The Republican establishment’s Trump panic is reaching new heights. They are now floating the idea that Trump is actually a Democratic plant. Who else, they reason, could so perfectly destroy their chances at winning the White House?
Commentary Magazine’s Noah Rothman advances the theory with an article titled “The many times Trump rescued Dems.” According to Rothman, every time Obama, Clinton or Democrats have made a misstep, Trump has stepped in with an outrageous statement that diverts attention away from Democrats and onto him.
Rothman’s theory misses half the equation. The press isn’t just covering Trump’s outlandish statements. It’s just as focused on the reaction of the GOP base. Instead of being repelled by racist, xenophobic, or discriminatory statements, they’re rallied by them. The more bigoted Trump becomes, the higher he polls. The problem is less about Trump than it is about the GOP.
If Trump were to go away tomorrow, the GOP would still be the party that embraced racists and xenophobes as part of their governing coalition. Their policies would still be tempered by people who believe that Muslims, African-Americans, Hispanics and other groups are not welcome in this country or don’t deserve the same level of freedom as white Americans. That’s ironic for the party that uses freedom as a mantra so often.
The really disturbing part of the Trump phenomenon, though, is the reluctance of GOP leaders to abandon him. Even after rebuking his rhetoric, Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they would support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee. Is there anything that Trump can say that will make them completely disavow him? Like the conservatives in Germany in the 1930s, they believe they can control Trump if he becomes president. Let’s hope we never have to find out.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
What’s pathetic are the GOP candidates who are baffled by Trump! Could they handle a true crisis? Wake up, GOP, and LEARN from Trump — not run from him!
When you blow the dog whistle long enough and use coded language that plays for the worst in the people one should not be surprised by who answers the call. Trump’s “success” with his rhetoric is merely shining a light on what has been there all along. We are now in the phase of traveling through the sewer of American politics in a glass bottomed boat and the picture is not pretty. The question for America is simply who are we as a people? Do we have the fortitude to put into practice the values we claim to hold near and dear or has fear, anger, ignorance and intolerance taken root? Trumps plays for the worst in everyone. Let’s play for the better angels in all of us.
Am with you, Randy.
Can’t recall who wrote it , but on Tuesday, someone described The Donald’s No Muslim Entry policy as a case of Trump simply skating to where the GOP puck was going to end up all along. So true.
The GOP has long been using euphemisms and code for the deep-seated xenophobic and intolerant sentiments of its base, reacting to many extreme pronouncements/actions by that base with nothing beyond a knowing and patronizing wink.
They deserve the perilous spot in which they now find themselves, i.e, stuck on the tracks, the Trump candidacy locomotive barreling down at them, with only two options at hand—nominate him or force a track switch-off that upsets a full one-third of the party’s base while spurring the Trump Train to run under its own power. And, with either choice, there comes another GOP defeat in the race for POTUS.
10…9….8…..7……6…….5…….
Just biding my time, waiting for a neo-con, GOP’er, or Trumpy to post his/her reasons why this blog is so wrong andwhy The Donald is actually so good for America.
Then again, maybe they won’t post at all. Maybe they are rightfully mortified by Trump’s jingoistic, nativistic, and xenophobic mindset and statements, or his willingness to ignore the Constitution with regard to immigrant and religious testing.
Nah. Never mind. Forget that last notion. Today’s Republicans are simply unable to feel embarrassed or concerned about the direction of their party, nor about their leading presidential candidate—regardless of how extreme or anti-American he may be.
I am so glad I saw the light about 15 years ago and left the GOP. Now I am a happy Unaffiliated voter.
GOP = Grand Old Paranoia. My prediction is that Trump will remain a huge presence but won’t have the votes to be the GOP nominee. The party will fight this out at the convention or before. I think Trump’s business “brand” is ruined and will never recover.
“They are now floating the idea that Trump is actually a Democratic plant. Who else, they reason, could so perfectly destroy their chances at winning the White House?”
Who else? Republicans need to look in the mirror.
For 50 years they courted and pandered to fringes, giving the wink-wink, nudge-nudge, on a host of issues fro civil rights, immigration, etc. For the past 8 years they have allowed the birthers to control the party’s reaction to President Obama and sat by silently, with more winks and nudges, when claims about the President’s place of birth, religious affiliation, and claims that he is a terrorist bent on destroying America.
The wonder isn’t that this is happening but that it has taken so long.
All of this just confirms that the Republican party is the most morally and intellectually bankrupt institution in America.
The GOP deserve Trump; this country does not, and we actually need a serious two party (or more) system for democracy to work well. However, I do recall thinking months ago when Trump said that Bill Clinton had encouraged him to run that there was probably a bit of devious thinking behind that “approval” if indeed there actually was such a phone call.
Just curious, but why is anything less than perfection from any candidate a “misstep?” Perhaps campaigns would be a bit less packaged if we (and the press) were to consider missteps as simply human moments and an opportunity to learn.
GOP’s new theme song (stolen from HeeHaw):
“Gloom, despair, agony on me;
Deep, dark depression…
Excessive misery;
If it weren’t for bad luck;
I’d have no luck at all;
Gloom, despair, agony on me.”