Townhall.com ^ | March 23, 2016 | Bob Barr says: " The time for pens is over. Now must come the swords."
Posted on 03/23/2016 8:00:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
For months now, I, and many other concerned voices in the conservative movement, have written about the danger a Donald Trump nomination presents not just to the future of the GOP, but to the foundational values upon which our nation was built. We have outlined how Trump’s past and present statements and actions overtly contradict even the most fundamental precepts of conservatism.
Yet, no matter how eloquent the argument, cogent the logic, or veracity of the examples we provide to support our thesis that Trump unquestionably is not a conservative, the end result feels very much like talking to a brick wall. Why is this?
It seems the mistake has been in assuming the Trump supporters we are attempting to reach are conservatives; to whom reason (rather than emotion) is the basis on which they make decisions, especially political ones. Listening in person to Trump supporters, and reading the comment sections of my and other writers’ articles against Trump, I am no longer convinced of this. It is time to take off the gloves, and stop pretending we are talking to well-intended, but misguided, political allies who can be won back over with a firm but gentle tug on the arm.
Trump supporters are vehemently anti-establishment, but support a man who has made his fortune buying and supporting Establishment candidates. Trump supporters champion how he “tells it like it is” and that he “will do what he says,” but invariably dismiss when Trump contradicts himself – sometimes only minutes apart – as “chattering class” fabrications, rather than a window into his character. Trump supporters decry how the GOP has compromised with liberals, but support Trump’s polices that are cut from the same cloth as the likes of Obama and his cronies in Congress.
In short, they see the world not as it is, but as Trump tells them it is. This is not the hallmark of a rational electorate, or even embittered conservatives temporary blinded by anger; but of devotees to a cult of personality. And, as those supporters freely admit, every attempt to use conventional methods of discourse to highlight this hypocrisy “is reinforcing the determination of us regular folks to stay with Trump.” In other words, “true conservatives don’t understand Trump supporters.”
They’re right; and conservatives have to realize and accept this reality if we are to stop the GOP from slipping into their hands and the abyss beyond.
The time for pens is over. Now must come the swords.
Contrary to the blustering of Trump supporters about the inevitability of their Dear Leader, Trump’s pre-convention triumph is by no means a foregone conclusion; and his winning at the Republican National Convention is far from a sure bet. We need to resolve to avoid such a scenario.
Interestingly, history itself offers a clear example of the damage to a political party that can be wrought by a rogue candidacy like Trump’s.
The 1924 Democratic National Convention in New York City, often referred to as the “Klanbake” because of the active presence of the Ku Klux Klan in support of one of the candidates, was a chaotic mess much like that to which the GOP now is careening with Trump fighting to maintain a grip on the steering wheel. At that “brokered” convention nearly a century ago, it took 103 ballots before a nominee was chosen – not one of the front-runners going in, but a lesser-known individual who initially polled at a mere 2.8 percent, and eventually emerged to become the Party’s “compromise” candidate.
Not surprising, the Democratic Party brand was so tarnished and torn by that convention melee that its eventual nominee lost in a general election landslide to the Republican nominee (Calvin Coolidge).
The lesson here? If a Party allows itself to be dragged into its national convention by a populist agitator, and then throws itself open to the uncertainty and bedlam of searching for a “compromise” candidate at a “brokered” convention (even though its rules allow for this), the self-inflicted wounds it suffers will almost certainly doom it to defeat in November.
Fighting back cannot wait; the GOP in 2016 cannot afford the debacle of a “Trumpbake,” any more than its Democrat counterpart could afford the “Klanbake” in 1924. Republican voters must unite behind a true conservative now and at every opportunity until the National Convention this summer. The way forward is not hypothetical. The candidate is staring us in the face. It is not a “compromise candidate” like John Kasich. It is a true conservative. It is Ted Cruz.
Smell the fear.
Townhall’s anti-Trump hatred will destroy it just like it did the Hotair site.
Bob Barr has been spending time in Haiti since 2011.
I imagine he is a little more fearful than most.
What else has he been up to?
That whole ‘true conservative’ nonsense.
Big spending, open bordered ‘true conservative’.
They think we are idiots.
Remember, Mitch McConnell clearly stated he has no issue with confirming the gun-grabbing liberal in the lame duck session after the election.
There are no ‘true conservatives’ in the party. They use that term for fund-raising and voter turnout. That is all.
Good article and true. However, if Trump is the majority the GOP better just run with him. That or risk a Hillary or Bernie POTUS.
George T. Bush IV is another establishment dupe. These people like Bob Barr and their constant harping of conservative purity is making me sick. No Republican in elected office practices it. Oh sure they’ll spout conservative principles when campaigning, but once elected and in DC they sellout to the establishment and go full RINO. Conservatism doesn’t mean a damn thing today.
Another clueless Jeb supporter.
No wonder the GOP-e has no idea what is going on in this country.
Why do all these stories about the ‘24 Democrat convention leave out the most relevant fact of all? The winning nominee needed two-thirds support from delegates, not a simple majority. BIG difference.
