The GOP Has Been HIJACKED!

[Kinser79]

(05-17-2016, 08:42 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: If it changes the nature of one of the major Parties by knocking out its "Establishment" figures permanently, then it reshapes American political life for a couple of decades. It could be that Donald Trump reflects the bankruptcy of the "Establishment" Republicans who offered the lure of social reaction in return for severe inequality.

Except for one problem you have with "reflection" argument. Donald Trump is not an Establishment Republican, and furthermore those Establishment types hate him. They are only just now genuflecting in the hopes that they can maintain power in the GOP and stave off the realignment of the party for a few more years. They will fail in this because Nationalism, Protectionism, and Isolationism resonate with the Base, a base he's expanding.

Quote:We need remember that Donald Trump as President is a huge change in direction for America, one that will shake much of our common knowledge about American politics, perhaps permanently. That is one way a 4T works. A huge part of the political life of America can be rendered irrelevant for a very long time -- or can be limited to a few 'safe' zones with the new paradigm established everywhere else, like some machine-boss cities and the Deep South for most of the sixty years between Reconstruction and the rise of FDR. No prior President can serve as a model for Trump. It is also possible that he would be an absolute disaster as President. Stories in the media already have Donald Trump connected to a mobster who operated a pump-and-dump stock fraud. 

I've read that "story" it was low on evidence and high on speculation. Considering that he's involved in construction in NYC and NJ I'd be more surprised if he didn't know "made men". That being said, I do agree his presidency will be radically different than anything else that came before. So much so that it will result in a Fourth Republic

Quote:Good people steer clear of criminals. Criminals to them are like devils -- entities that can do only harm.

Depends on what one means by criminal. An ax murderer may indeed be a devil, your random pot smoking teenager is not. With so many different laws in place just about everyone is a criminal of some sort these days.

Quote:On the other side, should Hillary Clinton be a one-term President and "Establishment" Republicans return to power in 2020, then nothing has truly changed since 2008, ad we are back in the 3T until the economy collapses or we have a military or diplomatic debacle. Imagine an Establishment Republican being in place when a 4T is resolved, and America has a new covenant in which Big Business has rights but few responsibilities and workers have responsibilities but few rights in the name of progress. Profit is the sole measure of progress, is it not, in such an order?

Establishment Republicans won't be coming back. Primaries do matter you know.

Quote:This 4T is far from resolved. Whoever is in charge at the end of the Crisis is likely to be seen as extremely pivotal in American history -- like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Franklin Roosevelt. Know well -- if we really mess up the pivotal figure could be some senior military officer, not an American, dictating terms in the White House.

Sound like an argument to not elect someone who is a known warmonger to me.