Summary
Florida Representative Susan Valdes announced her switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party shortly after her re-election.
She expressed alignment with Republican Speaker Daniel Perez’s vision and a desire to address her constituents’ needs.
While acknowledging potential policy disagreements, Valdes emphasized respect within the Republican supermajority.
Her defection strengthens Republican control in the Florida House and highlights growing divisions within state politics.
Why doesn’t this ever go the other way with a Republican turning coat into a Democrat?
Blind loyalty is a trait with conservatives. “Progressives need to fall in love with their leader, but conservatives merely need fall in line”
It does sometimes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_party_switchers_in_the_United_States#Republican_to_Democratic
You cant sell out by turning democrat. Closest possible thing is a republican somehow offending the other republicans, and turning to democrat in the hopes that the democrats will accept them and protect them from political retribution. Which democrats probably wont, were not known for our spine so much as our quick judgements.
Because when you move from left to right, you’re welcomed with open arms, but trying to go from right to left is met with hostility. Hell, I’m barely on the right culturally, yet I’m often treated as if I’m far-right - especially online. If anything, this just pushes me further to the right, which, I’d argue, is exactly how we ended up with four more years of Trump and will likely lead to eight years of J.D. Vance next unless “the left” gets their act together.
“People think my beliefs are X, therefore I begin to believe X.”
So what I hear is you have no actual beliefs and are influenced too easily.
Thank you for illustrating his point.
Not really… You know how I reconcile when someone I’m talking to has misconstrued my positions? I reiterate what those positions are, and make it clear what it is that I believe in so that people will not get it confused. It’s very simple.
I don’t react by crying about people misconstruing my positions and then voting for someone who holds the complete opposite views out of some weird form of spite
Yeah, you don’t - but plenty of other people do. Joe Rogan and Elon Musk are perfect examples of this. You can dislike it all you want, but that doesn’t stop people from acting this way. What a party stands for doesn’t matter much if it can’t win elections. If their political approach isn’t working, doubling down is unlikely to help. Right now, what the “left” is doing isn’t winning them elections, and people are moving to the right - partly out of spite, because the left bullied them there.
No, my beliefs don’t change. Only who I vote for.
If you’re barely right wing in the US, then you’re pretty far right on the scale of the developed world.
I’m Canadian, and I consider the Democrats to be a fairly right-wing party on the whole.
When you’re online, you’re working with a different scale than if you’re just in a US environment.
Ah yes, another person “being pushed far right” because of the meanies.
No, we got to this because people got lied enough to force a news network to pay $787 million and others to read scripted messages explaining the election wasn’t stolen on TV.
Because politicians are generally opportunists and the fascist party offers more opportunities for personal enrichment for those with no loyalty to their voters.
Also, doing it in the other direction is a surefire way to get death threats and worse…
It’s simple. Most Democrats are simply Republicans practicing under an air of ethics. It’s easy to give up those ethics when a person doesn’t truly believe them and then realizes nobody will hold them accountable.
Because people usually get dumber and greedier with age after ~30 or stay the same.