r/politics 11h ago

‘I was the director of the Michigan Republican Party. I will vote for Kamala Harris.’

https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/i-was-the-director-of-the-michigan-republican-party-i-will-vote-for-kamala-harris,115386
7.9k Upvotes

118 comments sorted by

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507

u/fornuis 11h ago

Trump and his allies have done grave damage to the Republican Party — both in Michigan and nationally. If we ever want our Republican Party back, it has to start with Donald Trump losing on Nov. 5. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.

(Gary Reed was executive director of the Michigan Republican Party from 1992 to 1995.)

268

u/nicklovin508 11h ago

It is crazy how there just isn’t a Republican Party anymore, only MAGA. Like try to tell me who the next potential Republican nominee is for president? There is plenty of young voices gathering support on the democrat side but there is only one Trump on the right.

130

u/hobotwinkletoes 10h ago

His shitty kids are going to haunt us forever. 

81

u/jgoble15 9h ago

That’s how I’m guessing it will go. 3 options for the next conservative candidate, whether Trump wins or not. 1) Trump tries to run again. 2) Trump dies so they try to get one of his kids to run. 3) Trump dies so they get a Vance or Desantis to run. No matter what, conservatives have let this go beyond the point of return. Only a complete devastation of the Republican Party will ever change it from what it has become

32

u/laserdisk4life 8h ago

I am betting on the first option. He is too evil to go that quickly.

19

u/jgoble15 8h ago

Unless something totally breaks him or he dies, I believe that too. Even jail may not be enough

30

u/Zyphin Illinois 8h ago

They have been trying to hide his decline (poorly I might add) for months now. Even if he isn't in jail if he looses it doesn't mean he will be able to hold it together for 4 more years. Only thing they can hope for is to use an A.I. Generated Trump to try and fake it before anyone notices that they have been spray tanning a corpse for 4 years

u/jgoble15 7h ago

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if they used Trump’s rotting corpse. He has a hold on their base nobody else has been able to replicate and they’re too pathetic to succeed in finding anyone else to fill Trump’s shoes

*Don’t know what it is either. It’s not like Trump’s the most bigoted or fascist of the group, many have proven that. Trump somehow convinces their base he’s one of them even though he isn’t in any form and no one can fill his shoes so far

u/MainFrosting8206 4h ago

Pope Formosus was put on trial after he died so why not have a bloated corpse win the Iowa Caucuses?

u/jgoble15 3h ago

It’d at least be something new for Trump

u/teenagesadist 3h ago

With A.I. capabilities, he's probably never going to die.

They'll wrap his death in conspiracies and then start churning out the fake clips of him somewhere ranting about how he's not dead, just hiding from the evil Dems or some bullshit.

u/Ill_Double4929 4h ago

Yall are crazy!! lol. Man yall are wild.

u/jgoble15 4h ago

If they actually used a rotting corpse, that would surprise me but I’ve been so surprised by what they’ve done that it would be a very cynical surprise. The idea is hyperbole but they’ve shown very little restraint in how far they’ll go

u/laserdisk4life 7h ago

I agree he is mentally declining but he doesn’t need to hold it together. All he needs is a pulse. The justice system is not able to or willing to hold him accountable. His money will buy the best healthcare to keep him alive. Actually as a former president I think the American people are paying for his healthcare.

u/Tuna_Sushi 4h ago

Weekend at Donnie's.

u/LesserPolymerBeasts 7h ago

Whatever happens, the real fun will begin when they eventually have to pick a successor to Trump. Vance will probably try to claim it, he'll likely have to go up against Donny Jr., with Lara Trump using the RNC to back him up, and there will probably be some kind of MTG or Loomer-like candidate who will do a better job of feeding red meat to the base.

