It’s a lesson won by massive heartbreak, but I think most Democrats now accept that we’re a big tent. It’s messy and maddening, and there are loudmouths who declare ownership for their faction, privilege their causes above all others, nurture intramural grievances endlessly, blah blah blah. We’re human, so that means lots of us are assholes. But mostly we acknowledge we need each other, because we know cooperation is the only avenue to power in a big, diverse country with two viable political parties.
It seems like Republicans used to understand that better than Democrats — the old “fall in love” vs. “fall in line” cliche comes to mind. Maybe not so much anymore. As you’ve heard, Trump is attempting to install his daughter-in-law as co-chair of the RNC. Here are Lara Trump’s qualifications, according to Lara Trump:
“Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the forty-seventh president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave because we are not playing games,” Lara Trump said.
“We have no time to waste,” she continued. “We have to ensure that every single penny of every dollar donated goes to causes that people care about. That’s part of the reason that I think I’m such a great fit for this: There’s no one more loyal to Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement than this person you’re looking at right here; than me…”
“Every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC,” Trump told Newsmax last month. “That is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”
Bold assertions from Mrs. Gums, but recent GOP primary results seem to show some resistance to the full MAGA takeover. Trump will win the nomination if he doesn’t choke to death on a Big Mac between now and the convention. And conventional wisdom holds that Repubs will fall in line. But Haley’s campaign suspension announcement was hardly a ringing endorsement: (ABC News)
“I congratulate [Trump] and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said. “Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”
She didn’t explicitly endorse him, however, saying: “I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee. But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, ‘Never just follow the crap. Always make up your own mind.'”
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it, who did not support it,” she added. “And I hope he does that. At its best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
Does anyone think Donald Trump believes he has to “earn” votes? Fuck no. His mob boss takeover of the RNC will be completed in a couple of days, and as the spouse of Eric made clear, Republicans who aren’t on the Trump train can go fuck themselves. Also, all of the RNC money will go to Trump’s army of lawyers, and donors who don’t like that can fuck off too.
I don’t know, guys — maybe explicitly rejecting coalition politics and demanding that everyone in the party join the Trump cult of personality will work out great for the homogeneous Republican Party. But in a close election that will depend on turnout and how independents break, etc., I like our fractious, squabbling crew’s chances a lot better than theirs.
Open thread!