Whatever shall we do without them //

This is all shocking and stunning to me. That the Vichy wing of the Republican party would vote for a Democrat is quite possibly the most shocking thing I’ve heard since some tried to convince me that Pope Francis was supposed to be Catholic.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I think it is clear that the populist impulse birthed in the Tea Party movement of 2010 that ultimately elected Trump in 2016 is a direct result of the actions of men like Powell, and both Bushes, and McCain, and Romney. These were people who never really cared about working men and women and who owed their primary allegiance to the moneyed and the powerful. I never expected any of these people, who, at least on the national political stage, epitomize the happy losers who’ve allowed the left to utterly corrupt this country; people who, to paraphrase someone famous, love the “salutations in the marketplace,” and care much, much more about the invitations to the right parties and the praise of the New York Times editorial page for being reasonable than they do for the direction of the nation, to vote for President Trump. They look at Trump’s personality and they look at his supporters, many of whom shop at ::gasp ::shudder WalMart, and can’t imagine making common cause.

There is a lot about Trump’s persona that I don’t like. I wouldn’t want my son to grow up to be like him, apart from being wealthy and marrying a supermodel who seems to be a class act as a person…though I’d want him to limit the whole marriage thing to once. But President Trump has done more to restore credibility to the GOP and to move conservatism forward in less than four years that George Bush, a man I generally admire, did in eight. Bush could’ve defunded Planned Parenthood. Bush could’ve controlled illegal immigration. Bush could’ve reined in the EPA. Bush could’ve acted to remove the regulatory burden from the US economy. Trump will never deliberately throw an election the way that John McCain and Mitt Romney did for fear of being called bad names. He may not always win but he doesn’t go away quietly and winning is important to him. //

I don’t care what Cindy McCain or George Bush or Colin Powell or Mitt Romney do because I don’t give a good damn for their advice or opinions because I know they don’t give a damn for me and my family and they really don’t care what America looks like so long as they get the accolades of the ‘right’ people. They don’t see me as a free-born citizen who votes for people to represent my values. They see me as some kind of a serf voting for someone better than me to lead and instruct me. That isn’t how it works. It isn’t how it has ever worked with Americans.

What we’re seeing under Trump, especially if he is reelected, is the last gasp of the old order. The end of the time when the powerful partied and vacationed together and their political battles were little more that choreographed WWE matches for the rubes in the backcountry. The fact that these people are refusing to vote for Trump says in the way that no Trump campaign video ever can that Trump has delivered on his promises and the powers of the status quo are terrified of what a second Trump administration will do to their cozy little deal.