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Thursday, August 20, 2015

Why the GOP Doesn't 'Stand Up' To Trump?

It's simple. They agree with him.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/on-trump-plan-to-europeanize-us.html

His sin is to make public what used to be private. Trump is the 'Return of the Repressed' GOP id.

"Before Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidates could deflect tough questions on immigration with vague promises to secure the border and oppose all “amnesty” for illegal immigrants."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/20/opinion/gop-candidates-follow-trump-to-the-bottom-on-immigration.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

Absolutely. This is why the Trump campaign has been a very healthy thing. I've said there's no downside to his campaign and I mean it. It's not hyperbole.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/07/there-is-no-down-side-to-donald-trump.html?showComment=1437617911189#c1603983887098755989

It makes sense that the GOP wishes he would go away so they can go back to the vague talk of border security and no amnesty.

But if you are appalled by Trump's plan you should be very grateful to him for publicizing it in any case. Trump puts this out there. I don't think the genie ever gets put back in the bottle again.

Just because before Trump they kept it vague doesn't mean they didn't agree with him. In fact they've been talking about ending birthright citizenship for years.

"You could say the front-running Mr. Trump has put his opponents in a bind. Or you could say he has given them a gift: the opportunity to be specific in return about what they would do to fix the immigration mess. And to be forthright in rejecting his despicable proposals. Because his plan is so naked — in its scapegoating of immigrants, its barely subtextual racism, its immense cruelty in seeking to reduce millions of people to poverty and hopelessness — it gives his opponents the chance for a very clear moral decision. They can stand up for better values, and against the collective punishment of millions of innocent Americans-in-waiting."

But this only makes sense if you don't realize that they don't diagree with Trumpism they just preferred not to talk about it in mixed company.

"But as Mr. Trump swells in the polls, his diminished opponents are following in his wake, like remoras on a shark. Several have shuffled onto the anti-birthright-citizenship bus, including Rick Santorum, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who once fought for smart bipartisan immigration reform, wants to repeal birthright citizenship. As does Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a birthright citizen himself. As for Mr. Trump’s other restrictionist proposals, several are firmly lodged again in the playbook of a Republican Party that briefly tried to reform itself after the Mitt Romney debacle. Some candidates are even willing to try to trump Mr. Trump in xenophobia: Mr. Carson is talking about using armed military drones at the border. That’s right — bombing Arizona."

"Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida understand immigration issues deeply and presumably want the Latino vote and are well aware of the dangers of having their party hijacked by far-right ideas. They should be opposing Mr. Trump at every turn. But in the face of Mr. Trump’s success, their objections are mild, and oddly muted. The danger is that when the campaign is over, no matter what becomes of Mr. Trump’s candidacy, he will have further poisoned the debate with his noxious positions, normalized an extremism whose toxicity is dulled by familiarity and is validated by a feckless party. He has emboldened the fringe lawmakers whose “hell no” on any positive immigration legislation has stymied reform for years."

Jeb and Rubio have been more than muted. Rubio has at least implicitly opened the door to ending birthright citizenship and Jeb has started using the term anchor babies despite having children from an immigrant wife.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/jeb-bush-is-now-right-of-mitt-romney-on.html?showComment=1440067906650#c1786109798872912918

Let's just be honest here. The GOP has simply disqualified itself on immigration. There is just no way if you care about humane and rational immigration reform you can pretend that anyone in the Republican party is a reasonable choice. 

So maybe Ezra Klein is shocked how cruel the Trump plan really is but this just means he like most of us never grasped how cruel the GOP position on immigration really is. 

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/18/9171919/donald-trump-immigration-plan



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