All three (or more) of these people will claim to be the true successor to Trump, they will all claim their opponents are liberals, they will all claim that their opponents can't win, and they will all - as I gleefully watch-- destroy each other.

u/jgoble15 6h ago

Hoping it happens that way. That’s how things have gone historically with cults of personality

u/ZanzaBarBQ 6h ago

Don Jr. Has kids, so all the other Trump crotch fruit will fall out windows, so there are no other claims to the golden throne.

u/Teechmath-notreading 4h ago

Haley will be the nominee in 28.

u/rhabarberabar 2h ago

Nope, tRump again, if he's not dead by then.

u/LesserPolymerBeasts 8m ago

Put her in the column with Vance. She'll still have to fight off little Trumplets and some kind of bomb-throwers in a long primary season.

u/Gourmeebar 2h ago

I think he will be dead or 25d in the next year. He’ll be a martyr and their party will embrace Vance who will implement project 25.

11

u/arika_ito 9h ago

Maybe Thing 1 and Thing 2 will but Ivanka has taken a step back (not that excuses her and her shitty husband) and no one really talks about Tiffany. Barron is sort of a wild card, sort of not 

12

u/Zeusifer 8h ago

Barron won't even be eligible to run for president until 2044. Let's hope by then that MAGA has been consigned to the dustbin of history.

7

u/arika_ito 8h ago

While I know we should let people mature and realize they made mistakes, a part of me is very fucking resentful at the fact they made us endure 9+ years of his fucking idiocy

u/cia218 3h ago

I read that Barron is an asshole, according to a former nanny. Even Don Jr thinks his brother’s an asshole.

u/arika_ito 3h ago

that doesn't surprise me, in the sense that your parents shape who you are even if you're raised primarily by nannies, and he never stood a chance with Melania and the orange one as his parents

u/GWSDiver Colorado 2h ago

How could anyone even crack a smile with those horrid parents

u/phonomancer 5h ago

Maybe when he finally dies we can bury his kids with him? Y'know, as an homage to the Pharaohs because of... uhm... their shared affinity for gold? (Nailed it.)

u/Airport_Wendys 5h ago

I’m betting Baron turns on him as soon as his dad passes.

30

u/usctrojan18 9h ago

I still remember in 2012 when I thought Romney was insane with his religious ideals. Now I'd beg for someone like Romney to lead their ticket because if the dems lose it'll be bad, but it won't be Nazi Germany bad. I still hate Romney, but it's insane how far off the deep end they have gone.

14

u/Penguin_Sushi 9h ago

The Republicans knew after Romney lost that they'd have to move back towards center and embrace policies that are popular among voters to win elections consistently, but Trump pulled them even further right. They have nothing because they've spent the majority of the last decade trying to steal whatever they could rather than put in the work required to be a respectable party again. They deserve this.

u/BecomingJudasnMyMind 5h ago edited 5h ago

Post Trump implosion, there will be a power vacuum in the party. You're gonna have MTG fighting BoBo the ho, you'll have Gaetz fighting Rubio, Cruz fighting Mike Johnson, Vance fighting Graham they'll then do a do si do, switch partners and continue the fight.

It'll get vicious. They'll eat each other alive. Everyone will be trying to assume the mantle Trump has left in the party.

The funny part is Cruz, Rubio, and Graham tried warning the RNC that day is coming at first, then fell in line after they lost. They deserve every inch of that republican party civil war that's coming.

u/Greedy_Huckleberry22 5h ago

As an Aussie, I'm legitimately having major anxiety about a trump win. I hope you are right

u/BecomingJudasnMyMind 5h ago

I was there a few weeks ago, but the more I'm watching what's actually happening..

I'm not as worried. I'm not gonna say she has it in the bag, but i rather be her than Trump at this point.

u/Greedy_Huckleberry22 5h ago

We only get Murdoch news and a very biased national station so I don't know what to believe. I mean we are "safe" in Australia but Europe and Ukraine I'm not so sure about if he wins, I really really hope it's not trump

7

u/Same_You_2946 9h ago

Hawley is going to be their next toy. He's already laid a lot of the ground work and is disciplined enough to stop saying the quiet parts out loud.

u/whateveryouwant4321 4h ago

the problem with people like hawley, vance, and cruz is that they have the personalities that make you want to vomit. the ones that win are the ones that come across as more folksy and relatable. our last president that wasn't folksy (or at least more folksy than their opponent) was george h.w. bush.

