Posted on 03/21/2016 9:47:28 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Since nothing else has worked, mainline Republicans have been reduced to wringing hands and lighting their Ronald Reagan candles in prayerful pleas that Donald Trump fails to secure the nomination before their convention in July. He needs 1,237 delegates, and it's not clear he will achieve that.
Denying Trump a first-ballot coronation conceivably could throw the convention into chaos and pave the way to nominate a more conventional candidate. That's the establishment's best hope -- maybe its only hope.
Weird, huh? Republicans, having been swallowed by the chaos Trump inflicted on their plans, need a dose of the same to stop him.
I have a better idea. Give it up.
By any standard Republicans claim to hold dear, Donald Trump should be their nominee for president. I think he will get clobbered by Hillary Clinton in November, but more than 7 million GOP voters thus far have selected him from a field that once numbered 17 candidates, far more than anyone else. That's supposed to matter.
These people chose Trump because they're fed up with Washington and the way leaders there don't listen to them. Republican voters can't speak any louder than they have this election season. They want Trump!
True, more than 12 million voters chose someone else, but those people had a lot of options. As the field has dwindled to three, options other than Trump are either far-fetched (John Kasich) or downright scary (Ted Cruz). Frankly, as a citizen of this great nation, Trump scares me less than Cruz.
Kasich may be the sanest of the bunch, and he certainly is qualified. Alas, he also has been all but dismissed by the pundits, even after his home-state win last week in Ohio. I'm tempted to say that judgment should all but secure the nomination for Kasich, since the experts haven't been right on much about this election. They may have a point, though, about the implausible, if not impossible, task Kasich faces going forward.
He would have to win a few more states to set himself up as a viable mainstream alternative in a brokered convention. Out of the primaries and caucuses thus far, though, he has won only the state where he is a popular governor. He finished third, behind Trump and Cruz, next door in Michigan.
That doesn't bode well, even though polls have shown Kasich faring well against Clinton. At a recent debate, Kasich noted "I beat Hillary Clinton by more than anybody, by 11 points."
Voters don't seem to care about those polls. They want Trump.
Imagine the outrage if their man is denied the nomination. That would strike a matchstick that quickly could turn into an inferno and make a strange scene worse.
Republicans have been building toward something like this. It's time to see it through. They lost the last two presidential races, and the answer each time was to go harder to the right. They don't seem to accept that a majority of Americans reject their hard-line stances on immigration, reducing taxes on the wealthy, gay marriage, a woman's right to choose, and so on.
Even the main target of their ire, President Barack Obama, is gaining in popularity. In the most recent Gallup poll, 52 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing. That's up from a 39 percent approval rating in July 2014.
Now along comes Trump with his build-a-wall mantra and all the other things he says. That may seem counter-productive to the mood of the country overall, but the fact his message has resonated deeply with millions of Americans can't be denied. They deserve to have their man judged in November.
If Trump goes to the convention in Cleveland as the clear leader, accept the judgment of those who voted in the primaries. It's Trump they want, it's Trump they should get and, as Republicans like to say, let the people decide. -
And the electable candidate is ??????????
I feel it should be whoever can get a majority of the delegates to agree.
At this point it is moot. The Trump believers need to see the inevitable electoral massacre.
I just hope they have enough honor to own what they have done and not to look for scapegoats.
You may be right, but I’ve heard several dozen times over the last nine months from all sorts of pundits and political figures that Trump had no chance of actually being the nominee and his campaign would implode any moment. It was this sort of talk that made me hesitant to support Trump in the first place for the first few months of his candidacy. Now, as you admit, Trump will likely be the nominee. That makes me extremely skeptical about accepting any more predictions about Trump this far out.
Beyond that, I’ve read several books by and about Trump, and I have been surprised at how he has been able to accomplish many things that one wouldn’t think he would be able to pull off. I’ve also seen various articles discussing how Trump might rewrite the electoral map. If he can win Michigan and Pennsylvania, for example, he would almost certainly win the election, regardless of how unpopular he may be in some other specific places.
Remind me after the election about the electoral massacre you are referring too. Glad we can agree to disagree.
It's not 1932 and there aren't any FDR's waiting in line to replace Trump.
... and let's not forget.....
Hillary has a BIG problem no one is discussing.
Recall that presidential-era Clintons ascended into political Valhalla (and filthy rich-dom) b/c they skilfully exploited Bill/s ability to have sex w/ younger women.
Bill and Hillary were the faces of a Fully Fornicating Society (w/out the nuisance of an actual child being born).
Sex-crazed Dumbocrats were getting vicarious sex thrills like crazy.
But that was a long time ago.
Crotchety Dumbos are now wondering whether ol’ man Bill still has the stamina to get it on w/ big-boobed babes who are hot to trot.....and willing to kneel under his desk to perform lewinskys.
If the Dumbos can/t get a thrill w/ Hill/Bill, they’ll have to look elsewhere.....Hillary will fadeout in a nanosecond.
It isn’t 1932, but is it 1980?
THOSE folks DON'T want TRUMP!!
But American VOTERS seem to like him a wee bit!
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