Trump won.
Donald Trump is ahead by 250 delegates with about 1,000 delegates left to pick. If he gets half those delegates, he is at 1,200 -- 37 shy of a majority. The party will not deny him the nomination if he is ahead by 100.
The neocons at National Review and the Weekly Standard should suck it up and admit defeat. In the marketplace of ideas, they lost. Their utopian ideal failed. Americans no longer want to invade countries. It is time for the Robert Taft wing of the party to steer the party -- and the nation -- back to the middle.
And no, Reagan was not a neocon. Or a paleocon. He was a conservative who loved God, who loved his country, and who loved his wife. Leave Reagan out of this.
Sixteen other Republicans had their chance. It was a weak field. That is why so many entered.
Trump won fair and square. He did not sell himself out to large donors. He did not buy a bunch of TV time. He put himself out there. The bookies paid off bets in London weeks ago. It is time to come together to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Today, Scott stepped up to the plate and said rally round The Donald. Scott's press release:
GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT CALLS ON REPUBLICANS TO COME TOGETHER
I’m asking all Republicans today to come together and begin preparing to win the general election in November.
With his victories yesterday, I believe it is now time for Republicans to accept and respect the will of the voters and coalesce behind Donald Trump.
This has been a hard fought primary, with an outstanding roster of excellent candidates, including two of Florida’s favorite sons, and several Republican Governors who are close friends of mine.
But the voters are speaking clearly – they want a businessman outsider who will dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington.
When I first ran for Governor the political class and party leaders opposed me with great vigor, and some even said if I won the primary they would never vote for me. But the voters had other ideas, and they are the only ones who count.
Here’s what really matters – we have to elect a Republican in the fall in order to grow jobs, rebuild our military, and put a person who respects the Constitution on the Supreme Court.
This is the stuff that truly matters.
If we spend another four months tearing each other apart, we will damage our ability to win in November. It’s time for an end to the Republican on Republican violence. It’s time for us to begin coming together, we’ve had a vigorous primary, now let’s get serious about winning in November.Trump was not my first choice. Scott Walker was. Then I backed Carly Fiorina. But I respect Trump, and of more importance, I love his supporters. Black, white, male, female, gay, straight, Christian, non-Christian -- it does not matter. Well, almost all. David Duke and the rest of the Robert C. Byrd Political Brigade are not my friends.
If you cannot accept the result, then stay out of the game.
"Neocon" is a nonsense term unless you are making historical use of it to refer to a coterie of academics and opinion journalists active between 1971 and 1992 (really, 1976 and 1992). Alt-right types favor it as a synonym for "Jew" or as a component of a fanciful alternative history wherein the 'conservative movement' (including and especially Wm. Buckley) was Jedi mind-tricked by a mess of Jew wirepullers. "Palaeoconservatism" as a distinct tendency does not antedate 1986 and one common element among its adherents would be conceptions of foreign policy which were completely absent from American political discussion from 1959 to 1990 and were a distinctly minority viewpoint during the period running from 1949 to 1959.
ReplyDeleteSo we can't call anyone a neocon, but we can call some people "alt-right" (?). So I suppose you have some official lexicon of political terminology we can use, or do you claim exclusive use of it?
DeleteYou can do whatever you want. It's just that sometimes you're talking rot and sometimes you're not. "Alt-right" is a catch-all for a disparate collection of dissidents, of which the Paul campaign was the popular manifestation. "Neoconservative" (now commonly 'neo-con') does not refer to any distinct tendency of thought in Republican circles. It may have ca. 1982, but not anymore. It can refer to a coterie with a distinct history and nexus of associations. Since the principle figures in this coterie are over 85 if they're still alive and all but a few are past retirement age, it's not a coterie of much importance (and not a coterie who dissent from the central tendency of thought in the Republican Party).
DeleteI'm in your camp as to original choices, although my second was Bobby Jindal.
ReplyDeleteAP has him at 660 with the bulk of the MO delegates yet to be apportioned.
