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.
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