https://medium.com/@reedgalen/reince-priebus-the-gops-lemming-in-chief-bc1b9d33da1f#.5bjujzabxReince Priebus: The @GOP’s Lemming-in-ChiefMonday, September 19th, 2016
By Reed Galen
Quote by a Smart Person: “A biblical false prophet was the servant of the devil, attempting to lead people away from the true.” Walter Martin
Welcome to the American Singularity.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus has a tough job. On a daily basis he must wade through the political hurricane that is Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. But his comments yesterday displayed a truly breathtaking tone-deafness.
Speaking Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Priebus stated that if candidates like Governors John Kasich and Jeb Bush will not actively support Donald Trump’s run for the White House, then maybe the GOP would bar such people from running under the party banner four years from now. To this I say, bring it on. Bar Kasich. Bar Bush. Eject Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake. Ex-communicate all the donors who’ve decided to sit on the sidelines this year rather than be involved with Trump. Jettison all the long-time Republican and conservative politicians who have watched Donald Trump’s rise over the past 14 months and determined they could not, in good conscience, support such an odious pretender to the throne.
Let us not forget that it was Priebus himself, in a ham-handed attempt to bring Trump to heel, that he set up the “loyalty pledge” that all Republican candidates were to sign. Trump signed it alright — and then made a mockery of the pledge and Priebus himself by parading both before the press corps in the lobby of Trump Tower.
Let us not forget that it was Priebus who both commissioned and championed the Growth and Opportunity Project (the “Republican Autopsy”) in early 2013 that stated that the Party must be more open to minorities and different points of view on social issues. It was also a report that clearly and completely missed the discontent of voters within his own party. He now actively champions the candidacy of a man who uses the alt-right as a foundational corps of support and made insulting Latinos the cornerstone of his campaign.
Let us not forget that there is a marked difference between being the chairman of a political party trying to win an election and actively defending the outlandish statements and actions of a nominee who represents few, if any, of the tenets of said party.
Trump is not a Republican. He does not allow the GOP to expand its reach to voters the party needs to win nationally. Rather than getting back to core principles: small government, individual determination, lower regulation and strong national security, Trump with the aegis of the Republican Party, has put conservative values in front of a fun-house mirror for his own purposes: Long-time Republicans will find this difficult to forgive and institutional Democrats will make sure independent and new voters never forget.
In threatening long-time conservative leaders with expulsion, Priebus has all but ensured he’s alienated thousands of party leaders, functionaries, operatives and donors who, whether officially #NeverTrump or not, want nothing to do with a party that is nativist, nationalist, isolationist and who stands by de facto racist tendencies. The hundreds of young staffers who work inside 310 First Street, SE must contend with a nominee whom they cannot be proud of and a boss who serves as little more than a useful tool for Trump’s monomania.
There is a silver lining to Priebus’ comments. Given that neither major American political party was able to produce a presidential nominee who even their own voters like this year, maybe 2020 will be the year in which we see a bona fide, well-funded and capable independent candidate run. Imagine Jeb Bush or John Kasich running without having to deal with debates or primaries or caucuses. Imagine a Ben Sasse being able to spread his message of conservatism, real conservatism, around the country to voters looking for a better option.
Think of well-known contenders and new voices traveling across the United States, not hewing to the most extreme part of the Republican or Democratic parties, but discussing the issues voters really care about — jobs, the economy, wage stagnation, national security, without having to answer for a specific party. That’s a pretty good picture. And after Donald Trump and his Reek-like lackey, Reince Priebus get done with the GOP, going independent may be the only real hope to elect a center-right candidate in this country.
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Reince Priebus’ latest term as chairman of the Republican National Committee comes to an end next January. The 168 members that make up this “private organization” as Priebus describes it, should send him into retirement. The last thing that the GOP needs is a chairman who will forever carry the stench of ugliness, anger and non-conservatism that Donald Trump represents. Maybe he can get a gig at Trump Tower. I’m sure they need someone to deliver Donald’s taco bowls.
