You're not gonna like this (or aren't you?)

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

It's not official yet, but things now seem to be moving in that direction at an accelerating rate. This is now the face of the Republican Party, whether they like it or not (hint: they actually hate it):

And the GOP has got only themselves to blame for it. No, not so much because they couldn't pull themselves together and rally behind a single candidate that would provide an alternative to the bigoted lying psychopath that Teflon Donald is. That would've only reinforced the point of Trump's supporters that the political establishment is rigging elections and people's preferences don't really matter.

The reason is the schizophrenic behavior of the Republican Party in recent years. A self-proclaimed defender of America and everything American, the purportedly patriotic party, has become an obstructionist factor whose main function is now essentially to block anything the executive attempts to do. The party of No.

That said, Trump has played his trump cards well, sorry for the stupid pun. And now the GOP establishment, amidst the horror show that they've witnessed yesterday, will have to wake up to the realization that trying to hurt Trump's campaign from now on would most likely only backfire on them. Because he has become the presumptive GOP nominee, and now they'll be compelled to rally behind him, no matter how much they detest him.

So they'll have to sharply change the tune about him now. This metamorphosis, itself being another indication of the schizophrenic that the Party of No has become, will indeed be beautiful to observe.

Trump said yesterday he's a "unifier". Hard to believe it, given all the statements he has made thus far during his campaign. Let's see how he'll sell this point now.

Comments

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

Can we just call this election for Hillary already, and be done with it? Billions of dollars would be spared - dollars that could be used for much better purposes.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Oh, but the donors wouldn't be so happy about it representative democracy doesn't work that way.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

And miss all the fun? Come on!

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Or rather, half a dozen foreign countries get messed up.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't you want America to be made great again?

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Rachel Maddow did an interesting commentary the other night about how the GOP, in light of Mitt Romney's defeat by Barack Obama, changed their primary process - and in doing so, basically inadvertently ensured Trump's current success.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gop-primary-based-on-romney-favors-trump-tone-633915459532

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

Yes, the fact sticks out that there are predominantly ultra-conservative (southern) states that dominate the early stages of the primaries season.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Wait, I thought Cruz was the ultra-conservative here? And Trump was the No-True-Republican? What am I missing?

Oh wait. His bigotry. It resonates well with those states. My bad.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

Cruz has been said to be both more dangerous (http://www.salon.com/2016/01/25/5_reasons_ted_cruz_is_even_more_dangerous_than_donald_trump_partner/) and nasty (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-makes-ted-cruz-truly-dangerous/2016/01/19/5f20dbee-bed8-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html) than Trump himself. A thing that should be taken in consideration.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

and now they'll be compelled to rally behind him, no matter how much they detest him.

#NeverTrump

No one can be compelled. Anyone I know who is a conservative Republican will not vote for Trump. Ever. Quislings like Christie and Sessions (!!) are dead to me. DEAD. As far as I am concerned, if (and frankly it is still an if proposition) the only way Reince Priebus can redeem the party is to reject the results and simply refuse to allow Trump to run as a Republican.

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

Drumpf’s collaborators, like the remarkably plastic Chris Christie [...], will find that nothing will redeem the reputations they will ruin by placing their opportunism in the service of his demagogic cynicism and anticonstitutional authoritarianism.

- George Will

This is the long dark night of the soul for intellectual conservatism in the USA.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Good to know that many Republican supporters would rather their partisan leaders resort to arbitrary unilateral authoritarian methods but not drink the full cup of the poison that they've concocted for themselves.

Trump is a symptom of a problem that can't be uprooted unless it's tackled head-on: openly, honestly, and introspectively. Even if the party establishment does use some elaborate trick to block him out (which is more likely to come bite them on the ass afterwards), they won't be removing the root cause for his stunning success among the base, until they've recognized that they've got a serious ideological problem on their hands. One which cannot be simply amputated through elaborate procedural tricks.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

He's called Drumpf now. You know, with his original family name.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Eh. Making fun of a person's name is something Donald Trump would do.

In any case, lot of Americans had their names Anglicized by immigration workers or did it themselves in order to assimilate. Including my own grandfather, FWIW. That was back when immigration meant assimilation.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

> something Donald Trump would do

Like my people say, "With his own stones, on his own head".

Back in the day, Trump's dad actually lied about his heritage. He claimed he was of Swedish ancestry because it wasn't dandy for business to be German back then. He had lots of Jewish customers, after all.

Dishonesty runs in the family, it seems.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Again, a lot of Americans reinvent themselves or obscure their heritage, either intentionally or out of genuine ignorance. For most Americans, I think, your name is not as important as what you do.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Then why would he want to lie about his heritage?

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Who cares? It wasn't Trump, who, as far as I know, has always been pretty straight forward about his family history, it was his father. My guess is that it had something to do with anti-German feelings during WWII.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Changing one's name out of ignorance... This is interesting. Could you elaborate?

