GOP’s Stop-Trump Fever Breaks

Politico ^ | 4/29/2016 | KYLE CHENEY and BEN SCHRECKINGER

[20yearsofinternet]

The Stop-Trump fever that gripped the Republican establishment for months has broken.

The walls are closing in around a shrinking band of hard-core opponents of the New York billionaire, who is tightening his grip on the Republican presidential nomination with big wins in state after state, congressional endorsements, and the acknowledgment from pillars of the GOP elite that Donald Trump will be the party’s standard-bearer.

There was grizzled RNC committeeman Ron Kaufman likening Trump to Reagan. There was Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s half-hearted endorsement of Ted Cruz. There was former House Speaker John Boehner’s confession that he and Trump are texting buddies and golfing partners. There’s the slew of endorsements (and a prediction by Trump campaign officials that another wave is coming after Indiana votes next week). It’s adding up to a slow but steady coalescing around the man once considered so vile to the GOP base that he’d rip the party to shreds.

“We've had enough intraparty fighting. Now's the time to stitch together a winning coalition,” said Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah. “And it's been clear almost from the beginning that Donald Trump has the ability to assemble a nontraditional bloc of supporters. … The ability to cut across traditional party boundaries — like '80, '92 and 2008 — will be key, and Trump is much better positioned to achieve that.”

[Paine in the Neck]

"...the tut-tut-ing lace cuff and snuffbox ‘conservatives’ like Krauthammer..."

And George Will. How could I have overlooked George Will?

[AndyJackson]

unless they make peace with him now.

We cannot make peace with them. They have been selling us out for years, and now they want to continue to get a "piece of the action." We have too much debt to pay down or cram down for their to be any "action" for quite a while. What we need know are folks who can deliver what we need at a price that is efficient, reaonable and affordable.

[AndyJackson]

lace cuff and snuffbox ‘conservatives’

LOL! And their military cousins, those whom Hackworth called "perfumed princes."

[TomGuy]

The closer Trump gets to 1237 delegates, the more the establishment types will sidle up to him. They don’t want to be on the outside if/when the power shift occurs.

If the numbers show nominee Trump well ahead of Clinton, those who thrive on being close to the DC Power Person will even become more vocal in their support.

Many of them have been playing the Power Games for decades.

[exDemMom]

Do you notice how the Stop Trump people don’t seem to have a single good thing to say about Cruz? They are just using Cruz as a tool to stop Trump.

Indeed. Cruz's campaign has never been a positive portrayal of what he plans to do for the American people. It's been completely based on anti-Trump for months now.

[tumblindice]

“My observation is that the Trump fever has broken as the Trump supporters have begun to see a possible victory and have begun to chillax.”

My observation is that things have improved considerably here on FR since numerous resident Cruz-berserkers & disruptors were given well-deserved `time outs’. If there was a problem here, you could be sure there was a Felitoteeto or Felitoteeta stirring things up.
Chillax. It’s almost over.

[TomGuy]

Cruz has injected a level of vileness to this campaign that, frankly, should never be part of any campaign. Aren’t the candidates supposed to be using their campaigns to convince the voters that they are the best for the job, rather than viciously attacking their opponents?

The one thing that amazes me especially during each presidential cycle is how adept many on the so-called 'right' are in using the Alinsky rules. That includes many posters on this and similar forums.

Of course, other presidential elections have had similar 'vile'. The Jefferson - Adams election is one that had plenty of name-calling and nastiness.

[TomGuy]

I hope the Cruz fever breaks for some of the long-time FReepers who are still pining for a contested convention and a Cruz nomination that elects Hillary.

Cruz fever is sort of like the Thompson fever in 2008. Of course, the same kind of fever plagued those of many other wannabe candidates in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Too many project what they want their candidate to be, rather than what their candidate really is. They don't want the fog to lift, because they don't want to see the real nature of their preference.

On Thompson, for example, I spent 5 minutes on Google and related searchs and found out Thompson was more McCainish than Reaganish, even though he ran ads about how conservative he was.

On Cruz, his and wife's histories do him in. He is not the conservative his sycophants (including Levin and Limbaugh) claim him to be. His legislative history in the US Senate shows he introduced only one bill. He has done little in the Senate to promote anything conservative. He became a Senator solely for the purpose of running for the presidency.

[Rennes Templar]

True.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Thompson was never really a real candidate, he was simply running as a blocker for McCain. They have been rigging these nominations for years with these kinds of tactics.
When Ted Cruz joined forces with the Yeb! team it should have been enough to wake up even the most obtuse.

[GOPJ]

KYLE CHENEY and BEN SCHRECKINGER are delusional or they’re both clueless liberals. Maybe they should give George Will a call...

[nickcarraway]

Did they ever rea)ly want to stop him? They didn’t do anything.

[tumblindice]

http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/a/electionof1828.htm

“By the time the votes were cast, both men (Jackson, JQAdams) would have wild stories circulated about their pasts, with lurid charges of murder, adultery, and procuring of women being plastered across the pages of partisan newspapers.”

1912—Taft, Wilson and another Ted was another scat-fest.

[The Continental Op]

You are right, I believe. While much of the opposition is couched in political terms, there are also quite personal reasons the old guard is terrified. Should Trump win, he will have access to data heretofore classified, and many of those secrets are classified merely to protect insiders, not our country. All the buried scandals (Fast and Furious and dozens more) might be finally and completely revealed. People would go to jail. It scares the hell out of them.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Only $500 million in attack ads, other than that, nothing.................

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

Some are just taking a breather. The fever lasts until November 9, 2016.

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

Heidi was the key to Ted’s real agenda.

Ted’s been hiding behind Heidi’s skirts.

Plus, He’s not eligible and should not have had the audacity to run for potus.

That, right there, is a huge red flag on his schtick.

And his father has dropped enough red flags to line the streets for a commie May-day parade. And those red flags would kill any Cuban support he could have eeked out of Florida. The more we learn about all the Cruz’s, the more unelectable he becomes.

I disrespect Cruz for this original deceit above all his other lyin’ cheatin’ schemin’ politicin’ games.

[Grampa Dave]

so vile to the GOP base that he’d rip the party to shreds!

Which is why so many of us will crawl over broken glass to vote for Trump in the primaries and this November.

[FenwickBabbitt]

I found some of the things in this article very disturbing (I would encourage everyone to read the whole thing). Clearly, some people in their hatred of Trump are willing to turn this country into a Zimbabwean style banana republic, where elections don’t mean a thing and the “correct” candidate is selected against the will of the people. I am holding out faith that the average Republican leader/delegate is not this unprincipled nor insane enough to want to cause a huge block of GOP voters to never support the party again.

Priebus has already said that if Trump gets to 1237 then he will be the nominee, but it’s crazy that there are really people out there trying to ensure that Trump doesn’t get the nomination, even if he has well over that number of delegates.

[MaxFlint]

It looks to me like the Bush wing are the main holdouts, while the rest of the GOP can see the handwriting on the wall. Witness yesterday where Rubio made peace overtures while Jeb was still trash talking.

The Bushes want a North American Union. That's been their game plan for decades. But Jeb's trash talk is personal. He'll never get over the smackdown Trump administered. Also Jeb is too stupid to understand the Bush family game plan.