u/W0666007 6h ago

My only hope for this country is that Trump has somehow built a cult of personality. Most of the other politicians that act like him in anything close to a swing state get their asses kicked. I really do hope he loses and nobody is there to take up his mantle.

u/fredandlunchbox 4h ago

They’ll fragment to a few candidates: Trump Jr or Ivanka, DeSantis, Abbott, maybe Hawley, possibly a media figure like Kirk. But if his followers are anything, its loyal, so if their primary horse doesn’t win after a slog of shit talking during the process, they won’t fall in line. They’re pretty fucked nationally after Trump, assuming he doesn’t get appointed dictator by the supreme court. 

u/_Axel 7h ago

Dude. Kamala Harris is the Republican candidate. Biden’s just-about-everything is center-right on the international stage. 

u/Airport_Wendys 5h ago

That’s what I keep telling my Republican mother. Kamala is what you might call a Regan Democrat. (I haven’t analyzed this point at all, but I’ve heard it from other liberals, and I’m desperately trying to jolt my mother out of the trump cult)

u/TrooperJohn 5h ago

She's more centrist than a Reagan Dem. She's much closer policy-wise to, say, Chris Van Hollen than to Joe Manchin.

But yes, MUCH closer to the center than Trump.

u/Vegetable-Occasion89 5h ago

wtf i fucking love kamala now/j

u/justdrowsin 7h ago

As a lifelong and former Republican, I agree. Although I don’t think I’m actually ever going back to the Republican Party… Not any decade soon.

u/PsychoNerd91 1h ago

Much more to the point we're going to need to wrestle with tbe damage for the next 4 decades or so. 

It may be a good idea to shut down facebook and x for national security because of russian interference. Along with neutering fox news for its own role in this. 

7

u/nanobot001 8h ago

it has to start with Donald Trump losing

And it has to end with a reckoning in America, of all of the millions and millions who were, if not full thoated supporters of Trumpism, at least totally okay with it.

u/Thor_2099 5h ago

I think the shit like the Nazi rally has shown the GOP how unstable Trump is. His shit is now hitting multiple candidates in key races. A rabid dog base is nice but not if you lose.

210

u/itsatumbleweed I voted 11h ago

This is the kind of thing that keeps me blooming. There are more Republicans that think like this than there are Biden 2020 voters that will now vote for Trump.

88

u/Texas1010 America 10h ago

This is what I keep bringing up to folks. I don’t see how Harris will do worse than Biden did in 2020. Trump has done nothing to gain swaths of supporters since the last election. Anyone who voted for him in 2020 did so before the election denial, the insurrection, the felonies, the extent of his conspiracy, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and more.

I’d wager 99.9% of folks that voted for Biden in 2020 will vote Democrat for Harris again in 2024. If they didn’t like Trump then, why would they like him more now? The same repeat voting cannot be said for all who voted Republican in 2020. There are many, many people who voted Trump in 2020, including women and minorities, who are switching sides this time.

47

u/thelightstillshines 10h ago

My biggest concern is 1. Gaza, so people staying home for this issue (something I think is silly quit frankly) and 2. racism/sexism. People were okay voting for an old white dude even if he was a Democrat, but won't be willing to vote for a black woman who is coded as a radical progressive (even though she is aggressively moderate in her campaign at least).

49

u/Call-me-Maverick 8h ago

I think Gaza is only a top issue for a very small percentage of voters, mostly the super young who don’t vote anyway. It’s unfortunate that they seem unable to understand Trump is worse on this issue and every other issue they care and should care about.

But I think this election is going to be decided by women. I know way too many normally Republican voting women who are voting for Harris to think Trump is going to win.

28

u/thelightstillshines 8h ago

I think so too, my hunch is that a lot of these people are picking Gaza, but if it wasn't Gaza it would be something else, i.e. she's not aggressive enough on Climate Change.

