What is truly shocking is that Donald Trump’s Republican enablers are shocked. [snip]
... Only political opportunism allowed leading Republicans — from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on down — to pretend that Trump was an acceptable presidential nominee.
Indeed, it should offend and enrage Mexican Americans, African Americans, American Muslims and everyone else Trump has attacked that none of these prior offenses had turned the Republican establishment away.
Birtherism? No problem. The verbal assaults on the Gold Star Khan family? Bad, but not enough to justify rescinding endorsements. Mexicans as “rapists”? This was just “that Mexican thing,” explained Mike Pence. The trashing of a former Miss Universe for gaining weight? We can get by that, too, they decided.
Maybe the Republicans who are now oh-so-outraged and are pulling their endorsements have done their political calculations. They figured that they could write off African Americans, Muslims and Latinos, but could not possibly offend all women, too. Perhaps they remembered the things they have said about “family values” and the importance of “character” and realized they just couldn’t roll with this one. [snip]
As for character, the brave and good Republicans of the Never Trump movement have been citing chapter and verse about what a horrific man this is — someone who walked away from his debts, often failed to pay the people who worked for him, demeaned John McCain because he was a prisoner of war, and gleefully gave his opponents belittling nicknames. [snip]
There must be accountability here for an entire party that was complicit in the rise of Donald Trump and tried desperately to pretend that he was fit for our nation’s highest office.
The Never Trump movement tried to block Trump, but its champions were resisted by the GOP hierarchy. Priebus actively pushed back against efforts to derail Trump at the national convention. The supply-siders were bought off with his tax cuts. The congressional leadership just wanted to hold the House and Senate and were willing to prop Trump up to minimize the damage he could cause.
This is the most shameful episode in the history of the party that gave our nation Abraham Lincoln. A steep electoral price must be paid to jolt Republicans into a period of reform, renewal and, yes, repentance. (our emphasis)Well, of course, those Republican enablers aren't shocked that they've nominated a monster. They were furiously whistling past the graveyard in the hope that somehow, someway there wouldn't be a catastrophic recording or video or tax return, and that they could throw up enough misdirecting chaff to get through November 8. As Dionne says, it was only political opportunism that led these lemmings to enable this "thing" to be their party's standard bearer. They saw a frothing base of "poorly educated" (h/t Rump) people, whose anger had been successfully misdirected at people who weren't like them, that could still be harnessed for one more win at the polls. But, as Rump's poll numbers dropped over the past 2 weeks, it has now become easier to abandon him in the hopes of now saving as many of those same Republican lemmings as possible.
What's missing here? The seminal role of a right- wing media that has been sowing the seeds for Rump for the past 40 years, stoking the racism, sexism, xenophobia, and sense of grievance and loss in a population looking for excuses and someone to blame for every ding or misfortune, real or perceived, that ever happened in their lives.
As far as an electoral pounding that would "jolt Republicans into a period of reform, renewal and, yes, repentance," we can confidently predict, based on past performance (see "Republican autopsy, circa 2012"), that that epiphany will never, ever happen -- just ask Reince "Prepuce" Priebus.
BONUS: Frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank has gone to the trouble of listing the many disqualifying remarks Rump's made about women, remarks that Rump's Republican enablers were surely aware of at the time.
BONUS II: If a price is to be paid by Republicans, the frothing Republican base can't be expected to join in. It's up to the rest of us.
BONUS III: Stormtrumpers stick with their boy.
BONUS IV: D.R. Tucker agrees, there'll be no "reform" or "renewal" for this collection of deplorables known as the Republican Party.
BONUS V: Charles P. Pierce on Rump as the culmination of 40 years of Republicanism.
