The way forward for Anti-Trump Republicans

[Idaho_Cowboy]

The way forward for Anti-Trump Republicans
By Ramesh Ponnuru Bloomberg View
Published Sept. 27, 2016
Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0916/ponnuru092716.php3#UJ6sAxWfAjBSYVF6.99

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, mused in public that the party might block Jeb Bush or John Kasich from running for the Republican presidential nomination again because they reneged on their pledge to back the nominee this year.
It's natural for an RNC chief to want his party unified in support of its presidential candidate. But it's not clear that Priebus's threat is helping his party. If Donald Trump wins the election, then it is unlikely that Kasich or Bush will run in four years.

If he loses, on the other hand, Priebus or his successor at the RNC will have two interests that both cut against making good on his threat. Republicans will want to tamp down the intraparty recriminations that would follow the defeat. This is, after all, part of what promoting party unity means. Republicans will also want to win back the voters who deserted them because of Trump. Trying to punish prominent Republicans who shared these voters' anti-Trump sentiments would set back that goal.

Even now, making the threat does not appear to be enhancing Republican unity. Kasich aides told Priebus to buzz off. Ted Cruz endorsed Trump, but nobody thinks it was because he feared the Republican National Committee....
Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0916/ponnuru092716.php3#UJ6sAxWfAjBSYVF6.99

[Idaho_Cowboy]

The article makes some good points. Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.

If this were football I'd we need to get back to the basics. We need to get back to talking about limited government, personal responsibility, and liberty. Those are the basics of conservatism and the common ground of the party even if different factions see radically different approaches of how to get there from here.     

[guitar4jesus]

Regardless of the outcome of the election the GOP will continue its march leftward.

Ya heard it here first...

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Regardless of the outcome of the election the GOP will continue its march leftward.

Ya heard it here first...

Probably. Most don't believe in the basics of conservatism anymore. That's what's causing this split when you get to the heart of the matter the Republican party is losing its foundation.

[INVAR]

Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.

If this were football I'd we need to get back to the basics. We need to get back to talking about limited government, personal responsibility, and liberty. Those are the basics of conservatism and the common ground of the party even if different factions see radically different approaches of how to get there from here.   

The GOP has made it crystal clear that reformation within the party is not possible.  "Rebuilding" is not going to happen within this GOP unless Nationalist Populist Fascism is how you define Constitutional Conservatism today.

The GOP OPPOSES limited government, personal responsibility and liberty and they demonstrated that they want Big Government Statism every bit as much as the Democrat Left does.  The only difference between the two is that they think they can 'manage' big government better for corporate interests than Democrats.  That is all.

That the GOP wanted Christian Conservatives and Principled Constitutionalists gone from their party was made self-evident to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.

The GOP made it clear they are just another arm of the Uniparty Oligarchy. 

If we want Conservatism and 'the basics' to exist in a movement or party - then it will have to be in another form OUTSIDE of DC and OUTSIDE of and away from the GOP.

The GOP needs to die and just get folded into the Democrat Party where it already is in concert with.

The division was made permanent with what they did last cycle and this.  Anyone who wants to remain in an apostate party and movement will have their foundational beliefs, principles and ideology changed.  if you want to hold onto those principled and see them advanced in the future - it will have to happen in a different party.

[Stosh]

Don't know if you've seen it, but here in Nevada, Hillary has been running a TV ad with a number of RINOs saying they won't vote for Trump.  Some are Senators and will be serving in the next Congress.  These are the ones that would vote to approve Obama for the Supreme Court if Hillary should win....

And we still speak of Republicans and the future in the same breath....

[Wingnut]

Don't know if you've seen it, but here in Nevada, Hillary has been running a TV ad with a number of RINOs saying they won't vote for Trump.  Some are Senators and will be serving in the next Congress.  These are the ones that would vote to approve Obama for the Supreme Court if Hillary should win....

And we still speak of Republicans and the future in the same breath....

Same ad is running in the Fl Panhandle.  Trying to pick off the military vote. 

[Taxcontrol]

The article makes some good points. Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.
 

Why?  Trump and his supporters have made it very clear that conservatives, their policies, their opinions and their candidates are NOT DESIRED by the GOP.
As such, I have changed my party to Constitution party.  The GOP party is not the solution, it is the problem.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Why?  Trump and his supporters have made it very clear that conservatives, their policies, their opinions and their candidates are NOT DESIRED by the GOP.
As such, I have changed my party to Constitution party.  The GOP party is not the solution, it is the problem.

