Republicans are panicking that Donald Trump is ruining their good name while Democratic atheists are praying to god that Trump somehow manages to stay in the race through many a debate. They think this ex-Democrat and Republican apprentice who made “branding” the tackiest marketing trick on earth is their best hope to keep trashing the GOP’s brand without spending a Democratic dime.
Trump is an ego manic, but having said that, he is not a Republican exception. Donald Trump just says what the other Republican candidates believe and are afraid to say.
Excellent satire, Mr. Tristam. Great use of images and metaphors! Since the only TV pundits who tell the truth these days appear on Comedy Central, it’s not surprising that a good portion of the Presidential Election Show entirely exhibits farce!
There is ONE facet missing from this characterization:
“It’s not that Trump isn’t vulgar, racist, mean, obnoxious, irrational, fact-challenged, loudmouthed, homophobic, xenophobic, sanctimonious, and a demagogue with Crazy Harry for hair.”
It’s sexism. Trump practically invented the “purchase a pretty bride for the right purse” premise.
And which of the white boys all lined up on the Republican ticket are not closet misogynists? Their hype about “family values” is just code for the father making all decisions and the little lady obeying. And they think the Bible handed them this Dominion over all others. THAT is the most dangerous commonly shared tenet among this whole zoo of Neanderthals in expensively funded suits.
The problem with today’s Republican Party is that they have had too much success for their own good. When Ronald Reagan ascended to the throne US politics was on the liberal end of the spectrum–meaning liberal thinking was still the common sense of the governmental establishment. Even the racist, anti-semitic and villianous RIchard Nixon was something of a “liberal” on certain matters of governance. I believe it was Nixon who presided over the foundation of the EPA. Impossible to imagine a Republican yahoo supporting anything “environmental” in today’s political madhouse.
American politics has always been a nasty theater of cruelty and the absurd, but Reagan took things lower into the very bowels of hell. His assault on unions, on welfare, on black, on gays, on anyone who was not a Republican supporter signaled the beginning of the neoliberal counterrevolution. Big Capital wanted a return to enslaved labor and Reagan was more than happy to do their bidding. The Republican Party made a hard right turn toward barbarism. It had to offer up the “culture wars” and "the “war on drugs” and other vicious sideshows, in order to get “the American people” (that is, the brainwashed white working class) to go against their own interests and slit their own throats.
The Republican Party has done wonders for the 1%–cutting taxes, rolling back regulations, etc, etc. Meanwhile “the people” are thrown table scraps— the evil threat of gays and lesbians, the unjustified tiresome complaints of the blacks, the horror of satanic rock music and the frightening plague of “illegal aliens” from Mexico and other subhuman places, which threatens to destroy the integrity of the United States, surely the greatest country in the history of the Universe. Tristan is dead right: there is nothing particularly “extreme” in Donald Trump’s pontifications. It’s all standard (Republican) stuff.
But the Republican barbarians are running out of steam. Their greatest victory was to convert the Democratic Party into another Republican Party. With the triumph of neoliberal madness liberalism died. But now Republicans have nothing to run against. The tired old complaints about gun rights and abortion carry limited appeal. It’s all too clear that all the Republicans have to offer is more war, more prisons, and more good stuff for the 1%. The Democrats aren’t much better. Hence the need of Trump and the others to go right wing crazy. They are trying the old formulas of racism, bigotry and American nationalism to see if this will carry them to power. But the old formulas have limited power. It may have something to do with the fact that too many Americans are jobless, homeless, etc, etc to find solace in outright myths and illusions. It’s not just the Republicans. The American political system is gradually losing all legitimacy as it becomes clear that plutocracy is the name of the game. What comes after the collapse of the republic is anyone’s guess. But it won’t be pretty…
For those still clinging to the belief that the Grand Old Party is the same party that your folks voted for you need to understand that those ‘old school’ Republicans, the moderate ones, the ones who knew how to compromise and succeeded in accomplishing things that pushed this country forward no longer exist, have been replaced by persons who spend more time raising money for their own campaign coffers that raising the standard of living for ordinary Americans. Ask yourselves this: What have the Republicans done for you or your country that you can actually refer to as positive? Please make a list and share it with us as I would really like to know.
Well, well, well. I can find something where I can finally agree with Trump. " McCain is no war hero." As a bombardier in Vietnam, McCain must have murdered untold innocent men, women and children.
The Donald has evolved since his days as Ivana’s husband. He is less shy, more outspoken, more staunch in his beliefs about America! He is our true, New leader who has the compassion to kick ads.
I made a list. Of Republican contributions to the welfare of citizens.
There’s nothing on it.
I can reuse the paper sheet.
