1 of 1- tennyson
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Farewell, Grand Old Party
First off, this IS an opinion piece and the GOP is NOT GOING away, but there might be some big changes coming IF the constituents that are supporting Trump will be the primary focus of the R-tribe in the future.
I DID find a couple of things that really struck me in the piece (the whole thing is worth a look), but these two stood out in my mind about how I feel about Mr Trump.
This first one I would label "Trump the Snake Oil Salesman"
In other words, Trump didn’t write a book you loved; he wrote the book you [i]said you’d love. If people were outraged about immigration, why then he’d build a wall. If they were upset about manufacturing jobs lost overseas, well fine, he’d kill the trade agreements.[/i]Trump was never about principle but about winning, the latter of which he kept no secret. What this means, of course, is that his supporters have no idea whom they nominated. He simply paid to read their minds and then invented a drug that would light up the circuit boards corresponding to pleasure and reward.
This second one I would label "Trump the Disparager"
The problem, as with all relationships, is that certain words, once expressed, can’t be taken back. No amount of backtracking can erase memories of what Trump really thought and said in a particular moment. It isn’t only that his wildly conceived and frequently revised positions are at odds with those of leveler heads, but also Trump has embarrassed those who can still be embarrassed.
Last edited by tennyson (5/07/2016 11:24 am)
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- flowergirl
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Re: Farewell, Grand Old Party
Kathleen Parker has become one of my very favorite columnists and luckily, the YDR carries her column.
- Goose
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Re: Farewell, Grand Old Party
This is an incredible time.
We have seen a Republican electorate so blinded by anger that it embraced an open bigot during the 21st century in America. It is an electorate that abandoned its own stated principles of small government, faith and other "traditional" values to support Trump, a man whose faith, principles and conservatism are suspect, at best.
They have forgotten how politics work, and have given themselves over to the dreams of a political messiah, a magic man who will "fix" everything through the shear power of his will and charisma (Something they bitterly accused the Dems of in 2008).
They have threatened the long term survival of their party, because of what Trump's presence at the top of the ticket screams to minority voters. The same voters that the party determined that they needed after the defeat of 2012.
Whomever wins in November, conservatism has lost. If you forget all of Trump's hate speech, serial lying and just batsh*t crazy ideas, you are left with a GOP nominee who wants just as much government as does Hillary Clinton. He just wants to be in charge of it.
The conservative movement will have to be rebuilt. A new GOP will have to be crafted by a new generation. Until then there will be no counterbalance to the Democratic establishment and their inevitable overreach.
Last edited by Goose (5/07/2016 4:14 pm)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.