[drop 50 and fire for effect]

The 'money quote" from this article nails it:

"It’s clear that the gulf between the “Bushies” and the “Trumpsters” isn’t likely to be bridged anytime soon. That is a good thing(emphasis added). Any other Republican president-elect would have been under enormous pressure to bring in former Bush officials to staff cabinet agencies with safe, don’t-rock-the-boat appointees."

Trump was elected to "drain the swamp." His cabinet picks are almost all experienced individuals, but who have had little to do with policy making. From all appearances, for good, bad, or indifferent, he intends to make good on that promise.

However, as Mr. Fund points out, he has to have significant policy successes to deter an establishment counter-attack in 2020.

[gr8eman]

GA, AZ, and TX have been overrun by illegals and liberals escaping the hell they created in other states. That’s why Trump got a smaller % of votes. Poor analysis.

[Parmy]

Well, it has taken Obama 8 years to nearly wreck this country. But, with an adult, alpha male in charge with others of the same temperment it can be reversed.

He isn't formally President yet and already some sectors have come to heel.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

The supreme irony of the Trump versus Bush feud is that Bush views Trump as some intolerant Philistine, with the implication being that Bush is part of the “moderate” more reasonable part of the GOP. Yet one of the major themes of Bush’s 2004 campaign was opposing gay marriage. Trump didn’t raise the issue at all and said he was OK with the Supreme Court ruling on the issue. Now that’s not to say that we should or shouldn’t have gay marriage. But it always amazes me that the Bushes view themselves as these tolerant, moderate types when their campaigns were filled with cultural wedge issues. Remember when Bush Sr. won? A lot of people said it was because he made black crime a wedge issue.

[grania]

duhhhh....since DJT won without those elitist globalist ‘pubs in the wealthy suburbs this time, shouldn’t we assume he doesn’t need them? Who writes this idiocy?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Ain’t gonna be no Bush Counterattack in 2020.

Ain’t 3% of us who will EVER vote for a Bush again under ANY circumstances.

They’d get more votes running O.J. Simpson.

[sodpoodle]

Just my hunch, but I always believed Barbara Bush was the Valerie Jarret for HW, W and Jeb. She has that ‘bossy’ demeanor.

I have commented before that W would probably have been happier flying planes, riding a horse on his ranch and enjoying a private life, but ‘Barbara’s family business’ was a duty.

[TakebackGOP]

He may not have won the election if he didn’t attack the Bushes.

“But one shouldn’t forget that Trump’s temperament cost him upscale Republican voters in key suburbs. To solidify his reelection chances, he will have to overcome their doubts with policy successes that assuage their concerns about his rough edges.”

They’re already talking about his reelection?

[Mr. Douglas]

It’s really fascinating how often NPR quotes McCain. Just related...

[Alberta's Child]

Any comparison between the 2016 election results and the performance of prior candidates like Romney and McCain is completely irrelevant and misses an important point.

There was no Republican candidate in this election. This was a race between a Democrat and an independent who hijacked the Republican nomination process to get on the ballot.

If anything, Hillary Clinton was the Republican in this race. Her administration would likely be nearly identical to what we saw with George W. Bush in office ... which explains why so many of the @ssholes who polluted his administration were comfortable supporting her.

[Peter W. Kessler]

We may never again have an opportunity such as this for a “Fresh Start” in our lifetimes.

Drain the swamp?

It’s more like “Pump the Septic Tank.”

[PGR88]

"It’s clear that the gulf between the “Bushies” and the “Trumpsters” isn’t likely to be bridged anytime soon."

My spin on this is - there are no "Bushies" outside of a few bitter-clingers in Texas and within the DC Beltway. The voters simply do NOT care about any Bush "faction" and the Bush family power is going to disappear entirely within 90 days of Trump being in office.

[trebb]

But one shouldn’t forget that Trump’s temperament cost him upscale Republican voters in key suburbs.

"Upscale Republican voters" translates to "Elitists who sneer at the Middle Class as trailer trash"....

[bigbob]

If thosebin these “key suburbs” don’t get it yet, they will have to face the reality that they really aren’t key any more. They lost.

[SamAdams76]

I still maintain that had the Bushes come out and endorsed Trump during the general campaign - Trump would have lost.

A Bush endorsement would have been the kiss of death for Trump. A lot of the Rust Belters would have seen him as just another Republican and would have stayed with the Democrats. I think Trump knew that and that's why he went out of his way to insult and alienate them during the campaign.

[MNGal]

“But one shouldn’t forget that Trump’s temperament cost him upscale Republican voters in key suburbs. To solidify his reelection chances, he will have to overcome their doubts with policy successes that assuage their concerns about his rough edges.”

I don’t agree with this statement. Trump won this election without the so-called upscale Republicans. My guess is that increasingly more Democrats may come to see the light as the economy recovers, and Trump may win in 2020 by a larger margin.

[Lurkinanloomin]

The Bushes were obviously not alone in their antipathy toward Trump.
***************************

Fund never addresses the real reason for the Bushes and their allies antipathy towards Trump.
He broke the stranglehold of the Cheap Labor Express on the GOP.
In every election since the last amnesty, the GOP has nominated an amnesty candidate.
This has effectively blocked the citizens from stopping the illegal alien inundation.
The Cheap Labor Express Republicans were committed to keeping the citizens from retaining the rule of law and their country.
This time they got Trumped and that is why they are so steamed.

[Phillyred]

The Bushes hated Reagan too. Then this same wing of the party couldn’t figure out how Reagan got all those democrats to vote for him. For decades they asked how they could regain those Reagan Democrats. They gave up and declared that we just needed to get the Hispaaaaaanics to love us. Well that didn’t work out for two election cycles. Then along comes a guy like Trump who had the blueprint on getting the Reagan Republicans back! And they fight him tooth and nail. Some refusing to even vote for him, some voting for Hillary. Amazing. The absolute ignorance of the Bush Republican wing.

[nathanbedford]

Trump won an impressive victory, carrying 31 out of 50 states. But in several of them — including key states such as Georgia, Arizona, and Texas — he won a smaller percentage of the vote than Mitt Romney did. Indeed, nationally, Trump won 46.2 percent of votes cast, whereas Romney won 47.2 percent. In the 37 states considered “non-swing” or uncompetitive this year, Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory was greater than Barack Obama’s in 2012.

These numbers suggest why Trump's victory in the electoral college was hardly a "landslide" as Trump's surrogates have been asserting. The numbers there say otherwise. That is not to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his victory, he won fair and square and he is about to be elected by the college of electors, and properly so.

But it is to say that sweeping assertions about Trump being the only Republican in the field who might have beat Hillary are not to be taken at face value.

The point of bringing this up is not to re-litigate the primary season, but it is to contest the often bruited assertion on these threads that those who supported other Republican candidates would have doomed the cause to defeat. The point of that? To win relief from the unremitting denigration of those who supported Ted Cruz or other Republicans during the primaries but dutifully switched to Trump upon his nomination.

[ilgipper]

I’m thinking the guy who won Ohio handily, as well as Florida. Pennsylvania, Michigan and freaking Wisconsin does not need the advice or support of those who could do not.

They are stuck in a different era before the American people were collectively made aware of the damage the political class has had on their lives.

[Nifster]

Looking at the georgia Vote is a fools errand. So what if Trump got fewer votes than Romney he won the state by eight pounts