Republican Party - General Discussion

Peter Sanders4 said:That’s why I avoid paying taxes whenever possible; I know the money will just end up being stolen anyway.

Don't get caught.

I don't own a business, nor am I running any smuggling operations. It’s just bits and pieces—some food, some odd repairs, maybe some tobacco, various little services. Nobody bothers with such small-time players, yet a quarter of this country operates exactly like that.

But then again, even that counts as a form of fighting corruption.

A rather interesting little development. The President has appointed the leader of the Republican Party Youth as a State Secretary within the Department of Labor.
Moving from his role as an advisor to Josip Aladrović, he’s now stepping up to the position of State Secretary.


It seems career progression within the Republican Party is remarkably efficient; I suppose if you spend two years advising Aladrović, you might just find yourself a State Secretary before you know it.

Another little sketch of reality.

The cost of a military skyscraper has ballooned by $2.1 million.

Inherited from Damir Krstičević, this project’s price tag jumped from $7 million to over $9 million. Banožić claims he merely signed a single contract amendment, effectively signing off on costs that were destined to climb.

It is the standard Republican Party playbook regarding public procurement fraud. They select a contractor who likely submitted the lowest bid, only to watch the final price surge by more than 30%.

As for that Department of Labor advisor stepping into a role meant for an Under Secretary—that is just the Republican Party way of rigging civil service hiring.

Exclusive: The European Union has caught a Republican tycoon red-handed. They're alleging fund fraud and are calling on the Department of Justice to step in and prosecute.
Joseph Gallic allegedly scooped up EU funds to build a massive winery out in Napa Valley. However, the European Bureau has uncovered some serious financial irregularities and is now demanding the return of $1.5 million.

Emily Smith6 said:Exclusive: The European Union has caught a Republican tycoon red-handed. They're alleging fund fraud and are calling on the Department of Justice to step in and prosecute.
Joseph Gallic allegedly scooped up EU funds to build a massive winery out in Napa Valley. However, the European Bureau has uncovered some serious financial irregularities and is now demanding the return of $1.5 million.

The subheadline is even richer:

The case has been sitting at the District Attorney's Office for over a year. Still haven't decided if they'll actually open an investigation.

We took a look at how many people are actually claiming they have "private beaches" on Booking.com

Can someone please check how many of those folks on the Republican booking portal actually delivered on what they promised during the last campaign? ☕

urbanowl3 said:We took a look at how many people are actually claiming they have "private beaches" on Booking.com

Can someone please check how many of those folks on the Republican booking portal actually delivered on what they promised during the last campaign? ☕

You're just looking for a fight

First they move to acquire ExxonMobil, then they pivot to the Republican booking portal.

It seems like the perfect moment for the Republican Party to push this anemic figure down the drain. There’s just too much baggage clinging to his reputation lately, and honestly, the pressure on the party from every direction is becoming impossible to ignore.

If they can just move on from the Sun and distance him from all the negative fallout we've seen over the last few months and years, they might actually buy themselves some temporary peace. I suppose if they also decide to shuffle out a few of those Supervili ministers—maybe Grlić-Radman, Horvat, and a few other minor players—they could potentially see a bit of a bump in the polls.

And who exactly would step up to take his place?
Would it be Anušić, backed by the newly resurfaced Miriti Kovač and Stier?

Then what? A total slide back into Karamarking and some weird coalition with Škoro?

Or will they just stick to their usual routine—picking some random, forgettable nobody to lead the party, like a Jasen Mason, Dario Nakić, or Gari Cappelli? 😁

Noah Perez5 said:It seems like the perfect moment for the Republican Party to push this anemic figure down the drain. There’s just too much baggage clinging to his reputation lately, and honestly, the pressure on the party from every direction is becoming impossible to ignore.

If they can just move on from the Sun and distance him from all the negative fallout we've seen over the last few months and years, they might actually buy themselves some temporary peace. I suppose if they also decide to shuffle out a few of those Supervili ministers—maybe Grlić-Radman, Horvat, and a few other minor players—they could potentially see a bit of a bump in the polls.

But how would that even work? Andrej Plenković holds every single lever of power within the Republican Party—aside from the janitors and the low-level nobodies. Don't hold your breath... For Plenković to be ousted, he’d have to seriously screw up. In the Republican dictionary, that means one thing and one thing only: losing the power that guarantees all those cushy jobs and political appointments. And that hasn't happened, nor will it happen in the next three years. I highly doubt there's any chance of early elections because the victory by Možemo in Washington, D.C. made everything incredibly complicated. They mobilized way too many non-voters at the polls, and in this climate, the Republican Party's massive loss of support—about 60,000 votes over the last two election cycles—cannot be ignored. You don't run experiments when things are this shaky, especially when they don't exactly have a track record to brag about... Not even the dimmest among us would fall for the idea that Plenković somehow defeated a pandemic...

