Sunday, March 20, 2016

Trump, the Republican Party, and Hillary

Isaac Chotiner scolds liberals who would actually like to see Trump become the Republican nominee:

Certainly the GOP and its supporters deserve to be called out for the party’s often ugly past and for setting the stage for Trump. But those liberals who find themselves rooting for Trump, in the hope that his continued success will only further damage the GOP, are playing with fire—and putting their self-satisfaction ahead of the interests of the country. Even if you despise the Republican Party and what it stands for, Trump is a different beast...He must be defeated at all costs...

Rob's comment:
Since liberals have absolutely no influence on who the Repugs nominate, why scold them for hoping Trump is the candidate that Hillary can most easily defeat? Chotiner worries that the damage candidate Trump would do to the Republican Party would also be bad for the country, but the present Republican Party is already bad for the country---and the planet.

Paul Rosenberg puts the Republican party in historical perspective:

Lincoln Republicans were a party of national unity—they fought first and foremost to preserve the Union, and only evolved, through necessity, into a straightforward battle against slavery itself. Furthermore, their concept of national unity traced back to the Whig and Federalist parties before them, to Henry Clay’s “American Plan” and the commitment to internal improvements as a means for promoting national identity and economic progress. In the midst of the Civil War, they began the project of building the transcontinental railroad, and financing the system of state land-grant colleges. 

This party was still very much alive when Eisenhower pushed the Interstate Highway System, and it’s very much dead today, when the Democrats’ attempts to seek bipartisan agreement on infrastructure spending have been repeatedly foiled. If Trump doesn’t belong in the “party of Lincoln,” neither does anyone else in the GOP political universe today...

Rob's comment:
In short let the Republican Party increasingly become the party of racists, misogynists, homophobes, extreme military hawks, and the rich. As Obama's two decisive victories at the polls show, it will be a minority party, and the American people can then reclaim Congress and the Supreme Court.

Chotiner needs to start lecturing the Sanders supporters and other liberal anti-Hillary folks about the need to unite in her support to ensure that Trump and Trumpism are defeated in November.

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Christopher Hitchens on Islam

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