Granted, we’ve heard claims of various deaths of either political party before. In 2009, the architect of President Bill Clinton’s victorious campaigns, James Carville wrote a book entitled “40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.” Less than one year later, The Republicans won the House of Representatives back in a landslide rebuke of President Obama, and of course, 7 years later the Republicans now control all three arms of the Executive and Legislative branches.
I’m not here to proclaim the death of either party, merely the very sad, slow, painful meltdown of each we are witnessing with no known end game in sight.
Since 1980, there have been 10 Presidential Elections in America. In more than half of them we all heard cries of a legitimate “third political party,” rising from the ashes and taking America back from the corrupt politicians who had seized control of our liberty. From Jon Anderson in 1980 to Ross Perot in 1992 to Ralph Nader in 2000 and Ron Paul for the entire first decade of this century, we were told time and time again that Americans would have a third choice. Bubkus. There was never any legitimacy nor desire for such. But for the first time in my lifetime, I’m starting to entertain the possibility of a pathway for a new political party. Or maybe I’m just wishing for one, for what other choice do we have?
The Democrats should immediately change their name to the Socialist Party of America and stop pretending to be anything near the party of FDR, JFK, or Bill Clinton. As reflected by their leadership, they are so far off the rails of what this nation was founded on, and what the majority of Americans want moving forward that they will not come back without an internal revolution similar to what the Republicans are experiencing as we speak.
Were the Republican Party to rename itself today, it would have to splinter into 5 different parties:
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The Nazi/White Nationalist wing (Steve Bannon, Roy Moore)
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The Fiscally conservative/Socially progressive wing (Chris Christie, John Kasich)
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The pretend-to-be fiscally conservative wing (anyone supporting the current tax bill)
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The “go to war at all times and all costs,” wing (John McCain, Lindsay Graham)
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The Libertarian wing (Rand Paul)
The emergence of Donald Trump has sent the Republican Party spiraling into a very public unraveling of monumental proportions. To see a party have complete control of government power and accomplish absolutely nothing in 10 months in jaw dropping. The outward in-fighting is as bad as not being able to “repeal and replace,” anything…the very thing these clowns all ran on for 7 years. Turns out, they had absolutely no idea what to once they got the chance. They are the epitome of the metaphor of the dog who finally catches the car…he doesn’t know what to do now that he has it.
When it comes to knowing the truth, my rule of thumb is fairly simple; when ardent supporters of either side turn on themselves, it’s clear that the truth has been unveiled.
For example, on the rare days when Fox News actually disagrees with something President Orange has done, I know he’s really screwed up. Fox News reporting or claiming that anything Trump has said, done, or decided is close to wrong is like getting a Nazi to say something nice about a Jew.
Last week, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano rightfully verbally disemboweled Trump multiple times on-air for the President’s terrifying assertion that the New York City Terrorist who mowed down bicyclists should be treated as an enemy combatant and/or sent to Guantanamo Bay. The terrorist, Sayfullo Saipov, is a legal resident (not citizen, but resident) of the United States which affords him all of the rights of our constitution. He can anything the rest of us can, save voting and running for office. For Trump and others (like fellow Constitution hater when it fits his agenda, Senator Lindsay Graham), to claim we can or should violate the man’s rights in the name of security is the literal definition of Fascism. No doubt Napolitano was shunned in the hallways for weeks after having the courage of his convictions. http://www.speroforum.com/a/CYORDJAQRR49/82068-Judge-Napolitano-NYC-terrorist-deserved-Miranda-rights#.WgFX_8anFPZ
The Democrats, meanwhile, have gotten to the point where truth telling is beyond non-existent. When details were released of the Republican tax plan recently (a true hunk of crap that will do nothing to stimulate the real economy, for reasons I’ll happily discuss at another time) the Democrats went on a speaking tour tirade claiming all sorts of falsities, most notably that the plan would raise taxes on the Middle Class. When a left-wing liberal rag like the Washington Post has to announce that the Democrats are LYING about such claims, you know it’s bad. This is akin to Hitler pointing out that Stalin “was a little mean.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/11/02/senate-democrats-falsely-claim-gop-tax-plan-will-raise-taxes-for-most-working-class-families/?utm_term=.7c5a2dab4469
And then came Donna Brazille (lucky her). Donna has spent her life as a no-holds-barred hack for the Democratic Party, culminating with running Al Gore’s Presidential Campaign in 2000. No one has ever questioned her liberal bonifides in any way. She has now revealed, as the former head of the Democratic National Committee, that what we all suspected was completely true; Hillary Clinton stole the nomination in 2016 from Bernie Sanders to the point where even that nut-job Senator Elizabeth Warren has said publicly it was now clearly “rigged.” Brazille: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/elizabeth-warren-dnc-rigged/index.html
And most recently, Republican Alabama Senatorial candidate, Roy Moore, already a repugnant human being who is on the record as wanting homosexuality to be made illegal, has now been accused of sexual misconduct, assault, and even rape with four underage girls who have gone on record. I am not naïve, I know that politics is nasty and lies are told, but the response by The Republicans to these charges has been beyond appalling;
Moore’s Republican backers in Alabama appear to be sticking by him. Paul Reynolds, the Republican national committee man from Alabama, told The Hill that he doesn’t trust The Washington Post (the publication that broke the story): “If I’ve got a choice of putting my welfare into the hands of Putin or The Washington Post, Putin wins every time.” State auditor Jim Zeigler is willing to admit the charges are true, but he doesn’t care. He cited the Biblical story of Mary and Joseph — “Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus”— and concluded, “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.” Holy Crap.
In the final analysis, no indictment of their candidate will convince the faithful. As Trump once said, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Or, more to the point, Roy Moore could molest a 14-year-old girl and not lose votes. Because for Republican partisans, their opponents are “the forces of evil,” and anything is preferable to that. Even Donald Trump. Even Roy Moore. So in ostensibly fighting evil, Republicans have become complicit in it.
This is a party that does not deserve to survive.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/11/10/roy-moore-response-shows-gop-doesnt-deserve-survive-max-boot-column/851640001/
Both of these parties are in complete, total disarray with no exit plan in sight. Trump will, without a doubt, have a primary challenger in 2020 (something unheard of for a sitting president), and the Democrats will probably have about 59 different versions of Socialist trying to become the party’s nominee. Whether or not any form of legitimate choice is ready to be heard remains to be seen, but God Help Me, I’m starting to see a Trump versus Mark Zuckerberg versus Mark Cuban versus Dwayne Johnson versus April the Giraffe run-off in 2020.