Where is the GOP?

There is a magic moment for every writer when the characters become real; they talk to you, they tell you their secrets, and for a little while, you get to inhabit this netherworld. One may tarry, linger, shilly-shally, dilly-dally, dawdle, or just plain procrastinate, but one cannot remain there. 

I had that feeling, almost, earlier today when I read Donald Trump's statements about President Obama and the Orlando shooting. I was positive I was in an alternative world. I was not. I thought this was some kind of Andy Borowitz column. It was not. I thought the wheels just came off the United States. I'm not sure. 

Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind. And the something else in mind—you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.

Am I having an episode of some kind, or did the nominee presumptive of the Republican Party just call The President Of The United States a Manchurian candidate? Coming on the heels of his self-congratulatory twits about the Orlando massacre, I concluded I was not in an alternative universe, but in this one where a full-blown nut-job is about to stand for election to the highest office of the land as a major party candidate.  

Where is the GOP?

This is not, nor will it be, the last, hotly contested election in the US. And the rhetoric in the past has been pretty wretched from day one of the idea of running for POTUS. But this is now and not then, when mass media didn't exist in the instant-news-cycle-format we have now, and there was ample opportunity to vet information. We have those things now. We can tell in an instant if the statistics are lies or the liars are ones making up statistics. 

In concert, the disrespect afforded the office of President of the United States by the entire GOP, not simply their presumptive candidate is an abomination. But Trump is running for just that office. And what will he do with it?

Well, for starters, giving us a little hint of the future, he has revoked press-pass privileges for campaign events for the Washington Post. 

 

This is not how freedom of the press works; it is the birth of censorship. Earlier this year, he threatened to repeal part of the First Amendment to make it easier to sue newspaper for libel.

Where is the GOP?

Trump's responses to the massacre were out of sync with reality. The shooter was American, but that seems not to make a difference since he was Muslim. He verbal attacks are racist. They dance along the edge of the creation of DP camps but refuse to recognize  that the easy availability of semi-automatic weapons plays a role in this horror.

Where is the GOP?

Trump really is a full-blown nut-job. The man has delusions of grandeur. His narcissistic tendencies should be one giant, shrieking siren. His non-stop lies about himself, his businesses, and his so-called university are worthy of Pinocchio. His oft-stated expectations of what he thinks he can do as president are, at the moment, crazy. But here's the thing: put him in office, and he will systematically chip away at the Bill of Rights. The Wash Post tweet was the real deal in the making. 

Where is the GOP?

The power vacuum in the GOP has created its own black hole where all reasonable members seem to have been sucked in, thereby creating its own vacuum. A veritable vacuum within a vacuum. From somewhere in that negative space comes the idea birthed that fear is an okay answer to terror which, by the way, is when the terrorists win. Instead of coalescing in a way that highlights the strength we derive from being a free nation with freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the presumptive nominee has taken the stand that these things are to be feared and ultimately repressed. 

Where is the GOP?

The GOP does not know what to do next. They are afraid of Trump, and they are even more afraid of his supporters. These are violent people who have proven over and over that they are willing to do whatever it takes to push their agenda forward. Whatever it takes: this is the operative phrase here. They haven't started wearing matching shirts yet. Wait for it; it's coming. 

And where will the GOP be?

Wake up, folks. This is not about Trump; it's about us. It's about who we are as a nation, what We, the People want as a nation, and what We, the People are ready to sacrifice for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

What are you willing to do to remain We, the People?

Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

A week of years = seven years. 

Kind of a mile-marker, it's deserving of a pause, but that's all.