The greatest trick the GOP nominee ever played was convincing everyone he was an actual Republican and then destroying the party from within.
This is, as Ben Shapiro termed it, Donald Trump’s final, and biggest, con.
The ‘me’ mindset
A few weeks ago, I wrote a a column about how College Republicans around the country are being punished for not actively going out of their way to endorse Trump without any sense of disloyalty (a word that’s going to come up a lot in this column).
There is an inherent ridiculousness in this notion seeing as the Republican Party has always stood for intellectual diversity and the freedom to choose the views you support.
There have been calls for people to step down and be ashamed for not holding the views that Trump supporters think you should have. This election has become centered on party over principles.
But these were supporters and not the actual campaign or the candidate.
While it may have been disturbing that this was happening, these sentiments couldn’t be traced to the candidate. Supporters don’t always echo the beliefs of the candidate, so it’s unfair to the candidate to say their supporters represent them — on both sides.
Yet, Trump takes what his supporters perpetuate, an authoritarian need for absolute loyalty, and use Twitter to increase their reach.
After the Trump 2005 recordings came out, shocking (basically) everyone, Republican leaders — including House Speaker Paul Ryan — quickly disavowed the comments. This, of course, is not the first time that Ryan has had to disavow something Trump has said.
In response, Trump claimed that Ryan, the highest-ranking Republican in office and certainly one of the most respected, is a “feckless leader” and is a disloyal party member.
He also implicated Sen. John McCain who, in Trump’s own infamous words, said he is not a war hero because he got caught. Just because they’d rather stand on principle than with the party. This all, of course, was done over Twitter, because that’s where Trump takes most of his fights.
Ryan is trying the keep the party together for the sake of conservatism, foolishly, but the man who said he’s a terrible leader is squashing all of his efforts.
Long-term-damage
This is the problem with Trump as an idea: He is turning the party into an authoritarian regime where questioning him or taking a stance against him, that grounds people to their morals, is seen as disloyalty.
Trump, unlike his tweets imply, does not care about the party in any way whatsoever. He cares about himself. He still wins even if the idea of conservatives dies.
There is no room for disloyalty to the leader of the party.
Trump is willing to take down the Republican Party and everything it has ever stood for to make sure he is still the guy in charge. As the ship goes down or as the city falls, all of Trump supporters must still bow to him.
For Republicans, the only thing that still matters in this election is retaining the House of Representatives. It becomes more difficult for candidates to win their seats as Trump becomes a more terrible political entity.
Conservatives are having to fight for their own identity, but Trump makes it exponentially worse. He called those who try to shift away from him as “self-righteous hypocrites.”
This need for loyalty has been destroying the party and the idea of conservatism for a long time. Trump, who is not a Republican, doesn’t care about the ideas he holds dear except himself.
Trump is destroying the Republican Party for, at least, a generation.
Senior staff columnist Jorden Smith is a political science junior and president of the College Republicans. He can be reached at [email protected].
The republican party IS WHAT IT IS…the creation of Donald Trump the politician is just another one of a narcissistic personality disorders personas. The fact that he has become a cult figure within the party is because he is a demogauge and is speaking the disturbing truth behind the current GOP reality. John McCain has stated that if Clinton wins they will block every one of her Supreme Court nominees. Pence believes that if a woman (or girl) has a legal abortion they should be made to have a funeral for the fetus. This is a crazy party and Trump is their Karma.
Want your party back? Kick the chair out from under Clinton by outing Gulen. The flood away from Clinton will overwhelm Trump.
Yes, but this is obvious. He’s a bull in a china shop.
Every sane GOP-leaning person I have ever known is against this idiot. That doesn’t mean they are FOR Clinton, but he is toxic for the party he adopted and he is absolutely doing major damage to it. Not that I am not thrilled at the prospects of a diminished GOP…. there is a lot of pre-existing damage to the USA that it will be nice to see repaired while they are in intensive care for a few years…. maybe more.
Still, it’s going to be hard to find intelligent GOP folks who will go on record as having supported DT. I’ve never seen such widespread rejection and condemnation from American society at so many levels. 22 racist organizations support him and not one major national newspaper. Says a lot.
Nope…. might as well cancel the debate and work in a few rounds of golf, DT. Cancel the plans to put a putting green on the south lawn of the White House.
I Hope You Dont Cry Too Loud On November 8,After The Democratic Nominee is Soundly Defeated!!
I used to be a Republican but the GOP has been in a death spiral for a long time. First there was the Southern Strategy, then throwing their lot in with the reactionary religious right, then welcoming the lunatic fringe in the Tea Party Movement. The Republican Party has become a freakshow and someone like Trump was your inevitable leader. If you didn’t want your party to go down the tubes you shouldn’t have welcomed racists, theocrats, xenophobes, bigots, Objectivists, and John Birchers into your ranks. Getting these votes was a short term gain and long term loss as our country gets more diverse and multi-cultural.
Let’s face it. Paul Ryan is a wimpy limped wristed Republican, and so is the Senior GOP Leadership. They act like they are Democrat whipping boys … and they don’t know how to lead.
I certainly hope that the GOP is changed … to a TRUE OPPOSITION PARTY to the Democrats. The GOP Establishment is not even interested in voting for their nominee. That tells me that the TEA PARTY needs to take over the GOP … and soon.
So yeah I hope that Trump does change the Republican Party … its current Establishment types like the Bush’s have no gusto to oppose Clinton. So sorry, I’ve lost all my respect for all those people. If I would have known earlier, I wouldn’t have visit to Bush 43’s library this past summer.
And Jordan, I consider you Establishment. I mean, look what you are writing. You OPPOSE Trump as fervently as ‘ol Frankie Boy Campos. Your unable to see the forces that brought support to Trump.
Trump fights back … he doesn’t COWER when someone calls him names, etc. Hence, Trump gets his broad based support from Democrats, BLACKS, Whites, HISPANICS, Asians, Jews, GAYS, etc.
Other Establishment GOP nominees like Romney and McCain were AFRAID to face the TRUTH about Obama. They held back a lot of ammo … and THEY LOST.
And Jordan, I don’t think you understand the consequences of a Clinton victory. A Leftists SCOTUS should scare you to death, but then again your Establishment. You feel yourself OK as long as you act like Paul Ryan … subservient to the Socialist whims and act THE WIMP, afraid to criticize anyone, with the exception of your fellow Republicans.
Self delusion and desire for an Authoritarian Dictator instead of a President seem to be the two most common traits of Trump supporters.
Trump does fight back, but he fights back like an angry teenage girl, not like the leader of the free world. He spent a significant portion of the past month in a twitter feud with a beauty queen. His inability to rise above childish disagreements with political non-entities is evidence that he is unfit to lead the US military, not proof that he’d make a good president.
Trump has almost NO support (single digits to the low twenties) from Democrats, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, or Gays. He does have significant support from white men, but white women are not supporting him. You told six lies and one half-truth in that short sentence, so you’re almost keeping up with Trump.
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
What I feel at this point is this. I’m a Hispanic and a long time Republican. I hate that the party is so divided however, if Trump looses this election it’s because of selfish acts like Cruz, Rubio and others that won’t support our nominee. My thought Trump looses I change my party affiliation to independent.
ATTENTION LIBERALS – President Trump is coming for you soon! Ha ha ha ha!