Something changed in the base between 2012 and 2016. There have always been fringey candidates. They would collectively poll at about 15%. But for the first time, they consistently polled in the 60-70% range in 2015-16. It wasn’t just Trump. Cruz was also an outsider, hated by his colleagues and unacceptable to the party establishment. He was number 2. There were other outsiders, though not all were unacceptable to the establishment.
The establishment wasn’t picky. They would accept Rubio, though they weren’t too thrilled about having him lead the party. Heck, they would accept Rick Perry. If Pataki somehow won 60%, I suspect that would be ok as well. I frankly can’t figure out what happened but I am disappointed with the GOP primary electorate. Trump is patently unqualified for office. Even Fox News is skeptical. Fox News!
My opinion of them was low; it has lowered yet further, by their overall willingness to accept a man they know is a pathological liar and racist, who is clearly merely using their party for his own ambitions, and who has no discernible principles whatsoever (not even conservative ones).
I dislike the Republican establishment’s convictions, but I despise their evident unwillingness to have the courage of those convictions.
Had they convictions, they would place them above party.
Had to vote “was low, stayed the same.” My first inclination was for “was low, gone down,” but I realized that would break a fundamental law of physics. -270 degrees Celsius means the molecules just ain’t movin’ – and they can’t go any slower than that.
I voted “low and gone down”, although in reality, it couldn’t get significantly lower without some sort of industrial drilling equipment being involved.
I had expected more than a handful of GOP leaders to stand up against him and either support Clinton or mount a real third party effort. Are there any at all that have actually endorsed either Clinton or Johnson? As far as I known all the ones who have said they won’t vote for him are planning to write in someone who isn’t actually running, like David Petraeus.
By definition. But even with a strong Democratic opponent (2 strong ones) the Republicans could not agree on a single primary challenger who might have had a chance of beating Sanchez.
But I’m also talking about the composition of the legislature. And even a place like Orange County is going to be up for grabs soon thanks to changing demographics.
The Establishment was too stupid and disorganized to stop him. They made the Jedi Council look effective. And the Jedi Council did not all fall in to support Palpatine at least when he announced he was a Sith Lord.
I’m a conservative, not a Republican. I vote Republican not because I like them, but because I dislike them less than I dislike Democrats. But this whole Trump episode has lowered my opinion of the Republican establishment even below it’s former level.
Apparently, they would rather lose the election and retain their “opposition party” status than win with Trump and lose their hold on their party. That is truly disgusting. Assholes.
…Um, you do realize that they are, in fact, backing Trump, right? And that that’s what this thread is about? Their absolutely disgusting willingness to support and back a racist, shit-flinging howler monkey with a bad toupee?
I feel the need to ask, why in the world would you vote for Trump? A person with zero political experience, zero workable (never mind reasonable) policies, and whose list of scandals, offensive statements, and outright racism stretches out the door… I mean, there’s a reason the republican establishment is so slow to get on board, and why it’s so shameful for people like McConnell and Ryan to acknowledge, “Yeah, he’s a racist douchebag, but we’re backing him anyways.”
It is not humanly possible for my opinion of the Republican Party to be any lower than it already is and has been for some time now. I cannot imagine a scenario that would raise my opinion of them. It’s just inconceivable.
Can’t trust him with the nuclear codes, but still a better choice than Hillary, apparently. So the election of Hillary is the equivalent of nuclear war.
Maybe these cretins have been spouting off how Obama was going to ruin the country for so long that they have convinced themselves. The unemployment rate, the reduction in the deficit, the reduced number of uninsured Americans (okay, those are mostly Democrats and so I can see why they think getting them healthcare is bad) means nothing. So, since Obama destroyed the economy, Hillary will be worse.
Good point.