Traitors: The Never Trump Republican Establishment/caption
I want my chance to fail as miserably as the Mitt Romney campaign failed. Romney lost eight of nine swing states won 6 percent of the black vote and only 27 percent of Hispanics. I want my chance to do as poorly." Kellyanne Conway Donald Trumps new campaign manager making light of establishment Republicans humiliating losses in the past two presidential elections
Despite a seemingly endless litany of scandals and policy failures at home and abroad the only reason why Barack Obama was gifted a second presidential term is because some 4 million conservatives stayed home on election day. In retrospect they were convinced the Romney-Ryan ticket wasnt loyal to Republicans and time has proven this assessment true. How else does one explain Mr. Romneys violation of Ronald Reagans 11th Commandment" never to speak ill of fellow Republicans? Yet his error is far more insidious than that. Perhaps for spite at the rejection of his own 2012 candidacy Mr. Romney has done all that he can to publicly thwart the overwhelming Republican choice in 2016:
Frankly I think we have a good reason to believe that theres a bombshell in Donald Trumps taxes. I think theres something there. Either hes not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is or he hasnt been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay or perhaps he hasnt been giving money to the vets or to the disabled like hes been telling us hes doing."
Without a hint of irony this oblivious gentleman statesman" parroted the same scurrilous charge (non-payment of income tax) against Donald Trump that was wrongly leveled at him by the smarmy former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). From the slander-shielding Senate floor on August 2nd 2012 Reid claimed:
As we know he Romney has refused to release his tax returns. … So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove he has paid taxes because he has not."
Of course such statements were all lies. After Obamas reelection Mr. Reid smugly rationalized his dishonesty to CNNs Dana Bash: He Romney didnt win did he?"
Novembers upcoming presidential election is a simple binary choicewithout a third option. (After all that was the purpose of the robust primary season and 16 Republican candidates.) Regarding the clear winner of that process Donald Trump establishment Republicans fall into three equally unacceptable camps. The first is Mitt Romneys outright criticism. The second is exemplified by not ready" Paul Ryans coy tepid and waffling support. The third is the Bush Familys silence (a non-endorsement conclusively demonstrated by two former U.S. presidentsRepublicans bothwho boycotted their own partys convention). One and all these are the actions of self-absorbed turncoats. Anything less then full-throated support of record-breaking Donald Trump is de facto support of Hillary Clinton: the most crooked politician ever to be within a hairs breath of the Oval Office.
Much as insulated Republican elites would dearly love a face-saving third option to hide behind there isnt one. Regardless of party affiliation they have been utterly corrupted by the rarefied air of the beltway bubble. Therefore in function they are no different from Democrats. These are servants of the status quo; and thats what scandal-immersed Hillary guarantees: an Obama third term. Indeed why would they advocate for an outsider when that posture inherently threatens their own power bases? They are precisely what is wrong with the GOP.
This absolute tone deafness to the peoples suffering (under the disastrous Obama years) neatly explains the Trump phenomenon. So their quiet support of Mrs. Clinton is no mystery. To a person these entrenched RINOs have forgotten their purpose as representative voices for average citizens. The Bushes Mitt Romney Paul Ryan (and their entitled ilk) have been at the pinnacle of American political power. Unfortunately by their collective behavior they are ingrates demonstrating no honor or patriotism to our country when power is not within their greedy mitts. Instead they nurse petty personal beefs with Donald Trump rather than standing with the change-demanding electorate. Thus these public servants" do only whats good for them: Americas future be damned. And if Hillary Clinton is elected it will be.
David L. Hunter is an Associate Editor at Capitol Hill Outsider. Hes on Twitter and blogs at davidlhunter.blogspot.com. He is published in The Washington Post The Washington Times FrontPage Mag and extensively in Patriot Post Canada Free Press and American Thinker. Traitors: The Never Trump Republican Establishment