McAdoo was probably the most significant Treasury secretary of the 20th century.
During 1914, the eurotrash were attempting to sell all their securities and convert them to dollars and then redeem those dollars for gold.
That would have wrecked the American economy, so McAdoo actually shut down the Stock Exchange for 4 months in 1914 to prevent this.
The American economic ascendency in the 20th century dates from this.
The KKK endorsed McAdoo for president in 1924 and he didn’t disavow it, a mistake that overshadows all his work during WWI.
Maybe you would contract a little sword activity from the islamics.
I am sure they would be happy to oblige.
Bob Barr. No thanks.
Townhall.com ^ | March 23, 2016 | Bob Barr says: " The time for pens is over. Now must come the swords."
Bob Barr like his fellow walk on water conservatives will be unemployed after President Trump is sworn in next year.
The RNC/GOPe/Neocon Uniparty elite thugs, who have been the overseers of the Faux Conservative plantations since 1961. These overseers keep trying to trick/betray/control us to stay on/in their faux conservative plantations by selecting their ilk/puppets as our candidates. They lie and promise us conservatism and when elected $crew us daily in congress and as POTUS! NR and their handpicked tv/radio hosts have pushed their lies for decades.
In NH, SC, FL and Nevada, Trump and his voters ignored them. His voters then voted big time for Trump. They won bigtime and broke the rules of the plantation masters by voting for Trump in NH. This is scaring the hell out of our former neocon RNC/GOPe masters of the faux conservative plantations and their ilk, the Club for Growth.
It is wonderful to see this decades old, long standing corrupt political system disintegrating right before our eyes. This corrupted system hates working Americans. It rewards illegals and those who bring them into America to freeload off the American workers slaving in the faux conservative plantation.
We are seeing a paradigm shift with us selecting our Presidential Candidate, instead of the RNC/GOPe/Uniparty elites, who hate us, selecting our candidates.
There is a Black Swan event occurring with the daily suicidal self wrought destruction of the RNC/GOPe, UniParty, Open Border Thugs, DC faux pundits, Faux News, ABCNNBCBS, NT and the left wing fish wraps. Something similar may be happening with the DEMes.
Many of us are looking forward to seeing the broken bones, drying blood and entrails of the Lying RNC/GOP Open Borders Elite, The Club for Growth, the UniParty, their DC faux conservative pundits, their mediots, their phoney pollsters and focus groups, Faux, ABCNNBCBS, their hired tv and radio hacks strewn across the primary states as much as our victories in those states.
We have escaped from their faux conservative plantations. We are not going back for more lies, abuse and mistreatment from our former RNC/GOPe masters.
We will vote for Trump and destroy them! Adios Bob! We will do very well without your doom and gloom!
“Why do all these stories about the ‘24 Democrat convention leave out the most relevant fact of all? The winning nominee needed two-thirds support from delegates, not a simple majority. BIG difference.”
They are written for those with a poor knowledge of the history as you noted above.
Also, they are appealing to the new math dummies
“We have outlined how Trump’s past and present statements and actions overtly contradict even the most fundamental precepts of conservatism.”
I don’t know the full extent to which this assertion is true because I don’t yet know what precepts that Trump has that have the effect of preserving and advancing values that must be protected.
First I always ask people who self-identify as “conservative” exactly what are they attempting to conserve and exactly why? Too many conservatives are in fact in love with big powerful government. They just want it to have different policies than those of progressive big powerful government. Such people for example, relish in a big, powerful and expensive military. They relish in a powerful FBI who can shoot down anyone who opposes government and not have to worry that the Attorney General will investigate the shooting too closely. They don’t approve of pot, so it doesn’t matter how many people end up in jail because they want to smoke it.
Such “conservatives” are happy to pay for the Iraq war by simply printing the money out of thin air.
So, with that in mind as some of the values that “conservatives” want to conserve, my calculation here is that Hillary does not want to conserve a single value that I think is important. She and her ilk are destroyers not builders. She has no values at all. And finally, Trump has to get a whole lot worse before he is worse for the country than Hillary would be.
Remember US History 201—and all those “five reasons” and “three reasons” essay questions on the midterms and finals??
Howsabout these (for 2016, natch)??
Compare and contrast:
Which of the following are current problems for the USA in 2016?
Illegal immigration.
Their $$$ shipped overseas.
LEGAL immigration.
Their $$$$ shipped overseas.
TEMPORARY H1-ABCDEFG visas.
$$$$ lost to citizen employment.
Overstaying visas.
Unfenced undefended borders.
“Trade” agreements and commitments.
Muslim hostility to “the west” here and abroad.
Muslim penetration of US Government offices.
Of the contenders for POTUS, which would better serve the USA with respect to THREE of these, and Why?
You have FOUR YEARS to contemplate a wrong answer.
Trump Wolves 
What is it about GOP house managers from the Clinton impeachment like this clown and Lindsay Graham?
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