Saturday, March 12, 2016

Is the GOP Establishment About to Sell its Soul to Trump?


First the Republican Party establishment sold its soul to white racists and segregationists with Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" - a strategy still in full play today.  Next, it sold its soul to the Christofascists who comprise the Christian Taliban and now Republicans work to subvert the U.S. Constitution by granting special rights to Christian extremists under the smoke screen of "religious liberty."  Now, the degradation of the GOP establishment is on the precipice of being complete as more and more of its members are poised to embrace Donald Trump and his demagoguery and fascist leanings.  With each of these sellouts, sane and rational people have fled the GOP.  A few are shouting out "enough is enough" as evidenced by a column by Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post.  Here are column excerpts: 

As Donald Trump continues to surge forward as the most-likely Republican nominee, perfectly sane people are beginning to wonder: “Was there something we missed? Maybe he’s not really so bad.”

Shed that self-doubt and purge the thought. You’re not wrong — and he’s that bad. Just ask the Breitbart reporter who was roughed up at a recent Trump rally. And she’s one of the “good” people. Imagine what happens to his critics once a Trump presidency takes shape.

Nothing makes Trump more acceptable today than yesterday or last week — or six months ago. He is still a boastful, volatile, misogynistic, race-baiting, willfully and strategically ignorant, exploitative fear-monger who is guided by profit over principle and whose hair-trigger temperament has the world on edge.

Never mind that he has begun softening his tone or walking back some of his more radical statements. Seeking redemption through press release, he now says he wouldn’t order the military to hunt down and kill the families of terrorists. . . . But he did think and say such a thing. 

That rational objections seem not to matter to a third of the Republican Party, including a swath of evangelicals, reflects our sadly degraded culture. . . . . We’re all trapped in one big sleazy reality show, no longer spectators but fellow actors with people we can’t stand.

Nevertheless, politicians are beginning to pivot toward Trump, despite having found him reprehensible five minutes earlier. . . . . Even the three other remaining GOP candidates have pledged to support the man they still find reprehensible.

The commentariat, too, is beginning to turn. You’ll notice a softening of criticism, a leaning toward the possible next president of the United States. Again, the bottom line in Washington is access — to the White House, the president and, hardly least, Palm Beach.

Whatever one hopes or wishes to believe about him, Trump is still terrible for the country and, therefore, the world. It should concern us that other nations are worried — and not in a good way. David Ignatius, The Post’s leading foreign affairs commentator, recently said that international leaders, including our allies, are cornering him to ask how the world might look under a President Trump.

To such concerns, Trump responds that he can be as presidential as anybody — whatever this means. 
Never believe anyone who says, “Believe me.
There has always been a balance among our nation’s governing institutions. No one was ever perfectly satisfied, but at least we had a sense that the country would remain fundamentally stable. Elsewhere, other nations could reasonably rely upon the United States to be a certain kind of country — not perfect but always striving toward a more perfect union.

With Trump at the helm, given his own vows and threats, this balance feels at risk. His so-called refreshing candor has the power to rock markets and collapse nations. His deal-making prowess notwithstanding, Trump would be a destabilizing force both here and abroad.


The only real strength of Trump’s candidacy has been to expose and shame the cowards and opportunists among us. Remember them.

No comments: