thread--- A lot of guys like to say things like "the GOP's role is to funnel opposition into a harmless direction" and that is true in a function sense, that's what has happened. But the GOP imo has no actual role in The System. They are on the outside

The GOP has no patronage network within the government. There is no cadre of GOP-aligned bureaucrats within the alphabet soup that a GOP majority could lean on to do things. They can at best hand a bunch of democrats a list of unenforceable requests, predictable results
The GOP has no patronage network within the private sector. There is basically nobody getting a check from the government that can point directly to republicans as the reason for their bag. Other than guns, there is no material reason for most people to ever vote republican
The only patronage network that exists on the right is within the GOP universe. The GOPe controls a few billion in campaign donations and political media revenues. This is all they care about. Controlling the party. They get everything they want from this alone
So why care about ever winning a majority? They couldn't do much with it even if they got it, and they are taking care of their network already without significant access to public money. The democrats want power and the GOP doesn't want it. That's the whole story
The GOP is not in on the scam, they are staying in their lane. Trump was on the verge of taking the GOP out of their pure grift lane and into the realm of actually governing. They might have gone along with this but he first blew up the GOPe campaign finance patronage network
Trump 2016 campaign was staggeringly cheap compared to Hillary ($600 million vs $1.2 billion)
but did you know Trump 2016 spent less than Romney in 2012 ($840 million)
Just right there, Trump took a quarter of a billion dollars out of the GOPe grift network. War.
This doesn't have the final figure for Trump/Hillary but you can see the effect clearly. Remember though, gEt MoNeY OuT Of pOliTiCs
So anyway by running a cheap campaign based on being cool, getting free media for everything you do and saying things that normal people liked to hear, Trump BTFO the GOPe campaign network. If he can do this, they realized, downballot candidates can do the same but easier
because of gerrymandered districts. Candidates can simply say "i'm the trump guy" during the primaries and save $100k on consulting fees to mitch mcconnel's half-jamaican grandkids
But then Trump went even further and started to change the way the government operates. Defcon 1 situation where primaries cannot be controlled by GOPe and voters are demanding a GOP that fights the dems which the GOPe does not want to do. It's purely trying to hold onto
the cozy and fairly lucrative lane they have. You can call them controlled opposition, and its true, and that doesnt require the dems to literally tell them what to do, they are controlled by incentives - you can fight and lose (or worse, see GA post eelction car accident )
Or you can simply win the primary and do nothing. Easy call for these guys

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https://t.co/6cRR2B3jBE
Viruses and other pathogens are often studied as stand-alone entities, despite that, in nature, they mostly live in multispecies associations called biofilms—both externally and within the host.

https://t.co/FBfXhUrH5d


Microorganisms in biofilms are enclosed by an extracellular matrix that confers protection and improves survival. Previous studies have shown that viruses can secondarily colonize preexisting biofilms, and viral biofilms have also been described.


...we raise the perspective that CoVs can persistently infect bats due to their association with biofilm structures. This phenomenon potentially provides an optimal environment for nonpathogenic & well-adapted viruses to interact with the host, as well as for viral recombination.


Biofilms can also enhance virion viability in extracellular environments, such as on fomites and in aquatic sediments, allowing viral persistence and dissemination.

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