I don't think we can hit critical mass for a full fledged defection yet that could give a 3rd party the support it would need to gain traction on the national stage.

I'm voting Castle for President, and there's a Constitution candidate running for sheriff I'm going to vote for. Other than that on election day I'm voting straight Republican down the ticket.

You are correct this election has revealed a number of folks in the GOP that are not interested in the Constitution. However not all who have supported Trump are in this category and using Trump as a shibboleth on either side will alienate supporters of the Constitution.
Take a look at the support Trump gets on this forum. There are a small group of Trumpist Monks who would support trump if he lit the Constitution on fire and started re-tweeting quotes from Mao. There are plenty of others who will vote for him, but aren't going to carry water for him if what he is proposing is against the premises of conservatism. For whatever reason they made this decision be in the specter of Hillary or hope that Trump will appoint better judges to the SC, these folks are not a long term enemy.

@don-o wrote a great thread on his reasoning for supporting Trump (http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,218923.0.html). Mark Levin and now Ted Cruz have put forth similar reasoning. While I do not agree that this is a merely a binary decision, we should not accuse the folks with whom we agree on the Constitution doing the same thing we are doing what they think is best for the country. It's going to be a long road. 

[bolobaby]

Don't know if you've seen it, but here in Nevada, Hillary has been running a TV ad with a number of RINOs saying they won't vote for Trump.  Some are Senators and will be serving in the next Congress.  These are the ones that would vote to approve Obama for the Supreme Court if Hillary should win....

And we still speak of Republicans and the future in the same breath....

@Stosh

Newsflash: Trump is the real RINO, bub.

In case you haven't being paying attention, our choice is now between Hillary and a Hillary supporter, donor, friend, and voter.

But, I guess you actually may be right. It could very well be that *conservatives* are actually now the RINOs since we surely know that Republicans are not the conservatives.

[Doug Loss]

Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.

Yeah, not gonna happen.  What's your plan B?

[Doug Loss]

@Stosh

Newsflash: Trump is the real RINO, bub.

In case you haven't being paying attention, our choice is now between Hillary and a Hillary supporter, donor, friend, and voter.

But, I guess you actually may be right. It could very well be that *conservatives* are actually now the RINOs since we surely know that Republicans are not the conservatives.

Yup, I've said for a while now that principled conservatives were the real RINOs.  When the Republicans are no longer for the Constitutional principles we hold most dear but we stay with the party due to inertia or some misguided forlorn hope that it will eventually begin to work toward those principles, what else would you call us?  Perhaps it would be better for us to become RNLs, Republicans No Longer.

[INVAR]

I don't think we can hit critical mass for a full fledged defection yet that could give a 3rd party the support it would need to gain traction on the national stage.

I'm voting Castle for President, and there's a Constitution candidate running for sheriff I'm going to vote for. Other than that on election day I'm voting straight Republican down the ticket.

You are correct this election has revealed a number of folks in the GOP that are not interested in the Constitution. However not all who have supported Trump are in this category and using Trump as a shibboleth on either side will alienate supporters of the Constitution …. Mark Levin and now Ted Cruz have put forth similar reasoning. While I do not agree that this is a merely a binary decision, we should not accuse the folks with whom we agree on the Constitution doing the same thing we are doing what they think is best for the country. It's going to be a long road.

Look, whether by Trump or not - The Republican Party is no longer a place any Constitutionalist will be able to exist or have a voice.   It's entrenched oligarchy and leadership have made it abundantly clear - that Constitutional Conservatism is NOT WELCOME in the GOP.  Anyone with those views has been made to toe the party platform and nominee  via public and private threats, even if it is raw Democrat Socialism their platform has adopted with a lifelong Liberal Democrat running as their standard.  The rules to make any challenge to their iron grip on the party have been changed to make any grassroots effort to replace the leadership impossible.

Either Conservatives get out now and work to build a new party untouched by DC, or they will be forced to surrender and abandon what is left of their principles in favor of the new doctrines their party will push.  We are already watching this happen before our eyes.  The formally principled making bullshiite excuses for pushing a lifelong liberal Democrat on a reluctant base that does not trust the person or his word.  Rather than sell us on ideas, they intimidate and attempt bully into submission everyone who is recalcitrant.

