A seismic shift has taken place
in American politics and its repercussions will be felt for years.
Against all odds and conventional
political wisdom Donald Trump, aka, the anti-Christ of NY, has become the
presumptive republican nominee. It was a long laborious process involving, a
lot of bombastic tweeting, disparaging remarks about immigrants and women,
simplistic slogans; penis size comparisons on national TV and ugly fear
mongering. And many people in America and around the world are shaking their
heads in disbelief, wondering how did it all go wrong.
The first impulse is to simply
dismiss the average Trump supporter as an uneducated, gun-totting, beer
drinking middle age white men or women who are simply uninformed voters.
However, there is a more readily apparent explanation at hand, and some
political pundits simply dismissed it altogether, or just didn’t think it was a
major factor in the 2016 presidential race. The 800 hundred pound gorilla in
the room that is roaring at the top of its lungs is comprised of equal parts
voter disgust in our political system and good old fashion anger.
Donald Trump, much to his credit,
has managed to tap into this voter anger, and has ridden the wave to
unprecedented political heights. And sadly, if he goes on to win the general
election and become the next POTUS, the political landscape, and the modern GOP
will be forever changed. Gone will be the days of substantive debates and
political correctness, and in its place, we will get flim-flam men like the
anti-Christ of NY, unapologetic fear mongers that will conduct themselves like
school yard bullies and shout stupid inflammatory insults during staged
rallies.
The brave new world that the
anti-establishment movement has ushered in will be a backward looking,
divisive, mean-spirited animated corpse. The future of this movement, if it
indeed it has a future beyond the general election, will be short lived and
aimless. The party of Lincoln is bruised and battered, and it will need to become
more inclusive and hopeful if it wishes to survive. Until the GOP collectively
comes together and decides to stop playing the role of “the stupid party”
winning the white house will remain an illusive dream.
For the time being, the
establishment wing of the party will have to formulate a workable strategy to
distance themselves from the inevitable anti-Trump backlash in the coming
months. If the Republican Party is lucky they will merely lose the general
election, and keep control of the House and Senate. If lady luck deserts them,
then the GOP might really feel the burn and lose the congress and have a
democrat in the Whitehouse.
On a good note, the 2020
presidential race is right around the corner …
