In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama famously disparaged middle America at a San Francisco fundraiser, calling them bitter people who “cling” to their guns and religion. Obama’s opponent, John McCain, did not defend these Americans. Instead, his campaign reined in the feisty Sarah Palin. In debates with the cocky community organizer McCain muttered about “bipartisanship.”
After the election, the gun-and-religion bitter clingers organized into tea parties in an attempt to stem the Obama transformation of federalized health care, education, and the auto industry. They further sought to stop “stimulus” funds for cronies’ failed solar power plants, sidewalks that went nowhere, and education “standards” that further stupefied kids. In response, many were harassed by the IRS when applying for nonprofit status. Republicans in Congress called hearings, endured lies—and did nothing. Then, when patriotic opponents to these lawless actions responded with outrage, they were smeared by the Left and the obedient Right as redneck “extremists” and “racists.” Republicans distanced themselves.
In a 2012 presidential debate, the meek and patrician Mitt Romney seemed to think it beneath him to defend Americans killed in Benghazi. This March, however, Romney dutifully reemerged to lecture Americans about the “con man,” Donald Trump.
Many Republicans joined Leftists in calling Trump supporters “Trumpsters,” “Trumpistas,” or “Trumpkins,” and accusing them of racism, xenophobia, and stupidity. Some embrace Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” label.
In March, when a number of Trump-supporting Americans were prevented by mobs from attending a rally in Chicago, “constitutionalist” Ted Cruz blamed Trump’s “rhetoric.” So did Marco Rubio, the Gang of Eight member, elected to the Senate on the promise to the tea party that he would stem immigration.
I went to a Trump rally in Rochester, New York, in April, to see for myself. I saw optimism, patriotism, and a concern for Americans hurt by trade deals, illegal immigration, and lawlessness. A local talk show caller choked up the next morning in describing Trump’s recognition of Rochester.
Donald Trump is no polished pol. But my admiration for Cruz’s mellifluous rhetoric ended on March 10 and my admiration for Trump rose as he embraced relatives of people killed by illegal aliens and terrorists in Benghazi.
While establishment Republicans broke public promises to support the people’s choice in the primary, Trump followed advice and held back politely during the first debate with the smug Hillary Clinton. Their advice turned out to be about as pathetic as it was for their litany of failed candidates.
Two days before the second debate, an eleven-year-old recording of Trump’s crude sexual braggadocio emerged.
Trump has been criticized for never apologizing but in this case he did immediately and publicly. He also was prepared for the debate. After apologizing, he pushed past “moderators”—unlike Romney. He hit back point by point, attacking Hillary again for her smears.
He brought forward real people, women victimized by Bill Clinton’s sexual assaults and then re-victimized by Hillary’s vindictiveness. In addition, he brought out a woman who had been raped at age 12 by a man Hillary gleefully defended. The tape of her laughing about getting him a light sentence has been circulating on the Internet. I know of no other Republican who has spoken out about this.
In the wake of that performance, Trump ought to have awakened to a shower of praise from conservative pundits and Republicans. But instead, he was treated to an ongoing onslaught of nonsense about the tape and an announcement from the feckless Paul Ryan that he would no longer campaign with him.
It now appears Romney and Ryan, our 2012 candidates, were involved in the releasing of the tape and timed it to ensure that it would hit with maximum impact and dislodge the news about more leaked Hillary emails that reveal her dishonesty in the primaries and her subordinates’ antipathy toward Catholics. While Trump attacked the Catholic-bashing from Hillary, the Catholic Ryan said nothing.
Obama brags about ruling with his pen and his phone. Ineffectual Republicans have overridden only one presidential veto, the 9/11 bill, about which they are now having second thoughts! They swiftly acceded on Obama’s onerous Every Student Succeeds Act, ignoring pleas to make the 1,061-page bill available for public reading. The IRS, FBI, Justice Department, Immigration, and Department of Education now enforce presidential diktats. Scapegoats are thrown into prison to cover up State Department malfeasance.
The attacks continue: Trump lawn signs are stolen and property is damaged; pro-Trump messages are condemned as hate speech on campuses; mobs assault Trump supporters in public, while police ignore them.
Welcome to the world that Obama and quisling Republicans have created.
‘The World Obama and Supplicant Republicans Have Made’ is this one.
Trump and his movement will stop these “Democracy Makers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVIbuIGAu38
I watched you sick film. I voted early ballot for Trump but not for the same reasons as you. Some of my ancestors were killed in Europe by Hitler and they were not Jews but Christian. You folks hate everybody, not just Jews.
Well…..
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/486ab5b35ec890c2bbe5dcba7cf096c61d0a8ce468c0fee4add8ca76cf0223e2.png
Here’s a book you can read “The First Nazi…” by Will Brownell. Americans have never been Nazis for a host of great reasons. We started a totally different culture than the Eastern Europeans, including the Germans. Our culture does not even line up with the French. Hitler was a right-wing Socialist.
Where’s the evidence/link Romney and Ryan were behind the release of the tape. I’m curious. Dan Senor tipped off NBC the existence of the tape, Right?
