The GOP always seem to stand tall and speak with confidence, Republicans were brash, assured and believed in themselves, but is it me but has that front seemed to waver in the last few years and even for some at least disappeared all together? The Republican Party seems to have fractured since the bulldozer it was at the time of Bush Jr’s first term and then at the beginning of the Iraq invasion. Back then they seem to know what they stood for, American Capitalism, the American Dream and the American Way it was always rather vague but in their heart it seemed to feel right to be on the right. And those vague ideas created actual policy pushed forward by the right wing establishment, free market/neoliberal ideas were promoted, tax cuts, deregulation, trickle down economic thinking, globalisation, outsourcing and since American ideals and ‘freedom’ where obviously better than others then everyone must want them, even if pushed upon people by force. But with the fall of the neo-cons, Republicans seem to have lost their nerve (and in some cases their minds). American Capitalism tarnished by the crash and increasingly seen by many even on the right as not really interested in America or its people and that the neoliberal promise is turning for many into a nightmare. Even the middle class have worked out that social mobility has stagnated with inequality between the rich and everyone else growing As to the American way, well in Iraq it got well a truly rejected and with the dysfunction of the US political system becoming increasingly obvious it doesn’t seem to be doing very good at home either. The backlash spawned the tea party and when that faded a wave of right wing disillusionment has raised Trump on a surfboard of demagoguery. And what was once already vague seems to have become vaguer – it seems to have being boiled down even further to one slogan ‘make America great again’ and a lot of shouting ‘USA, USA, USA’ Go to the US right wing websites and the splits are everywhere and after what has been said I just can’t see the Republicans rallying behind Trump many seem to be indicating they wouldn’t vote for him. We can only see if their hatred of Clinton outweighs their loathing of trump.
Serious with this Trump thing? Whats is wrong with you guys over there? Just Hold back on the cheese fries for a little while so you can all let the brain kick back into gear
Rich conservatives have always needed poor conservatives to vote in their candidates and policies. Due in part to the internet, poor conservatives have figured out that they don't need the wealthy old money Republican establishment for any purpose. GOP leaders are completely screwed.
Karen Oh I agree but in the past that ‘establishment’ was a moderating and stabilising influence, without them the more radical and unstable element are asserting themselves, throwing up the loons of the tea party and the demagogic Trump.
I've always thought the modern GOP was a rather unstable alliance between two groups that had little in common except a hatred of liberalism. And I've always thought that it would be fun to watch it crash and burn someday, but I'm finding it a little bit scary. Nobody knows where this is going. One party systems tend to be extremely corrupt. Therefore, the Democratic Party needs an adversary that isn't totally dysfunctional. It could be a while before we see that again.
Well I won't lose any sleep over the humiliation of the Rep Party. But I do think that the state of American politics AND much of European politics is a pretty sad state of affairs. America has gone from epicentre of the World to just one of several power centres. That was inevitable, unpreventable. But what must be disturbing for people who were/are Republicans is that Rep voters are being rejected in favour of an offshore capital class. And that includes corrupt regimes in 3rd World countries. Gone are the days when it was easy to set up your own business or flourish straight after business school and the like. Life seems to be getting harder for the aspiring young and the middle class. Thats disturbing in the extreme. Republican AND Democrat policies have favoured China and Mexico etc over Americans. Thats one reason Trump thinks he can capitalise. Because he isn't in the pocket of transnational corporations. The Republican Party has become"ultra elite" - favouring only a tiny few. But the Democracts aren't much better. Clinton utterly repulses me. A corrupt snake taking bribes from the Sauds and any old piece of shit. Trump is striking the right chords with many. But he went on TV saying about Iraq "we should have taken the oil before we left". WTF is that craziness? Is he advocating open Imperialism? Ofcourse its only what Clinton would do. She's a foreign policy extremist, just with a bit of spin on gay rights and the like. Thereby managing to unsettle most people. But that doesn't matter when she has a stranglehold on numerous organs of power. One perculiar aspect is that the so called "Democrat" Clinton is all for a Cold War increase v Russia. But the Republican actually wants good relations with Russia. Infact, I think Trump actually dreams he was Putin! Its interesting that Sanders is so popular. But if he got "TOO" popular, the power blocs would shut him down by a process of coordinated media discreditation. So there's Hitlary Clinton - despised psychobitch, the "Democrat" who isn't remotely a "Democrat". The epitomy of charade politics. Or a crazy man with ridiculous hair, an ego the size of his Trump Tower, free from corrupt backers, but with the mentality of a silverspooned 12 yr old. I'd actually choose Trump from the 2. And Sanders over both of them. But Sanders hasn't got a hope in hell due to the $$$ + power backers aspect of it all. Its not the Rep Or Dem Party thats so dsyfunctional/sick. Its the whole political system.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-the-gops-frankenstein-monster-now-hes-strong-enough-to-destroy-the-party/2016/02/25/3e443f28-dbc1-11e5-925f-1d10062cc82d_story.html Here is Robert Kagan yes that Robert Kagan - on how the GOP was responsible for the creation of Trump, that the Republican Party had already lost its way before he came along, ending the piece So what to do now? The Republicans’ creation will soon be let loose on the land, leaving to others the job the party failed to carry out. For this former Republican, and perhaps for others, the only choice will be to vote for Hillary Clinton. The party cannot be saved, but the country still can be.
