By Abdul Ruff
Good or bad for the USA, but Republican Party appears to have gained an edge over the Democratic Party in the ongoing presidency poll campaign. People of America are unhappy, if not annoyed, that the Democratic Party too has convincingly betrayed them.
There cannot be two opinions about the suitability of Republican hopeful Trump for US presidency in advancing its capitalist and imperialist ideals even as the ruling Democratic party, pursuing the Bushdom’s imperialist policy as its own, has lost its legitimacy and worth to be the American rulers. Americans have no reason to trust the Obama-Hillary party any more.
Unlike Democrats, who have rallied in a unified fashion around Mrs. Clinton for the most part, the Republican Party has splintered around the divisive candidate since Ronald Trump first began gaining traction among voters more than a year ago. All of them welcomed Trump phenomenon as a morale boost for Hillary. However, as the trend began slowing changing in his favor, many of Democrats and Republicans opposed him.
First there is a feeble protest from within the Republican Party as, interestingly, less than a week after several GOP officials called for Donald Trump to step down from the ticket, some have decided to back him again. After publicly repudiating Donald Trump, some Republicans have reclaimed their spots behind the candidate, saying they still plan to vote for him in spite of recent revelations.
That’s the odd middle ground where several Republican officials and candidates find themselves this week. For them the “nasty” comments made by Trump during the primaries were not disgusting but now Trump’s fanatic rhetoric has become totally “unacceptable” under any circumstance. Now they argue: “It would be wise for him to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our party’s nominee.” They have backtracked, telling KILN radio in Nebraska that they will vote for Trump in November. Sen. Deb Fischer (R) of Nebraska, for instance, revised her choice: “I support the Republican ticket and it’s a Trump-Pence ticket.” Perhaps they see the victory for Trump for granted now. Sen. John Thune (R) of South Dakota faced a similar dilemma after calling for Trump to step down on Twitter. He, too, decided to remain among Trump’s voting bloc. Then Darryl Glenn, a Republican candidate running for a Colorado Senate seat, swayed his position similarly. Solid backing for Trump!
Those who now still oppose Trump candidacy are “establishment” people who had earlier forcefully supported Trump thinking his candidature would strengthen Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s chances to White House as the first woman president of the NATO leader nation. In an increasingly unconventional election year, partisanship hasn’t proved as strong of a tie as it once did. A quarter of elected Republican officials, along with a growing list of prominent conservatives – most recently commentator Glenn Back – have sided with the “Never Trump” movement. A few have even endorsed Hillary Clinton’s run for president.
The group of outspoken Republicans has cited the businessman’s brash rhetoric and unorthodox attacks on others as factors that make him unfit to serve as president. Dozens of party members who had previously pledged their support to Trump changed their tune after The Washington Post canvassing for Hillary, “unearthed” a decade-old recording in which he boasted of his aggressive and nonconsensual sexual conduct with women.
Even as the dust settles, it seems that not everyone who decried the candidate’s remarks plans to follow through on denouncing him entirely. For some, speaking out against Trump may be about protecting their own image, but defaulting back to the party’s ticket allows them to maintain vital ties in Congress.
For Republicans who have given less-than-enthusiastic endorsements to Trump, or even shifted their stances, there’s an opportunity to stand in line with the post-2016 Republican party, whatever form it takes. If brazen Trump supporters make up the party’s majority, they can find favor in the crowd for supporting the candidate. But if the party takes a more moderate, traditionally conservative shape next year, they’ll be among those who condemned Trump’s racist and sexist rhetoric.
Other defectors and non-endorsers, like New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte or Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, are skirting the lines of party loyalty to save their own campaigns. In their battleground states, where attracting moderates remains a key campaign plan, Senator Ayotte has formally denounced Trump, while Senator Toomey has refused to come to a public conclusion.
As a candidate who has brought first-time and disenfranchised voters to the forefront in massive numbers, Trump has proven he can mobilize a passionate group of people. The pressure from voters has been mounting to support Trump. They also have a lot of constituents who strongly support Trump and view defection as disloyalty.
The Republican candidate’s view that America should remain great in its own right, and that its involvement in international partnerships is more of a burden than a blessing, is naturally antithetical to international cooperation. After his first debate with Hillary Clinton, several US allies expressed fear of an isolationist America withdrawing from a dangerous world, putting “America first,” in Trump’s words, and giving little weight to anybody else’s opinion.
Meanwhile, the UN’s top human rights official has joined the chorus of Donald Trump critics. UN human rights chief and Jordanian Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein told reporters that he is very concerned about the Republican presidential candidate’s attitude towards human rights issues, particularly the use of torture. “If Donald Trump is elected, on the basis of what he has said already and unless that changes, I think it’s without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view,” said Prince Zeid, who spent many years living and studying in the USA. Last month, Zeid also criticized Trump’s reliance on divisive racial and religious rhetoric, which he said could put already vulnerable people at greater risk of losing their rights. “We have to be on guard to see that in the end vulnerable populations, populations at risk, do not again see their rights deprived because of a view that is in the ascendancy based on false premises,” he said. The human rights chief said that his concern for the potential consequences of Trump’s election compelled him to speak out.
With Election Day less than one month away, the factions that constitute today’s Republican Party may have reached a parting of the ways, as House Speaker Paul Ryan and presidential nominee Donald Trump engage in an extraordinary political struggle over the soul of the GOP. Will Nov. 9 mark the beginning of the return of the GOP of Representative Ryan – traditional, conservative, devoted to smaller government and lower taxes? Or is the Republican Party now the Party of Trump, nativist, populist, nostalgic for an undefined past?
If Trump loses, the outcome is far less predictable. It is possible that he will fade almost as quickly as he emerged, defeat having punctured his bellicose image. Presidents are the face of their party. Trump would win the election and almost certainly would win this intramural contest, as well. The billionaire’s priorities and supporters would define the GOP after four (or eight) years in power.
Ronald Trumps is sure what said during the primaries was just an essential gimmick to impress upon the Republicans choose as candidate for the presidency and he won that. Quite likely Trump would, if what the trends suggest is real, win the White house too. His tough views pushed virtually all his Republican primary rivals in his direction. Opposition to a path for citizenship for those present in the US illegally may now be a litmus test for future GOP presidential aspirants. Similarly, Trump may have flipped the party’s long-standing pro-free trade position. His tirades about jobs lost to China and Mexico, and the need to reverse that trend, get the crowds at his rallies roaring.
Demographic trends within the Republican Party underlie many of these attitudes. The GOP is becoming whiter, older, more male, and less educated than the nation as a whole. During the years of the Obama presidency, GOP gains among whites and men have enabled the party to offset corresponding Democratic gains among nonwhites and women.
Whether or not Trump would be a defiantly hawk to pursue the Bushdom rule of invading energy rich Arab world more aggressively than what Bush-Obama duo have done so far, is different matter, but obviously American voters do not expect him to be the first ever elected revolutionary leader to wind down all ongoing terror wars and honestly and sincerely work for global peace.
American public, which remains a helplessly silent spectator of what the pentagon-CIA duo has been doing world side, is ready now for any political eventuality.
Whether that works for Republicans, and produces a party that can win presidential elections at a time when the US is becoming less white, remains to be seen.
After a long period of stable gridlock, American politics has entered a newly chaotic period. The party coalitions are realigning too. It does mean the GOP may be entering a period of instability unprecedented in the modern era. If Trump loses, party leaders may vacillate between approaches, first attempting to unite the GOP around a general anti-Clinton philosophy, then perhaps acceding to certain aspects of Trumpism.