I do not know about you - but if you cherish your foundational beliefs, you will not be able to hold onto them or practice them in the Republican Party.

It's that simple.

A little leaven has leavened the entire lump, and now there is nothing worth salvaging from that failed institution of a party.

[don-o]

@don-o wrote a great thread on his reasoning for supporting Trump (http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,218923.0.html). Mark Levin and now Ted Cruz have put forth similar reasoning. While I do not agree that this is a merely a binary decision, we should not accuse the folks with whom we agree on the Constitution doing the same thing we are doing what they think is best for the country. It's going to be a long road.

@Idaho_Cowboy     Thank you for the mention and the reference to my piece.

[Taxcontrol]

.... It's entrenched oligarchy and leadership have made it abundantly clear - that Constitutional Conservatism is NOT WELCOME in the GOP.  ....

Worth repeating.
The GOP is not the solution - it is the PROBLEM!

[GtHawk]

Worth repeating.
The GOP is not the solution - it is the PROBLEM!

I can remember when the democrats made their huge shift to the left and many members left saying "I didn't leave the democrat party, the democrat party left me." I guess it's the republican party's turn.

[Smokin Joe]

Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.

This isn't football, though.

Going back, again, to the people who have consistently spurned Constitutional Conservatism makes as much sense as a battered wife picking herself up off the driveway and crawling back to the jerk who beat her. Only there isn't going to be any 'honeymoon phase'.

It's time to break the cycle of abuse.

[AllThatJazzZ]

The article makes some good points. Whatever happens in November the Republican party and the conservative movement need to work on trying to build and regroup not further divide.

If this were football I'd we need to get back to the basics. We need to get back to talking about limited government, personal responsibility, and liberty. Those are the basics of conservatism and the common ground of the party even if different factions see radically different approaches of how to get there from here.   

(Posting before I've read the article)

I'm too jaded at this point to think about going forward. I had great hopes that the party would begin veering to the right. Instead it's taken a hard left.

To add insult to the humiliation of having Trump as the nominee, "lifelong conservatives" have come out in support of the liberal who is posing as a Republican. I'm still trying to come to terms that we'll never be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I won't even try to pretend that the party was healthy, but I think that minus a Trump candidacy, it could have been remolded. Slowly. Gradually. Methodically. But Trump has been like an IED. He exploded it all to smithereens.

Or maybe he did us a favor and showed us that we need to stick a fork in it. Republican is not synonymous with conservative anymore. At least Reagan had a viable party to run to when the Democrat party left him.

[Stosh]

@Stosh

Newsflash: Trump is the real RINO, bub.

In case you haven't being paying attention, our choice is now between Hillary and a Hillary supporter, donor, friend, and voter.

But, I guess you actually may be right. It could very well be that *conservatives* are actually now the RINOs since we surely know that Republicans are not the conservatives.

@bolobaby

Nah, Chump is a full fledged Demonkrat, he only attacks Republicans, and even RINOs.  Real conservatives are on the outside looking in....

My original post was more to point out the RINOs supporting Killary are the part of the GOP a conservative wouldn't ever vote for....

[DB]

I solved the problem. I dumped the Republican party after 36 years. Trump is now the official representative of the party and defines it. I have little in common with it these days. I believe if Trump is elected he will be the last Republican president for at least a decade and may well end the party for good. He's simply poisonous.

[Smokin Joe]

(Posting before I've read the article)

I'm too jaded at this point to think about going forward. I had great hopes that the party would begin veering to the right. Instead it's taken a hard left.

To add insult to the humiliation of having Trump as the nominee, "lifelong conservatives" have come out in support of the liberal who is posing as a Republican. I'm still trying to come to terms that we'll never be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I won't even try to pretend that the party was healthy, but I think that minus a Trump candidacy, it could have been remolded. Slowly. Gradually. Methodically. But Trump has been like an IED. He exploded it all to smithereens.

Or maybe he did us a favor and showed us that we need to stick a fork in it. Republican is not synonymous with conservative anymore. At least Reagan had a viable party to run to when the Democrat party left him.

It dawns on me that Humpty Dumpty is most commonly portrayed as an egg.

Someone is making omelettes and they aren't done breaking things yet.