Posts tagged Republican Party

BDBB – An interview with Andy Brehm and Fmr. Rep. Kelly Fenton

on by Michael Brodkorb Share

On this episode of The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, Michael Brodkorb and Becky Scherr break down the following:

The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky will return with a new episode next week.

Read More

In the news: A Trump indictment may help Trump

on by Michael Brodkorb Share

I spoke to Politico about how an indictment of former President Trump may end up helping Trump and harming the entire GOP.

Sensing an opening, Trump’s campaign began to turn the impending indictment into a litmus test for the rest of the field: either defend the ex-president, they warned, or be labeled a leftist sympathizer.

Even Trump’s GOP detractors began to see the writing on the wall.

“He’s become the new Teflon president,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party and a longtime critic of Trump. “He is someone who has built his entire political empire on being the victim all the time, and being the martyr, and this is just another example.”

For the duration of the Trump era, Trump has sought to turn one seemingly disqualifying scandal after another into his benefit. Sometimes he’s succeeded (the Access Hollywood tape was not the dagger everyone expected it to be), sometimes he’s struggled (the aftermath of the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 remains largely unkind). In each case, he’s survived.

Click here to read the complete story from Politico.

In the news: Breaking up with Trump

on by Michael Brodkorb Share

I spoke to Politico about the need for Republicans to move past Donald Trump and how Republicans have made this difficult.

Trump has survived bad election nights before, often by denying the results themselves. He still has not conceded his own loss in 2020 to Joe Biden — a denialism that has reached many elected officials in his party. On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, a similar wave of election conspiracy theorizing erupted online to dismiss the idea that the midterms had been any sort of repudiation of Trump, let alone a lackluster night for Republicans.

In part, for this reason, some GOP operatives argued, it would remain difficult to imagine Trump being dethroned any time soon as the party’s kingmaker.

“It’s like telling your kid they need to go clean their room, and they deny the room exists,” explained Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party.

“Donald Trump should be politically dead. They should recognize that,” he said. “But of course, they won’t … That’s the beauty of not living in the real world.”

Click here to read the complete story from Politico.

In the news: Extremism inside the Republican Party

on by Michael Brodkorb Share

I spoke to Politico about how extremism has become more mainstream inside the Republican Party, especially in the aftermath of the attacks on the United States Capitol.

Fully two-thirds of Republicans say they don’t view the riot at the Capitol as an attack on government, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. And though Republicans largely disapprove of the actions of those who forced their way into the Capitol, according to a CBS News poll this week, they were more likely to describe what happened that day as an act of “patriotism” or “defending freedom” than an insurrection.

“Extremism has become somewhat mainstream inside the party now,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Republican Party in Minnesota, where Republicans are hosting a vigil for Jan. 6 defendants in rural Aitkin County. “What has occurred over the last few years is that the party apparatus has been soiled a bit by a very extremist, militant element inside the party that is just simply dangerous.”

He said, “It’s becoming harder to distinguish these people from the rank-and-file members … It’s just appalling. And it should be scary.”

Click here to read the complete story from Politico.