Given the states coming up, as you noted, they seem to be more his people than Cruz'.
It's not over, but Cruz missed his best opportunities in IA and TX and I doubt they'll come again.
y first choice was John Bolton, but he wisely chose not to enter the fray. Cruz seemed to be the bet conservative choice, but then Trump blew him away. I will gladly vote for Trump over anybody with a behind their name. - Elric
ReplyDeleteThere is no perfect candidate, just who you think can do the best job being American. My candidates were Cruz, Perry, Walker in no particular order. I'm not a fan of Trump but if it comes to that I will vote Trump, can I vote for Kasich or Bush, maybe not but I did vote McCain and Romney, neither of whom I had much respect for. The FL governor has a valid point.
ReplyDeleteBTW: 11 of the 43 Republicans in the Senate in 1949 refused to ratify the NATO treaty, Taft among them. Taft died in 1953 and nine of the remaining ten senators had retired or been run out of office by 1959. The last survivor died in 1961. There was one Republican (a minister from Kentucky) who was paired against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. There hasn't been a 'Taft wing' in some time. The alt-right candidates are good for about 11% of the Republican primary vote on average and Ron Paul's "Liberty Caucus" corralled < 2% of the House Republican contingent (and four of them wouldn't endorse Paul for President).
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope, Trump starts making reforming the bureaucracy and regulations an item
ReplyDeleteAnd he gets Scott Walker as his VP and chief bureaucracy killer....
Trump should now come out and make a statement reaffirming that the Republican Senate stance on saying NO to Obama nominee for SC. That would help. Kasik should just go away.
ReplyDeleteDespite the best efforts of Bernie Badenov and Natasha Clinton, Bullwinkle the Trump still looks on course for the Presidency.
ReplyDeleteTime for Super Secret Plan B yet, Bernie?
Great post Big D and yeah, it's time. This is like a 25 point blowout in the NCAA tourney with 5 minutes left. Principled coaches start subbing at this point. Instead, the GOP is gonna hack and trip as much as they can. Disgusting, but typical. We'll boo your sorry asses off the court...
ReplyDeleteWhat Gov. Scott said!
ReplyDeleteI wish he had told Fox that if Kasich is there, it's not a Presidential Debate.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see him offer Cruz the VP. I don't see Trump running for a second term. Too much trouble, nothing to prove, and you can't run as an outsider if you're the establishment. That would give Cruz another shot in '20.
As President Ted Cruz enters his inaugural ball in January 2025 after eight years of vice-president, there will still be Republican pundits gaming out methods by which Donald Trump can be denied the 2016 GOP nomination.
ReplyDeleteAnd unlike holdout Japanese soldiers in the Pacific, these sad, bug-eyed, sweaty little men won't have a good reason.
- Mikey NTH
Trump's a bit like chemotherapy. Ain't pleasant. Makes you want to throw up sometimes. But if it stops the cancer, it might just save your life.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that can prevent me from voting for Trump are the Trumpkins. Some of them are the biggest assholes on the planet; they're like the reformed smoker or fatty that has to throw their two-cents in on everything. And everyone not licking Trump's feet is a cuckservative or GOPe piece of crap. And I guarantee, they keep it up and the will completely alienate anyone riding the fence for trump. Try winning without them.
ReplyDeleteHave you encountered these "Trumpkins" in person at events or are your observations based on what you see reported on TV?
ReplyDeleteSee below, don't know how I did that...
DeleteSomething tells me that the neocons and cuckservative running the GOP will yet deny Trump (or Cruz) the nomination if he goes in with one less than the required 1237.
ReplyDeleteEncountered them online and in-person. Hence my pissy-ness at them being such tools. Just saying that if the deeply committed want to win the converts and win the election it's not by telling everyone else they're establishment or a cuckservative. I've had 7 1/2 years of being called a racist for criticizing Obama, and I sure don't need 4 years of being called everything for not getting on the Trump bandwagon.
ReplyDelete