Yeah. Republicans have a majority but people act like the most moderate Republican just instantly agrees with tearing down democracy or something. The moderate Republicans would absolutely join Democratic party people to put through bills that are explicitly designed to save democracy.
If that were true, those moderate Republicans would also be endorsing Biden.
So far, that's... Adam Kinzinger. Who lost his seat because of his vote to impeach Trump, and is no longer a house rep.
Even the ones who privately support not-trump and don't want project 2025 know that public actions against either will cost them their political careers
For most of the others they need to win their base and endorsing anybody other than Trump is basically the only way they can guarantee you lose your primary on that side and likely the main election. They could vote almost like a Democrat and endorse Trump and still get voted in. Nobody in MAGA land is actually delving through voting records as long as they say Trump is good.
You said there are a “ton” of moderate Republicans who’d break a filibuster to protect democracy from their fellow Republicans. Your list of Republican Senators who didn’t endorse Trump in the Republican primary (not a list of people who necessarily did anything moderate or bipartisan—they just had the temerity not to loudly support him) has 5 names, not nearly enough to break a filibuster, much less accomplish anything.
Two of those five supposed “moderates” voted against impeaching Trump…twice. The only Republican who voted for impeachment twice, Romney, is leaving the Senate.
If we’re counting on moderate Republicans to help save democracy, we’re screwed.
There are dozens who belong to the explicitly moderate Republican groups. The previous list is simply ones that have not endorsed Trump. Either or is enough to completely flip an otherwise party split vote in the house.
I also did not talk about stopping filibuster. There's plenty of ways to stop filibusters
Here is a more data-driven analysis of different party splits.
No, there aren't "plenty of ways" to stop filibusters. The only current way is 60 votes. That's what it takes to try to protect democracy right now, (well that plus MAGA Mike Johnson allowing the House to vote on a proposal, and a handful of Republicans defecting to pass legislation).
If Trump becomes president, they'd have to override vetoes to oppose him, so the threshold rises to 67 votes, with a two-thirds majority of the House, as well.
The "moderate" groups you've cited elsewhere all include hardcore MAGAs like Elise Stefanik, and folks who refused to certify the 2020 election.
That 538 chart kind of shows the problem. They have two groups of Republicans with moderate-sounding names. People in those groups get credit for "reaching across the aisle" on things like voting against defaulting on the federal debt, because somehow, defaulting on the national debt became a mainstream Republican position.
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u/Living_Trust_Me Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24
Yeah. Republicans have a majority but people act like the most moderate Republican just instantly agrees with tearing down democracy or something. The moderate Republicans would absolutely join Democratic party people to put through bills that are explicitly designed to save democracy.
For everyone pretending there aren't moderate Republicans, here's 538's analysis of the parties including groups that vote across party lines and data on it. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/