Everybody Hates Donald, Or So They Claim

They hate him with a passion.  Establishment Republicans are in a desperate effort to prevent Donald J. Drumpf from stealing "their" presidential nomination, and they're all lining up to bash the tiny-fingered vulgarian.  It may be too little, too late, but they're trying.  Part of the effort is to contrast the Talking Yam with Republican heroes of yesteryear.

I heard Marco Rubio this morning declare that he would never allow Drumpf to take over "the party of Lincoln . . . oh yeah, and Reagan.  The party of Lincoln and Reagan." 

A dear old friend bemoans the mud-slinging and name-calling among the GOP candidates, worries about the end of the Republican party, and yearns for the good old days of Theodore Roosevelt.

Lincoln and T.R. were classic Republicans, admirable and towering public figures, enormously influential in American and world history.  Their likenesses are on Mount Rushmore for a reason.  Lincoln was the first Republican president, 156 years ago.  Teddy took office 115 years ago.  Neither the Great Emancipator nor the Trust-Buster conservationist would have any place whatsoever in today's GOP.  Way too liberal.  Personae non gratae.

Reagan should not be mentioned in the same breath with Lincoln and T.R.  A conservative icon to the under-informed, Ronnie was actually a triumph of public image, more myth than reality.  By today's standards, Reagan would be a semi-pragmatic, pseudo-moderate. And there ain't no more of them in the GOP!  This is not your grandfather's Republican party.

So, Abe and Teddy, yer out!  Ronnie, we'll get back to ya.  What remains of the party is a self-inflicted injury, a disintegrating hodge-podge of too many factions and too few principles.  Today's GOP has sold out, pandering to any interest group, no matter how fringe, regardless how ugly.  Because they know they need every possible vote.  But when the crazies refuse to play nice and won't whistle the party tune, oops! -- suddenly there is no party, and . . . Here's Donald!   Another good friend says Republicans are on the verge of becoming the Whig Party redux.

If tonight in fact marks the end of the Republican party as we've known it for the past hundred years, I will shed no tears.  Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of nitwits, and Drumpf would be a fitting candidate for the downfall.

To my conservative friends who've insisted they'd never, ever vote for Drumpf:

If he's the GOP nominee, what will you do?  Assuming a viable third party candidate does not materialize, you have three choices:

1.  Vote for Hillary Clinton.
2.  Stay home and vote for no one.
3.  Vote for Donald Drumpf, but lie and say you didn't.

I suggest Option 1 or Option 2.