[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
The Establishments war on Donald Trump Title: ‘The Party of Trump Must Be Obliterated. Annihilated. Destroyed’ WASHINGTON Steve Schmidt has worked at the highest levels of Republican politics. He helped run George W. Bushs 2004 presidential campaign and oversaw the confirmations of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. He led Sen. John McCains 08 presidential bid and helped introduce Sarah Palin to the world. The American Association of Political Consultants once named him its GOP Campaign Manager of the Year. But today, Schmidt is finished with the Republican Party. He renounced his membership last week in a series of withering tweets that quickly went viral. Under Trump, he wrote, the party had become corrupt, indecent, and immoral. With the exception of a select few, the GOP was filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the partys greatest leaders. He pointed to the Trump administrations family separation policy and use of detention centers for young immigrant children internment camps for babies and the refusal of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to repudiate the president. 29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump. Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018 In the days since, Schmidts former party brethren appear to have confirmed his prognosis. First, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweeted an image of five heavily tattooed Hispanic-looking men ostensibly gang members with the message: Nancy Pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take back of the House. Huckabees tweet was roundly criticized as bigoted and xenophobic. (He stiff-armed these accusations.) On Sunday, David Bossie, a veteran conservative activist who was Trumps deputy campaign manager in 2016, told a black panelist on Fox News that he was out of his cotton-picking mind. (Bossie later apologized.) These werent the dog whistles of yore; this was plain-as-day bigotry and racism. Schmidts decision to cut ties with Republicans didnt exactly come as a surprise. He has for years served as one of the GOPs staunchest critics from within. (Youve probably seen him on MSNBC as the networks go-to talking head for diagnosing the ills of the modern Republican Party.) Still, his perspective is a unique one, the star consultant who swore off his party and sounded the alarm on his way out. I spoke with Schmidt on Monday afternoon. Why did you finally decide to leave the Republican Party? When Trump was elected, there were three parties in Washington: the Trump party, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party had every chance to put a check on his vile personal conduct, his administrations outlandish corruption, his fetishizing and affinity for autocrats around the world and his undermining of the western alliance. How did it get to this point? The Republican Party remained the party of the North and the West culturally in this country until the Civil Rights Act. On the day that LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act, he says, I feel like Ive lost the South. Over time, beginning with Richard Nixon in 68, with the Southern Strategy and the appeal to white working-class Southerners, the Republican Party is uprooted from the North and the West. That is the party I was born into. This present strain of know-nothingism has long been in the partys DNA. So the partys evolution is as much cultural as it is political or ideological. What youve seen is this rapid devolution over the last 18 months of the Republican Party becoming a white ethno-nationalist party, a blood-and-soil party that is protectionist, isolationist, that is rooted in resentment and grievance. The Republican Party isnt going to die because of Trump. Its going to die because of Ryan and McConnell. Youre now left with one political party in support of liberal democracy. Would these same forces have reared their heads if wed had a Marco Rubio or a Hillary Clinton presidency? President Obama said he draws a straight line from McCains choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate to Trumps election. You helped McCain pick Palin in 2008. Did she usher in the Trump era? Can the Republican Party be saved? I dont view it so much differently than I view a forest fire. A forest fire is part of a natural cycle of the forest. The forest burns, and through its burning and destruction, it is regenerated and made healthy again. For the Republican Party and the conservative movement, with its rot, its corruption, its indecency
before there can be any talk of restoration, there must be a season of burning.
Poster Comment:
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 14.
#14. To: Willie Green (#0)
Nah, this asshole and those like him can shove their braindead ramblings up their baracks. MAGA
There are no replies to Comment # 14. End Trace Mode for Comment # 14.
Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest |
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|