Great article that should be forwarded again and again!
Ms. Grabar, do you have any possible way to show us how and why you trust Trump? His recent past (some very recent) positions on every issue before us are ignored by many of the “Trumpsters”, including it seems yourself, and his new found “conservative” positions are embraced as gospel truth. Whether it’s abortion (he supported partial birth abortion and cited those infamous “New York Values” as justification; he wanted an end to “assault style” weapons after Sandy Hook; he mocked Romney’s 2012 “self deportation” of illegal immigrants as “too harsh”; his radical leftist sister would make a “great” Supreme Court justice; in 2012 he said Hillary was “maybe the greatest” Secretary of State this country has ever had, also she would make a “great” President; Trump said he wants to “strengthen” libel laws and sue individuals who treat him “unfairly”; he expressed support for a Single Payer system for medical coverage; he wants to increase government spending for child care and infrastructure beyond even Marxist Clinton’s plans; Planned Parenthood is a “useful” organization and doesn’t need defunding; Herbert Hoover-like tariffs are promised which will fall on the backs on the consumers.
Your disdain for “constitutionalist” Cruz and his blaming of Trump’s rhetoric for contentious protestors in Chicago in March omits some pertinent facts. The tension and nastiness was elevated by Trump himself and his daily lies about the other candidates. Trump’s vicious henchmen Roger Stone and National Enquirer head David Pecker slandered Cruz, his wife and his father in despicable fashion. Did you admire that tactic? Did you watch the systematic and intentional destruction of Senator Cruz on the Trump…uhh, Fox News Network? Roger Ailes tweets “anybody but Cruz” and his puppet talking heads obey. The elitist RINOs, the WSJ, and Fox News feared Cruz more than Trump because they knew he would follow through on his stated policies where at least Trump might be malleable.
It’s very clear the RINO/Obama enablers in the Republican Party have betrayed those of us who worked hard to flip Congress in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. They are despicable. It is hard for some of us though to see how a New York Liberal Progressive, narcissistic playboy with a checkered business past is the answer to 8 years of this Authoritarian, anti Constitutional, narcissistic community organizer. You believe Trump will follow through on his “current” promises. Should he win this election, I will pray you are right and be thrilled to say you were.
This is mostly spin, making a casuistical case based on disconnected statements, mostly from the heat of the moment. Hillary, remember, has a thirty year record of corruption and real nastiness against opponents that has been not only palpable but raised to the level of actual policy while holding high office. Dr. Grabar does a great service in reminding us how costly it can be to shoot at the wrong targets.
Ah yes, the disconnected statements and a casuistic case in the heat of the moment argument. The typical willful ignorance and sniffing dismissal of Trump’s own words, beliefs and his absolute Liberal Progressive default positions has become customary when a challenge is made. No need to educate most on Hillary’s reprehensible past, present and future, yet Trump only very recently has conveniently come to these conclusions. What was discussed between Trump and his friend and “a guy I like a lot” Bill Clinton in the days right before Trump announced his candidacy?
“I feel a strong desire to tell you, and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil is getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs – pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.” C. S. Lewis
Some will choose the supposed lesser of these two evils or “targets”, some will not. We will all have vote our conscience, what a novel approach.
A great article except the Ted Cruz part. Cruz has been vocal against the RINOs and against Obamacare and Obama. And he is Tea Party and he has worked with the Madison Project and others to get conservatives elected and to defeat RINOs. And Cruz had a real gripe with Trump. It was about more than Trump insulting his family.
Yes, but Cruz did use third party agents to attack and smear Trump during the Primary. His hands a not totally clean either.
Yes but. Always the yes but. Care to name a third party agent?
Glenn Beck falsely accusing Trump of voting for Obama and calling his wife a lesbian porno star.
Glenn Beck is a third party agent for Cruz…the plot thickens. Trump donated money to democrats and was a Democrat. Trump’s wife is not exactly pure and neither is he, many people have pointed that out. Glenn Beck has had a problem with Republicans for a long time and for the most part has called himself a Libertarian. It is strange we have Hillary the communist out there and yet you prefer to attack Cruz.
I wouldn’t have to mention Our Blessed Saint Teddy if not for all the “Trump is terrible and Cruz is as pure as the wind driven snow” BS I see from the #NeverTrump hypocrites.
I must have missed all the pro Cruz stuff from the never Trumpers. Some of them went for Cruz at the last minute and were not really behind him. He certainly wasn’t their first choice. You really need to pay attention. And, you don’t do a slash and burn like Trump did and then expect support from your opponents. Trump said he didn’t need Cruz support meaning it was O.K. to slash and burn.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/03/25/3-problems-with-media-coverage-of-attacks-on-heidi-cruz/
Cruz had nothing to do with the attack. Liz Mair was absolutely not in the Cruz camp and in fact was a Jeb Bush supporter. Trump’s constant vomiting of falsehoods and childish name calling resonated with his supporters. In three weeks, we will all suffer the greatest scam perpetrated on the American people of our time. Trump never wanted to win this thing. Every single time he came close to any coherent message and polling improved, he would jump at the shiny object and snap.
