Drumpf Didn’t Destroy The GOP, He’s Just Sweeping It Under The Rug

[KamaAina]

Rug? I thought it was a combover.

http://reverbpress.com/politics/wonkery/trump-didnt-destroy-gop-hes-just-sweeping-rug/

It would be entirely excusable for a casual follower of the news to come to the conclusion that there is literally nothing happening in the United States save for the bizarre ascendancy of Donald Fucking Trump. The man is — if nothing else — an endlessly reliable source for the type of stories that angry up the blood and make readers feel a smug sense of superiority to the mouth-breathing throngs that comprise Team Trump. Now that a Trump Triumph™—at least in the Republican primary—is seeming like more and more of a foregone conclusion, the focus has changed to stories about how Trump will (or already has) destroyed the Republican Party. What these stories all manage to ignore is what a fine job the GOP was doing, all on its own, of committing seppuku on the public stage. And if the party wants to start pointing fingers and assigning blame for its self-destruction, there is no better place to begin than its very own House Freedom Caucus:...

We now have ourselves a situation in which 40 members of Congress are able to hold the government hostage to their extremist agenda. Unless Congress defunds Planned Parenthood, guts the Affordable Care Act, and, presumably, banishes President Obama to Saint Helena, they are fully prepared to bring the entire thing crashing down. They may be shit out of luck when it comes to advancing their own agenda, but they’re in an excellent position to obstruct any legislation that doesn’t align with their retrograde world view. In order to pass a bill, Paul Ryan can only afford to lose 26 Republican votes before being forced to rely upon the votes of Democratic representatives to advance the legislation. And the 40 member strong Freedom Caucus can easily deny Ryan those votes. The end result? Paralysis. 40 individuals, holding views far out of the mainstream, have taken the government hostage.

This is a situation that cannot persist forever. But, while it does, the damage being done to the GOP is incalculable. Sure, Donald Trump is embarrassing and fascist and just awful in every possible way. But he has not wounded the party to the extent that the Freedom Caucus has. The Freedom Caucus has already exposed the party as beholden to the far-right. The Freedom Caucus represents the most naked expression of GOP obstructionism. The Freedom Caucus will burn it all to the ground rather than compromise on a single issue. Compared to that, Donald Trump is peanuts. He may, in the end, spell the doom of the GOP. But he will only be mopping up the job that the Freedom Caucus started and, at this moment, almost completed.

[In_The_Wind]

1. Right

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027697416

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That is one great essay, my dear KamaAina!

At least the part I read.

Thanks for sharing it.

K&R

[KamaAina]

3. I'm good, but I'm not that good!

Akira Watts is a friend of Will Pitt's.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Ah. I hadn't thought that you wrote it.........

I didn't see any author.

And I agree: Akira Watts is a friend of Will's, and an excellent author!

[ladjf]

5. Is the termite that eating the Rottenwood of republicanism.