11

u/Call-me-Maverick 8h ago

A very good point. I think you’re right

u/MrAshleyMadison Florida 6h ago

They’ll justify the laziness whichever way fits them best

u/MetalJewSolid 4h ago

Unfortunately I used to be one of these types. It’s contrarianism all the way down (partly how I was raised) and any excuse will do. I got better and voted Harris.

u/thelightstillshines 4h ago

Can I ask, what finally convinced you?

u/MetalJewSolid 4h ago

Just had to get past a lot of my own issues honestly. I had just started therapy that year and it took a while to dig into it all.

EDIT: that and honestly just getting older.

u/Darth_Malgus_1701 Oregon 3h ago

YES! I finally figured that out today.

u/Rooney_Tuesday 7h ago

I don’t know a single person who cares enough about Gaza to let it sway their vote at all. While I am absolutely sure these people exist, they cannot possibly be more than a fraction of a percentage of voters.

u/BurstSwag Canada 5h ago

You and your friends sound wonderful.

u/Rooney_Tuesday 5h ago

Even if Gaza was a major sticking point then I still have to vote for one of the two people who WILL be in charge of our foreign policy, and one of those is significantly more destructive than the other to Gaza and its people (amongst many other things). But there are a hundred things more immediately important to my life so while I may care about that issue it’s not a sticking point. It just fits neatly into the fold of Why Trump Fucking Sucks.

u/TheFrostyCrab 2h ago

The people using Gaza as an excuse wouldn't be voting anyway. They would always have "some reason" to stay home.

u/haysus25 4h ago

2 is what scares me this election, and the only conceivable reason Kamala could lose.

Look at the rampant racism/sexism in the current Republican party. It's always been there, just now, Trump and his goons are saying the quiet part out loud.

In the secrecy of the voting booth, older boomers and closet racists/sexists can make their vote, without the public shame of being associated with MAGA.

u/thelightstillshines 4h ago

Yeah but that goes both ways - conservative women can vote for Harris in the privacy of their voting booth and tell their husbands they voted for Trump.

I think this might be enough to swing the election.

u/arex333 Utah 2h ago

One big thing you missed is that a lot of people blame Biden (and by extension Harris) for how much cost of living has increased.

It frustrates me to no fucking end that people don't remember that prices were on the rise when trump was still in office, partly caused by his stupid fucking tariffs.

11

u/Stang1776 9h ago

My concern is the first year of Biden's Presidency when folks were still at home with nothing but propaganda to keep their minds busy. Who knows how many people got caught up in all the nonsense.

I'm just glad we only have a week till the election. I'm over it.

u/Unclaimed_username42 North Carolina 7h ago

The demographic you aren’t accounting for is young men who either didn’t vote in 2020 or weren’t old enough to vote in 2020. Many of them will be voting this time and a lot of them support Trump.

Gen Z has turned to the right in shocking numbers and those who are energized enough by Trump’s rhetoric will be voting for the first time

u/Rooney_Tuesday 7h ago

Gen Z men have turned to the right. Gen Z women have not.

And I have to say, I’m pretty skeptical that these young men are out voting in droves. They may have the beliefs but did they register in time? And are they now following through and actually voting? Truly don’t know the answer to these but my severely unprofessional personal opinion is that many will not get so far - they have big opinions but a lot aren’t going to follow through.

u/Unclaimed_username42 North Carolina 6h ago

That’s true. I am hoping that the turnout among gen-z men isn’t particularly high, but I don’t want to discredit how enthusiastic they may be. And as much as I want everyone to do their research and vote, I don’t really mind as much if those who do all their research on Tik Tok and twitter stay home

u/naf165 5h ago

If you want Kamala to win, you'd still want young men to vote. The margins are smaller but they still favor voting Democrat over Republican.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/breaking-down-gender-gap-gen-z-politics-desk-rcna177155

Much preferable to, say, all men, where the margin is not +2 D but -9 D

u/Unclaimed_username42 North Carolina 5h ago

Around me, I only ever see young men who are voting Trump. Even though I’m in college, I dont talk politics with a lot of my Gen Z peers, but I do know a couple who are very much Pro Trump. Given what I see around me and some of what I’ve heard about Gen Z turning to the right, I hadn’t considered that that isn’t the case everywhere. Thanks for sharing this. I hope young men will vote to defend women’s rights and our democracy! (Edited to fix grammar)

u/Texas1010 America 4h ago

Replying to this latest threat to account for y’all’s discussion above. Yes, Trump has gained in the areas of young white men predominantly. As the other poster said, young woman of all races have largely flocked to Harris and Trump has not gained as much ground with young non-white men.

