Media are filled with GOP caterwauling over what Donald Trump and his band of merry alt-right enforcers have done to the Republican Party and its chances of winning the White House and hanging on to the Congress.
You know what? Talk to the hand.
Republicans have no one to blame but themselves - - especially those hyper-loyalist partisans like Scott Walker and Paul Ryan who are sticking with Trump without principle so as to position themselves to pick up the pieces should he be fully ostracized come election day.
But like careless homeowners who let the basement mold get of control and find the entires structure infested, honest Republicans should take ownership of their self-inflicted disintegration and acknowledge they brought it all on themselves.
They fell hard for Ronald Reagan and his divisive and negative message that government is the problem - - then elevated it into an ideological and self- Holy Grail at odds with the real world.
They embraced a squad of talk radio hosts nationally and locally who amplified that corrosive message day in and day out, twisting it into an attack on government policies aimed at extending democracy and equity more fully to low-income, female and minority voters who are now voting more heavily Democratic.
They stood in unison with GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and similarly obstructionist leaders in the House of Representatives to block from day one every initiative proposed by the nation's first African-American President, and, worse, did nothing to tamp down Donald Trump's long and racist assault on Barack Obama's citizenship and legitimacy in office upon which Trump's political career is based.
They morphed that meme of illegitimacy into a web of voter ID and other restrictive bills at the state level to suppress minority voters and make the party even whiter, less-inclusive and sharper-edged.
They invited in and exploited the Tea Party and the Koch brothers-funded so-called 'grasstops 'movement' - - read local boy-turned-failed RNC chairman Reince Priebus' giddy embrace of the Tea Party on behalf of Scott Walker, here - - so it cannot honestly be surprised that the monster they helped create moved en masse to a Trump candidacy that overwhelmed the GOP which nurtured it.
Or that Trump has picked up and re-spun the GOP's phony voter fraud meme by darkly predicting voting irregularities in major cities with large urban and traditionally Democratic minority populations - - cementing as the party did with its one-dimensional undermining of President Obama its identity as the party of racial intolerance.
The GOP loved Trump at the beginning. He was bringing in voters. People tuned in to watch the GOP debates. He bashed big government. He ripped President Obama and the Clintons.
And the GOP blistered its collective hands applauding its new attack dog and all his tricks.
Now that he's gone too far for some Republicans and moderates and a major voting bloc known as 'white suburban women,' it appears as if the piper is about to be paid and the GOP is wringing its sore hands - - save for one finger pointed Trump's way.
Republicans should instead look in the mirror and point it at themselves.
You know what? Talk to the hand.
Republicans have no one to blame but themselves - - especially those hyper-loyalist partisans like Scott Walker and Paul Ryan who are sticking with Trump without principle so as to position themselves to pick up the pieces should he be fully ostracized come election day.
But like careless homeowners who let the basement mold get of control and find the entires structure infested, honest Republicans should take ownership of their self-inflicted disintegration and acknowledge they brought it all on themselves.
They fell hard for Ronald Reagan and his divisive and negative message that government is the problem - - then elevated it into an ideological and self- Holy Grail at odds with the real world.
They embraced a squad of talk radio hosts nationally and locally who amplified that corrosive message day in and day out, twisting it into an attack on government policies aimed at extending democracy and equity more fully to low-income, female and minority voters who are now voting more heavily Democratic.
They stood in unison with GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and similarly obstructionist leaders in the House of Representatives to block from day one every initiative proposed by the nation's first African-American President, and, worse, did nothing to tamp down Donald Trump's long and racist assault on Barack Obama's citizenship and legitimacy in office upon which Trump's political career is based.
They morphed that meme of illegitimacy into a web of voter ID and other restrictive bills at the state level to suppress minority voters and make the party even whiter, less-inclusive and sharper-edged.
They invited in and exploited the Tea Party and the Koch brothers-funded so-called 'grasstops 'movement' - - read local boy-turned-failed RNC chairman Reince Priebus' giddy embrace of the Tea Party on behalf of Scott Walker, here - - so it cannot honestly be surprised that the monster they helped create moved en masse to a Trump candidacy that overwhelmed the GOP which nurtured it.
Or that Trump has picked up and re-spun the GOP's phony voter fraud meme by darkly predicting voting irregularities in major cities with large urban and traditionally Democratic minority populations - - cementing as the party did with its one-dimensional undermining of President Obama its identity as the party of racial intolerance.
The GOP loved Trump at the beginning. He was bringing in voters. People tuned in to watch the GOP debates. He bashed big government. He ripped President Obama and the Clintons.
And the GOP blistered its collective hands applauding its new attack dog and all his tricks.
Now that he's gone too far for some Republicans and moderates and a major voting bloc known as 'white suburban women,' it appears as if the piper is about to be paid and the GOP is wringing its sore hands - - save for one finger pointed Trump's way.
Republicans should instead look in the mirror and point it at themselves.
Related Posts :
Why Coronavirus In China And America May Differ
Canadians React To Their Government's Covid-19 Response
Foxconn hiring shortfall would be OK with 1 clear-eyed business. In Illinois.
China Is Using Uighurs As 'Forced 'Labour' To Work In Factories For Foreign Brands
23 Iranian MPs And The Head Of Iran's Emergency Medical Service Have Tested Positive For The Coronavirus