Posted on 04/07/2016 8:03:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Via Breitbart and the Right Scoop, you can grumble about this if you’re #NeverTrump but we all understand, I think, that the vast, vast majority of the party will come around to his position by November, right? Don’t get me wrong, stalwart anti-Trumpers may have the numbers to fatally damage Trump’s chances even if they’re just five percent of the electorate. But that’s probably what they’ll be — five percent, not a third of the party despite how much fun it is to ooh and ahh over numbers like that. Never underestimate the power of partisanship, especially when you’ve got a Democrat as unlikable as Hillary topping the other ticket.
And even if five percent of Republicans do end up as #NeverTrumpers, that’s not necessarily a death sentence for Trump’s campaign. Why? Because some segment of Bernie fans claim that they’re #NeverHillary:
One out of four Sanders supporters– 25 percent – say they would not back Clinton in a general election if she became the Democratic nominee for president, while just 69 percent say they would support her, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.
By comparison, Clinton supporters are considerably more open to supporting Sanders should he overtake her large lead in delegates and win the nomination. Just 14 percent of Clinton supporters would shun him in the general election, while 79 percent would support him, the poll found.
What’s the actual number of Sanders supporters who’d sit out an election with either Trump or Cruz, both of whom will be painted by Democrats as unprecedented threats to the republic, as GOP nominee? Two percent? Remember all the Hillary fans who vowed after 2008’s bitter primary to loss to Obama that they’d never vote for him for president? How’d that work out?
Anyway, click the image to listen to a preview of what conservative media’s apt to sound like this fall if Trump seals the deal in Cleveland. Levin has endorsed Cruz and has fiercely criticized Trump over the past few months (even over the Michelle Fields incident, which is unusual in major conservative media) but he’s prepared to set that aside in the name of beating Clinton. I wonder where Glenn Beck, Trump’s most strident critic in conservative talk radio dating back to last year, is on that. If anyone’s going to carry the #NeverTrump banner to the bitter end, it’s him.
But the Trumpers who don't want other people to rally around Trump because they said something mean about him??
The only thing Cruz has left is being the anti Trump candidate. He tried it the normal way and people just don’t like him.
These two factions will unite at some point, because whatever divides them is basically trivial personality-driven details, and what will unite them is the common realization that the Democrats represent the final stage of an ongoing transformation of America into a make-believe magic unicorn kingdom with political correctness as its religion.
Trump represents the more secular portion of unease with this urgent realization, Cruz the more religious and what’s left of conservative-academic unease. But while the two strains are separate now, they will quite easily flow together under the leadership of whoever wins.
Almost everyone who backed one or the other will realize that the only real enemy is represented by whoever wins the other nomination.
There is an inevitability to this. In fact, it would be a good thing if the two men made a public truce and agreed to let the process finish out while pledging ultimate support to each other, as any attempt to sabotage the convention and bring in an untested third option would be basically the end of two things, first the Republican Party, and secondly, the future of the country.
The stakes really are that high. Obama has caused the nation to stagger. The next spear thrower will finish off the body politic. So that spear thrower has to be kept away and whoever wins between Trump and Cruz is apparently the only person who can do this.
Voices of reason from either camp are not permitted until the primary is over.
And because of that, I have blacklisted Levin. Threw out Rescuing Sprite and Liberty and Tyranny. Turned him off in January and haven't gone back. Gave up on Beck about 7 years ago. Way too boring.
What Levin is really doing is tying to convince Trump voters to still vote for Cruz even though he is trying to win through the convention route.
Same here...! Especially seeing how selfie-obsessed she is as someone whose supposed to be professional, potentially consulting or advising with the top leaders of the USA. Think about it—she’s a huge critic of how Trump “should” behave—and yet, she’s so much worse.
Yes, Amanda—we should disregard the many senators & governors who aren’t “real” conservatives, because you’ve got the credibility they don’t. Have another condom and tattoo!
#Laffs
Don't try to steal the nomination by trying to deny Trump from winning the number and then steal it at the convention, and expect our vote.
I never said that Levin has showed sanity. I was a 6 year listener and gave up on him in January. Never went back. Never will. He can pound sand and shove his "carnival barker" style and his pie-in-the-sky books where the sun doesn't shine.
If Hillary is elected it is on the Cruz people, not the Trump ones.
i'd bet Rubio or Kasich would be willing to hand over their delegates for the right price.
Yup. Done with so many of the so called conservative pundits.
It bothers me too. But it does reinforce the idea that support for a Trump candidacy is an emotional response. Consider the highlights of the Trump constituency as its been expressed on FR:
First time voters (and we're not talking the 18-24 demographic) who for most of their lives never found a reason to vote until now. That's indicative of a potential voter responding to emotional rhetoric
Same goes for the Reagan democrats who disappeared 30 years ago and show up again. Why? Emotional Trump rhetoric.
FR voters (and like-minded political animals in the general population) who believe Trump is a principled conservative candidate.
Having said all that if Trump does not get the nomination we will see the first two categories, which arguably make up the most of his support, dissolve. Not to be heard from again, particularly in November.
The third group of Trump supporters are going to have to make the ideological case for their disappearance because they won't accept that Trump's support was based on a temporary emotional outburst.
Probably right. Although I’m not sure how many Trump voters are still listening to him.
It is only cause they know many of us willna vote for Cruz. He is using reverse psychology.
We all know that if Jeb was in Trump’s position a couple months ago the party leaders would have said it was over, kicked all the others out of the running and deferred to the front runner.
I can understand hating Levin. Fine, hold a grudge, whatever. But some of these people seem to be applying purity tests to votes. They don’t even want Levin or others to vote for Trump if they’ve been saying bad things about him.
It’s the strangest damn thing I’ve ever seen in politics. And then they’ll blame the “GOP-E” for not rallying around him, when these people don’t even want them to rally around him. I think some of them would rather see Trump get screwed. That would confirm all their stereotypes about all non-Trumpers, and allow them to just rage in righteous anger.
The Speaker of the House gave a formal speech to all but call Trump the Grand Wizard of the KKK. A sitting GOP US Senator promised to support 3rd party candidate against Trump. The GOP nominee in 2012 gave a speech that will live in infamy that dumped on Trump in every way imaginable. Trump’s primary opponent used a violent communist attack on conservatives in Chicago and the terrorist attack in Brussels to launch demagogic attacks on Trump, etc., etc.
But really, it’s those sensitive Trumper’s who are the don’t get it. Silly little children.
Having said all that if Trump does not get the nomination we will see the first two categories, which arguably make up the most of his support, dissolve. Not to be heard from again, particularly in November.
The third group of Trump supporters are going to have to make the ideological case for their disappearance because they won’t accept that Trump’s support was based on a temporary emotional outburst.
Dream on. The bases of both parties are disgusted with the corporatization of politics. There will be a 3rd party. And once there is a viable 3rd party, there will be a 4th and so on. The era of the Dem-GOP duopoly/uniparty is coming to an end.
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