GOP trying to kill monster it created
Something approaching full-scale panic is now washing over the Republican establishment as Donald Trump continues his march toward the GOP presidential nomination.
We presume there was great hope among those horrified by the idea of Trump as the party’s standard bearer that the bombastic businessman and reality TV star would struggle on Super Tuesday and that someone – either Sen. Ted Cruz or Sen. Marco Rubio, or both – would deal Trump a crippling blow. Didn’t happen. Sure, Cruz won a couple of states, but Rubio was essentially a no-show, and Trump pocketed victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.
So, now, the anti-Trump forces are rolling out the heavy artillery in a bid to cut him off at the knees before the next round of key primaries in places such as Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio.
First up was Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, who unleashed a blistering attack on Trump in a speech Thursday.
Said Romney, “Here’s what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”
He went on, “His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president.”
Trump’s response, via Twitter: “I am the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton. I am not a Mitt Romney who doesn’t know how to win. Hillary wants no part of Trump.”
Republican power brokers also are getting into the act.
According to a CBS News report, leading GOP donors and strategists are formulating a plan of attack that includes an advertising campaign in Michigan, Illinois and elsewhere directed by a political action committee called Our Principles PAC.
“Donald’s general election campaign will fail worse than Trump Mortage and Trump Steaks did, and Hillary Clinton will destroy him, even if she’s campaigning from jail,” said the group’s Tim Miller, former communications director for Trump victim Jeb Bush. “Our Principles PAC will fight until the last delegate is counted to stop that from happening.”
Former Romney adviser Katie Packer, who is leading Our Principles PAC, said the main focus is likely to be Florida, Rubio’s home state. The group already is airing ads in Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and other cities around the state. It’s joined by the conservative organization Club for Growth, which is spending $1.5 million on anti-Trump advertising in the Sunshine State.
Certainly, Trump is a buffoon and a fairly reprehensible human being, but we wonder if the “dump Donald” forces have considered that the next guy in line might be Cruz, who in the minds of many is not much of an improvement. Surely, the folks who want to stop Trump must be hoping against hope that Rubio can win Florida on March 15 and somehow ignite his campaign, or that their efforts might lead to a brokered convention.
Whatever the outcome, there’s no mystery about who is responsible for the situation in which “mainstream” Republicans find themselves. They need only look in the mirror.
When you spend years pandering to the lowest common denominator, pushing policies with an undercurrent of division and discrimination, expressing disdain for those who are different or less fortunate, and currying an atmosphere that devalues intelligent thought in favor of deliberate stupidity (see climate change denial and the gay “lifestyle choice”), don’t be surprised when voters line up behind a vacuous and vile pied piper.
The dog whistles have been heard, loud and clear.