Former Governor Mark Sanford, R-SC, joins Morning Joe to discuss his new memoir 'Two Roads Diverged,' and why he says the Republican Party and the country are at a crossroads.
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Mark Sanford: We Are At A Crossroads As A Party And As A Nation
Well, maybe there’s something fundamentally rotten about the “conservative philosophy” and how conservatives use it to hide all the wrong ways they get power
Yup. That about covers it.
Liberal and conservative are ideals that together make a dichotomy. Caution and recklessness. Frugality and spend free. Holding onto the past and looking into the future. Xenophobia and worldliness. Neither is “better” or “superior” than the other. They each have strengths and weaknesses and the key to good governance is knowing when to use one or the other.
These nutjobs who have taken over the ridiculous party aren’t philosophical conservatives. They’re idolists. Fawning devotees to an aspiring Tyrant. This is that unique situation where reviewing how Hitler and the nazi party came to power isn’t being alarmist, it’s being forewarned.
When Trump gushes over some strongman ruler and pines about being a dictator. He means it. When he talks about locking his political enemies up in prison cells, he means it.
Remember one of the few true things that he’s ever said “I never joke.”
@Dittzx THIS
By their very nature, conservatives are fearful. Their politicos once insisted they were “cautious “. Now they USE fear to manipulate and even STILL are fearful themselves. “There’s no racism ” they say. Then why are they so fearful at a perceived loss of privilege? Going round&round in circles of their own making, rushing into madness…
@Scott Ryals Eventually equilibrium resolves static. That’s why.
Dude you were at a fork on the road when Ronald Reagan was in office… You’re late to the party.
@Carol Wilson Nixon used the Southern Strategy. Every elected Republican president, when they want to get elected or stay in office (except for McCain), has fallen back on the same grounds so no, he was not a good president. He was a wannabe dictator, a liar and a cheat and he deliberately set us on the path to another civil war.
@Rather Not Say I go back to Eisenhower’s time – the last Republican President I respected. It goes back to Joe McCarthy and the John Birch Society and J. Edgar Hoover, but Nixon was the first time it almost got out of control. That’s 2 close calls and the 2nd one ain’t over yet.
I said as much in my comment. I watched the decline of the Working Class with more and more alarm starting with Reagan. That was the beginning, in earnest, of the Republican cult-hold on their voters. I was in it – voted for Reagan twice and I regret it deeply.
@Rather Not Say It was Regan you seem to have him confused with Dicky.
@Steve Folkes, I made that mistake once in 1984. Never again.
Also, I agree with your assessment regarding the gop. A name to add with McCarthy is Roy Cohn. He has figured prominently in all of this.
“The name of the game is staying in the game.”
There’s your answer to why these nutbag Republicans continue to push the nonsense.
The more crazy people, the more they CAN stay in the game.
Crazy is right and calling for more violence. Lara trump was on fox saying people should arm up, get guns because they may have to take matters into their own hands.
@andrea Perry You dumb liberals trying to take away peoples guns and defunding the police, would force people to have to arm themselves, unless your solution is to call GHOSTBUSTERS, your side is actually recreating the OLD WEST, be careful what you wish for.
Anyone who prizes job security over anything else should not be in politics.
@DUBD3NN15 These conversations are for Grown-Ups not kids . go in the back yard and play with your Trump Dolls.
@Dog Poo Fairy you’re funny. Very stupid, but funny.
Republicans are the ones who fed extremists as Grinwitch in the nineties, who welcomed the Tea Party in the 2000’s, who approved McConnell « opposition to everything » in the 2010’s. They shouldn’t be surprised that the end result is tRump.
Exactly, and back in the 90’s Joe Scarborough was part of the imaginary “Trickle Down Economics of the 80s and the Tax Cuts” for the rich.
@Dittzx You moved on from Hunters laptop to Joe Scarborough? LOLZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
@Dittzx yes, but at least the trinkle down effect is a policy you can debate about in good faith. With extremists, there is nothing to discuss (unless you want to lose time on the pizza gate and the Jewish space lasers).
@wooster Agree 100%.
@bombastic attitude ????
