Trumpenstein
Good ol’ Harry Reid gave the Republican Party hell last week for creating its Trump Frankenstein monster. Reid just didn’t go far enough.
In a Washington speech, “Give ‘em hell” Harry said GOP leaders who now denounce Trump are to blame for Trump:
“The Republican establishment acts bewildered. But they should not be bewildered. As much as they may try to distance themselves from Trump now, Republican leaders are responsible for his rise. Republican leaders created the drought conditions; Donald Trump has simply struck the match.”
Reid traced Trump’s rise to Republicans’ determination to block anything and everything President Obama proposed, including health-care reform, financial reforms, the post-2008-crash stimulus, middle-class tax cuts and more.
“Many of these ideas originated with Republicans and nearly all of them had previously enjoyed bipartisan support. Yet one by one, they were rejected by Republican leaders who repeated the big lie: ‘If Obama supports it, it won’t help you.’ … On issue after issue, Republican leaders faced a choice: Help their constituents put food on the table, literally, or stick it to President Obama. Time after time, Republicans chose to stick it to President Obama instead of helping their own constituents.”
“Republicans spent eight years torching the institutions Americans once relied on to help them face the challenges of their daily lives. Instead of engaging on policy, Republicans simply told Americans there was nothing to be done. So what thrived in the wasteland Republican leaders created? Resentment, hatred — which Republican leaders were all too eager to embrace and too cowardly to renounce.”
Reid is right. But he could have gone farther. Like 50 years back.
Trump is the logical consequence of the Republican Party’s course since 1964, when it nominated Barry Goldwater, renounced its century-long commitment to civil rights and began attacking government as the source of all evil.
Trump voters figure government is a joke, so why not vote for a joke?
It’s only a matter of time before Republican leaders start convincing themselves that (1) maybe Trump can beat Hillary, so (2) maybe Trump’s not so bad after all.
Trumpenstein
Good ol’ Harry Reid gave the Republican Party hell last week for creating its Trump Frankenstein monster. Reid just didn’t go far enough.
In a Washington speech, “Give ‘em hell” Harry said GOP leaders who now denounce Trump are to blame for Trump:
“The Republican establishment acts bewildered. But they should not be bewildered. As much as they may try to distance themselves from Trump now, Republican leaders are responsible for his rise. Republican leaders created the drought conditions; Donald Trump has simply struck the match.”
Reid traced Trump’s rise to Republicans’ determination to block anything and everything President Obama proposed, including health-care reform, financial reforms, the post-2008-crash stimulus, middle-class tax cuts and more.
“Many of these ideas originated with Republicans and nearly all of them had previously enjoyed bipartisan support. Yet one by one, they were rejected by Republican leaders who repeated the big lie: ‘If Obama supports it, it won’t help you.’ … On issue after issue, Republican leaders faced a choice: Help their constituents put food on the table, literally, or stick it to President Obama. Time after time, Republicans chose to stick it to President Obama instead of helping their own constituents.”
“Republicans spent eight years torching the institutions Americans once relied on to help them face the challenges of their daily lives. Instead of engaging on policy, Republicans simply told Americans there was nothing to be done. So what thrived in the wasteland Republican leaders created? Resentment, hatred — which Republican leaders were all too eager to embrace and too cowardly to renounce.”
Reid is right. But he could have gone farther. Like 50 years back.
Trump is the logical consequence of the Republican Party’s course since 1964, when it nominated Barry Goldwater, renounced its century-long commitment to civil rights and began attacking government as the source of all evil.
Trump voters figure government is a joke, so why not vote for a joke?
It’s only a matter of time before Republican leaders start convincing themselves that (1) maybe Trump can beat Hillary, so (2) maybe Trump’s not so bad after all.