GOP Finally Notches Political Victory!

Trump will sign the loyalty pledge, his former (?) aide Roger Stone says.

"The truth is, Trump got what he wants, he's given up nothing and he's a strong frontrunner for the Republican nomination," Stone said. "I expect that he will sign the pledge today."

"I [candidate’s name] affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for president of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is," the pledge says. "I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party."

But has he gotten everything he wanted? There have been scenarios floated where the state GOPs conspire to keep him off the ballot -- the establishment's nuclear weapon.

Where is the escape clause that he can/will run as an independent if this happens?

Meanwhile, MZ Hemingway wonders why the GOP is forced to resort to securing loyalty pledges to keep people in the party, rather than, you know, doing things that make people proud and happy to remain within the party.

I'm not sure that Republicans quite get the nature of the problem -- and their obsessive focus on Trump is giving them an excuse to ignore it.

A few days ago the user behind the Twitter account ThomasHCrown began tweeting out sarcastic explanations for why he votes Republican, using the hashtag #WhyIVoteRepublican. Here are some of them. No, you don't need to read them all but a good skim is rewarding:

So Mitch McConnell can be Majority Leader and help the Democrats to victory.

So John Boehner can fund President Obama's usurpation of power.

So Planned Parenthood can continue using tax dollars to butcher the unborn and sell their parts for profit.

So Fortune 100 Companies can be shielded from the free market.

So yet another Clinton or Bush or whatever can be President.

So Supreme Court rulings that clearly exceed any possible basis in the Constitution can be quietly accepted.

So that we continue to turn perfectly useful corn into energy-inefficient and starvation-causing ethanol.

So the regulatory state will continue to grow without even pausing.

So Christians can be forced to materially cooperate with evil as long as Wal-Mart is happy.

So my children can be forced to learn how all the heroes of the twentieth century were Democrats.

So sugar subsidies can increase.

So every bank about the community bank size is too big to fail.

So every major investment firm is protected from any downside risk to gambling with shareholder money.

So that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may live forever.

So that Iran will be in a position to destroy Israel utterly within a handful of years.

So that China will have de facto hegemonic control over East Asia. Or a war. Whatever.

...
So that our immigration laws are merely code for "whatever the Chamber of Commerce wants."
...

So conservative Republicans can be called racists basically whenever.

So that John McCain will be a Senator until 2136.

...

So that one million children, give or take, will be aborted per year, and I'll learn about it in fundraising letters.

...

So the Federal Courts become our de facto ruling class.

So the President becomes the Princeps.

And so on. And on and on.

The Trump thing is scary to the GOP because they know they're failing and f***ing over their voters -- so the prospect of an Escape Hatch (whether you find that Escape Hatch clownish or not) is frightening.

Their main goals -- check that; their only goals -- are fundraising from millionaires and keeping their phony-baloney jobs.

But those aren't our priorities -- I don't get a cut of their salaries. I send -- or, I used to send -- them to DC to bring back specific policy achievements.

They don't do that. They don't even bother trying to do that. They just tell us "It's too hard to do that, we might lose the moderates or whatever and lose our phony-baloney jobs if we did that."

Oh? Well then I certainly wouldn't want you to put your glittering careers of Doing Nothing at risk.

So do go on, doing nothing at all, and collecting those checks from the Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, more and more of us are jumping out of the Escape Hatch.

Enough. Enough.

Enough of the enabling. Enough of the codependency, permitting these people to continue hurting us.

As they say in intervention circles: At some point, if you keep enabling the behavior, you're no longer a victim: You're a volunteer.

Well, I'm a volunteer no more.

posted by Ace at 11:57 AM

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