Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said none of the 8 presidents he served would recognize the GOP today, saying its values are 'hard to find these days'
Category: News & Politics
Via: flynavy1 • 4 years ago • 89 commentsBy: wbostock@businessinsider.com (Bill Bostock) 3 hrs ago (MSN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
© CBS Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on "Face the Nation" on Sunday. CBS
- Robert Gates told CBS on Sunday that traditional GOP values were "hard to find these days."
- He said none of the presidents he served, including five Republicans, would recognize the party now.
- He agreed that Trump's election claims gave enemies an opportunity to say the US is "a declining power."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates rebuked the Republican Party on Sunday, saying none of the presidents he served would recognize it today.
"I worked for eight presidents. Five of them were Republicans. I don't think any of them would recognize the Republican Party today," Gates, a Republican, told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
"The values and the principles that the Republican Party stood for under those five presidents are hard to find these days," he told the host John Dickerson.
Dickerson also asked whether the Capitol riot and former President Donald Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged gave "an opportunity to America's enemies to say America is a declining power," and Gates said he agreed.
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But Gates said he didn't think many Republican lawmakers actually thought the 2020 election was fraudulent, calling the claim "political gaming rather than a real conviction."
He also praised Rep. Liz Cheney, who earlier this month was ousted from her congressional GOP leadership role for refusing to back Trump's election-fraud claims, saying she was a person "of real integrity."
Gates began his career with the CIA in the late 1960s and ended it as President Barack Obama's defense secretary in 2011. He had also served Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
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I'm sure Robert Gates is considered a RINO these days.
I always considered him pretty centered, and a person that put country first. Eight of our former presidents seemed to think so.....
They have become the party of ''no'' and delusional thinking.
How many times does a person need to hear at a dinner party that they've had enough to drink before they get the message and decide to sit down.....
The GOP right now is filled with bad drunks. They are either drunk on their own power, or drunk on the lies told by their leaders. In some cases, both.
He served quite a few presidents. I think he knows what he's talking about
I'd say he's a Goldwater Republican.... pretty much where I'm at.
I still remember when he got up in the Pope's grill when he condoned overpopulation (large families). Goldwater said to him "You no playa the game, you no makea the rules."
goldwater knew what a domestic threat bible thumpers posed to our democracy.
goldwater knew what a domestic threat bible thumpers posed to our democracy.
Yep, accepted dumbing down of society while creating division within America. The "were closer to God than you are so were better" syndrome.
Todays' gop/gqp/republicans have no values or standards or principles or morals or empathy or . . . . . . . . . . . .
#45 and his criminal enterprise of an administration tried to burn it all down and give us a great big fuck you on their way out the door and they're still at it now with all these bogus recounts
.
They should never get a chance to get anywhere near the White House for very long time
It's because a serial liar and accused sexual predator whispered sweet nothings in their ear like "I'll ban abortion, build a wall to keep out the Mexicans and give America back to white Christian evangelicals..." then grabbed them by the pussy, and instead of slapping the hand away they grabbed his wrist and tried to shove it in further like a desperate deplorable prostitute.
lovely description, LMAO, sounds like it's pretty accurate. I'm sure their god will have something to say to them. Ignoring your tenants of faith for political expediency is is truly "Christ-Like."
small "c" Christians anyone.
Robert Gates claims the five Republican Presidents he served would not recognize today's Republican Party.
Would someone, please, explain why that is a bad thing.
His name is Robert
You beat me by 16 seconds. I went back through the seed to look for Bill's involvement, but couldn't find anything about it.
Yes, it is. Robert Gates. My mistake. I've edited my error. Thank you for pointing it out.
I almost screwed up and said his name was David.
You have now exhausted the world supply of well known Gates.
Not sure what Bill Gates has to do with any of this. Please clarify.
Posters should always try to check their entries for typos. If you don't you are potentially subject to correction/mild ridicule.
Better safe than sorry.
What don't they understand about that ?
Well, you are correct in the sense that some Republicans are proud of the fact that they are proponents of Trumpism.
There are unexplained mysteries arent there?
And what, exactly, is Trumpism?
Democrats don't want the Republican Party to change in spite of all their blathering. That's why Democrats invest so much effort into keeping Ronald Reagan alive.
And what, exactly, is Trumpism?
Trumpism - Wikipedia
Democrats don't want the Republican Party to change in spite of all their blathering. That's why Democrats invest so much effort into keeping Ronald Reagan alive.
And I just just took you off ignore a week ago..... Now I see why I put you there in the first place.
