The latest GOP Presidential debate, fittingly held in Vegas in the gaudy Venetian Hotel Theater, did nothing to dent the Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump’s overwhelming lead. So secure did he feel of his position that he once again stated that he was in the GOP forever and would not consider running as an independent. Of course as he has explained in the past whatever he pledges is meaningless. The current state of the relationship between the GOP and Trump was succinctly summed up in a Rasmussen Report headline, “Its Donald Trump’s Party Now”.
THE SETTING OF THE REALITY SHOW DEBATE
All that is by the by as the debate provided plenty of entertainment as the lesser lights flapped around the Donald candle with as much impact as moths would have on a flame. The Master of Ceremonies, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, was slick and moved the narrative around smoothly and deftly. The theme of the live show was National Security and the title was “GOP Presidential Hopefuls and the ISIS Problem”.The drama was of biblical proportions. The central theme was that the end was nigh and the country was facing the termination of history and an apocalyptic atmosphere prevailed. The off stage villains were Hillary and Barack - the Bonnie and Clyde who were directly and personally responsible for the murder and slaughter of Americans. The script dealt with the 4000 killed by Islamic fundamentalist terrorists this past 14 years, with 9/11 having the lion share. Ignored was the other 396,000 gun deaths over the same period, many of those at the hand of homegrown “terrorists” not of the Islamic Jihadist brand. In addition the chorus line wailed that those two betrayers were worried about climate change in a world that wasn’t about to continue on long enough for it to matter whether it got hotter or colder.
A FAMILY TALE
The reality show drama featured a gathering of the offspring of the GOP Family in the format of a therapy session with CNN’s Wolf as the therapist facilitator. The topic under discussion was who merited being the heir apparent to the grand GOP endeavor. The palpable anxiety of the parents, the GOP Establishment Fathers - there are no mothers for whatever reason - hung over the proceedings. Daddy Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Party, prior to the session, reassured, with a brave face, his offspring that anyone one of them would be better than Hillary. Jay H. Ell believed this was an effort to convince them all that they were all accepted unconditionally even though everyone knows there are the favorites and those that they would disinherit if only they could. In fact the neighbors have reported that the family establishment custodians have been up at night thinking of stratagems to prevent the eldest from obtaining the blessing.
Be that as it may the two hour debate was riveting as the sibling rivalry between all the GOP wannabes raged. The manifestation of resentment to the first born Donald manifested in all manner of styles and rationalizations.
JEB AWAKES FROM THE DEAD
Jeb, who everyone knows is the parents’ favorite, finally gave vent to his feelings and attacked the big bully brother who had snatched his inheritance away in such a brutal, clinical and disrespectful fashion. He called The Donald “chaotic” and his Presidency would be “chaotic”. He said that his big brother, (not in real life), who had been so successful in business, had only one strong point - “one liners”. His policies weren’t serious, he continued that he had derived them from the Saturday, (cartoons) or Sunday talk shows. As for his recent thoughts that there be a moratorium on allowing any Muslim into the country and his suggestion of killing family members of ISIS terrorists, Jeb maintained that this illustrated “his lack of seriousness”. Finally the discarded anointed one opined that brother Donald J could not insult his path to the Presidency.
All in all wonderful show biz but Jeb it is just too too late. The fact that the Donald did not appear too fuzzed and brushed him off with you are at 3 percent and I am at 42 percent in the polls told it all. He also fobbed him off as a weakling and he, Donald J. Trump, just had to do what he had to do to keep his voters safe.
THE SENATE TRIPLETS
The family’s brightest, the two year old Senate Tea Party triplets, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz had the equivalent of a rumble in the jungle. The gloves were off as each of them eloquently enunciated what they believe should be the manifesto of the Family’s business henceforth. They were showing off in the hope that world would wake up to its senses and kick big brother off the stage. Now Marc the GOP daddies' favorite of the three would have the best chance against Hillary but has a problem with his half baked flip flopping on the destiny of the eleven million undocumented immigrants. He at least wants to leave some wiggle room should he somehow be crowned as no one can become President without at least a sizable chunk of the Hispanic vote. Marc was particularly incensed with brother Ted.
Ted Cruz was successfully playing all sides to the middle by being a millimeter to the left of brother Donald whom he embraces in public and scoffs at in private. Ted unashamedly misrepresented the Head of the FBI claiming that the latter maintained that he cannot vet Syrian refugees when in fact the latter are being vetted. He then leaked classified information about Government telephone tracking which Marco pounced on. Brother Rand Paul who oscillates between sanity and insanity has scant respect for the warmongers and a great respect for the internet. He produced the soundest argument for America not to interfere and destabilize the Middle East any further and moreover it would incur great cost of blood and treasure. Brother Rand can however afford to sound rational cause he has even less chance than Jeb of turning the tables on the heir apparent.
All in all the GOP Establishment fathers had to have taken some “nachas” from the three who maybe wet behind the ears but are really pretty bright. They had to believe each of them, who are so talented but so different, should all go out and start their own political parties. But none of them are ready for prime time now.
THE OTHER GOVERNORS
Fiery Chris Christie, who has had the title of being the most boorish sibling snatched away from him by the eldest, was gung ho on taking on the world, like telling Putin where to get off to the point of shooting down his planes, screwing ISIS to oblivion and the like. Man, he had experience in all these matters and was in case you didn’t know not a Governor but a former Federal Prosecutor. His ploy to out the alpha male in the room fell a bit flat. He is about 6 months too late because nobody but nobody can out macho the Donald with his crisp catastrophic “one liners”. The Donald just doesn’t just talk he encapsulates every prejudice and right wing fantasy in a “one liner” that all can understand and cheer on. Poor old Chris was crushed by Rand who said he was the candidate to start World War 111 and by snarky Marc who shouted out that he has bridge problems that would surface if he became central enough to the debate. What really hit home however were his attacks on Hillary, “our real adversary” and Obama, “a feckless weakling”, spoken with sincerity, conviction and assurance. That even made up for the major misspeak of the night when he claimed to have met with a Jordanian King at a time when he was already dead. The fact that this home grown attack went down well augurs very badly for the GOP in the not so long run.
