I-5 wrote:Trump gained a lot of power, first as the nominee of the party he ran for, then as POTUS. It remains to be seen how much power he can hold onto as a former POTUS, but I think he's showing that even losing an election convincingly isn't enough to sway his true believers, which shockingly included politicians (I'm not so shocked personally, but I think some in this forum are surprised). I do think a lot of that power will drain after Biden moves into the WH (no one likes a loser)...but I don't think it will go away, because a lot of people have invested so much, they have no choice but to keep going, and he gives them a reason to keep going by spreading more and more lies to support their bad choices. I have a feeling he's going to continue to be the voice of the party simply because he's an effective bully, and he has rabid supporters. The only way he can be stopped is if a big voice (either well known or not well known yet) from the republican party stands up to him in a way that no one has before him. I don't know who that voice is.
I think that's a reasonable take.
One of the things no one has mentioned is the effect the pandemic and the associated shutdowns are having on the country. My wife and I were just commenting how aggressive and nasty some of the posts on our neighborhood blog ("Next Door") have been. I posted a very politely worded request for people not to let their kids drive their ATV's on our horse riding trails (all on private property and strictly prohibited) and man, did I get attacked! People everywhere are on edge.
There were more riots in Portland last night. It's not clear what they were rioting about. The only clue is from posts on social media that it had to do with the BLM movement. Jezus, I'm getting tired of this chit.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/prote ... uxbndlbing
It started in 2020, so I'm still optimistic.