You are out for a brisk morning walk, the sky is a beautiful blue, azure, azul, cerulean, cobalt with a few scattered puffy clouds dotting the sky. Suddenly you see a neighbor waving good morning from their driveway. As you walk past, they say, “The sky is a beautiful green today, isn’t it?” You stop your walk, a bit dumbfounded. “I’m sorry,” you reply, “Did you say green?” “Yes,” your neighbor responds, “It is marvelous, isn’t it?”
As of today, the US general election is 88 days out. Among the remaining intelligentsia of the Conservative movement, there is already a full-scale forensic analysis occurring as the polls look to be quite real and not, as the favorite saying goes, “fake news.” Among the most brilliant Conservative minds, there is an honest and deep self-reflection going on along with a sense of ownership for the “How did we get here?” crowd.
The Shining City On A Hill
How did we go from a party of Ronald Reagan, where to be an American meant that you won the lottery…you were born into the greatest country in the world, the land of endless opportunities, the “Shining City on the Hill,” and now is the party of grievance and whining and persecution? We went from a strong and determined nation to one that whines that Canada has stolen opportunities? Canada? We went from a party of intellectuals, brilliant minds that could debate any policy, and every intricate facet of policy, to one that is talking about Alien DNA and demon sperm? A party that held the highest moral standards and adherence to the rule of law has surrendered to a corrupt con-man who has spent his entire life pissing on the law…all in the name of his own self-enrichment?
In the early days of 45, there was promise after empty promise that members of the GOP would keep him ‘in check’ and would hold firmly to the fidelity of conservative values. In extremely short order, the spineless and morally bankrupt fell in line behind a spastic con-man extraordinaire. Zero checks, zero balances, zero fidelity to conservative values and 100% commitment to absolute bat-shit crazy, spiders in the brain, bullshit QAnon conspiracy theories. The same gullible belief systems that gave rise to Bat Boy and endless Elvis sightings has now become mainstream information that is spouted from the White House and the Congress of the United States. How?
A draft-dodging liar, whose family has a history of dodging wars, has the temerity to sit in a room with decorated four and five star generals and call them babies? This man? This eight year-old man-child with zero knowledge of international affairs, this absolute, complete and total loser at everything he ever tried, a person so unbelievably fractured emotionally, and whose only move is The Con, is now the face of Conservatism? This same loser that sends federal troops into American cities to tear-gas and flash-bang US citizens? This is Conservative values? Writing legislation that hands trillions of dollars to the top one percent of the nations already grossly opulent and buries the country in more and more debt? This is Conservative values?
Stuart Stevens (author: It Was All A Lie) has said it best, Donald Trump was a moral test…and the Republican party has failed the test. COVID is the litmus test, not just for the party but, for the entire history of Conservatism. Can you imagine any other Conservative leader that would have turned their back on the American people as deeply as Trump? The rampant hatred, the rampant MAGA payback mentality is NOT the party that once stood for character and morality. As Stevens says: “In your own best interest, at least pretend to be a better person.”
There are a large contingent of people who have remained in allegiance to the core party values and are now arguing for, not just the end of Trump…but the end of Trumpism. Trumpism is a cancer that has destroyed the party. We cannot solve the issue by just removing the sociopathic narcissist that has hijacked the party, we must excise every single sycophant that has given free reign to this cancer. Remove the tumor AND remove ALL the margins. Burn it all down and salt the earth.
Although not proven, it has only been attributed to Mark Twain, the phrase “It is easier to fool the people, than to convince them they have been fooled.” This is where we are now with the modern GOP. The Democrat party is divided between the mainstream centrists and the, basically, far-left progressives. The Republican party is now a battle between the remaining intelligentsia, who lean toward the center, and extreme alt-right, conspiracy-riddled nut cases…frothing at the mouth over the most ridiculous and insane conspiracy theories.
The election is now shaping up as a battle between the clear-headed centrists (on both sides) and the absolute pudding-brained fucktards of the conspiracy world. The greatest, richest country on the planet, filled with the most brilliant scientific and medical minds, is now the world’s biggest FUBAR when it comes to the pandemic. And, rather than us having a high-level, intelligent, science-driven discussion about the health crisis in our country (like every single other freaking nation on the planet) we have a POTUS sharing videos from a person talking about Alien DNA and demon sperm? WTAF?
Fresh out of ANY ideas, we are now being bombarded with the “radical left,” “Antifa,” “Hurting God,” blah, blah, fucking blah. Really? This is all you got? There isn’t a single person on the planet, with even half a brain, that can sit through the excruciatingly painful Axios interview with Jonathan Swan…and not see a man-child so far out of his depths that it is totally embarrassing. Intellectually lazy and emotionally deranged, this is a person so much a mismatch for the moment that it truly is painful. The phony alpha-male, the one that cannot go outside without a pound of Oompa Loompa orange face paint on…is not a man, he is a blubbering man-child, an eight year-old trying desperately to get affection from his sociopathic daddy. As Tom Nichols points out: Donald Trump, the Most Unmanly President.
If you bought the con, then it is next to impossible to admit you were bamboozled. You swear to God, you watched the guys hands closely, you know EXACTLY which Lux bottle cap the Cracker Jack is under. You pick the middle, and he lifts the right. He takes your $20 and you feel like a schmuck. Once again, you were fooled by the guy wearing clown makeup. Unable to admit that you were conned, you dive deeper into the conspiracy theories about the “Deep State” that hates the “outsider” who came in to shake things up. Rather than just admit that the guy with a loss record a mile long is actually a colossal fuckup, you double down, EVERY. DAMN. TIME. Maybe this time it will be different…he put away the Lux bottle caps and now he’s using three cards. I know where the queen is…it’s in the middle? No, maybe on the left? The right? Awe fuck, I did it again.
“They will say of our generation that we kept faith with our God, that we did protect and pass on lovingly that shining city on a hill.”
Now, the question you need to ask is, “How do we save the Republican party?” Because just defeating Trump will never be enough. The cancer has metastasized and there are too many mini-Trumps that have been spliced from the cells. The poison is running deep in the party. There is no antidote, no magic cure, no pill. We have to suck the poison completely out of the body politic in order to salvage anything that might be left of Conservatism in America. Incremental, kid-glove handling of this crisis will not do. We need to burn it all to the ground and salt the freaking earth and let whatever comes next hopefully take us back to that shining city on a hill….still united, still strong, still compassionate.
Door Number One:
Listen to the words of George Will: "In life's unforgiving arithmetic, we are the sum of our choices. Congressional Republicans have made theirs for more than 1,200 days. We cannot know all the measures necessary to restore the nation's domestic health and international standing, but we know the first step: Senate Republicans must be routed, as condign punishment for their Vichyite collaboration, leaving the Republican remnant to wonder: Was it sensible to sacrifice dignity, such as it ever was, and to shed principles, if convictions so easily jettisoned could be dignified as principles, for ... what? Praying people should pray, and all others should hope: May I never crave anything as much as these people crave membership in the world's most risible deliberative body."
Door Number Two:
Trumpublican: A “Republican” who has abandoned all semblance of conservatism and instead chosen to bow down, sell their souls and be herded into servitude by Donald Trump giving up all Republican ideals in an effort to please their President and spare his wrath. Also, a spineless politician afraid to stand up for even his/her own morals and beliefs.