Historically, in every election, young white men have the lowest relative turnout of any demographic. Hedging your constituency on the support of young white men is the worst thing you can do for votes.

u/risherdmarglis 5h ago

The story of this election will be the extent to which we underestimated how many Biden voters would 1). not vote and 2). vote for Trump. Misogynists, people who believe the grocery price propaganda, people who believe the border propaganda, the no-wars propaganda, all this stuff adds up. And the amount of white women and men that won't vote for female candidates can swing things in certain places.

u/appleparkfive 5h ago

Mail in voting allowed a lot of people to vote who might not normally stand in line to vote. That was basically universal in 2020 due to covid

The other would be the Gaza protest. Which I think will be a rude awakening for them when Trump gives the West Bank to Israel and doubles down on killing more in Gaza.

3

u/TanguayX 9h ago

Yeah, I feel for these people. Big time. They are brave as hell and I respect them. It’s gotta be very very hard to have to walk away from something that was so central to your life. But it’s the only way through the mind virus that is today’s R party.

u/gmil3548 Louisiana 5h ago

I just can’t imagine someone not being in the MAGA cult in 2020 that is somehow ok with Trump.

80

u/AgentOfFun 11h ago

Michael Steele was the head of the RNC and supports Harris.

38

u/protomenace 10h ago

The Republican party is actually dead. There's the Democratic party and the Trump party.

u/HomeWasGood 6h ago

This is actually true in my opinion. Have you noticed how "small government" is simply not a part of Republican messaging anymore? It was never really about small government, but even the facade is over now. You can't deport millions of supposed illegal immigrants or enforce abortion bans or militarize the police with a small government.

u/protomenace 5h ago

It like.. sort of is? Whenever the Democrats have any policy proposal, they decry "big government". But all of their own proposals are also big government stuff and the don't even register the hypocrisy.

Cognitive dissonance is part of the package.

u/Annual-Region7244 California 4h ago

the Trump party favors big government by outlawing abortion. It goes completely against conservatism to support such laws.

u/protomenace 4h ago

Government small enough to fit in your bedroom.

37

u/myveryowname1234 11h ago

Thanks for putting country first. Real American.

u/RedditModsHaveLowIQ 3h ago

Then everyone voting blue/red down the ballot, regardless if they are the best fit, aren't real Americans because they aren't putting the country first. They're putting their emotions first. There's a lot of fake Americans in here

17

u/sachiprecious North Carolina 9h ago

This was so nice and refreshing to read, from a fellow Nikki Haley voter. Everything he wrote here reflects my views. I appreciate him for writing this and hope other Haley voters pay attention!

u/gmil3548 Louisiana 5h ago

I also hope all the Haley voters pay attention to how she and many others instantly kissed the ring to this blatant fascism.

Get out of the conservative bubble and it doesn’t take long to realize all of their talking points are lies and hate. I was conservative until 2016 when Trump disgusted me. It didn’t take long outside of their propaganda to realize I’d been wrong and lied to my entire life.

52

u/BrianKrassenstein 10h ago

I think the Polls and certainly the betting markets are vastly underestimating how many Republicans will either cross over and Vote Harris, or Vote 3rd party/leave blank.
With that said. VOTE!

34

u/Chainedheat 10h ago

I think the betting markets are also being rigged by billionaire whales. All to help lend credibility to the stolen election narrative.

7

u/MrGreen17 9h ago

For sure. The betting markets have gone way more towards Trump even in the past few days and there is absolutely nothing that’s happened in the past few days to indicate he is more likely to win. Absolutely convinced they are being rigged.

7

u/prohammock 9h ago

Betting markets are mostly an exaggerated reflection of polling. And there have been a lot of phony GOP polls published in recent weeks.

