National politics is sometimes a big discussion at our golf course clubhouse bar, with both sides having people who have their angles and arguments. I've always voted Republican in presidential races from my first vote in '72. But when it became apparent that Trump was going to represent the party I told the clubhouse gang that he didn't have a chance in the fall regardless of how much Hillary's likability is, or her past failings.

 

Trump can't win the minority vote or the female vote. Election over before it starts.

A candidate who stands on a stage in a debate with 16 other candidates and says, "Look at that face. Would you vote for a face like that?", referring to Carly Fiorina. Women hate ignorant, tasteless comments like that from men in general, much less a presidential candidate, and won't forget it when it comes to the making a decision how to vote. They will get revenge for Carly and women everywhere when it comes time to vote. I remember telling myself when he made that comment that, well....if they are women watching tonight that might have voted for you, few are going to now!

 

And he started out on the wrong foot with minorities with a bunch of racist comments during his announcement that he was running for president speech. He's tried to walk it back and say what he meant was blah, blah, blah....but the damage was already done.

 

Trump has never had a chance to win this race. He's the only one of the 16 original candidates that didn't have a chance. If Hillary could have hand picked a choice which of the 16 she wanted to run against her it would have been 100% Trump. A candidate cannot win a national race without minority and female votes. Oh, he may carry Kentucky, West Virginia and a few other southern states, but Kentucky ain't worth a bucket full of wet feathers as far as the electoral votes goes. Hillary wins this one in a landslide.

Though I'm no fan of Mike Pence for obvious reasons, it is sad to see how he has to uneasily keep a straight face through all of this in his support of Trump.

 

He's not nearly as vulgar about it as Giuliani has been, but considering that many didn't really know much about him until he accepted Donny's invitation to be his running mate, his lasting legacy quite possibly could be his political suicide of going down with the ship.

 

It's obvious that he's just playing the game, and unless he's willing to shake things up and distance himself, at this point he really has no other choice.

 

My hunch is that he will be forgiven by his supporters, and that it won't dramatically hinder his future political aspirations considering that through the goofiness of it all he has managed to keep a controlled diplomatic face.

 

Though I don't agree with him on social issues, I at least can see where he's basically a decent guy who's got himself in an awkward tough spot. He has a self image of being on the moral high ground, but sadly his "religious freedom" leanings have clouded his understanding of separation of church and state, and freedom for all, while having a troubling track record of supporting discrimination.

@grant NY and @PepRock01, I agree. I am an old moderate R and my main concerns are economic and fiscal responsibility. I believe the Constitution and immigration laws should be upheld. I personally hate abortion, but do not believe it should be illegal in the first trimester. I believe social issues have been a disaster for the R politicians.

 

An understatement. May be what dooms them in the end. Republican Nicole Wallace said last night that the Party is pretty much done. She said it will likely to be a very long time, if ever, that it recovers from the damage Trump has done to the GOP.

I don't think that the GOP is in its death throes.

 

As soon as Candidate Trump is no longer the de facto face of the party, they will rebound.

 

That being said, they have major demographic issues to address.

I don't think that the GOP is in its death throes.

 

As soon as Candidate Trump is no longer the de facto face of the party, they will rebound.

 

That being said, they have major demographic issues to address.

 

Agree. I don't see the party overcoming that problem for a long time. An entire generation of younger voters have already been lost. The party needs to change, and start by distancing itself from Trump-type rhetoric and his core followers as soon as possible.

The Libertarian party could siphon a good portion of the young Republican demographic in the future.

 

Is Rand Paul a libertarian? They need some big names.

The strange thing is Trump really isn't your typical conservative Christian Republican by a long shot, and has merely used the party to run because of the 2 party stranglehold.

 

In the process he now has typical conservative Christian Republicans supporting him when he's as much of a moral Christian as the man on the moon. They've ignored who he truly is and fell for the "R" next to his name. it appears that they've been duped and can't even see it. They've lowered their standards to remain "party first" voters and the guy they're trying to defend isn't even from their same ilk.

 

No doubt that when he moves on they will resume being the traditional conservative Republicans that they were beforehand, and while that should make them feel cozy right back at home once more, it'll still be out of favor with the majority regarding social issues, and will continue to be what keeps our country divided, and them out of the White House.

I made a similar post in the wake of the 2008 election about the state of the Republican party. I castigated them as a party of perpetual opposition, one without a clear slate of policies or ideas of its own to promote. I held up Palin as the emblem of all that was wrong with the party. She was vacuous and uncurious, but she had throngs of adoring supporters because she was willing to hit below the belt and "say what everyone was thinking." Trump is very much a unique figure, but on this regard, Palin is his antecedent. The party hasn't changed much and it's going to be on the outside looking in on the White House again.

 

Much of the party's voters want pettiness and vindictiveness and someone who will deliver the sort of insult to liberals/Democrats/the Establishment that was previously taboo among politicians. A significant portion of these voters don't care about plans or issues or who is going to do what, they care about who can be the fiercest. In terms of policies, there wasn't an arms-length of difference between the 16 other candidates who ran for the Republican nomination this past year, but there was a vast difference in tone and who was willing to take it the farthest.

 

In that regard, I think the conservative media infotainment explosion has been its biggest blessing and its greatest curse. People can tune into their echo-chamber and listen to entertainers who have a skill in squeezing the controversy out of the mundane, who are willing to ignore facts or bend reality to fit their own vision as long as it will draw in viewers hungry for their political salve.

 

For a lot of people, Trump bringing those four women to the debate and getting on the stage and saying he would have Clinton arrested if he won are precisely the sorts of things they've been hearing from their conservative entertainers for years. The only difference is they've now cultivated politicians who are willing to say it. While many voters and observers from outside of this group found Trumps decisions beyond the pale or a major turnoff for moderate voters, a good too many were at home in rapturous euphoria.

 

The problem is what propels much of the conservative media might be great for their ratings, but it isn't great for winning elections and I think that's the party's biggest problem right now.

@Habib

You're at 100 the past few days. :ylsuper:

Donald Trump has been a liberal Democrat most of his adult life. To suggest that he is a conservative is ridiculous. Trump is running as a Republican for political expediency and although he is a very weak candidate, his losing to a longtime liberal family friend will not be a death knell to the GOP. The worst thing about Trump's candidacy, IMO, is the fact that he has been falsely labeled a conservative by the media and the RINOs who run the GOP will echo that propaganda in four years, when they once again claim that only a moderate can win in November.

 

To those who have conveniently forgotten, Trump criticized Romney's proposals for being too tough on illegal immigration. His lavish praise for President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a matter of public record. He may be masquerading as a somewhat conservative Republican, but conservatives do not deserve the blame for his incompetent general campaign.

@Habib, I genuinely mean this - if you were to publish a collection of essays, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

@Habib, I genuinely mean this - if you were to publish a collection of essays, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

Ha! :eek: I appreciate that though.