So, I’m just sitting here watching the former Republican mayor of Miami—who honestly acts like a total wrecking ball—setting up barricades all over town just to block the new administration's progress...

Morgan Brown4 said:And who exactly would step up to take his place?
Would it be Anušić, backed by the newly resurfaced Miriti Kovač and Stier?

Then what? A total slide back into Karamarking and some weird coalition with Škoro?

Or will they just stick to their usual routine—picking some random, forgettable nobody to lead the party, like a Jasen Mason, Dario Nakić, or Gari Cappelli? 😁

Maybe Ressler? 😁

Edward Cooper2 said:But how would that even work? Andrej Plenković holds every single lever of power within the Republican Party—aside from the janitors and the low-level nobodies. Don't hold your breath... For Plenković to be ousted, he’d have to seriously screw up. In the Republican dictionary, that means one thing and one thing only: losing the power that guarantees all those cushy jobs and political appointments. And that hasn't happened, nor will it happen in the next three years. I highly doubt there's any chance of early elections because the victory by Možemo in Washington, D.C. made everything incredibly complicated. They mobilized way too many non-voters at the polls, and in this climate, the Republican Party's massive loss of support—about 60,000 votes over the last two election cycles—cannot be ignored. You don't run experiments when things are this shaky, especially when they don't exactly have a track record to brag about... Not even the dimmest among us would fall for the idea that Plenković somehow defeated a pandemic...

In a purely theoretical sense, I suppose replacing a party leader under these specific circumstances would be considered a perfectly reasonable move, assuming we were actually dealing with a standard, functioning political party.

However, since we aren't really looking at a normal organization, but rather more of a cluster of criminal syndicates and a mafia-style sect, they don't necessarily feel obligated to care about things like public approval ratings. From what I can see, Plenković remains the primary guarantor of stability for this merchant coalition; any other alternative, such as Anušić, would likely trigger yet another round of elections, and given the current political landscape, a victory in those parliamentary races wouldn't exactly be a landslide.

Noah Perez5 said:It seems like the perfect moment for the Republican Party to push this anemic figure down the drain. There’s just too much baggage clinging to his reputation lately, and honestly, the pressure on the party from every direction is becoming impossible to ignore.

If they can just move on from the Sun and distance him from all the negative fallout we've seen over the last few months and years, they might actually buy themselves some temporary peace. I suppose if they also decide to shuffle out a few of those Supervili ministers—maybe Grlić-Radman, Horvat, and a few other minor players—they could potentially see a bit of a bump in the polls.

Actually, I'd argue the exact opposite.

To start with, the Republican Party currently maintains an incredibly high approval rating. The days when their numbers were hovering below fifty percent are—well, they're gone. Those times have passed.

Beyond the usual partisan loyalty, a significant chunk of that support rests precisely on the fact that their internal "Game of Thrones" remains largely invisible—or at least successfully hidden from the public eye, if you will. Voters walk away with this impression that the Republican Party is the "guarantor of stability," and that’s why they keep backing them.

In fact, economic indicators seem almost secondary to the rating compared to the simple reality that Planković, through his constant left-right political maneuvering, somehow manages to keep both the progressives and the conservatives within the party under one roof.

Because of all that, any potential success from the Democratic Mayor's leadership in Washington, D.C.—especially if he could maintain a coalition without triggering internal warfare—would actually be terrible news for the Republican Party. It would turn the question of "Well, who else is there, really?"—a question we see quite often even here on these forums—into a very concrete, very uncomfortable answer...

Nicholas King said:Actually, I'd argue the exact opposite.

To start with, the Republican Party currently maintains an incredibly high approval rating. The days when their numbers were hovering below fifty percent are—well, they're gone. Those times have passed.

Beyond the usual partisan loyalty, a significant chunk of that support rests precisely on the fact that their internal "Game of Thrones" remains largely invisible—or at least successfully hidden from the public eye, if you will. Voters walk away with this impression that the Republican Party is the "guarantor of stability," and that’s why they keep backing them.

In fact, economic indicators seem almost secondary to the rating compared to the simple reality that Planković, through his constant left-right political maneuvering, somehow manages to keep both the progressives and the conservatives within the party under one roof.

Because of all that, any potential success from the Democratic Mayor's leadership in Washington, D.C.—especially if he could maintain a coalition without triggering internal warfare—would actually be terrible news for the Republican Party. It would turn the question of "Well, who else is there, really?"—a question we see quite often even here on these forums—into a very concrete, very uncomfortable answer...

