Question of the Day
Will support for or against Trump in 2016 become the litmus test for future Republican candidates, the way the Iraqi War vote was in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary?
Bonus question: Will support for or against Trump hurt future Republican candidates?
Tags: Donald Trump
I predict by 2018 mid-terms, everyone will forget all about Trump and focus on how they party needs to be more conservative to win more seats in congress which, thanks to pissy-pants “new” voters staying home, they will do quite easily. If Bush’s presidency wasn’t enough to end the GOP, nothing is.
I like Ben’s take. Republicanism is based on keeping a couple of fantasies alive. One is that lower taxes will result in growth. The other is that the poors and browns deserve all the abuse that can be heaped on them. The GOP doesn’t need Trump to keep those propositions afloat.
The flaming defeat of Trump will only feed the longstanding “stabbed in the back, not a real conservative” narrative. Of course this time the base picked Trump over the establishment’s dead bodies, but that can be easily ignored to keep the narrative alive.
The Republican establishment needs to find a new base.
“Will support for or against Trump in 2016 become the litmus test ”
Depends on the voters, with their short attention span, and of course the media who will have to decide to tell the voters what to think.
The GOP was Trump with filters before. It will be Trump with filters after. The GOP will just remind all its racists not to be so blunt about it.
I just can’t get past the lack of embarassment in the GOP for supporting a trash talking know nothing reality show entertainer.
Great question but the time for asking such a question is post-November… I have become quite taken with the question of whether we can stick Trump-support as a character issue on any of our current Republicans trying to gain office… As in smearing them with this question:
HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY SUPPORT SOMETHING SO UN-AMERICAN AND STILL SAY YOU HAVE “CHARACTER”? REALLY! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG INSIDE YOUR HEAD?
(Lavelle is so damn lucky he is sitting this one out…) Gosh, I wish he was running… Can you say…….”Fargo”?