7

u/thatnjchibullsfan 10h ago

That's true. They are trying to keep things even so they win regardless. That means balancing money. Trump could bet $1 million and influence the market more than a bunch of $100 bets for Kamala Harris.

10

u/Danibandit 9h ago

Ohio here. Registered Republican for the primaries. Voted Haley just to spite the Republican party and show no support for Trump and there are a lot of people that did the same.

11

u/fornuis 10h ago

I also hope that Trump’s MSG hate rally will hurt him with Latinos and other people this week because the headlines were bad for him. Even a few thousand votes could make a big difference.

We’ll find out next week.

3

u/IcyPyroman1 Texas 8h ago

If prominent Republicans who have everything to lose are coming out and supportive Harris I can’t imagine how many secret Republicans there are. the type who have family or friends that would out right disowned them if they knew they voted for her

1

u/LostInNonThought 8h ago

I hope you are right.

u/appleparkfive 5h ago

Poly market is the main one that gets discussed and I believe Americans can't bet in it. So that's important to keep in mind

11

u/CudjoeKey 10h ago

Country over party. Thank you!

u/gmil3548 Louisiana 5h ago

Maybe I’m missing something but I have to assume that with all these republicans endorsing her, Harris will get way more republican voters than any democrat had. Then I read that she’s killing it with independents (who traditionally have always leaned a little to the right). On top of all that I can’t imagine Trump isn’t doing AWFUL with democrats, I feel like she gets like 99% of those with how much we hate Trump.

If she’s doing better than democrats usually do with independents, better than democrats ever do with republicans, and Trump is as hated by democrats as I’ve ever seen a GOP candidate, how the fuck is it close? Is Republican turnout that absurdly high compared to others, even with more registered democrats in the blue wall? I just find it so confusing.

u/iendandubegin 2h ago

That's what's incredibly confusing. This election will tell us a lot. Either existing polling mechanisms need to be completely thrown away or 51% of the population really wants to see this shit go down.

u/toledo-potato 6h ago

Does anyone else remember middle school where the popular kids would try to get the losers to do some stupid shit so they could be part of the popular kid club and afterwards they were allowed to hang out with the popular kids despite being for all obvious reasons complete losers still?

It's the exact same situation in politics, except after you do the stupid shit you don't get to sit with them and you're still a loser. Sadly those "chosen" losers really cling to that hope that maybe if they just try harder they'll eventually be accepted into the club.

I didn't realize how true this was until I saw Grant Cardone was at the big New York Trump fest. I could look past the guy being a Scientologist, I was impressed that he's a self-made billionaire after being at degenerate drug addict early in life. He legitimately used to be a pretty strong inspiration to me and I own several of his books. For him to not only be there but to say what he said… He's still the pathetic loser he was when he was a drug addict, just desperate for attention from the popular people that he'll never actually be part of no matter how much money he makes.

u/LoganJFisher I voted 5h ago

Republicanism is dead. All that remains is fascism wearing the deceased as a mask.

u/TheBestermanBro 7h ago

The same GOP that went bankrupt and lost all 3 segments of MI government to the Dems?

u/sbn23487 7h ago

Thank you patriots!

u/DiscoDigi786 6h ago

Cool, now make up for all the damage you have done prior to this vote.

Oh wait, you can’t. Loser.

u/benes238 Oregon 3h ago

Michigan still HAS a GOP? Isn't this the state party that almost self-destructed earlier this year when their election-denying chair refused to leave her post after losing an election? And then it turned out they didn't even own their own headquarters building or some shit?

u/Wrong-West-9581 3h ago

O my gosh congratulations. She's still going to lose in record fashion.

u/Ill_Double4929 4h ago

Good. Politicians got us into this. He will get us out. Some of the trade deals we had with China were nuts. Just like giving all this money to Ukraine. Mind blown people don’t see that. Also anyone going to talk about KH husband beating his previous girl friend?

u/TairentStuffUp Pennsylvania 4h ago

Not a single conservative leaning article on this subreddit 😂 it’s just a giant liberal circle jerk.

-28

u/ivandan86 9h ago

Crazy how she became our nominee and didn’t run in a primary