In the tumultuous wake of the Republican Party’s presidential nomination of Donald Trump, we’ve seen any number of self-serving GOP officials and office holders scurry to distance themselves from the embarrassing, narcissistic nominee. We get it.
We also get this: There’s a reason that Trump–a non-ideological, non-politically partisan sort until he played the “birther” card a few years back–competed for the Republican–not the Democratic–nomination.
A misogynistic, xenophobic, anger-courting loud mouth would most likely appeal to the “Deliverance” crowd with jingoistic generalizations and President Obama jobs-scapegoating. And what other party would appeal to would-be Trump supporters and apologists like Dennis Rodman, Hulk Hogan, Tila Tequila, Willie Robertson, Rick Scott, Vlad Putin, Charlie Sheen and the balloon-boy family?
The president was spot on recently when he underscored the obvious. “The question they have to ask themselves is: If you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?” asked Obama. “What does this say about your party that this is your standard-bearer.”
It’s more than a rhetorical question.
The Republicans have to decide whether they want Jim Jones in the Oval Office or not. Whether they want to swear off the GOP-loyalist Kool Aid before it’s too late. And whether to take one for their country–not their party–and support the eminently qualified, frustratingly flawed alternative for the good of America and the rest of the world.
Imagine, that’s still a tough call for a lot of Republicans–and an impossible one for many more. And, increasingly, we know who they are, especially around here.