

That one fact alone is a red flag to me that this article may be dishonest, trying to twist and shoehorn historical facts to create a convenient narrative, in a totally disingenuous way.

Republicans were running the show, and Cheney was calling the shots. Look up PNAC.

Americans go hot and cold concerning immigration. But! Overall, it's the rich that have opened things up to keep labor costs down. The way this tends to go is that when the economy gets into trouble, there will be a lot of pressure to restrict immigration.

If you want to go into labor history, we can do that. But you need to put some effort into it...

[late]

In my opinion, a lot of these progressive writers don't really seem to want to care about the real truth.

Truth requires work..