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Persuading 5 Republicans in the House and Senate to Switch to Independent and Caucus with Democrats [1]

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Date: 2025-02-19

It is a crisis. Trump’s alliance with Russia, his antagonism to our former allies and NATO, and Musk’s insane destruction, or at least paralysis, of our government’s ability to function. I believe we cannot wait for the 2026 elections. We need a handful of Republican Senators and several members of the House to drop their Republican Party affiliation immediately, and, ideally, caucus with Democrats to restore checks and balances.

This should be our Party’s main immediate-term focus — whatever it takes. Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries’ overriding focus over the next several weeks should be to turn any sane Republican — regardless of their ideology — away from the Republican party. Promise to let them keep their committee positions — indeed, promise them whatever they want — if they will vote to oust the spineless Republican leadership in Congress.

I don’t know who the best candidates for conversion are. But I believe there are at least 5 Republican senators who understand:

1. Elon Musk is a drug-addled maniac, who has not been vetted, does not have a security clearance, and does not belong inside any U.S. Government databases. His DOGE revelations so far have been mostly lies, extreme distortions, or nothing burgers, and his actions put U.S. citizen’s personal data, and our country’s most important secrets at risk. We’re wide open, personally and as a nation. Sane Republicans can easily argue this before conservative audiences.

2. Putin is evil and untrustworthy. No alliance with evil ends well. Lots of Republicans know this and sincerely want to preserve the post WWII alliances with Europe and North America and parts of Asia — the Pax Americana.

3. Trump has lost it. I personally don’t think Trump was ever more than a publicity-seeking fraud, but many Americans view him as a bold, successful business guy. Accepting the reality of that misperception, former Republicans can instead argue that Trump has gone soft in the head, and is now beholden to true neo-Nazis like Musk, Vance, Miller, and Vought who mean America no good. Musk’s appearance at that insane White House press conference was the proof of who was really in charge.

Reaching out to sane Republicans who might be willing to convert to Independent or even become Democrats will be very uncomfortable. Some of these Republicans may have wrongheaded or even abhorrent views on some policies. Schumer and Jeffries should reach out to them anyway, and Progressives should swallow our rightful wrath. We should instead welcome their return to political sanity for the continuation of our great Republic, regardless of their mistaken ideology or past actions or statements. There should be no litmus test on Republican conversions in a time of crisis.

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