The Grand Old Party has come to the crossroads of tyranny and democracy, but can it choose wisely and better yet, can it find its way back on a path to building a "Shining City on a Hill"?
Donald Trump has turned American politics on its head. He poses a threat to both right and left with his brash style and deliberate disregard for decades of the correct crowd's language barriers. He doesn't need anyone's money to make a run for the White House and has been a healthy contributor to a number of it's past occpants. He is on every side of every issue at the same time denying at a moments notice any evidence to the contrary, and he is as confident about himself and his chances of winning as anyone that has tossed their hat into the ring.
Yes, He is a billionaire showman and a businessman who has done what many business people st his level have done along the way, had a few failures. Some larger than others, a few requiring assistance from the bankruptvy courts to resowlve. The fact is he is successful and he has built a huge company with thousands of employees. He understands the economy in ways most of us can only hope to get an inkling from in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. He knows how to manage people and that is after all what politics is in the end... hearts and minds. He's a winner and he wants you to believe you can be one too.
Now before you stop reading because you believe I am in the bag for "The Donald" you need to check your imagination at the end of the last paragraph. He is not my first choice for President, but in the end he may necessarily be my last. I will not cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
The GOP invited Mr Trump to the party with open arms. Now they are caught with their tail between their legs because they found out he invited in every pissed off person that's voted Republican since Bush 43 took office. He represents their collective Middle Finger and they along with a bunch of Reagan Democrats and some independents are coming along for the ride
Every reasonably qualified candidate, yes there were at one point 17 except for 2 have gone to the wayside. The entire establishment from top to bottom of the GOP Past and Present cut through like butter with a hot knife. Only one serious contender remains, Ted Cruz.
The GOP hates Ted Cruz of Texas almost as much as Donald Trump of New York. Cruz has been the insider enema the GOP Senate has never been able to accept. He's broken a Cardinal rule of their club, He kept his campaign promises. God forbid they all might try that sometime. Cruz has a very good campaign built but his resources are limited and he is a real Conservative. He has won 8 primaries and cacusses, but none by convincing majorities except his home state of Texas.
The Party Faithful believe they have an argument that if Trump fails to achieve a sufficient number of delegates to secure the nomination outright, that the rules committee should be allowed to change the rules and a candidate acceptable to them could be selected from the convention floor. Governor John Kasich of Ohio the other remaining candidate is hoping this will be his path to the eventual GOP nomination.
The problem is that the National Party and the State Parties committed to a process with a set of rules everyone agreed to follow. People have gone to the polls and will continue to go until the last primary in June. They expect their voice to count. They expect their vote to carry some weight even if it is by a plurality rather than a majority. Their own post 2012 election autopsy report showed clearly that their number one priority was to listen more closely to the voters. To date they've made a mocary of the process.
The last contested convention pitted a sitting President Gerald R Ford against a former Governor Ronald Wilson Reagan. Reagan lost by just fewer than 125 votes after a number of ballots. Jimmy Cater went on to win the General Election. It left Reagan so dejected he nearly left politics all together, but came back four years later at the urging of his wife Nancy, and was elected twice.
The GOP has not had a good track record since with the White House since. They elected Bush 41 and 43 but lost with Dole, McCain, and Romney.
They accepted an alliance with the socalled TEA party and won back the House of Representatives in 2010, then increased their margins in 2012 and taking the Senate back in 2014. Each time they came vowing to take action by using the power of the purse held by the House to reign in President Obama and to end the log jam Harry Reid created in the Senate. Nothing happened on either count and no positive action beyond a budget trap they laid for the President and we're eventually were blamed for themselves which they gave up on in the end was ever presented to the American People.
The rank and file Republican base has had it and then are on the outs with their Party leadership. They grow more frustrated each day. A takeover by Party hacks at the convention would result in mutiny. There will be no "Riots" because that's not what Republicans do. There will be a backlash the likes of which no one may have ever seen. Not only would Mr Trump get his nomination, but the platform could be changed from the floor, and so to could be the rules, and the Party officials. The days of smoke filled rooms with backroom deals would be faint memories the Party leaders could simply pray to have back.
Let's face it. The GOP F'd it up good. Not just this time but a bunch of times. Their half baked thought processes and half assed follow through have brought them to this point. It's over for them unless they take one for the team. They need to heed the voice of the people and respect the process they themselves created. Next time if you are going to allow in everyone be sure you know who the hell everyone is exactly. If they do not I am afraid it is over, and over for the fools running the show. They may as well board up the building in DC and move to France. At least there they don't have to pick up a gun.