The only way I can see to detox you is by a strict diet of Reuters and BBC
Oh bull. It was the republicans themselves that kept Reagan alive, as their patron conservative saint.
Now he has been tossed to the scrapheap and replaced.
Speaking of blathering . . . .
Ah, the old "I know it when I see it" argument. Defining Trumpism as the politics of Donald Trump and his supporters really doesn't explain very much.
It seems that Democrats calling for national unity to support a populist Democratic agenda doesn't differ that much from Trump's politics. How does Joe Biden chiding and scolding us about being Americans differ from Trump's more patriotic appeals for being Americans?
Democrats have dedicated themselves to proving Ronald Reagan was wrong about big government. Democrats have a vested interest in keeping Ronald Reagan alive politically. Trump wasn't a small government Republican, though.
Yes, Republicans kept Ronald Reagan alive politically. Until Trump showed up.
Why is it a bad thing that Nixon, Ford, Reagan, G.H.W Bush, and G.W. Bush would not recognize today's Republican Party? Is that bad for Republicans or is that bad for Democrats?
The Democrats understood them because they were Establishment Republicans. All Establishment politicians are just different sides of the the same coin politically. They all answer to the same overall masters. That is acceptable.
Can't have politicians that don't know their place and that won't kowtow to the proper people.
It's bad for humanity, it's bad for decency.
Followers of Trumpism have absolutely refused to hold Trump responsible for his mountainous amount of lies and corruption. That is because they approve of the ideology - white grievance, white nationalism, christian theocracy, and the lure of the ideology is stronger than the desire to hold him to account.
Worse, many of them inexplicably claim that Trump was correct and did no wrong.
Again.... you thinking/stating anything Trump did was in the name of patriotism is hogwash.
I've watched your obfuscation on steroids approach with others here on NT. You reject truths, and facts while trying to sell your far right talking points as reality. Back on ignore you go!
So, the Republican Party of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and G.W. Bush stood for humanity and decency? Then why were Democrats so opposed to that Republican Party?
Maybe because it's not really about Trump.
Democrats want Trump to carry them piggy-back through the midterm election. Democrats need Trump in the spotlight as a bogeyman. But Trump has been blocked and banned; Trump isn't in the news. Democrats are trying to keep Trump in the news but other events are attracting more attention.
Democrats invested an enormous amount of effort into dividing the country. How are Democrats going to unite the country now? Does Joe Biden's two-state solution apply to the United States as well?
They could not do that if the Rs would detach from Trump and find a new leader.
The Trumpublican tent is a very small one. Small tent parties doesn't usually do very well electorally. I'm not claiming anything is certain yet, but we'll all have a better idea where the party is headed around the middle of the 2024 primaries.
I suspect you will be quite surprised
Robert Gates told CBS on Sunday that traditional GOP values were "hard to find these days."
After the last 5 years, who can remember what 'traditional GOP values' were in the first place?
I can recall one....personal responsibility
They seem to have forgotten that one! Along with everything else.
I can recall a second one...... Belief in law and order.
Look no further than them running from what happened during the Capitol riots of 6JAN21...
They've been running pretty hard from that since 1/6/2021 - they're still catching all the traitors now.
I agree, the R party has lost its way. They initially rejected the Trump parasite but eventually succumbed to its infection. Why they do not take steps to rid themselves of this parasite remains a mystery (to me). There are other human beings who can support the so-called 'Trump Platform' since what Trump pursued (by words at least) is standard R party policy. So why continue with a proven narcissist and pathological liar who, for the first time in history, as a sitting PotUS, irresponsibly exploited the influential power of his office to engage in a post-election con-job in an attempt to steal an election?
Not true, at least not with Republican voters. Polling showed Trump was a viable contender for the Republican nomination just a few weeks after he announced his candidacy in the summer of 2015.
Donald Trump Tops 30% in CNN/ORC poll | CNN Politics
Sep 10, 2015 · Donald Trump has become the first GOP presidential candidate to top 30% support in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll .
The R party leadership did not support Trump. The reason it acquiesced is because the R voters insisted on Trump.
I am curious, why did you zero in on this nuance and declare 'Not True'? Clearly you agree with my comment and you realize that the R party leadership did not want Trump to be their nominee.
Obviously the R electorate supported Trump since he did indeed become the nominee and eventually won the presidency.
He never got much higher than 30% in four years either.
So he is saying some republicans think their constituents are idiots and are using the lie to snowjob them.
The US has gone from being a super power to being a super laughing stock since 2016.
None of the eight presidents Gates served under had an adoration, need or personal fear of what a Russian leader might know about him.