Many on the left are running around social media proclaiming that if Donald Trump is not at least the reincarnation of Hitler, he must be possessed by his spirit. Trump bears no resemblance to Hitler but a lot of his followers sure are fond of the Fuhrer.
Trump is not an ideologue. In fact, he is more buffoon than anything. He has more in common with a stand-up comic than he does with a dictator. He has no belief system, other than making money and self-promotion. He wings it most of the time, just blurting out whatever comes into his head at the moment with no plan, no script just a sort of word hemorrhage that could use a tourniquet.
He is so absent a belief system that he actually runs to the left of Hillary Clinton and neck-and-neck from an ideological point of view with hapless Bernie Sanders on some issues. On Trade, he has about as much grasp of trade issues as Bernie, which is not much at all.
One would think since he is a businessman, he would understand the economy. Yesterday, he said the USA would never default on debt because we print the money. Technically true, but ever heard of something called “Inflation,” Donald? You would need a wheelbarrow of 100 dollar bills to buy your latte if that ever happened.
On the other hand, we have Ted Cruz. Ted is the polar opposite of Donald Trump. He’s a true believer, doctrinaire, an ideologue with total intolerance and disdain for anything, or anyone who is against his interpretation of conservatism. He is disciplined and works from a script and is analytical.
Ted Cruz entire political career has embraced radical right extremist positions. He has not accomplished much from a legislative standpoint because he frankly does not believe in Government’s ability to do anything. Take a look at his time in the Senate; what has he done other than to take the nation to the fiscal brink for no purpose other than to gain attention?
His interpretations of the Constitution I find alarming especially in light of the fact he is a lawyer. His views on the Second Amendment are some of the most radical views around. He thinks the Second Amendment guarantees everyone can own a gun, regardless if they are a convicted felon, terrorist, or mentally ill. Thankfully, his views are minority views even among gun owners.
His closest supporters don’t believe in separation of church and state. Senator Cruz has done nothing to denounce that view and many of his surrogates have openly proclaimed in interviews the separation of church and state is a myth. The Taliban agrees with that position.
What happened in Indiana was significant. Indiana has a very conservative GOP. This is the state where the Tea Party was strong enough to defeat long-time Senator Richard Lugar and elect Richard Mourdock who made a rape remark in the context of a discussion about abortion, and handed a safe US Senate seat to the Democrats. A party so conservative they would elect the likes of Mourdock said to Cruz, and to the GOP, “we’re not doing this. This is too extreme.”
It appears to me the GOP has no desire to win back the White House. Governor John Kasich of Ohio beats Hillary Clinton easily in every poll, head-to-head yet his campaign never picked up traction. Ted was not the darling of “establishment” GOP as some say, rather the darling of the extreme element. It appears the GOP is looking for a time-out to try and find its way.
Where will it find its way? That is a good question, and it appears there are no charismatic leaders with a vision right now. Clearly it isn’t Trump, who is all over the place in his positions. The party is in a bad way for leadership. It’s lost on most issues.
When I cast my first vote in 1972, the GOP offered conservative answers to problems in society. It offered an alternative vision to the vision of the Democratic Party. In today’s GOP, there is no vision, no problems are addressed. Part of the problem has been we let libertarians in positions of power. Libertarian thought never could get traction on its own. Why embrace something that failed?
Where does the party go from here? It needs to clean house and stop camping out on the wings. The Democrats have their own Pandora’s Box open with the Bernie gang. They are a few years behind the GOP but that same form of cancer is loose on them that got loose within the GOP in 1992 when the religious right flexed their muscle against President GHW Bush.
The defeat of Cruz was a step in the right direction. It is time for the party to start taking a critical look at itself, and cease with a platform of “No” and start looking at how it can come up with conservative solutions to problems. Otherwise, the Democrats will have a permanent lease on The White House.
