Posted on 09/04/2016 11:48:09 AM PDT by Kaslin
Republicans enter the fall campaign in moods ranging from grim foreboding to howling despair. They fear that Donald Trump will not only lose but lose so big he will take hordes of other candidates down with him, costing the GOP control of the U.S. Senate and even the House. This election could be the party's worst debacle since 1964.
Republicans don't seem to have prepared for an even bigger catastrophe that could occur Nov. 8: a Trump victory. In that case, they wouldn't be stuck with him for the next two months. They would be stuck with him for the duration of his presidency, and they would have to answer for him forever.
They are in the position of a bride who, on the eve of her wedding day, knows she's making a mistake. If she backs out, she'll bring a mess down on her head. But if she doesn't, she'll be caught in a snare that will be painful and hard to escape, with consequences she will have years to regret.
The first harm from Trump is that he would be the new identity of the party. Forget the legacy of Ronald Reagan. Never mind what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan propose. He would be the one defining the national agenda. If President Trump wanted to intern Muslims, launch drones against Mexico or put David Duke up in the Lincoln Bedroom, his fellow Republicans would wear the stain.
One of the miseries they have suffered in recent months is waking up each day anxiously wondering what new folly their candidate is about to commit. It's bad enough having to put up with his insulting of a gold star mother, not knowing that Russia has invaded Ukraine, accusing Barack Obama of founding the Islamic State, and retweeting white supremacists.
But all this amounts to an ignorant egomaniac running his mouth. In the White House, Trump would be acting, not just talking. He would possess powers that can be wielded in all sorts of destructive ways. As Republicans have learned from Obama's use of executive authority, it's hard to stop a determined president from doing whatever he damn well pleases.
Scrap NAFTA? Carry out indiscriminate bombing of the Islamic State? Refuse to come to the aid of a NATO ally attacked by Russia? Bring back torture, using methods that would make Dick Cheney weep?
Turn over decisions to advisers who couldn't find their way out of an elevator if you gave them a map and a compass? Dump Melania and start dating? The question is not whether Trump would make bad choices in the White House -- only which ones and when.
Since he wrapped up the nomination, Republicans have been hoping Trump would change his reckless style, listen to people who know more than he does, avoid pointless fights and generally behave like a responsible adult. Their hopes have been in vain. He either can't change or sees no reason to.
Winning the election would turbocharge Trump's worst impulses. He would have new grounds to ignore GOP leaders and indulge his every whim. If that approach gets him elected, why would he behave any differently as president?
Maybe Trump would drag the country through four years of chaos and stagnation, trailing broken promises and aborted schemes. Or maybe he would handle the job so irresponsibly that he would provoke his impeachment and removal -- an eminently plausible scenario.
The latter outcome would have some special downsides for Republicans. One is that it would saddle them with the herculean chore of defending him at his worst. Another is that it would derail any policy ideas they hope to advance. Then there's the political cost in the next election.
Compared with these nightmares, a Hillary Clinton presidency would have all sorts of advantages. It would give Republicans a unifying focus, mobilize them to block liberal policies, open the way for new conservative leaders to emerge and offer the party a chance to rebound at the polls in 2018. If she were to be embroiled in a White House scandal brought on by her own disregard for the rules, even better for the GOP.
Republicans might remember British statesman Benjamin Disraeli's explanation of the difference between a misfortune and a calamity. For his chief rival to fall into the river, he said, would be a misfortune. The calamity would be if someone pulled him out.
I doubt that he did.
“it would give Republicans a unifying focus, mobilize them to block liberal policies”.
RIIIGHT; like they have for the last almost 8 years !
F#CK THE REPUBLICRAT PARTY !
VOTE TRUMP
Worse than HilLIARy?
President Reagan is an example in 1984 and George W. Bush in 2004.
Also I have never missed an election, no matter how unimportant some seem to be.
(Pats herself on the back of her shoulder)
It was a dark and stormy night....
BTTT
Trust me you’re life will be better off in it’s current state of ignorance of him than learning of him.
The Worst Case for Republican party hacks: Trump Wins
Party over country. Ain’t these people swell?
100% CORRECT!!!
Hillary is not as liked as Obama was to begin with. Heck even Billy Boy Clinton was a little more popular. The one thing I do agree is the danger of massive voter fraud. That is why the voter fraud organizations are going to be out and and about.
LOL
:rolleyes
The Republican Party has done exactly that. Trump is the voters' reaction to the fact that the Republicans have forgotten Reagan's legacy.
Never mind what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan propose.
We've all done exactly that. As has 0bama.
If President Trump wanted to intern Muslims, launch drones against Mexico or put David Duke up in the Lincoln Bedroom, his fellow Republicans would wear the stain.
Agreed with you (DSD) on all points there, and Trump NEVER SAID OR EVEN HINTED HE WOULD DO ANY OF THIS (shouting because a guy, Steve Chapman, who occasionally shows some flashes of intelligence, seems to have taken this directly from DNC talking points - as a FReeper below points out).
I'm so sick of these clowns and their mystical Freudian incantations of Trump's psyche, who refuse to see that Hillary is the next Fascistii we will all have to fight.
Nobody is sussing that Trump’s campaign is just warming up. He hasn’t even brought his artillery to the front. His outreach to the black community and the Mexican President is just the initial scout and probe initiative. Meanwhile, Hillary’s email scandal is blowing holes in their front lines. The debates will be one counter punch after another. Trump’s intellectual capacity will become a rolling barrage that will gain many converts, no matter which moderator is attempting to control the game board. The fact that Wallace will be the moderator on the final debate is good for us. The fireworks I anticipate during the first two debates will insure a large viewership for the final debate.
Before the debates, Trump needs to hammer on Hillary’s vulnerability in her fear to come out of her bunker and engage the media. She is hoping the email scandal will blow over. Her handlers know that Trump has the ability to make her look like a knee jerk air head sound bite junky who can’t think on her feet. If she stumbles or starts coughing, it’s game over. I’m having a 20 wheel big rig deliver a load of popcorn to my place.
Keep in mind that the 2007 economic collapse basically elected Obama. Trump needs to be ready to pour troops into the gap that the predicted current collapse is poised to create. This may be Soros managed to occur a week or two before the elections just like 2007. His economic platform should be hammered into the media during his campaign and media appearances to generate control of the center of the gameboard in anticipation of this.
The gop has been the enemy of their electorate for many years. They are traitors to their electorate and to their oath of office., They are the Whigs of the 21st century.
This looks like Glen Beck wrote it.
The writer is completely clueless! What a dummy!
George Washington detested political parties.
Political parties are NEVER mentioned in the US Constitution.
Today’s Republican Party is a perfect example why!
Bingo!
If the RINOs didn’t manage to do any of the things listed during the last eight years of misery, they never will. Obama’s criticism of them is completely valid - that they are the party of back-bencher whining.
That is what RINOs do best. They don’t actually WANT to win.
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