I originally wrote the following as a comment on Booman’s recent post Crazy is a Dangerous Thing. I am now posting it as a standalone article.
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The Molly Ball article to which Booman linked in his post (Can the Republican Party Survive Trump?) will prove to be part of yet another failed attempt to stop Trump’s rise. It says all the right things in all the right places about Trump, but it does not try to do the one thing that works on a bully.
A punch in the face.
All the reasoning in the world will neither stop Trump from running his game…a game at which he is proving to be very good, I might add…nor will it quell the admiration of those who are now supporting him.
Read on for more.
As above, so below.
Think of Donald Trump as if he is a small time, local schoolyard/streetcorner bully. He’s a hero to his hangers-on and boss of the neighborhood until somebody publicly refuses to be bullied and then successfully puts him on his ass. Afterward? Abandoned by his supporters, just another big, dumb guy with a mean streak.
No one has tried that yet. Not really. Bush III flying a little plane over one of Trump’s rallies with a sign that says “TRUMP 4 HIGHER TAXES, JEB 4 PREZ” just won’t cut it.
WEAK!!!
Is there a RatPublican candidate who is willing to (and capable of) putting him down? Not as far as I can see. The next “debate” will tell the story, but I don’t think it’s happening.
Ball writes:
In the (possibly apocryphal) past, there would have been a smoke-filled room where the GOP grandees could meet and hatch a plan to excommunicate Trump. His success, and the inability to stop him, speaks to the weakness of the party establishment in the time of the Tea Party. These days, the counter-establishment devoted to attacking Republican incumbents often seems better organized than the establishment it harasses. (Early on, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tried calling Trump and asking him to back off; the tactic backfired.)
“Possibly apocryphal!!!???” Is she stupid or is that a phrase that was forced upon her by some lawyer-guided editor? Please!!! Ain’t no “apocryphal” about it, and those rooms are in action as we speak. Bet on it. Only thing is, they have no leverage on a multi-billionaire who doesn’t give a shit what they say because he has their number with his big right hand punch.
Which big right hand punch?
This one.
THIRD PARTY!!!
BOOM!!!
Down they go for fear of being made powerless. Better a nutcase president who is at least nominally a Republican (and on the evidence of his career will play ball) and continued control of the House and Senate than a DemRat president and the possibility of losing that legislative control.
UH oh!!!
There’s money to be made!!!
HELLO, RatPub candidate Trump!!!
Bet on that as well.
So who does that leave? Why the DemRats, of course. With some likely under-the-table help from the RatPubs because both parties want the sweet PermaGov fix deal to continue uninterrupted for as long as they can swing it.
But the question remains…which DemRat!!!???
Ay, there’s the rub.
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Two (or three) pols in a tub,
And who do you think they were?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
They all sailed out to sea,
‘Twas enough to make a man stare.
We shall see. Soon enough.
Does Hillary survive her email travails? And if she does, is she a good enough fighter? A willing enough fighter? After Bill was honey-trapped by the right, she was madder than hell.That’s when she publicly acknowledged a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Plainer words have yet to be spoken about the condition of the U.S., but I neither hear nor see that any of that fire remains in her. It’s all careful, defense-first fighting. She lost one battle to Obama that way and I think that she is on the way to losing another one…even earlier this time.
Does Unca Bernie have the public energy to take on the bully? At 75? I doubt it.
Does Affable Joe have a sufficient mean streak to successfully deck him? Maybe. But then what would we have? The Preznit from MBNA? I guess that would be better than the Preznit from Hell, but still…look where we are now after the Preznit from Narcissusville.
Hmmmm…
Stay tuned.
The soap opera continues.
Bet on it.
There are really three things that are sure in the life of a U.S.A-er
Death, taxes and a fix every four years.
Bet on that as well.
How are they gonna try to “fix” Trump?
We shall see.
Won’t we.
Watch.
Later…
AG