Then there was Governor John Kasich who really is not operating in his sibs paradigm. Rather then face armageddon head on he spoke about jobs and the economy. In the last debate he took it upon himself to expose The Donald. It fizzled so he left it to brother Jeb and concentrated on putting an unadulterated alternative platform to the Democrats that didn’t only involve screwball catastrophic solutions to the security problem. Needless to say it fell on deaf ears in this asylum and he was castigated for his self righteous attitude.
THE OTHER “NON POLITICIANS”
Of course no family therapy session would be complete without soft spoken, plenty of nonsense, brother Ben Carson. He was a bit more informed this time but the policies are just out of left field. But as the rest of the siblings have become even nuttier in an effort to oust big brother nothing really amazes anymore. The gloss of his refreshing naivety seems to be wearing off as he gives way his second place to infant terrible Ted Cruz. The gentle soul would never say a bad word about his siblings or even choose between them. However he seemed to be ok with killing thousands of innocent children and civilians. As he explained he was a pediatric neurosurgeon and sometimes you had to do what you had to do even when the children didn’t like it. He will quietly fade into oblivion as inexplicably as he glided into prime time.
Then there is Carly Fiorini who really is too awful. Jay H. Ell wishes he wasn’t so scared of being told he wasn’t pc and tell it how bad Carly really is. She challenges Big Brother with her propensity to fabricate the narrative. Jay H. Ell hasn’t the guts to confess that he would have as many sleepless nights with her in the WhiteHouse as he would with her eldest brother. Jay H. Ell is terrified that she would claim that he was attacking her because she was a woman. He knows it would be no defense to say that his best friend is Hillary.
Last night was a relatively uneventful one for her with only one obvious lie being called. Fox News called it because she claimed that one of its commentators had been axed because he had a work dispute with President Obama. It really was two lies because the person had never been employed Obama and was alive and well on a Fox program. Any rate Carly, for what it is worth, tried a new tack she would get silicon valley to takeover the country’s security. She said if that had happened then the Obamacare website would not have broken down!
By the way she believes that she is the only one that could beat Hillary Clinton. She is heavily into the argument that it is because she is also a woman. She let all know that Margaret Thatcher was to her what Ronald Reagan was to her brothers.
THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
When it was all over they hugged and kissed and gave interviews to anyone who would listen. The establishment fathers back home worst fears had been affirmed. For the moment they just had to stand by and pray. The Donald was in the groove by all the current parameters. It was the end. This interloper had highjacked the party. Jennifer Rubin a prolific writer for the Washington Post and an ardent GOP supporter echoed the darkest fears of all - if Donald got the nomination it was the end of the Republican Party. The election would be a disaster and the House and Senate would be lost as well. However even if Donald doesn’t get the nomination and there is a chance of that as the evangelicals question his virginity, the damage has already been done. Cruz is second in the polls, Carson is third and Rubio, who don’t forget was a Tea Party protege, is fourth. Between them they represent well over seventy percent of the party.
Dispassionately reflecting on that group therapy session this has to be the most dysfunctional political party family around. The sheer vitriolic tripe that was disgorged was nothing short of a shame and a disgrace. Only punctuated by one voice of sanity Kasich and Jeb and Rand to lesser extent had their moments. All those three don’t add up to ten percent of the current GOP electorate. If this had been Donald’s reality show, The Apprentice, he would have unceremoniously fired the lot including himself.
WHAT NOW?
* Well first stop is Iowa where The Donald has his work cut out to beat Tom Cruz - the latter having the evangelical vote and where Donald hasn’t done nearly enough ground work. But the Iowa caucus really doesn’t carry much prognostic value. It is really just a central part of the ritzy road show that is the American Presidential election. Then follows New Hampshire which means much more where the Donald is odds on favorite to cross the line first. Then the early triumvirate ends with South Carolina where the millionaire mogul should emerge triumphant. There is also the Nevada caucus round about this time that polls put Donald ahead. Normally after these four races the field thins out. If the Donald has triumphed as expected then it is onto Super Tuesday.
* Super Tuesday itself has 12 primaries or caucuses and 4 days later on March 5, 2016 there are 4 more contests. Of these 16 contests, 10 are in the South. They then pile up and by the end of March there are another 5. So by the end of March half the primaries are over. It is hard to imagine anyone other than Ted Cruz making a significant impression on the leader as he continues his march down Pennsylvania Avenue. The Establishment fathers have to be clinging to a Rubio or even a Christie connecting early on in New Hampshire to save the day as Cruz must give them the same shivers as Trump.
* There is always the hope that the GOP electorate will wake up as did the French body politic.
* There is a slight chance that all these guys hang in and between the half decent candidates they mange to get over fifty percent of the delegates and it has to be a brokered convention where they try to unseat The Donald. All hell will then break loose unless the brokered candidate is the man from NY NY however.
* Looks pretty dismal doesn’t it? That is for everyone but Hillary.
* Who could ever have believed so much naked bigotry, racism and xenophobia would ever be uttered by leading contenders in an American presidential election? It wont be too long when commentators will reflect that this was all an aberration and a lamentable lapse in the American psyche comparable with the turning away of the St Louis liner packed with German Jews and the internment of the Japanese. Many of the pundits who will do the reflecting will have participated in the current food fest blowing up these totalitarians to gigantic proportions all in the name of a God called Ratings.
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