Donald Trump and the Repubs. Abandoning Ship
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Special to The Greanville Post |Commentary No. 61
As is well-known, since the publication of his gropings, as Trump gropes with ever-less effectiveness towards the Presidency, Repubs. have been fleeing from him like flies flying off a pile of ____ when a loud noise is heard nearby. Even Pretty Boy Ryan, his eyes firmly on the 2020 nomination prize (as are Cruz’, Rubio’s and Pence’s for sure), as of the time-of-writing was getting ever-closer to completely abandoning ship. By the way, regardless of what happens to the Repubs. in this election, assuming that HRC wins it, what the Repubs. in Congress, whether or not they have control of the Senate or only the filibuster, will do to and with Clinton will make the obstructionism towards Obama with began with that planning meeting on January 21, 2009, seem mild by comparison. They simply dis-respected Obama, who was only half-white. They absolutely hate Hillary, white or not.
So why now? Why not after any one of the whole slew of Trump outrages, great and small that have occurred on his march towards the Presidency? Before posting an answer or two to that question, let us review briefly just some of the list of Trump outrages/mis-steps/withholdings/failed businesses/possible associations with criminal activities/ and so forth. Many of them on their own would have sunk any other candidate and had Repubs. running for the exits. Why now? Why this one?
And here, not in any particular order, are some of the Trump travesties (and worse):
He apparently violated the Cuban embargo law, in dealing with a Cuban bank.
Of course he has failed to reveal his Federal tax returns, which could hide the possibility that he has paid no personal income tax for years (which he actually admitted in passing during the Oct. 9 debate), but also that he has, as suspected, many associations with foreign businessmen who themselves have been accused of criminal activity.
He has had numerous failed businesses, to say nothing of the bankruptcies.
The constant lying.
The racism, which started years ago with incidents like the “Central Park Five” (for whom he is still calling the death penalty despite that fact the DNA evidence has cleared them), but he trumpeted for years with birtherism. Funny how he claimed that he forced President Obama to reveal his birth certificate, as if that were a good thing. Who has ever asked any other President to produce a birth certificate? But I forgot. Obama is only half-white.
Islamophobia, writ large and dangerously, both general and specific in the case of the Khans.
Personally attacking Ms. Machado (the Miss universe winner), Senator John McCain, disabled people.
Praising President Putin, while likely having either major investments in Russia or having Russian investment in his own enterprises, or both.
The “punishing women for having an abortion” position.
Having an open affair while married (just the one that we know about, with Marla Maples).
Engaging in no personal philanthropy since 2008.
Possibly bribing (a crime) elected officials (or so it has been charged).
The Trump “University” affair, which has both civil and criminal elements to it, and the racist attack on the case’s judge.
The generalized mysogny, which has been well-known, like the objectification of women by their body and body-parts shapes and sizes.
Of course the “Mexicans are rapists and murderers” claim with which he justifies his (totally impractical in any case) Wall (at a time when more Mexicans are going home than coming here, but when have facts ever mattered to Trump?)
Dealing with an Iranian bank while sanctions were imposed, a potentially criminal activity.
The tolerance of anti-Semitism among his supporters and possibly implied usage of it himself.
The position of his wife, on anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish journalists, that “they bring it on themselves.
And so on, and so forth
Pretty Boy Paul Ryan—as repulsive and unprincipled in his predatory ideology as is Trump, but far more dangerous due to his intelligence. Should Trump lose, possibly a shoo-in for the 2020 contest. (If we’re still alive!)
So why now? Why the uproar among Repubs. who are running for the exits in droves over the Groping Scandal (which caught up in it a Bush family member as well.) This is a topic that by now has visited by numerous commentators, but is, in my view, well-worth revisiting. Well, it cannot be that they are people of principle. If they were, why did virtually no one leave over serious matters in the list above, in terms of policy not personal behavior of which this type of mysogny is particularly gross, like the suggestion that U.S. Muslims might have to wear special identification (with the yellow crescent patch coming just after that?) Well, first and foremost, as I have written on numerous occasions, on most issues Trump is well within Republican traditions, except that he says them out loud. So what does give?
Well, first he gives the lie to the Repubs. who fancy themselves the Party of Probity. Despite Senator Vitter, the former Governor of South Carolina, now Congressman from that state, Mark Sanford, the former Congressman Mark Foley, to say nothing of the jailed Denny Hastert, and so on an so forth, the Repubs. just love retaining that fiction. Well, the Trump story is just really gross, and he is running for President.
But the real reason had nothing to do with morality and it has nothing to do with the fact that the man knows little about what one has to know about in order to be President of the world’s leading capitalist/imperialist power. As by now, frequently noted, it has everything to do with the undecided/usually-Republican female vote. Up until now, Trump has had a chance to win. During the time that he and the media were making something out of the pretty-much nothing of the Clinton “email scandal” and “Benghazi” was just not working for the outside of their base where it works anyway. Now, with what this one is doing to Trump’s numbers with wavering women, unless there is some major “outside” event, like a (false-flag) “terrorist attack” on U.S. soil, he is sure to lose. And that’s the principal reason so many Republicans, both in-office and not, are finally abandoning ship.
It has nothing to do with principles or true outrage; it has everything to do with the elections down-ballot, and with the Congressional elections in 2018 and the next Presidential one in 2020. More on the latter, anon.