For decades it has been popular to refer to more liberal leaning Republicans as “RINOs” or “Republicans In Name Only”. It is a disparaging term that is meant to paint the Republican in question as someone who puts an (R) after their name but doesn’t sufficiently hold to what are considered to be “conservative” policies. It was often case with New England Republicans who somehow managed to hold their seats running as a Republican, while voting like a Democrat. Susan Collins and John Chafee are great examples of this.
What has become apparent since the advent of the Orange Man is that this was always a dumb insult. The reason? What is generally considered to be a RINO has actually always been the mainstream of the Republican Party. While pundits such as William F. Buckley and the people at think tanks like the Heritage Foundation have generally espoused “conservative”* positions, the people who actually run the Republican Party have not. Ronald Reagan was at least from a rhetorical standpoint a conservative but his Vice-President George H.W. Bush certainly was not nor were most of the members of Congress at that time. Before Trump it only got worse in the interim.
The old style Republican Party B.T. (Before Trump) represented the elites of society, the wealthy and the corporate tycoon. When Reagan came to power in the 1980 election he attracted a large following of working class voters, the “Reagan Republicans”, and for the next three dozen decades leading up to the 2016 election, the Republican party campaigned as populists that cared about gun rights and abortion while governing as the champions of Big Business and the wealthy. The pattern repeated election after election. George H.W. Bush and his new world order, Bob Dole talking about his erectile dysfunction in the third person, George W. Bush and his “compassionate (not) conservatism”. John McCain. Mitt Romney.
Even when Republican politicians won, Republican voters lost. Taxes for multination globohomo corporations were lowered, billionaires got richer, legal immigrants and illegal aliens flooded the country, blacks were pandered to and all the while the American working class was stomped. Jobs going overseas and opioids flooding their neighborhoods. Abortion was given lip-service and gun rights were slowly chipped away whenever Republicans could get away with it, and all the while non-Whites flooded into a country that at one time was around 90% White.
Then along came Trump and if we can distinguish between his actual governance versus what White people thought he was promising, for the first time in a very long time the average Joe Six-Pack White guy thought he was finally voting for someone that would have his interests front and center. It didn’t work out that way and a lot of that was because the Republican establishment decided to hamstring Trump at every step of the way.
It wasn’t because the Republican Party didn’t like Trump.
It was because they hated you.
The Republican Party didn’t change, it was just exposed for what it really was and in doing so it proved that the “RINOs” were not Republicans in Name Only, they were the Republican Party. At least the part that mattered, the GOP that slurped down cocktails behind closed doors with their Democrat buddies and laughed at how stupid we all are. The vast majority of Republican elected officials are milquetoast borderline liberals who tolerate and chum around with Democrats but have no compunction about screwing over people like you and me. Look how fast the Republican establishment tossed Steve King out just as soon as they had a mildly viable excuse. Steve’s sin? Caring just a little too much about the heritage Americans that elect Republicans into office. Kevin McCarthy and John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell aren’t RINOs, they are the epitome of the Republican Party.
People like Donald Trump, Thomas Massie and Rand Paul are the actual “RINOs” as they are well outside of the GOP establishment. In fact it is even more accurate to say that most Republican voters are indeed RINOs as they have little in common with the people running the GOP. I don’t think many people outside of normiecons even use the term RINO anymore but regardless it is high time we retired it.
* Assume scare quotes around all subsequent uses of the term conservative.
Taking this through the lens of James Burnham’s Managerial Revolution, I’ve come to regard that Democrats tend to represent the government sector managers a little bit more, whereas the Republicans represent the corporate sector managers a bit more.
And not a one of them represent me.
Once again, Charlie Hargrave nails it
Great essay. Once I realized the Republican role in the show, I had to laugh at people calling Mitch McConnell a RINO. He was the face of the party, lol.
Exactly. well said.
And nobody represents us.
TINVOWOOT
This. Electoral politics < sportsball.
Indeed, RINO’s are the face and the guts of the republicant party, which ever betrays a constituency desirous of logic, morality, an equal playing field and the hope of upward mobility, versus the deranged left which outwardly denounces such values and the people that seek to restore them in Western Civilization. The betraying is always far worse than the opposing. As long as republicucks are beholden to The Juice (TM) we will always end up a little further along the road to communism, totalitarianism, death and destruction. Because every time real actual human beings aspire to shed the stocks and chains of The Juice (TM) and their systems, the uprising is met with Infiltration (TM) and Subversion (TM). Those that don’t resist the treason are cowards. Cowards and traitors both burn in the lake of fire.
Ozark, perhaps cowards and traitors do burn in the lake of fire, but more than a few of us have somewhat more timely things to attend to with them…
Amen, brother.
By their works. None of which benefits the middle class or follows their oath to the Constitution. And I mean both parties. Parasites all and they’re killing the host.
