One way I've tried to keep myself centered in politics is ask myself, "if the (D) and (R) were reversed in this situation, would I still believe the same thing?" I would like to think most elected leaders do this as well.

It was one reason I think I was at my most conservative under Bill Clinton, because I felt like the D's were not practicing this. They didn't care about the regular lies, they didn't care about his treatment of women, it was the economy, stupid.

I was hoping McCain would get the nomination in 2000 but I was able to get behind Bush because I never liked Gore. He kept accusing Bush 41 of McCarthyism and I just thought his rhetoric was over-the-top. I was so relieved when Bush won.

I thought if Gore was honest, he'd have demanded a statewide recount instead of just recounts in the most Democratic counties in Florida. Really did feel like he was fishing for votes.

Then 9/11 happened. Proud of my Commander-in-Chief. Trusted him on Afghanistan. Was highly skeptical on Iraq. Felt like they were trying to blur the intelligence and that Bush just wanted an excuse to go after Saddam. "I guess they have evidence of WMDs."

Now in the media, Fox News was becoming big, Rush Limbaugh was still a force, etc., and it felt like a "Both sides are nasty" thing. Michael Moore's deceitfully cut docs and Olbermann's nightly hate rants were countered by Hannity and Michael Savage and these types.

By 2004 I couldn't re-elect Bush. I voted third party. I hated how wrong they'd been on Iraq and handled everything. I hated that Rush & co. were trying to justify torture as a conservative principle. I hated the Abu Ghraib pics.

When Bush nominated Harriet Myers I was just like "He is not taking this seriously." And the nail in the coffin was the housing bubble. Bush had come in, got us into two wars, tanked the economy, and limped away in 2009.

I was able to support McCain, but ultimately glad Obama won, especially as Sarah Palin got nuttier. I also thought Rush had lost his mind when Obama won. Obama had done something at the end of January and Rush was like "This is now Obama's recession!"

Felt like many in the populist right lost their minds. Tea Party was about anger over taxes. Within months it became more about illegal immigration. Wait, what? Grifters distorted it and twisted it. And that whole birtherism thing...

Obamacare was a rickety mess that the GOP wouldn't touch, but they kept ignoring this giant hold-up. There SHOULD be protection against pre-existing conditions! "Don't let the government get between you and your doctor." "Um, my INSURANCE is getting between me and my doctor!"

I was rooting for Romney. Thought he was a good man. Hated what Huckabee did to him in 2008. In 2012, Romney looked like the only serious person on stage. Newt Gingrich? Michelle Bachmann? Are we kidding?

Throughout it all, I thought the media was very unfair to Mitt. Obama's team stooped to new lows in trashing him. Harry Reid flat-out lied about Romney's taxes, grinned like a Chessire cat when doing so. They implied Romney was indirectly responsible for someone dying of cancer.

So while the Dems and most of the media didn't seem to think Fast & Furious was a big deal, bombing kids in other countries was at best unfortunate, Russia was no threat at all, etc., the populist Right lost their minds.

Rush became nuttier, Hannity became nuttier, those weird online conservatives who were subversive turned out to be "alt right" white nationalists. Romney's campaign can only blame itself for the 2012 loss, but Romney became a scapegoat. He wasn't "tough" enough.

The Populist Right said "They've been calling us racist, sexist, homophobes who want to pollute the oceans and push Grandma down the stairs and we're tired of it! We need a fighter!" Besides, it's those illegal aliens that are dragging us down. Enter Trump.

So through the years once I became involved in UTGOP politics, I'd keep asking myself about candidates and positions, "Would I still believe this if the R and D were reversed?" And increasingly it seemed like others on "my" side didn't care.

The justification seemed to be that the other side are hypocrites. Sure, but let's not be hypocrites too. But with Trump, they got someone who lied more than Bill Clinton, treated women worse than Bill Clinton, and was a complete con-man. "But he's a fighter!"

Rush got on board quick, Hannity got on board quick, the Infotainers revealed themselves to not really have core principles, they were there to tell their audiences what they wanted to hear, and they wanted Trumpism. The MSM gave Trump free airtime because he brought ratings.

What I thought was conservatism in the 1990's is nothing like what conservatism is being defined as today. The ones with ideas are in the minority. The ones who want to solve hard problems, well, there's no appetite for that. Conservatism is "whatever Trump says."

And as social media has splintered us off and nurtured echo chambers and misinformation silos we get more divided. Me personally, I wish we had vibrant 3rd, 4th and 5th parties. Where coalitions would have to be formed, consensus built, etc. The duopoly is choking America.

Meanwhile I shake my head as Trumpers call Fox News left-wing and take their eyeballs to Newsmax and OANN, because those channels tell them what they want to hear. Words like "truth" and "facts" have no meaning anymore.

So this 2020 election, this enema of an election is one that we needed. The LWNJ's who thought they could pack the courts and conduct Nuremberg trials for everyone in the Trump administration were given a message.

The GOP may keep the Senate, and they picked up seats in the House. Despite the hypocritical a-holery of McConnell, Graham, Cruz, Gaetz, Nunes, Jordan, Collins, Gohmert, etc., America put them back in there. Enough people still like what the GOP has traditionally stood for.

But Trump himself? Repudiated. 78 million Americans, beating the previous record by over 9 million, told him to pack up and leave. Enough of the lies, enough of the bullying, enough of the divisive, nasty, nepotistic corruption. Just go away.

Trump's been the darkest cloud over the GOP since Watergate, but he has cult-leader charisma. He'll still tweet daily, he'll still call in to sycophantic hosts like Lou Dobbs, he'll still be called the greatest president ever on Parler.

Once he's finally out of power, the Republicans will need to check and see if any of them have spines left, and who will emerge and lead. It'll be the nationalist-populist Trumpists on one side of the debate; who is on the other?

Ironic how anyone who's disagreed with Trump the past four years has been called a RINO. Trump was a Reform party guy in 1999, a Democrat in the 2000's, and joined the GOP only after Obama won. Who are the RINOs?

I look forward to things in DC feeling a little bit more like things are back to normal. I look forward to not worrying what really dumb thing is my President up to today. Mitt Romney's been glowing lately. Tim Scott seems unscathed.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk, and by TED talk, I mean stream-of-consciousness rambling. /fin