The disastrous last few days have resulted in a sudden realization among many in the Republican party establishment that Trump has become too toxic for them and a quarter of elected Republicans now say they cannot endorse him. The responses of those who had formally endorsed him has ranged from saying that they will not vote for him, to revocation of their prior endorsement but not saying they won’t vote for him, to some (like senate majority leader Mitch McConnell) simply saying that they condemn his remarks but not actually withdrawing support. The party chair Reince Priebus is the only one of the three main leaders still supporting Trump.
House speaker Paul Ryan has suddenly found himself facing the unthinkable, that he might actually lose his once seemingly unassailable majority of 59 seats in the House of Representatives. But even his weak distancing of himself from Trump, not disavowing him but disinviting him from a Wisconsin event, saying that he cannot defend him anymore, and telling Congressional Republicans to go on their own, seems to be the last straw for Trump.
Trump seems to have to decided, to hell with those who are advising me to apologize and speak cautiously and try to mend fences with the party and alienated voters, he is going to do what he damn well pleases, as can be seen in a series of Tweets that he sent out yesterday such as:
“Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!”
“Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.”
Trump actually lost all the scientifically based polls taken of the debate and only won among the useless online ones.
And then came ominous threat that must have sent chills down every Republican leader.
“It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.”
Apparently Trump feels that recent events have given him the license to finally speak his mind. If what we have seen so far is a shackled Trump, the imagination reels at the thought of what an unshackled one might look like. CNN’s Jake Tapper asks a Trump spokesperson what on Earth could an unshackled Trump look like. It is a good question. Inquiring minds want to know, but the spokesperson does not answer.
Bill O’Reilly tried to get an answer from Trump to the same question but failed. I found the interview quite fascinating because O’Reilly and Fox are the places that Trump goes to for validation but he seems to think that even they are not supporting him enough, only praising the morning show and Sean Hannity and giving lukewarm praise for O’Reilly. The interview is also remarkable in that he even filibusters the usually domineering O’Reilly, refusing to let him interject.
And what, you may ask, does the pious Ben Carson think of all this? He thinks that that the whole problem is that we have not heard enough of the kind of talk revealed on the tape and that is why we are so shocked. He seems to think that we should all spend more time in locker rooms so that the language and actions that Trump describes would be familiar to us.
That is not the full extent of Carson’s idiocy. He warns that if Trump loses, “there will be mass killings once again” and “The peace that we experience now will be a memory only. This is the nation that stands between peace and utter chaos.” What exactly would trigger this catastrophe, you ask? Simple: gay marriage.
Neurosurgeons everywhere must be burying their heads in their hands, hoping that Carson would just shut up and disappear so that the image of a profession that was once used as an example of requiring high intelligence and skills would not slide further into disrepute.
The interview is also remarkable in that he even filibusters the usually domineering O’Reilly, refusing to let him interject.
O’Reilly is a fool to let a bigger shark than himself come swim in his tank. Trump could have ruined him. Unfortunately, he didn’t.
If I understood Ben Carson correctly, he and Trump use the same locker room and a key policy initiative of the Republicans is increased Amtrak funding to improve rail safety or have I missed something?
“It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.”
From Trump’s point of view this is the most sensible thing to do. It’s how he won the nomination: with his anti-establishment pose. Trying to get that message across again might very well be his best chance.
At last, Trump’s plan for defeating ISIS takes shape:
Trump: ISIS Will ‘Take Over This Country’ If Hillary Clinton Wins
Putin ally tells Americans: vote Trump or face nuclear war
1) Trump will deliberately lose the election (already in progress)
2) ISIS will then take over the USA
3) Russia will nuke the USA, wiping out ISIS.
What a clever trap! Trump is a military strategy genius!
Not for long -- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/10/12/daily-202-republican-politicians-fall-back-in-line-behind-trump-after-defecting/57fd7a23e9b69b059243020a/
More Wikileaks emails comes out, hinting at Clinton’s authoritarianism. She wants mandatory drug testing for children and teenagers. I DO NOT know how people can sit here and be happy that either Clinton or Trump will be President. We are in for a living hell after she wins.
I think it is ridiculous people want this election to be over. While Obama is a terrible president for many reasons (drones, libya, NATO into Ukraine, revolving door etc), he will be a saint compared to his successor. If nothing too extreme happens, I expect a lot of people will be wearing “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Trump” buttons in Four Years from now
I am frightened of the No-Fly Zone that will escalate into war with Russia. Possibly leading to Nuclear War.
I am scared of Samantha Power, Anne Marie Slaughter and Michelle Fluornoy. Of Kissinger and Negroponte.
I am frightened of her authoritarian private positions on Crime and Prison. And her secret socially conservative policies like DOMA and the NSA and the Patriot Act.
I am frightened of the right she has create for herself to kill citizens without fair trial. (note that SHE was pushing Obama to be more aggressive and likely had a hand in crafting the framework to destroy human rights).
I am frightened of her interventionism in foreign policy that leads to millions being displaced from Honduras and the intervention in Syria. I frightened by her recklessness. And her lack of judgement.
I am frightened by her neo-McCarthyism. Blaming truth as Russian propaganda. And disseminating her propaganda as truth.
I am frightened of her economic policies that impoverished many people. Her embrace of the corporate state and Wall St.
I am frightened of the TPP and her ties to Google, Twitter and Silicon Valley. They’re already censoring anti-Clinton hashtags. They will continue to do so. Scared of Correct The Record, an army of Internet Trolls.
I am frightened by progressives and democrats who silence dissent as treason against Hillary Clinton. She has her ministry of propaganda already set up for her.
I am frightened of fracking while she claims to support Climate Change. I am frightened of big oil while she calls herself a champion of green energy.
Trump doesn’t scare me. Clinton does. He gets away with nothing. Policy by policy, he is better than many republicans. Better than Cruz. Better than Pence. Better than Jeb Bush.
John Smith, alright: you are a very, very frightened person. You’re full of it.
So very frightened that you respond to articles about Trump by telling everyone how frightened you are of Clinton. At length.
(Reminiscent of the 2008 campaign (and the 2012 one, for that matter) — shrill, neurotic, implausible fear mongering. FEMA concentration camps and Affordable Care death panels, oh my!)
Such acumen! Nothing like making decisions based on personal fears.
(You remind me of Catherine Aird’s bon mot: “If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning”)
I love Trump.
He’s like a rampaging bull in a China shop that sells only racist, bigoted and religious ornaments. Future negative metaphors will use his name, yet we will be thankful for the damage he did to expose the disgusting wares marketed towards the blind.