Chaos presently seems to infect even the smallest breath of air this early Thursday a.m. And to great extent, for a great many conservatives there seems a growing, harshly bitter reason for this hard condition.
The majority of the United States Republican political party has just elected Donald Trump as it candidate for president. It has just caved into this condition after loudly, repeatedly declaring that the Grand Old Party would NEVER do such a thing. A condition, so odious that it is, this cool morning, encouraging staunch life-long conservatives to declare they will now vote liberal — [Democratic] — in November. Other Republicans — a great many of them females — are stiffly and with pained, unhappy expressions, saying nothing. They are disguising their political bitterness.
The miscreant lighting the fuse to this disaster is, of course, the easily hateful Donald Trump. A man who is a noisy and unmovable hater of blacks, Latinos, Muslims and, boastfully, of women — of all races.
Trump, a billionaire, has no visible reason for this broad swath of unshakeable hate of so many people. It’s obvious he needs a nimble and dexterous shrink quickly — he’s about to commit world-wide bad news...without a tad of remorse.
He was born rich and, observers point out, has grown richer “outsourcing jobs to [notably] Mexico and China.”
Faced with voter doubts, Ronald Reagan once “wooed” U.S. voters with becoming optimism. But not Trump, who has presented something much darker, seemingly taken with hawking hatefulness. He began his presidential campaign by declaring the “American dream is dead.” That the country was being “run by losers.” His juvenile declaration was “we have people who don’t have it.”
He’s given to childish conjunctions and incoherence. Asked about his remark that Hillary Clinton was playing the “women’s card,” Trump said, “...It’s the only thing she’s got going. And the beautiful thing is, women don’t like her....” Thus, his argument that women base their vote on gender embraces Hillary’s status as the Democratic frontrunner. And was tipped sideways immediately as he contradicted himself by claiming that women don’t actually like Clinton and won’t vote for her in the Democratic election.
Thus, he immediately revealed that his argument contained both a sexist broadside against women, and deep logical incoherency. At the same time, his declaration that women who get abortions should be punished — which he later recanted — hasn’t been forgiven.
In articles from the New York Times Thursday some Republicans were cautioning colleagues to be wary of embracing the party’s new standard bearer. Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a veteran House member and Republican strategist, in the Times today said he was counseling his colleagues in competitive races to be coldblooded about how they approach their nominee.
“Position yourself in the way you think is best for you,” he said, allowing that “it is difficult” for some members of the GOP.
“I know a lot of Republicans who are in red-leaning districts in blue states who see Trump as more helpful to them than they would have if Cruz had won,” Cole said, citing Representative Elise Stefanik, who represents a sprawling district in upstate New York. “But if you’re in a heavily Hispanic district, your calculation is very different.”
Also in the NYT, Representative Peter T. King of New York, whose Long Island district Trump won overwhelmingly in the April 19 primary, echoed other Republicans in pledging to vote for Trump even though he had reservations, calling Trump “a guy with no knowledge of what’s going on.
“As far as any involvement or campaigning, it’s really going to depend on him filling in the gaps and consolidating his policies,” King said. “Right now, there’s no real coherence.”
Widespread immediate discomfort and anxiety spoke volumes. Many leading Republicans were publicly silent. And a dearth of congratulatory news releases and Twitter posts were interpreted as negative. During the last two days more than 70 Republican governors, senators, representatives, officials, and donors were contacted personally, or through aides, for comments regarding Trump. Only “about 20” replied, with many aides reporting that bosses did not care to take a stand yet. Others said the officials were traveling or “too busy” to e-mail, call or compose a statement.
Democrats unsurprisingly were grinning — widely. Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a list of more than forty conservatives denouncing Trump’s victory, including Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who said Wednesday, May 5, that he would not cast a vote. Later a Baker spokesperson declared that the governor would not vote for Clinton either.
Many of the biggest Republic donors were warily eyeing Trump Wednesday.
William Kristol, editor of “The Weekly Standard,” said the hostility toward Trump could be damaging to the Republican convention this summer if it gets out of hand or if his unusually high negative ratings ends up hurting other Republicans on the ticket. “I think people are underestimating the degree to which you could see a crisis in the Republican Party,” he said.