I was listening to Hannity
talk about the debate – one only listens to this annoying person in order to
better understand what motivates those who esteem Trump, are enthused by him –
I get when people support him because they feel it’s the best of two bad
choices, and have myself flirted with that viewpoint in a desperate attempt to
avoid contemplating how much ruin 12 years of Obamaism can sow– what one
wonders about though is what’s motivating those who think Trump is great regardless of circumstances – and from
Hannity’s over the top review of Trump’s debate performance as one for the ages
what becomes clear is these people are motivated by anger pure and simple, an
often incoherent, irrational, near primal anger – they loved Trump’s
performance for the simple reason he attacked
Hillary – doesn’t matter if there was substance to the attack, or competence in
its execution, or involved any connection to intelligent policy ideas whatsoever
– all that mattered was the anger
being expressed. That’s Trump – and that’s why he can get away with outrageous
behavior, with giving voice to insubstantial, incoherent ideas and thoughts. It’s
all about the anger and a near hatred of the conservative elites’ inability to
stop what the liberal elite is doing to the country – a hatred that has
convinced itself that therefore the conservative elite must be complicit in
what’s happening.
I get the anger – I can
listen to Hillary or Obama, hear absolute nonsense if not outright lies being
spoken, watch the media scurry to protect them from the consequences of it, and
get angry myself, fearing how it is the republic survives this kind of
corruption. But when anger becomes the prime consideration of your politics,
that’s bad – and the GOP is in a bad place – and since the Hannitys of the
world aren’t going away and the fortunes of the aggrieved are not likely to
improve anytime soon, I don’t see what can be done about it. Normally, if a
candidate is routed, that would cause a rethinking of things and the beginning
of a renewal. But if Trump loses, we already know what’s gonna happen because
it’s happening now – Trump and his supporters will not accept blame and in
order to keep this illusion or delusion active outrage will be spewed against
anyone who did not ignorantly bow down before Trumpism – the GOP will be broken
and I don’t see how you fix it.
Maybe it’s not feasible or
just nuts, but I would dump Trump now, concede the presidential election which
one assumes will drive down liberal turnout and then put all your focus on the
down ballot races. If Trump can’t win he’s just gonna spend the next month
doing nothing but harm to the GOP – why keep him around? Or why can’t you go to
Trump and say: you have two choices – step away and hand it over to Pence – or
we’re gonna drop you as our candidate and concede the presidential race?
Where’s the logic in riding this disaster to the bitter end? End it now. Or are
they worried that would harm turnout? My point is, if you dump Trump now, that
allows you to turn the election into one that is all about turnout in support of down ballot races in order to keep
Hillary in check. And look what else you gain by dumping Trump: with Trump gone
the media may actually be forced to pay attention to the corrupt disaster that
is Hillary – all these damaging emails are coming out and no one is paying
attention because they’re watching the Trump train wreck – get rid of the guy
for god’s sake!
I suppose the problem is he’s
already on the ballot and this late in the game it’s impossible to get him off
the ballot – but certainly if defeat is inevitable and he’s doing nothing but
harm to the party you can disavow him as your candidate. At this point you have
to look upon Trump as a cancer that must be excised before it becomes terminal.
It may already be too late, but you have to at least try.
