The Republicans could not be in a worse spot with Trump. \u00a0I am fascinated by the choice they have in front of them.<\/p>\n\t
What happens when your constituents are so fed up with you they elect an outsider, non Republican (Trump)?<\/p>\n\t
Well, here are the options for the Republican Party:<\/p>\n\t
Option 1 – Listen to your constituency and let Trump get nominated: \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\t In this case you are allowing many\u00a0core Republican values (Supply Side Economics, Free Trade, Neocon Foreign Policy, etc.) to get pushed aside by Trump, who is leading in a different direction. \u00a0Additionally, Trump is flat out nuts, fascist, white supremacist on immigration (can you even really put up a wall to keep Mexicans out? \u00a0Are we going to build a N. American version of the Great Wall of China…really??). \u00a0He is rabblerousing; bringing out the worst in the\u00a0base. \u00a0Does the party want to listen to its constituency if the constituency is wrong (at least in the Republican\u00a0view)?<\/p>\n\t Nominating Trump is the equivalent of the Republicans admitting that their voting base does not like the\u00a0Republican Party platform or\u00a0any of their politicians. \u00a0How can a party continue to exist under that condition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t It basically spells the death of the party in its current form. \u00a0And the form it would morph into with Trump leadership is not a kinder, gentler, more forward looking version of the current iteration of Republicanism. \u00a0It is worse.<\/p>\n\t On the bright side, the Republicans will still have the House and will perhaps keep the Senate. \u00a0Their voters don’t like them, but is that anything new? \u00a0 (For years, Republicans \u00a0have bashed the government and DC, which they are part of. \u00a0Is it any wonder their voters now bash\u00a0them with the same passion? \u00a0They seem to vote for them anyway.)<\/p>\n\t Trump will likely lose the general election if\u00a0nominated, so the Republicans can try to recover in the intervening 4 years until they can put forward a Republican that is more “of the party” (if that person even exists) and adjust their platform to better fit their voters.<\/p>\n\t Essentially this is would be their\u00a0message to voters: \u00a0“Dear voters, We loved Trump because you loved Trump, even though we hate him and you know it. \u00a0He was defeated unfortunately….though we can still rally around our common\u00a0dislike of the Democrats and refuse to govern for 4 more years…which is what got us in this situation in the first place!! \u00a0Let’s forget Trump\u00a0existed and get back to our roots, which you soundly rejected in the 2016 primaries by nominating Trump.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t It is nonsensical. \u00a0The party is in a bad spot.<\/p>\n\t This strategy relies on the same Jedi-mind-trick, slight of hand, factlessness that has guided the Republicans for some time. \u00a0I think the chickens have come home to roost on that approach….Trump is the culmination of it.<\/p>\n\t I would vote for a clean break, to move forward with something new and rebuild. \u00a0I think the Republicans have firm intellectual and ethical\u00a0ground to build on. I think the Republicans can do better. \u00a0I reject option 1. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\t Option 2 – Don’t listen to your constituency and nominate someone else<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\t This is the equivalent of writing a hate letter to your voters: “Dear voters, I know you all voted for Trump, but we think you’re wrong. \u00a0We aren’t going to listen to you; we know you are\u00a0mad at us for not listening in the past 8 years or so, which is why you voted for Trump…but we are going to not listen again! \u00a0(All for your own good of course!) \u00a0Now please vote for this other guy no one likes and forget you don’t like us…and we’ll try to forget that we don’t listen to or like you.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t Wow. \u00a0It seems like a terrible idea when put like that.<\/p>\n\t The viability of option 2 needs two preconditions to make it a better\u00a0idea:\u00a01) an acknowledgement that the party needs to move in another direction and\u00a0<\/span>2) a decent candidate to put forward that represents the new party direction.<\/span><\/p>\n\t Number 1 doesn’t exist yet: \u00a0The party lost in 2008 and 2012 and didn’t really change direction.<\/p>\n\t Number 2 doesn’t exist yet: \u00a0If that person existed, they would be winning the primaries (hopefully).<\/p>\n\t