Trump cheats at golf - the ONE and ONLY politics thread

Today's dose of Bill Kristol Butt Hurt:

 

The Republicans who opposed Trump but are now lining up to support him because "he's the nominee" or because "we can't let Clinton win" are cowards who stand for nothing. That includes Paul Ryan.

 

I totally agree. He dishonored himself today. Not that I didn't expect it, the way the winds were blowing. He could have been a person of principle, a rarity in his business. Instead, he sold out lock, stock, and barrel.

 

Standing on principle doesn't seem to be getting the Bushes and Romney very far.

 

No, it doesn't. But there's something to be said for being able to look in the mirror.

 

You can line up behind the nominee without having to surrender the party. The GOP should view him as a hotel guest, not the new owner.

 

You guys, do you know what this means?!?

There actually exists someone who says all the things Starman dreams about people saying.

 

So does that mean every Bernie Sanders voter and supporter should not vote for Hillary Clinton?
Besides, being cowards who stand for nothing is how the Republican Party got itself into this mess in the first place. Why stop now?

 

But it worked so well in 1980 to get Reagan elected (although a weak Carter presidency helped) when the Republicans climbed into bed with the religious right. It's a decision I think, in retrospect, they regret. As I posted earlier, this just splinters the GOP further. Are they the party of the old guard? The "true conservatives"? The evangelicals? Nobody knows, not even their hairdressers.

 

No. This is not ordinary wishy-washiness from pandering politicians. This was correctly framed as a battle for the soul of the party, and the people charged with preserving the Republican vision of government are now aligning with the person who could and would kill it.

The stakes are just a little bit higher than on the Dem side. I guess it could be comparable if, say, Alan Grayson or Bill Ayers hijacked the Democratic primary, and in turn the entire party's philosophy, like Trump has the GOP's.

Trump is NOT conservative. He should not be embraced by conservatives. He sets the cause back decades, and personifies the worst stereotypes of conservatives.

 

Creosote, the Republican party VOTERS have spoken, and they like Trump. Ideally, those anti-Trump Republicans should stand their ground and repudiate him. In the real world, that's never gonna happen. Their own careers are at stake. Besides, except for saying the quiet parts loud, how different IS Trump from them? It's hard to tell as he changes position mid-sentence, but all he's done is said it's OK to be a white hater again. Without white resentment, the Republicans would be somewhere between the Prohibitionists and Berniebots in terms of public support.

 

The Money People needed the Religious People to organize at a grassroots level to get out the vote, and the Religious People needed the Money People to have influence in holding back Teh Gay Agenda. It was always going to be a tenuous marriage. When they roped in the Uncomfortable With Black People Who Are Not OJ Simpson crowd and the We Should Nationbuild and Get Cheap Oil people, it became an even harder to keep it going.

Now throw in a little The Media Is Constant Lying To You, Just Read This Email Forward then some We Need A Game of Thrones Wall to Keep Rapists Out, mixed with Why Can't I Say Say Bitch and Pussycat and N-Word If Rappers Say It, plus a dose of Your Wife Should Know Her Place, Just Like Grandma Did, and that's how we get to Trump. He's basically the only candidate who could hold what the party has become together for one more election.

The small government people don't really want to defend the other nutty factions, but they don't have much choice, so they reluctantly kiss the ring. Or, as evidenced by this thread, they just create a steady stream of misdirection that says "Look at the improper email server! Vince Foster! Wall Street! Her husband was responsible for Don't Ask Don't Tell, so he's the real enemy to gays, Benghazi was worse than the Beruit bombing (but not worse than selling arms to Iran, how dare you bring that up!) Obama was born in Kenya, maybe."

If nothing else, both parties seem to be in for some real self-correction. Bernie and Trump are both selling fantasies. But a lot if people feel kinda used and are being told who to blame. What's weird is, there is some truth to what Bernie AND Trump saying, that moneyed oligarchs are essentially raping the country, but in order for Trump to get this far, he had to also argue that it's the minorities fault, and Muslims are terrorists until proven otherwise.