GOP Squirm Time: Americans Really Don't Like What You're Doing

Donald Trump is running away with the nomination of the Republican Party, despite his toxicity. Republicans aren't helping themselves as they twitch and shake.

Trump doesn't care if he wins or loses. Either way, he thinks he wins.

For Donald Trump, if he loses the presidency, at least he doesn't have to be president. Sounds like a lot of work. Who needs it?

Sound silly? Yes, but The Donald is a little bit silly, right?

If he takes down the Republican Party in the process, does he care? No, because he's not a Republican, he's running as a Republican. Does that make him a Democrat? No, it doesn't. He was never either one. He's a businessman who makes deals. That much is true. Is he a winner? Maybe, maybe not, but one thing's for sure. He's a champion spinner, and if he loses the presidency, watch out for Donald Trump the spinner: He didn't lose, all the disgusting reporters and disgusting low-energy turncoats in the GOP stabbed him in the back. For a while, he'll try to figure out who to sue. Then he'll announce that he's the bigger man and won't sue because he's done wasting his time trying to save a bunch of losers.

Where am I wrong here?

Moving on to the Republicans, it's a really different story. The party elites woke up one morning and realized that, even though they cultivated the far-right base with the help of the far-right media -- who were actually just trying to get more tax cuts for the rich approved while destroying government so they could say, "Look how fucked government is, would you just look?" -- and now realize what a good job they actually did. The extreme, far-right loonies actually captured enough of the base to force almost all of the party to be as totally cray-cray as they are, unleashing the hounds of doom on the party structure. Did you ever wonder why John Boehner quit? (he knew everyone had gone insane) or why Mitch McConnell takes the positions he takes (he knows everyone has gone insane)?

That's right, even when

• most NRA members favor common-sense gun-control laws, like background checks,
• most Americans favor improving relations with Cuba,
• most Americans approve of the Iran nuclear deal,
• 60% of Americans view Donald Trump unfavorably,
• a majority of Americans favor confirming Merrick Garland,
• crime is sinking like a stone among the young and minorities and rising among middle-aged whites,
• most Americans want tax increases on the wealthy to help pay for an expanded safety net,
• a majority of Americans now view Barack Obama favorably,
• a large majority of Americans favor allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S., with a majority of those Americans favoring a path to citizenship,

the GOP still acts as if their views represent the majority of Americans. They don't. Base politics -- figuring out how to keep your seat by pleasing your base and, hopefully, bamboozling voters in the general -- dictates that Republicans sound batshit crazy most of the time.

This worked until, I don't know, maybe when Donald Trump decided to run with all the batshit crazy ideas as if they were what would Make America Great Again. That works on dazed and confused white people who fear the Obummer, but, as Lindsey Graham said (in August of 2012!), "We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term." Mouthful there, Lindsey.

What the Republican elites in D.C. have come to realize is that their goose may be cooked, and they had better scramble to find a way out. Trouble is, the way out involves

• hijacking the Republican nomination from Trump, who'll go rogue with his own third-party campaign (or tell his voters to sit this one out),
• force a GOP third-party effort,
• or tell all the House and Senate GOPers that they're on their own, just try to save your asses.

That's not a pretty picture, and the Republicans have brought it on themselves by playing with fear, anger, and resentment, most of which isn't the default setting of enough Americans to win a general, BUT is enough to nominate a Donald Trump.

Good on ya!