We offer more proof today that at least part of the Republican "establishment" is in serious panic mode and is going after the candidate most representative of the id of the Republican "base" (i.e., the "salad forks" vs. the "pitchforks"). As noted below, however, Donald "Rump" Trump is still given an audience on GOP-TV (a.k.a., Fox "News"), having "cleared the air" with chairman Roger "Jabba the Nut" Ailes. It's a glorious, ongoing trainwreck that's freeing the chickens to come home to roost.
Michael "Mushroom Cloud" Gerson whistles past the graveyard while simultaneously calling for a frontal assault on Rump Trump:
Trump will flame out. And since he is constitutionally incapable of accepting fault, he will blame the GOP for arson. As someone prone to conspiracy theories — on presidential birth records, vaccines and the scheming Mexican government — Trump is probably gathering string to prove a plot against him involving Megyn Kelly, the GOP establishment and the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. So he is keeping his third-party options open. [snip]
The best, maybe only, option is to ensure that his poll numbers deflate quickly, making it obvious that a lavish campaign for the Republican nomination and, later, the difficult task of getting on 50 ballots will end in humiliation. This will require establishment Republicans to stop playing political bank shots off his rise and make clear he has moved beyond the boundaries of serious and civil discourse. And it will require conservative populists to recognize that an alliance with Trump is effectively tying their movement to an anvil (the RedState summit disinvitation is a good start). (our emphasis)We don't recall Mushroom Cloud ever rising up in righteous indignation when fellow right-wingers "moved beyond the boundaries of serious and civil discourse" in viciously attacking President Obama over the past 6- plus years. Or in their baseless attacks on Hillary Clinton. Apparently for Mushroom Cloud, "serious and civil discourse" only applies to wingnut interactions. Good to know.
Meanwhile, at the
Trump now threatens to gobble up Trumpism’s antecedents. The beast has turned on them. RedState founder Erick Erickson, who for years peddled in nasty rhetoric and defamed the “establishment,” discovers, “Listen, if having common decency to other people makes you part of the establishment, I guess I am. I mean, if you can’t be nice to someone who asks you a tough question, then okay, I guess I am. If being a member of the establishment is recognizing that there are bounds you shouldn’t cross, and if you do you should apologize, then I guess I am.” Well, isn’t that rich? Erickson would like to blame the Republican Party for Trump, but the responsibility lies with him and others who promoted this style of politics and discourse for years.
Serious conservatives who dabbled in Trumpism now see its full flowering. Less serious conservative racketeers (e.g., the groups who cheered the shutdown) see the limitations of its appeal and its embarrassing attributes. And GOP primary voters may have been roused from their slumber, aware there is, as former Texas governor Rick Perry put it, a “cancer” growing on conservatism. (our emphasis)As a "conservative racketeer" herself (be honest with yourself, Jen), Rubin won't acknowledge that so-called "establishment" Republicans express the same out- of- the- mainstream views as Rump Trump, albeit in dog whistles and focus group- tested language.
Speaking of Rick "Oops" Perry, what's become of the candidate dearest to Rubin's heart?
Former Texas governor Rick Perry's presidential campaign is no longer paying its staff because fundraising has dried up, while his cash-flush allied super PAC is preparing to expand its political operation to compensate for the campaign's shortcomings, campaign and super PAC officials and other Republicans familiar with the operation said late Monday.Oops.
