What we are seeing here is similar to the internal struggle between the conservatives and moderates during the Reagan Administration. However, the stakes are higher, and the battle lines and alliances more complicated. Trump has a core of supporters that are paleo-conservatives outside of the neo-con dominated conservative establishment. The latter group is in a de facto alliance with the Democrats and the MSM to take down, or at least tame, Trump. They are methodically going after those who support Trump's nationalist and anti-establishment supporters, first Flynn, now Yianapoulos, perhaps Steve Bannon or Matt Drudge next.
The analogy to Reagan is important because the moderate wing of the GOP slowly eliminated the staunch conservatives in his administration, such as James Watt and David Stockman, especially after the attempted assassination of the President. The goal of the neo-con wing of the establishment is to do something similar to Trump. Surrounding the President with war hawks, free trade advocates, and compromisers will, in their view, tame someone whom they view as a radical disruptor of the status quo. The liberals are fine with that, because a defanged Trump who will not have achieved his stated goals will be easy to defeat in 2020, at least if they have the good sense not to run Hillary Clinton or someone equally as shrill, like Elizabeth Warren.
Very well said. I hope everyone reads it.
Yep!