And yet said republicans are only viable politicians when they can win over non GOP voters like in Vermont

Vermont is almost entirely a blue state! Phill Scott is successful as a Republican in Vermont because he is able to win over democrats with a combination of moderate politics and a strong level of local credibility.

He would be destroyed in Texas or Florida. You’ve got to realize that the people that vote in Phill Scott every election are the same people that have consistently kept Bernie Sanders in power… a self professed socialist

I’m not the person you replied to but I can comment to this effect. (Sorry for the wall of text - a lot of context to give about the American two-party system).

America has always found itself entrenched in a two party system. Periods that resemble now (very tight competition between the two parties) are very common in American history, but you do get occasional periods where a single party will be dominant for a long stretch. This says just as much about the unsuccessful party as it does the successful one: one is able to represent a large segment of American society, and the other is not. In this situation, the unsuccessful party will always rebrand to increase it’s relevancy (the alternative is that a party collapses and a new one forms, but that has not happened for >170 years). As an example, the Democratic Party (today includes Obama and Biden) once was the first choice for racist Southerners who were butthurt about the civil war. The Republican Party (today includes Trump) was led by the likes of Lincoln and was extremely progressive in racial issues for the time.

All this to say that the Republican Party doesn’t have to change in name or branding or even leadership to eliminate Trumpism and provide a platform for moderates. History tells us that, instead of a successful 3rd party rising up and replacing the Republicans, we will simply see a relatively short period (maybe 12-20 years) of Democrat victories and then the Republicans will be forced to adopt a more reasonable platform.

To an extent, this is already happening. In 2016, Republican Party leaders planned to adopt a platform that was more progressive on racial and women’s issues - they saw it as a lesson learned from their failures in the Obama era. Those same officials were blindsided by Trump’s popularity and had to pivot the opposite direction to meet the mood of the country. Despite Trump’s success though, his platform was never designed or planned as a long term strategy for winning elections and gaining support. Trump’s supporters are overwhelmingly old compared with his opponents, and thus are literally being replaced.

This should illustrate the extent of the republican party’s failure to adapt: they have won ONE presidential election popular vote since 1992. One. Out of eight that have occurred.

People like OP are an important part of this natural process of party realignment. OP rightly should be represented by a major party, but the modern Republican Party is failing to represent him. His is not a rare opinion in American political discourse; there are millions of people who would vote for more moderate conservatives if they had the option. One impact of this is that more far people are registering as “independent” voters than in previous years.

The end result of this, of course, is that the Republican Party is likely to change to represent people like OP over time. If people like OP begin to feel disillusioned with the Republican Party and it’s platform to the extent that they don’t vote, this process will only speed up. OP can do nothing better to quench the rise of far right trumpism than to be a political orphan for a while. That’s exactly what we’re encouraging by pointing out that his party hates him.

TL;DR

This dichotomy is not new in American politics and OP will actually do more to change the GOP from the outside than from the inside.

Never had that or met anybody who has. You should go to a doctor bro

After setting up the PC, search “defender” in the toolbar and poke around a little bit. The security settings are very intuitive, so I’m sure you can modify things to your liking.

GOP

Trump-Lovers not welcome

Dude, take a look at trump’s poll numbers for registered republicans. You are the one who is not welcome in the modern GOP, and you should stop kidding yourself about that fact.

Ngl I’ve had non-alcoholic beers that I could not distinguish from real ones.

(The same is not true for wine. Non-alcoholic wine is ass)

Strongly agree about iced tea and kombucha. Both can be bought or made at home, and are naturally complex, fruity, and diverse in flavor.

I think people suggesting very sugary drinks like coke are missing the point somewhat

Disturb the bag (shaking, turning, and rustling) as little as possible. Reach in with your hand or a spoon to get cereal instead of pouring it out.

You have the palate of a child

It is really dumb to make it a hard cutoff in the first place. Colorado uses a system in which someone who is 15 can consent to sex with someone no older than 18. At 16 you can date consent with someone up to age at 19, and at 17 up to age 20. At age 18, people are considered adults and there is no longer an age limit to consent.

It is wholly necessary to protect children from sexual predators using age of consent laws. At the same time, it is a bit ridiculous to pretend that people in their teens don’t have sexual relationships with one another, and the law ought to reflect that. I certainly don’t feel that an 18-year-old should be considered a criminal for dating a 17-year-old, anyway.