The address to the Super PAC Liz Mair worked for shared the same mailing address, even the same PO Box, as Carly Fiorina’s campaign. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/26/exclusive-liz-mairs-anti-trump-super-pac-has-same-p-o-box-as-carly-fiorinas-campaign/
Glenn Beck, whose business partner David Barton is also a chairman to a Ted Cruz Super PAC, first spread the rumor on Facebook. http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines-2015/glenn-beck-attacks-melania-trump-as-a-lesbian-porn-star
First of all, Cruz was not connected with Fiorina’s campaign and they were each vying for the nomination. Your sources are suspect as well. Breitbart and RedFlag have both been in the tank for Trump. Bannon is a sleazy alt right toad and now officially part of campaign. Beck has opposed Trump from the beginning and he never lied about it like Limbaugh/Hannity/Fox, etc. David Barton is SUPPORTING Trump now in the face of a lot of opposition.
The bottom line to all of this is the sexually suggestive magazine picture and article was in the public domain for a very long time and not manufactured sleaze that the National Enquirer engaged in. Trump’s sexual escapades were well known before this entire process began. He bragged about them on Stern’s show for years. Let’s be honest, you knew what you were getting when you supported him. I maintain this entire process for him has been one big reality show and he had no intention of winning this for the good of this country. Take heart though. It looks like if you are a true believer you will have Trump TV to look forward to when his dear friend Hillary is ruining this country even further. Maybe that meeting with Bill Clinton right before Trump announced his candidacy should have been investigated from Day 1.
Explain how $500,000 went from a Cruz Super PAC to Carly during the early Primaries.
Is this the best you can do? It’s a known fact that Super PAC’s put their chips on more than one horse in races. Candidates by law cannot influence SuperPACs. It’s telling you will not even attempt to defend any of my points regarding the worst Republican candidate in the history of the country. With the exception of about 4 candidates in the Republican field if any of the other candidates had been nominated this election would be over and Clinton would be thrown into the dustbin of history. I’m sure you’ve heard the recent news that Trump’s son in law, Mr. Kuschner has been talking about an online TV network. It’s hard to see things like this if you are focused on your hatred of Ted Cruz and Super PACs of 11 months ago.
I would be willing to bet big money that if Trump hadn’t gotten this nomination, he would have run 3rd Party or defied everyone and endorsed his dear friend Hillary.
Pure bullshit.
There you go again Trumpster, attempted intellectual discussions always end with an expletive. Better get back to Breitbart and Infowars and your safe spaces where all things Trump are adored and idolized.
Did you even LOOK at your previous post?
This is deflection by just another frustrated Trumpster who knows this election is over. It’s all you’ve got.
Great colum and my changing opinion of Cruz exactly followed yours. When I first started to see Cruz misstate and misrepresent some facts, I started to see that there might actually be a reason so many in Congress dislike him. I have been a fan of his for years, but this side of him made it all go away. Did Trump say and do some rude things? yes. Maybe its because those you hold to a higher standard seem to be forgiven less. I also realized that to too many people, Cruz is just plain unlikable and I have no doubt that he would be getting destroyed if he were our nominee. Whatever it is, I too began to support Trump. I have heard and considered all the objections to Trump and they fall short of convincing me. There are probably only a tiny handful of people who could handle the onslaught from the lefft that was inevitable if any candidate were to ever be openly honest about the left and Hillary and to openly prosecute the case against her, and Trump is the only GOP candidate who could do it. He may seem vulgar but most of that is because the failings of Bill and Hillary that need exposure are vulgar. Many think that Trump (see below) cannot be trusted to do what he says because of past statements made when he was a private citizen and had different motivations. I thiink a man with his pride would never go back and betray those who supoported him in such a public way. In th end, there is never any guarantee that an elected official will not betray their promises, but at least with Trump, we would be electing someone who doesnt’ have a track record of doing so once elected, something you can’t say about the rest, with the exception of Cruz , Walker, Fiorina and Carson.
Regardless, when all this is said and done, there is nowhere to return to for those who have enthusiastically support Trump. Would it be possible to return to the GOP and a party of gutless pols? I have never suported a third party, but if Trump loses and the takeover of the GOP fails, it might be the only option short of political indifference.
Great article. At least the mask is off in this election, and there is not much of a point in supporting these “down ballot” Republicans no matter what happens on Nov. 8. The honorable thing for the GOP to do is to just officially support Hillary and just merge into the Dem. party. As another columnist at AG wrote (Decius) a few days ago – none of the agenda of these so-called Republicans (or at least the agenda that the screed about in NatRev or Heritage) has any chance in a Hillary presidency. Or thereafter. Once she amnesties 11 (and that number has been constant for a decade, so it is likely a multiple of the 11 now), the GOP “conservative” agenda has no future or any chance of ever being implemented.
The Tea Party actually began forming during GW Bush’s final years as president.