Reblogged:GOP Honcho: A Contradiction in Terms

[Gus Van Horn blog]

Barring miracle, it would appear that our next presidential race will be between two of the three most loathsome candidates on offer from the primaries. (Bernie Sanders will provide us a much-needed dose of comic relief from here on out.) As polling indicated beforehand, Trump won the Indiana primary last night, and this had been regarded as the best shot Ted Cruz had of denying him an outright majority of pledged delegates at the GOP convention. This development, as unfortunate as it is for advocates of limited government, was predictable, as I noted over the weekend:

The bad news is that we're talking about the Republican Party here. This party has failed for decades to stand up to the Democrats because it offers no positive case for freedom. No wonder a bully like Trump saw an opportunity and stormed in. He will (and has been) responding to the above possibility [of a brokered convention] by claiming that the party's rules are "rigged" against him although the opposite case is more arguable. Will the party stand up to this by sticking to its guns or will it capitulate? I think the odds are higher of the latter, but would welcome the former as a sign that there is some hope for the GOP.

This is doubly true now, since the only thing standing between us and a Trump-Clinton race, is for the spineless GOP establishment to assert its own right to name the party's nominee. But that establishment long ago abandoned the idea of rights and chose "power" instead, as if "winning" with Trump will advance the agenda it has paid weak lip service to for so long. As witness, see the following, from a pieceabout the Indiana results:

But what devalued the Indiana contest were days of coverage on how the members of a crumbling Republican establishment were reluctantly embracing Trump, or at least resigning themselves to his nomination.

The papers were filled with quotes from GOP honchos saying they wanted to avoid a contested convention, that it was time for the party to unify, and that maybe Trump wasn't so bad after all. Reporters tracked down Cruz delegates who said they were thinking of switching to Trump.

Yes. The GOP establishment is thisbankrupt. At least we know it now.

Regarding Sanders, as deluded as he is, Donald Trump would, if elected, pave the way for him or someone much worse, given how many millennials have no idea what capitalism is, and will assume that the blathering pugilist soon to bear GOP standard represents that unknown ideal.

-- CAV

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