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.
They will be out of excuses.
If they fail to deliver, voters will turn over control of Congress to the Democrats in two years.
Then their gravy train ride ends.
I didn't get a "harrumph" outta that guy!
Well, they loved Reagan - as soon as his eight years were over. You see, once he was gone Poppy could get elected in '88.
The GOPe didn't mind waiting eight years to get the candidate they wanted - hey, wait! Is that what the #NeverTrumper's are doing today? Hmmm....
A Steve Chapman byline is an implied barf alert.
“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.”
I don’t see it as folly so much as crushing blows to the propped up weak lefties and or, mainstream media, Gope,the pc police...and self serving / self important blowhards.
It appears they are preparing themselves for the inevitable... A Trump victory. She couldn’t even beat an inexperienced junior senator from Illinois because hardcore diehard Democrats blame her and her husband for 8 years of George Bush. They want nothing to do with her and they’ll sit on their hands before they justify her candidacy with their vote. Essentially, Trump will likely be the biggest electoral college winner since Reagan v. Carter. That so called ‘upset’ was as sweet as they come... Ronnie and Jimmy were neck and neck right up until the votes were counted.
Notice that tthe entire article doesn’t even give a hint that a whole bunch of people who voted for Trump have any legitimate interest in the body politic.
One positive outcome of a Trump victory, would be a purge of neocons from the Republican Party.
There used to be a female columnist who claimed to be a conservative; her name escapes me at the moment, but she was just the opposite off what she claimed to be. Townhall.com finally got rid of her.
Do we want Hillary appointing judges?
Did this ass-wipe actually read all the recent crap about the FBI investigation into Hillary's emails?
Yes, but you can count on that Hillary Rotten Clinton will use anything she can to win the election through fraud, and that includes stealing the election and using idiot voters, just like that arrogant pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave did
Make sure you and your friends are registered to vote.
These chattering class “conservative” clowns are virtue signalling. Defeating Hillary Criminal and her SCOTUS is far less important than telling the world how “conservative” they are. Problem is there simply is nothing conservative about attempting to depress support for Trump and defacto campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
Mark Morford, is that you?
If Trump loses the republican party loses.
Trump supporters will never forgive establishment republican and neo-con turncoats for putting Hillary in the White House.
Never trumpers delusions are a sad thing to behold. Tis’ a shame they aren’t as against Obama & Clinton as they are against Trump.
Vote Trump 2016
Republicans enter the fall campaign in moods ranging from grim foreboding to howling despair.
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Thank you for the headline warning, but the first line is a dead giveaway.
For the first time since 1984 I am enthusiastic.
I’m going out to find votes for Trump.
Thank you Donald Trump for siding with the citizens.
We’ve been waiting a long time.
Who is Mark Morford? I’ve never hear of him.
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