Country Club Republican, while perhaps more cumbersome, perfectly defines the people we are talking about and conveys it in a way that everyone can understand
Give a politician enough time & money and he will sell his own mother to a pimp.
RINOs are easily explainable in terms of the Uniparty; what matter if a demo-communist or a faux-republican casts votes that betray the ideals of our Nation? They all shuffle around like amoebas, constantly seeking the position most advantageous to their own aggrandizement.
I expect nothing good from ANY politician, thus, am never left disappointed.
My personal belief is that any person who seeks any office so as to rule or make our decisions for us or who believes himself indispensable to his community is NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
A good politician is one who must be dragged–kicking & screaming–to the political arena for a term-limited period of service.
Also in my world would be a law forbidding lobbying (which is bribery & influence peddling), punishable by death.
I now simply refer to all politicians as the parasite class. But your point is well taken.
Let’s also retire JINO while we’re at it.
Cuck is my go to pejorative.
Rino along with most others have been replaced by it.
My in-law fambly has one county elected official and a few gubbmnet paper pushers. They all used to have Ds behind their names until (p)Resident Obongo. They “courageously” switched to RINO in our 95%+ White precinct. Of course, knowing that some enterprising politico would run as an R in the next cycle and win.
I give them the courtesy of not bringing up politics at their houses, which they don’t reciprocate as they’re RINO normies. When they spill their tripe I’ll usually throw in something like, “I’ll take RINO bullshit talking points for a thousand, Alex”.
It’s fun to then give them the floor and force them to explain, in detail what the hell they are talking about. If they get that far, the tee up for a chance to rip their normiecon rhetoric apart always puts a big exclamation on the end of the evening and brings a smile to my face.
Most people of both parties are in the pockets of the elite, because we don’t have the money that they want.
So, where am I? I love Ron Paul, who should have been elected President. We would live in a much better world now. I have nothing but contempt for all Demonrats-the One, Holy, and Magical Negro was a litmus test of reality and they all failed. I have nothing but contempt for Mittens Romney, Mitch the Bot McConnell, and Paul Ryan. Liars, thieves, and lizard people.
I wish that we-as a country, and as a people-would follow the Constitution, reform every GD tax in this country, slam the door shut on ALL IMMIGRATION except for knowledgeable White people. I want the US Military brought home to defend our friggin’ borders-including Canada (because Trudeau.) I wish all countries well, but WE cannot change your thought patterns, denial of reality, or the need for free stuff. Good luck world governments-now leave us the F#$K alone!
So-where is my party? Don’t tell me Libertarians, cuz that is as nutty as the Green Party. Somewhere, there is someone like me.
Come join us in the Fuck You Party SS…
Americans like us really have no political party that would truly represent and fight for, against all odds, our beliefs, our values and priorities.
Any party based on truth, common sense and justice will always be co-opted and infiltrated by the enemy. Its one of their most tried and true, successful tactics.
Just wait until Cornyn replaces McConnell
Arthur – can you try to have that A.I. image program always show the (((rats))) wearing Tiny Hats?
Yep, you also described the Florida GOP, Zion-Ron who never met an antisemitic speech law he didnt love. Now that shabas goy wants to make it a felony in Florida to criticize jews, or israel. He already signed the bill to do just that on Florida college campuses. This PSA brought to you by AIPAC. So many Americans are enamored with the great red-state polyticks of Florida. Its run by business, and south Florida/NYC joos. Florida has the Lowest paid teachers, cops, prison guards in the nation despite regularly running 6, 8 billion dollar surpluses annually since old Jeb ran it, another rino. I have a beautiful 20 acre ranch in Florida and am leaving. The entire state has been pretty much bought up by investment firms and is being carved up into housing estates from Pensacola to Tallahassee. The city councils could give two shits to improve infrastructure or do responsible planning, theyre all run by masons, they are going to bury that state in housing and illegals, then turn it purple and eventually blue. They are building so many solarfarms that go on for miles, everywhere. The Taxes, utilities and insurances are skyrocketing, more so in some places, factored into most mortgages it is forcing people out of their homes and making them leave and become renters elsewhere. Fuck the GOP and every scum bag that thinks they are the other best choice. Id rather we elect the most communist, totalitarian scumbags and rip off the tourniquet so some, the necessary few can see how deep of shit we are in. Im moving to a small old, very ethnic town up north with negative population growth. Maybe I can bury my head in the sand there for five or ten years and enjoy my yuengling beer for cheap and get some free gibs for a 100% disabled veteran from the blue state commies.
Co-opted and infiltrated. That sucks.
I recently had this conversation about RINO’s are in fact the establishment republicans and using the term RINO no longer means anything.
Republicans have had nothing but their own interests and the interest of a powerful federal government since the first Republican was elected president in 1860. That guy set out to destroy the states’ rights and put into motion the strangling federal regime we live under today.
The Grand Old Politburo wing of the UNI-Soviet?
Even more worthless than those Slick Willie $3 bills from 1990’s political mag.