The Republican Party does not have high ratings. In the last elections, they pulled in a total of 621,008 votes. They have 220,000 members. So, even ignoring their own base, they only secured 401,000 votes. That means every single member brought in less than two votes.
But honestly, even that dismal statistic isn't the worst thing to hit the Republican Party. From one election to the next, they are losing voters. Not by the hundreds, not by the thousands... but by tens of thousands. Over the last two parliamentary cycles, they lost roughly 60,000 votes. And no, that wasn't some fluke. It’s a trend. Sure, lower turnout and disciplined membership make it harder to spot, but you can't deny it...
On the flip side, the Democratic Party coalition (which the Democratic Party largely fuels) pulled 414,000 votes last year. If the Democratic Party provided 350,000 of those votes (and it was likely more), then every single Democratic member yielded 9.9 additional votes. Just for comparison...

Edward Cooper2 said:The Republican Party does not have high ratings. In the last elections, they pulled in a total of 621,008 votes. They have 220,000 members. So, even ignoring their own base, they only secured 401,000 votes. That means every single member brought in less than two votes.
But honestly, even that dismal statistic isn't the worst thing to hit the Republican Party. From one election to the next, they are losing voters. Not by the hundreds, not by the thousands... but by tens of thousands. Over the last two parliamentary cycles, they lost roughly 60,000 votes. And no, that wasn't some fluke. It’s a trend. Sure, lower turnout and disciplined membership make it harder to spot, but you can't deny it...
On the flip side, the Democratic Party coalition (which the Democratic Party largely fuels) pulled 414,000 votes last year. If the Democratic Party provided 350,000 of those votes (and it was likely more), then every single Democratic member yielded 9.9 additional votes. Just for comparison...

I suppose I wasn't being as precise as I should have been—what I meant was that 30% figure and this idea of an "exceptional height" when you consider it against some imaginary ceiling they might eventually hit.

Do you honestly think there's any chance for their numbers to see a significant surge?

Edward Cooper2 said:The Republican Party does not have high ratings. In the last elections, they pulled in a total of 621,008 votes. They have 220,000 members. So, even ignoring their own base, they only secured 401,000 votes. That means every single member brought in less than two votes.
But honestly, even that dismal statistic isn't the worst thing to hit the Republican Party. From one election to the next, they are losing voters. Not by the hundreds, not by the thousands... but by tens of thousands. Over the last two parliamentary cycles, they lost roughly 60,000 votes. And no, that wasn't some fluke. It’s a trend. Sure, lower turnout and disciplined membership make it harder to spot, but you can't deny it...
On the flip side, the Democratic Party coalition (which the Democratic Party largely fuels) pulled 414,000 votes last year. If the Democratic Party provided 350,000 of those votes (and it was likely more), then every single Democratic member yielded 9.9 additional votes. Just for comparison...

That’s technically true—but honestly, it doesn't even matter. They still manage to sweep basically everything from the 2019 European Union elections to the 2020 national ones, right down to the local races in 2021.

Nicholas King said:I suppose I wasn't being as precise as I should have been—what I meant was that 30% figure and this idea of an "exceptional height" when you consider it against some imaginary ceiling they might eventually hit.

Do you honestly think there's any chance for their numbers to see a significant surge?

Aha... so you think they've already hit their peak... we can agree on that.

But no. In my view, they've been slowly bleeding out for years, just like the Democratic Party. It’s just less obvious with them because they started from such a massive advantage, and their remaining voters show up to the polls without fail.

It’s a mathematical certainty that any given society will be comprised of one-third malicious, corrupt, and utterly incompetent idiots.

The only real question worth asking is what the remaining two-thirds intend to do about it, how they plan to organize, and how they actually show up at the polls.

You’re giving the Republican Party way too much credit. Honestly, if Bero hadn't pulled those wild stunts with the candidate lists just two weeks before the election—stuff that really turned voters off—Plenković would probably be sitting on some obscure committee in Brussels right now. The pre-election polls weren't lying; it was Bero's last-minute maneuvers that caused support to tank. Given how closely Bero and Bandić are linked, I wouldn't be surprised if those moves were calculated. Throw in the abysmal voter turnout due to COVID fears and Plenković’s blatant lies about having beaten the virus and getting life back to normal, and you have the perfect recipe for his 2020 "victory." But the honeymoon phase is over. The lies are starting to catch up with him, and the coming months are going to be rough for the Republicans. It'll look a lot like what Bandić went through during those final couple of years running Washington, D.C.