Why is it "elitism" to insist on tact and decorum in public discourse? Why is it "elitism" to decry the ginning up of mobs?
I understand perfectly well the "Eff off" attitude toward the Democrats, who are snakes in the grass. But we can do better than Trump.
Sure we can, in theory anyway. But Trump was the nominee, which made the alternative choice in the general election something much worse. That is, except for some of the elites in the GOP who value decorum and being a member of the "club" over principles like individual liberty, free speech, etc.. And if those particular GOP elites manage to submarine Trump for 2020 -- which will
absolutely guarantee a Democrat victory because of the millions of pissed-off Trump voters who will stay home -- then I'm
done. There is no way in hell I'm supporting a party that prioritizes style and collegiality over substance.
Now, maybe your point is that there are some Republicans who believe we can 1) force Trump out as the nominee by pressuring him to quit, and then 2) win the general election with the replacement candidate. And I agree --
some NT'ers actually believe the best way to win in 2020 is to force Trump out, though I personally believe that is borderline delusional. Because to have any hope of 1), you'd have to absolutely
trash Trump publicly, to the point where he'd become convinced (which he never would anyway...) that his only choice is to quit. But in doing 1), you'd so piss off hordes of people who like Trump that they'd abandon you in the general election, so 2) could never happen. Forcing Trump out would forfeit the general election, and likely led to wholesale abandonment of down-ticket Republicans by many of those Trump voters. So, I think there are comparatively few people who actually believe that is possible to force Trump out and still win the general election.
Be that as it may, I think those people are just wrong, not rotten. I don't resent them.
But I think the larger group of Republicans out there trying to trash Trump care much less about 2) than about 1). They simply hate the guy, and would prefer a more "civil" Democrat win the general election than Trump, whom they personally find so odious...along with many of his supporters. And in that group I'd put any Republican politician who either voted for Hillary, didn't vote for Trump, and/or wouldn't vote for Trump in 2020 if he was the nominee. So the Bushes, Kasich, Flake, Romney, and the rest of that ilk. "He's rude, so I'd rather have a socialist/statist who isn't as rude."
And like I said above, I'd rather see the party destroyed and the Democrats win than let the slow death linen napkin crowd march us all merrily down the road to serfdom.