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of Americans who don't really know enough about their heritage to do more than posit a guess about where and who they come from. My wife just found out that her great grandmother changed her name, first and last, and everything they thought they knew about her German immigrant family, my wife's German ancestry was... a lie. They were all Irish and born not in Pennsylvania, but in Massachusetts. Why obscure it? God knows. Maybe because the Irish connection was embarrassing? Maybe something darker? I guess this is true for all other countries, too, but because of our somewhat unique history of immigration it might be more true here.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Branding one's name to be symbolic of wealth and success is also something Trump would do (and is actually doing) - so it's fair game to put that under scrutiny.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

If Trump himself had changed it, then yes. But this is choice that is at least 2 generations in the past. For Donald Trump, Drumpf is of geneological interest, but isn't really anything else. It wasn't like he was claiming to be a Native American or trying to get us to believe something untrue about his heritage, like his wealth was tied to the Rockefellers.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or his name is a rather sensitive topic for some people? Let's face it. People make jokes. They do it mostly for fun. That's all.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

His name is funny mostly because he blazons it over everything he builds like some of the more insecure pharaohs. That his family used a different spelling/variation in years past doesn't really strike me as particularly interesting. I think what he does is ridiculous and unbecoming in its own right. His ancestors can shift fro themselves.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

It's the most forced meme I've ever seen. Completely unfunny, just like "Damn Daniel"

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Shrug. You may refer the problem to the meme creator, John Oliver.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm aware of who made it, thanks. That doesn't mean it's funny.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

I am not sure if Christie's "fuck you" to New Jersey could have been bigger or more petulant.

He was back to his actual job for, what, two weeks before he signed up for private jets again?

Forget parties and politics -- recall his ass. Guadagno might actually want to be governor.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed of him and embarrassed by his new status as some kind of lackey or lick spittle. I truly thought better of him and I cannot imagine what could have been promised to him to have him so abandon any scrap of integrity he had. For what? Why, it profits a man nothing to give his own soul for the whole world... but for access to Trump?

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

He's busy humiliating himself to the NJ press as I type this.

Good news! Except for dinner out with Mary Pat he expects to stay on the job for at least the next week or two....

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Just read the tweets on it. About what you'd expect. If you hadn't seen him endorse Trump you'd almost think it was the old Christie. But its not. Depressing.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Trumpism is Republican conservatism stripped of its politesse (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/03/opinions/mitt-romney-gop-trump-waldman/).

Sums it up best, I think.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

That is only true if you avoid the way his policies and personality contradict just about every Republican position for the last 40 years. Unless the GOP really has been for government mandated health care this whole time and the whole "We hate Obamacare." thing was their version of "politeness." For Christ's sake, the man is a 9/11 Truther. I think you can't strip enough politeness off of Republican conservatism to square that circle.

This sums it up better.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432237/donald-trump-why-i-cant-vote-trump-nevertrump

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

And a birther. And an Islamophobic chauvinistic jingoist.

I think he very much fits in the Republican profile.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

By the way,

I will wager any amount of money, up to and including all the imaginary "billions" in Trump's "uuuuge" fortune against a shiny new Greek drachma that not only will he not become president, he won't actually win a single primary or command a single delegate. Well, maybe a single delegate. Sorry to burst bubbles, but the Donald bubble is just that, a blip on the radar.

Those were your words (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1997647.html?thread=149891407#t149891407).

Here's an advice. Do not, I repeat, NOT make bets on elections! Or you'll become the second Jeff. ;-)

[oportet.livejournal.com]

So people from both sides doubt his true intentions, and don't want to see him become president...so in a way, he is a unifier!

Not to defend Trump or anything...but he's already made clear, years ago, what doubters on the left and right are not only just figuring out now - but for some reason they're acting like they've broken some kind of unsolvable case wide open.

The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.

I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.

That's straight from Trump - his words. And that's just a small piece of it. If anyone would like to know more, head over to the Washington Post and check out a year old article about a thirty year old book in which he details his manipulation strategies - with the public and press.

He's full of shit, there is no doubt - but he's been up front about that. He told you what play he was going to run - one party fucked up and failed to set up a defense for it. Will the other party make the same mistake?

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be hysterical if he suddenly decides to quit in the last moment, and says, "Gotcha, guys! T'was all a joke, just for fun!" Or maybe, "I just wanted to expose the flaws in your system. Now I'm out". Would be unprecedented. And would make a great point. (Oh... keep hoping...)

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

The best way to do that would be to select the VP he actually wants President, and then he resigns day one.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Would be the most epic trolling evAH.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Best defense a party could have against demagogues: stay in touch with reality. And one of the two major US parties has demonstrated both unwillingness and incapacity to do it, a great deal more than the other. You're right: Trump has sniffed an opportunity, and he has exploited it. There's a good reason he has picked up this specific party to parasitize on.

[dreamville-bg.livejournal.com]

Oh I sure am loving it. It confirms something I've known for quite a while...



Says it all about a good chunk of the American public.

All the systematic dumbing down was bound to have an effect eventually.

America has to drink the cup to the bottom, though, if it is to learn anything from this experience. So... DRUMPF FOR PREZ!

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Most of those guys are either douchebags or imbeciles anyway - or in many cases, both.