The Republican Party is presently embroiled in the schism of a family feud that threatens to escalate into a civil war, that is, into the self-eliminating shoot-out of a “circular firing squad.”
The infighting started when displeased leaders of the GOP questioned Donald Trump’s fitness to be President of the United States. However, given the fact that of 16 other primary candidates, Trump was the last candidate standing, it is the fitness of the question that is in question. And, well, it should be. After all, it’s not like Trump stole the position he now occupies. He has millions of votes to show for it.
When Trump advanced his political intention from “entertaining a run for the presidency” to running for the presidency, his rivals snickered. They equated his chance of surviving the Republican primary to that of “a snowball’s chance in hell.” They predicted that the voters would never take him serious. To the contrary, however, the voters never took them serious. Trump’s victory hit them — and the bosses of the Republican Party — with the impact of a stun grenade. Dazed and confused, they tried to explain away the failure of their prediction with a hodgepodge of meandering excuses.
Trump’s vanquished opponents were so enraged over their defeat, that they vowed to inflict havoc upon his bid for the “oval office.” And they are doing it right now — big time. Their revenge upon him has been so severe that, unless you knew that Republicans were the source of the onslaught, you would have blamed it on the Democrats.
In 1966, during his campaign for the governorship of California, Ronald Reagan cautioned the GOP against its penchant for publicizing the internal conflicts of the Republican membership. In his words, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” The admonition came to be known as “The Eleventh Commandment.”
Those Republicans who withdrew their endorsement of Donald Trump, or who were “Never Trump” from the beginning, have thrown Reagan’s commandment “under the bus” and run it over in drive and in reverse. Not only have they spoken ill of Trump, they have done so at the highest decibel, in the most excoriating terms, and through the venue of Hillary Clinton’s propaganda mouthpiece, the mainstream media.
There can be no example more corroborative of Reagan’s wisdom than that Hillary’s handlers have collected “Never Trump” comments and produced anti-Trump TV ads of Trump being denounced by Republican after Republican after Republican — on and on. At the end of the ad, the Democrat’s presidential nominee can be heard to intone, “I’m Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.”
The “Never Trump” defectors have only served to aid and abet the purpose of the Democrat’s agenda. What a Republican gift to the Clinton campaign. A political windfall, as it were.
To be sure, Donald Trump has made some foot-in-mouth comments that were hot enough to melt your earwax. But, dear voter, the 2016 presidential election is not about coarse language. It is an opportunity — maybe the last opportunity — to down-size “big government” and resubordinate its right to govern to the “consent of the governed.” It is about letting the political destruction of America continue, or putting the country back on the course set for it by the founding fathers — guided by the Constitution.
If Hillary Clinton is elected President, she will continue the wrecking ball politics of Barack Obama. She will also stack the Supreme Court with liberal judges who will implement the progressivist’s agenda. If, however, Donald Trump is elected President, he will do what he said he will do. He will “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
Orlis Trone is a resident of Fernley.
