If "the Donald" has taken on the political persona of Darth Vader threatening the order in the Republican Universe on the Dark Side, then what is needed is a Hans Solo and a good dose of the establishment FORCE. Enter Mitt Romney as Hans and, don't you know ? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! Loaded for bear, Romney took to the stage to make the establishment case that Donald Trump is wholly unqualified - by temperament, experience, or level of sanity, to become the Republican Nominee in 2016 or at any time in the next 1000 years. As the mouthpiece for the Beltway Rs, Romney encouraged the Republican primary voters to reject Trump altogether as a bigoted, unreconstructed liberal and (OMG) a supporter of Democrats past. Admitting that he "evolved" in his policy positions, Trump argued that he had taken the pledge to support the "nominee", some months ago when it was less clear who might prevail. And, after all, Romney himself proudly accepted Donald Trump's endorsement for his Presidential candidacy (not to mention cash) just 4 years ago. Mitt didn't bob and weave, duck, or complain then. Romney attacked Trump's character, policies, business expertise, his corporate failures, and noted that he destroyed or bankrupted more businesses than succeeded. Romney predicted that Trump's nomination would spell disaster for the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement. PHEW! Tough stuff. John McCain joined in the dressing-down publicly and Mitch McConnell suggested that if Trump won the nomination, Republican Senators should run TV ads against Trump to gain some distance from his Presidential bid if they were to survive politically and get re-elected in their own states. And, then, of course, the Beltway Republican "establishment" sent their talking heads out to various media outlets to join with Romney to press their point in this last-ditch effort to stop the Trump bandwagon and to deny him a majority of delegates, resulting in a brokered Convention. Once there, they would again be back in control and they could hand-pick their candidate for President, without those pesky and uninformed "voters" who made the mistake of not voting for George Bush in the first place. So, they deserve to be ignored and their votes and their selection of candidate rejected. Talk about arrogance....
My take is considerably different. And, it all revolves around the Mother's Milk of politics - money.
We are witnessing the rejection of the modern Republican Party - the party of Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Trey Gowdy, and the hateful and obstructionist Tea Party. In fact, this isn't the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, or even George Bush. Today's Republican Party is a far cry from the moderate/centrist party with a conservative fiscal outlook that was capable of governing. You see, governing requires consensus and compromise, not obstinate positions without flexibility or a refusal to perform the duties of the office. Governing since our nation began meant debate, negotiations, and, finally, agreement in the best interests of the nation. Today, evidence of any willingness by a Republican to have a reasonable discussion with others who hold a different viewpoint from the hard and fast CONSERVATIVE position on whatever topic - choice, guns, immigrants, social security, health care, education, taxes on the wealthy, rebuilding roads and bridges, keeping bloated military spending in check to name few - would be ridden out of the Republican Party on a rail in short order. The Ronald Reagan who negotiated with Tip O'Neill to save Social Security in the 80's would have been impeached by the right-wing if that occurred today - simply for meeting with O'Neill in the first place.
In the 1990s the Republican Party was "seized" in a hostile take-over by the Conservative Party. Conservative purists insisted on conformity during the Gingrich Revolution and the Contract with America. I remember the first day that Newt was sworn in as Speaker of the House, the entire Republican membership of the House had to sign "the pledge" - the Contract with America - and Newt would use the power of his office to hold them to it. The House, as a result, became a far less collegial place for policy discussion and debate and the Democratic Senate, likewise, dug in the the long haul. From that point forward, through Clinton, Bush, and Obama, the battle has raged on. Add Grover Norquist to the soup with his "no tax" pledge as a test for any Republican running for any office, and the rise of the far-right, take-no-prisoners Tea Party wingnuts, with their stalemate - no government, no debate, no agreement, tear-it-all-down, sequestration of die, government shut-downs are good, and let's default on the national debt for fun - and you get to this year. The year of Trump.
For near 20 years, the Conservative takeover of the Republican Party entrenched, took over the policy development through corporate-funded "think-tanks" and developed the take-over of media outlets so as to spread their propaganda over the airwaves and TV of the nation. "Fair and balanced" it is not. Nor, was it planned to be so. The media plan did inflame debates and polarize policy almost guaranteeing that compromise would be impossible. That was the plan - government fails again and again. But, why do that? Simple - the more that the federal government was the scene of failure, frustration, and disappointment, the more the public would see that it was dysfunctional and an undue financial burden. Why pay for failure, after all? If government was working, building, solving problems, improving education, roads, bridges, and increasing economic opportunity while caring for seniors , veterans, and disabled. then all would be well. So, the mission was clear. In order to destroy the federal government, it had to appear to be a complete failure first. Mission number one. What did Mitch McConnell announce as his role and mission when President Obama first took office? In a press conference, he announced that his mission as Senate Minority Leader (and, later as Senate Majority Leader) was and is to make sure that President Obama's Administration is a total failure. Damn the public, the goal was to prevent Obama from being re-elected through making it appear that HE was a failure.... and, not that the Republican obstructionists in the Congress caused the inability of the government to respond to many concerns held in the electorate. The result of that strategy is that President Obama was re-elected, Congress is viewed positively in single digits for the first time in modern history, and, in spite of the naked obstruction by the Right-wing Republicans, now fully purged of moderates, the nation was lifted out of the Republican Recession much more slowly than would otherwise had been the case, if legitimate debate, and compromise would have been the order of the day.
And, so, tired of "losing" the cultural wars that the Right-wing Nuts promised would be won if they were elected, tired of broken promises of lower taxes, abolishing the IRS, the Department of Education, and a chicken in every pot, frustrations grew.... and, this year, the volcano exploded. And, here we are.
The pundits often talk about "the expectation game." Raising expectations so much that it is impossible to match or exceed the expectation, is a losing proposition. Well, the Tea Party and the Conservative Movement, including the media gang fueling these folks the whole way - Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Hannity, and others - the FOX NEWS gang, and the right-wing talking heads on TV and on K Street in DC (the lobbyists and corporate interests who fueled the takeover), have conspired to create high expectations of success. Instead, these efforts, showy as they were, failed as they were designed to fail. Because, a failing national government was a necessary first step to erode public confidence and raise frustration and anger toward the government in order to dismantle it - or at least, the Great Society components of it. This is the state's rights civil war with the war part.. and the casualties not so obvious. With the "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision, the monied interests saw a path to complete their agenda and return the US to the "Golden Age" of corporate greed and American Oligarchs using hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who would tow the line and do their bidding. The Illuminati indeed. Dark money by the train load, hidden from public view, spending without any cap at all to spout propaganda, spread lies, spin rumors, or by votes - whatever it takes - to seize control of the levers of power.... That was and is their goal. And, right now, the Donald is in their way. He just refused to go along with the plan.... And, instead of agreeing to assist the "establishment" to seize the levers of power, he has chosen to grab them for himself! So far, he is on track to gain the first step - the Republican Nomination for the presidency. But, whether it is the Donald or the establishment Republicans who wins, it is all about them... and not about us. Regardless of whether Trump succeeds in the days and elections ahead or not, it is time to wake up and smell the conspiracy of money, politics, and power. We need our nation back as a functional democracy and not the sham democracy that we have become. Why, even Senator Marco Rubio explained why he has missed more Senate votes than any other Senator in memory by commenting, "why go there? We don't do anything." And, that's really the point... isn't it?
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