Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump has Republicans Whig-ing Out
The Houston Chronicle's GOPlifer Blog ^ | July 14, 2015 | Chris Ladd

Posted on 07/14/2015 10:33:26 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

This has been a tough few weeks for Republicans. Donald Trump is emerging as a far more complex threat to the party’s future than it first appeared. It remains nearly impossible for him to win the nomination and he probably lacks the attention span for an independent run, but that’s cold comfort. Viability as a candidate is not what makes him dangerous.

By loudly embracing the party’s nastiest impulses, Trump threatens to topple a domino that could force the GOP into an open split and a full rebranding. Though rare, there is a precedent for this phenomenon in the Republican Party’s own history. That precedent is based on a sort of political physics built into the foundations of our system. A political party in our system can survive many calamities, but once it loses the ability to compete for the White House the pressure toward dissolution is impossible to check.

Throughout our history Republicans and their forerunners have occupied the second slot in the two-party system we inherited from the British. Under the influence of Jefferson, Democrats coalesced around the interests of farmers, labor, and Southern planters against the emergence of capitalism. Led originally by Hamilton, the Federalists, Whigs, and then Republicans primarily channeled the interests of tradesman, merchants, industrialists, and professionals. Their priorities were the promotion of trade, commerce and national expansion. By virtue of these alignments, Democrats have consistently enjoyed an advantage of numbers while Republicans enjoyed better funding, a more coherent ideological platform, and far superior organization....

(Excerpt) Read more at blog.chron.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS: democrats; gop; trump; whigs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last
To: 2ndDivisionVet

Racist, racist, racist.
Racist Racist.

Racist.

Bored Yet?


21 posted on 07/14/2015 11:20:41 AM PDT by Flintlock (Our soapbox is gone, the ballot box stolen--we're left with the bullet box now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Racist, racist, racist.
Racist Racist.

Racist.

Bored Yet?


22 posted on 07/14/2015 11:21:12 AM PDT by Flintlock (Our soapbox is gone, the ballot box stolen--we're left with the bullet box now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
The great danger to the eGOP?

Trump's statements, while not artfully delivered, show common sense. That's empowering in the same way that RR empowered a generation of conservatives. The Left has ridiculed and marginalized conservatives for decades.

It's going to be harder keeping conservatives on the eGOP reservation.

23 posted on 07/14/2015 11:21:41 AM PDT by gogeo (If you are Tea Party, the eGOP does not want you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: proxy_user

Is this before or after he said that only HARD WORKING Mexicans can stay...

Wouldn’t that, therefore, hurt American job hunters?


24 posted on 07/14/2015 11:26:38 AM PDT by TNMOUTH
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Nasty impulse bump


25 posted on 07/14/2015 11:27:54 AM PDT by Pelham (Deo Vindice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LS

“The GOP took the country dominantly for one reason only:”

Lincoln was elected with only 39% of the vote. He was a sectional candidate in a four way race.

Post Civil War the South was occupied territory with generals ruling over military districts. ‘Dominating’ politics during Reconstruction was as easy for the GOP as for the soviets when they occupied eastern Europe. It would have been impossible for them not to.


26 posted on 07/14/2015 11:37:28 AM PDT by Pelham (Deo Vindice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: WENDLE
McDaniel.

-PJ

27 posted on 07/14/2015 11:41:29 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Instead of saying, “Wow, Trump’s popularity must mean the American people want the borders sealed and illegals deported, maybe we should agree with Trump,” the Stupid Party strikes again. They deserve to lose.


28 posted on 07/14/2015 11:42:17 AM PDT by Nea Wood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pelham

Trump is the featured speaker at a rally coming up on the 17th in Texas, I think. The demand for tickets is so great they had to move it to a larger venue. Can’t wait to hear what he says next.

Note to self: Stock up on popcorn.


29 posted on 07/14/2015 11:44:32 AM PDT by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: GoneSalt

He already has- Jamiel Shaw. It’s pretty plain in the easy & familiar way Trump interacted with him & has had him tell his story. And that he put Mr Shaw’s tragedy “ahead” of Kathryn Steinle’s murder.


30 posted on 07/14/2015 1:05:06 PM PDT by KGeorge (Hell no- we ain't forgettin')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: KGeorge

Mr. Shaw is an excellent communicator. I hope his mission in life uses his gifts to the full. There were a lot of white people who watched him speak perhaps grown up in compromised circumstances who thought to themselves they might have been lucky to grow up with a dad like that.

That’s a personality that can unite. Beyonce trashing the 1st and the NAACP blowing statues off a mountain are nothing but destructive attention whores working on a grand scale.


31 posted on 07/14/2015 1:26:18 PM PDT by GoneSalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: GoneSalt

I wondered, at the time, if Mr Trump might have had thoughts of finding a place for Mr Shaw either in his campaign or one of his business ventures/ some business connection. I hope so. My heart breaks for him.

And that’s a good point about White people who grew up with parents who were less than present, growing up. It makes a huge difference. It doesn’t just happen in compromised situation, but among affluent families as well. (or at least it did in the 80s. I don’t imagine it’s better now.)


32 posted on 07/14/2015 1:44:30 PM PDT by KGeorge (Hell no- we ain't forgettin')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Trump if successful might actually bring the GOP back.


33 posted on 07/14/2015 1:51:05 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WENDLE

Just as the Whigs ran out of steam and folded—the GOP needs to fold up and end on the trash heap of history—Need new Party —Merge the Reform, Constution, etc... Parties into a new Liberal Party. Not a 3rd Party but a 2nd Party to replace the Vichy Republicans we have now. Trump is leading a movement.


34 posted on 07/14/2015 2:04:40 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Pelham

Historians have cut the numbers seven ways from Sunday. It ultimately came down to an anti-slavery vote, really by about 3:1. Only one of the four parties stood for slavery, the southern Dems.


35 posted on 07/14/2015 10:13:52 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson