Yes we can
by digby
Recent polling is showing the Republican voters coming around to the authoritarian cretin Donald Trump for president. And it's apparent that members of that party have no conscience and basically, don't love their country. It's sad to say but true. There are, however, still a few die-hard #NeverTrumpers out there one of whom is Jonah Goldberg (!) who divided up the Donald Trump Party into various groups, which is sort of interesting:
The Benighted. These are mostly decent people who, from early on, really thought Donald Trump to be a man well-suited for the job of president. As a generalization I don’t think these people are evil or bigoted. Basically, I just think they’ve been conned by a conman.
The Alt-righters. The less said about these creatures, the better. Mostly composed of Twitter and comment-section trolls, this coprophagic phylum is convinced Trump is the tip of the spear of some new white-nationalist takeover of the party and the country. They think it’s hilarious to bait Trump’s critics with Klan-vintage racism and Nazi-style anti-Semitism. Probably my biggest complaint about the benighted is the degree to which they make apologies for the bigots or don’t care that the bigots speak in their name.
The False Priests. As you can only be disappointed in your friends, this is the group I am most disappointed in: public intellectuals, pundits, and politicians who have a long record of claiming to be purer-than-thou on conservative litmus-tests but who suddenly started defenestrating their principles to get onboard the Trump train.
The Fake Moderates. These are the folks who’ve been bleating and whining for years that the conservatism of National Review, Ted Cruz, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, et al. was too harsh, too mean, and too rhetorically strident. They not only urged the GOP to be more inclusive and nice, they raised inclusivity and niceness to a kind of ideological litmus test all its own. And now they enthusiastically support a guy who mocks the disabled, smears immigrants, and wants to ban Muslims.
The Establishment of Whores. Very closely related to the Fake Moderates but still a distinct subspecies, these are the quislings, opportunists, lobbyists, remoras, and mercenaries who don’t in fact believe in anything at all beyond their own self-interest. They were against Trump when it was in their interests, and now they are for him for the same reason.
The Closet #NeverTrumpers. Washington (and New York!) is full of pundits, journalists, TV “strategists,” and politicians who tell my friends and me they agree with the #NeverTrumpers 100 percent. But put a microphone in their face and suddenly they overflow with a strange new respect for our orange-hued national savior. I find this sort of thing disgusting and always have.
The Resigned. This is the group of nominally pro-Trump people about whom I have mixed emotions and the most sympathy. I’ve tried to keep names out of this, but this category requires concrete examples. On the night of the Indiana primary, Ted Cruz said he would support “the nominee.” He never said Trump’s name. Personally, I couldn’t support a man who said the things Trump did about my wife and father, never mind the rest of it. But I’m also not a politician. Cruz pledged to support the nominee and I’m not much inclined to vilify him if he offers some grudging, pro-forma support. [See correction]. The same goes for Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, and others who’ve said or hinted that they’d still support the nominee, albeit reluctantly and with grave reservations. But there’s a difference between checking a box and selling your soul.
Goldberg says he can't endorse Trump no matter what, even though Peggy Noonan is exasperated with the NeverTrumpers. (That's right, the same Noonan who is always saying that Democrats are crass and uncivilized...) But then he says that if his vote were the deciding vote he'd have to do it to save the country from Hitlery Clinton.But at this point he says he'll probably vote for Gary Johnson or write in someone like Phil Graham.
I don't know whether his characterization of the Republicans is correct. I tend to be a bit more critical of "the benighted" who so joyfully embrace the racism and generally belligerent puerile worldview of their idol. They are being conned that this fake businessman can run the country when he is clearly unfit, true. But they love his asshole attitude.
But the point is that the vast majority of Republicans are going to vote for the most unqualified,unfit, dangerous megalomaniac this country has every put on a major party ticket. I don't really care what their reasons are.
Everyone says that each election is the most important election of their lives. And in some sense it's always true. But this time it's serious, folks. Donald fucking Trump is on the ballot and the vast majority of Republicans are going to vote for him.
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