They were absolutely responsible and are soothing their guilty souls for this mess by denying it. They paved the way with their nonsense for more egregious nonsense. The whole country is paying the price for their power trips. Thanks, A-holes.
Yesssss 💯💯💯💯
They also never talk about their fealty to the Christian Right being a factor.
I think the crossroads was the 2000 Election that the Supreme Court gave to Dubya. The point of no return was originally the 2010 mid-terms only for the 2020 election to provide an unexpected off-ramp. Unfortunately, the Dems refuse to treat the GOP like the Domestic enemy of the constitution they are
@Qahir Makhani Good point. I forgot about the Bush era.
Is “Conservative” philosophy simply Monarchy
in a new package?
Did the Southern States want a small number of people
controlling government, as well as the spending of tax dollars,
for their own personal domain?
Is this something we had a Revolution to depart from?
Are all men created equal,
or are some more equal?
“There are two causes of political revolutions, when those at the bottom seek to be equal, and when those who are equal seek to be on top.” — Aristotle, Politics
Check out what Dr. Masha Gesson writes about the WHY of the rise of authoritarianism.
Equality is racist now and oppression is what the left craves. It’s become a fetish for them.
@Tal Moore The current measure of economic value,
seems to be artificial and lacking
in real status.
The value of money has become some inherited state of mind.
Can Trust Fund Kids supervise the government?
Is the inflation affecting the price of Politicians?
How long can we continue to use Fiat Dollars that future generations must pay for?
How long will the Roaring Twenties, Roar this time?
@Mimzy Jinx When half the Nation has difficulty feeding their children, we seem to have a problem with greed…..
There is no Left or Right, just people who maintain opinions…..
Sorry, Mark, there is no Republican Party. We are not all “in this together”. With Qanon there is no shared reality. Qanon is not the solution to our problems; big government (properly run) is. – R. Regan
This isn’t about taking it “way too far”. Way too far is where it starts out.
Marc “Appalachian Trail” Sanford lost me in the first minute talking about “the erosion of norms and institutions and traditions”–traditions like suppression of opposition votes and denying the franchise to the Nigras; we know South Carolina history, Marc.
So on point 🙌🏾
When there’s only one person calling the shots for your party. It’s no longer a party, it’s a cult.
@Redjam Redjam the troll thing is as old as the crust in your underwear so come up with something new
@Karma Hunsaker
Awe little chenkov hush n go play semenov
Lmaoooooo
@Redjam Redjam learn to speak English duh
@Karma Hunsaker
Lmaoooooo
Your desperation is showing komrade goleeeboi
Go play troll
@Karma Hunsaker Your cult sure does believe a lot of crazy sh*t.
Looking from the outside in, over here in Europe:
Yes, the “class of 1994” has contributed to the GOP going into this direction. Newt Gingrich started with the identity politics.
And the GOP has been only playing lip service to democracy, while enacting voter suppression for many decades.
back in the 90’s Joe Scarborough was part of Newt Gingrich Southern Strategy gang and their imaginary “Trickle Down Economics of the 80s and the Tax Cuts” for the rich.
Good observation.
Looks the same from north of the US border, too.
Go tell your conservative “friends.” Progressives already know we have a problem.
@joel M The majority of Americans disagree with you.
@joel M <— The Inglourious Basterds are lookin for you to tattoo your Ossified Nazi forehead. 😜
@FirehorseCreative not every republican is a racist but every racist is a republican.
@joel M we know. You have no beliefs.
@joel M LOSER TRUMP 4 EVER.
Is this dude still hiking the “trail?” 😂
It’s called selling your soul. Ironic how it all turned out. The golden Trump was the final straw. Nothing but total frauds.
Mark Sanford’s faux surprise at the absolute corruption and self-interest of the GOP is sickening. He’s known and participated in corruption for decades.
“The name of the Game is stay in the Game.” That is a fitting moral value for the Republican Party. To serve the base is to serve the Traitor..
That road was crossed under Reagan and now the R party is a full blown cult .
The Republicans have been gerrymandering as long as I can remember.
Your governing philosophy was: all for the rich. The end.
BS. Conservative “values” means more money for the rich. That is what has led us to this point.
It’s just a difference of opinion on how to do it.