"I never can say goodbye, no, no, no, I
I never can say goodbye
Every time I think I've had enough
And start heading for the door
There's a very strange vibration
Piercing me right to the core
It says, 'turn around you fool
You know you love him more and more.'
Tell me why is it so
Don't want to let you go.
Written by Clifton Davis, sung by the Jackson 5, with Michael Jackson the lead singer, 1971
Republicans are trying to gather up their nerve, but they just cannot say goodbye.
Republican officeholders know Trump is wrecking their brand. There is a body of Republican officeholders who want to be "normal." They are politically and socially conservative. They want lower taxes, more respect for law enforcement, a smaller bureaucratic state. They don't consider themselves racist or anti-Semitic and they resent the implication.
Trump did it again this week. He dragged the GOP into the part of the pure, unvarnished Trump world that turns a majority into a minority. He can attempt to back away from Nick Fuentes, but Kanye West, now Ye, is right there hugging Trump, meeting with Trump at the Oval Office, having dinner with Trump. Ye wore a MAGA hat in public. He praises Trump. Trump praises him.
Ye was on Tucker Carlson's show, where Fox cleaned Ye up by editing out the bluntly anti-Semitic comments. Those edits got leaked last week. It looked bad for Ye and cynical for Carlson and Fox. This week Ye went on Alex Jones' show, where they didn't do a clean-up edit. Ye praised Hitler. That was the point where Republicans "had enough" with Trump. They are looking at the door.
But they just looked. Mitch McConnell could not call it quits with Trump.
There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or White supremacy. Anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgement, are highly unlikely to ever be elected President of the United States.
Notice he did not say "Trump." He was impersonally describing electability, and in the passive voice. [People are unlikely]. He did not say that Trump was unacceptable to him, that Trump was unfit for office, or that he would not enthusiastically support Trump in a general election.
Kevin McCarthy condemned anti-Semitic speech, but absolved Trump of being part of it, falsely saying that Trump criticized Fuentes. Trump has not.
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party. I think President Trump came out four times and condemned him, and didn’t know who he was.”
South Dakota Senator John Thune condemned the meeting but said not to blame Trump.
. . . a bad idea on every level. I don’t know who is advising him on his staff, but I hope that whoever that person was got fired.
Former Vice President Pence came the closest to condemning Trump. Trump should say he was sorry for taking the meeting.
I think he should apologize for it and he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification.
But Pence also said, "I don't believe Donald Trump is an anti-Semite. I don't believe he's a racist or a bigot." He also partially absolved Trump for the meeting, saying Trump didn't know Fuentes and that Ye did not say anything anti-Semitic at that dinner itself.
Possibly the GOP breakup with Trump needs to go through this stage, where Republicans try out saying that Trump cannot win and electability is their concern. This period may need to allude to unnamed people who do what Trump does, without naming Trump. The most prominent rival to Trump, Ron DeSantis, does not mention Trump. Republican leaders want a breakup with the politically bad parts of Trump, but not with Trump himself, so long as Trump watches his language. Fuentes goes way too far--that is certain. Ye goes too far as well, now that he praises Hitler. Trump talks about globalism, not Jews, and about elites like George Soros who are corrupting from within. There is code. People get it. People understand the word "urban" to mean more than dense settlement. Some people hear what they need to hear. Others do not hear anything at all. Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, and Paul Ryan all called Trump racist and unacceptable, but that was back in 2016, before Trump captured the hearts and minds of a majority of GOP voters.
Republican leaders aren't breaking up with Trump. They are telling him to watch his language and be more careful about his friends. A smart Trump would take this as a warning.
7 comments:
Remember The Simpsons' episode featuring a Fox helicopter blazened with the logo reading, "Not Racist, But #1 with Racists!"
Peter, You might look into how Senator Joe McCarthy was treated before and after the last straw broke his back. For so many years, he remained untouchable, even when he went after General Marshall. And then, seemingly suddenly, it was over for him. How did that play out, I wonder?
Thanks.
I don't think that Trump is a racist, but he has terrible judgement. He surrounded himself with poor cabinet choices while in office, and now he's surrounding himself with openly toxic people. He's a fool. Would you want to associate yourself with your neighbor who was openly and vocally a racist against Blacks, Jews, Asians (or whatever)? A normal person would NOT, but Trump does. Trump is a reckless, loose cannon whose entire existence is predicated upon his massive narcissistic ego. Trump doesn't want to be in office in order to solve a public issue. He wants to be president in order to satisfy his ego, and that's it. With Trump, it's always ME, ME, ME.
I think a large chunk of conservatives are ready for a change. I support DeSantis, as do many other conservatives who have tired of Trump's antics. It's gotten old.
Trump still has a large following, but they'll dwindle as time goes on. I don't think that Trump can win again since his "negatives" are too high.
Peter Sage once said that the next political generation has to "take" the political mantle (power) from the prior generation, because they wouldn't be given it willingly by the older generation. That situation exists now in the GOP, where Trump, McConnell, and a bunch of other GOP "establishment-types" need to be shown the door.
The song was recorded by the Jackson 5, when the brothers were a band.
It's hard to see Trump succeeding given the circumstances. I did laugh at ..."be more careful about his friends."
There is little said about the racist subtext of 1/6, but for me that's what it really was. Remember the gallows erected outside the Capitol?. How much more evidence do you need?
It's also laughable to think the Republican party is redeemable. McConnell and the others are desperately trying to hang on, but I think they will probably split in two sooner or later, with the result a third party more concerned with raking in donations than policy or even winning.
Perhaps another appropriate song for the GQP and Donnie is Keep Me Hangin' On, originally recorded by the Supremes in 1966.
After electing our first Black president, white nationalists became the GOP base. Trump’s only political experience was as a mouthpiece for the birther movement, but that’s all it took for him to win the 2016 Republican primary because he brought the base back into the mainstream (“very fine people on both sides,” etc.). Is anybody really surprised that he hangs out with avowed racists, or that Republicans are loath to criticize him for it?
There’s an old saying, “Tell me your company and I’ll tell you what you are.” Without it’s white nationalists, the GOP would be a permanent minority, which is why it’s waging its War on Woke. Some things are called racist because that’s what they are.
A smart Trump would take this as a warning.
Kind of an oxymoron… 😀
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