LogFAQs > #972871057

papercup posted...

RINO isn't and has never been a thing, it is a logical fallacy. It's called the "No true Scotsman fallacy"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Not every instance of saying that somebody isn't really a Scotsman is a fallacy, though. Somebody who calls themselves a Scotsman because they liked Braveheart but otherwise have zero personal, cultural, or historical connection to Scotland isn't actually a Scotsman. The fallacy isn't simply gatekeeping, it's gatekeeping based on criteria that you can't objectively defend.

In this case, if you call yourself a Republican, but vote against them and oppose most or all of their core ideological tenets, there really isn't much basis for calling yourself a Republican. This gets weird with political parties in that core ideologies change pretty regularly and updating your personal sense of political identity to keep up with that can be hard, but the core concept of RINO/DINOs is still valid: Somebody who calls themselves a Republican/Democrat but doesn't actually align with those parties in any meaningful ways.