Now Lou, there is no cure for TDS yet, but this will make you feel better.
Posted on 03/03/2016 4:52:15 AM PST by LouD
Gratuitous Hatred Is Destroying Republicans — Just as It Did the Ancient Israelites By Dennis Prager — March 1, 2016 I have been a radio talk-show host for 33 years, nationally syndicated for 18. I have never experienced anything similar to what I am experiencing now. Until recently, the only hate mail I ever received was from a small number of people on the left. The major reason for this, I am convinced, is that I don’t yell at callers and I treat callers who disagree with respect.
Reading my e-mails these days is a brand-new experience. I receive hate mail, sometimes laced with obscenities, from Republicans. Most of it comes from Trump supporters, even though whenever I explain my opposition to Trump, I also explain that I understand why so many people support Trump, and even though I ask anti-Trump listeners to respect these Trump supporters.
To show how widespread the hatred among Republicans is, here are excerpts from an e-mail sent by a Cruz supporter in Michigan. He was livid at my having suggested that Cruz consider announcing that he will now back Rubio in order to give Republicans a unified opposition, which is the only chance to stop Trump. I might add that I have said many times that if I could simply appoint a Republican president, it would be Ted Cruz, since he is a true conservative and he doesn’t care whether people love him. However, I believe that Rubio – at least until this weekend and his imitation of Trump’s high-school-level personal insults – has been the Republican with the best chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.
The listener’s e-mail read in part:
Dennis, I can’t tell you how p**sed off I am at you for suggesting Cruz drop out in favor of the back stabbing, lying Rubio. You have compromised your own principles. . . . Despicable! A*****es like you . . . lie about “if I could appoint a president, it would be Cruz.” Screw you and all your Salem colleague’s [sic] for pushing the false narrative ‘Rubio is more electable.’ . . . I am no longer a faithful listener and have switched back to Rush after many years. You have lied by obfuscation, and tried to manipulate your listeners, and for that, I despise you and the other Salem turncoats. You all can go F*** yourselves!
As noted, I have quite a few e-mails from Trump supporters who, after years, even decades, of listening to my show, have decided that I am no longer worthy of being listened to. If one doesn’t support Trump, they believe, one is a traitor to the cause.
It is important to point out that I have said over and over that I would vote for Trump if he were the nominee, because it is difficult to conceive of even Trump being worse than four more years of a left-wing president and decades of a left-wing Supreme Court. But to more than a few Trump supporters that is not enough: If you don’t support Trump, you are the enemy.
RELATED: The Worrisome Implications of 2016’s ‘Insult Campaign’
In a nutshell, the hatred and contempt some of the Republican candidates have shown one another is reflected among rank-and-file Republicans. I understand why: Most Republicans view this election as the last chance to save America from becoming the opposite of what it was founded to be. The Left has been eating away at America’s foundational values for nearly a century, and it has been largely successful. Two examples: Seventy percent of college students do not believe in freedom of speech if the speech might hurt someone’s feelings, and many young Americans support a socialist for president.
Meanwhile, many Republicans believe that only their candidate can turn things around. Therefore, Republicans who oppose their man are regarded as no different from Democrats — indeed, perhaps worse.
So this is where we stand today: Many anti-Rubio Republicans regard Rubio as a traitor on the immigration issue and therefore have contempt for his supporters. Many anti-Cruz Republicans regard Cruz as an extremist conservative who is, moreover, a misanthrope, and therefore have contempt for his supporters. And many anti-Trump Republicans – perhaps most – regard Trump as a dangerous fraud, and therefore view his supporters with contempt.
Needless to say, with these attitudes, there is little chance any Republican can win.
RELATED: Stop Defending Trump’s Poisonous ‘Middle-Finger Politics’
So, then, despite eight years of failure under a Democratic president, and with Hillary Clinton — widely regarded as a completely untrustworthy woman who has put pursuit of money and power above the interests of her country — as the Democratic candidate, Republicans will still lose.
And Republicans will have no one to blame but themselves.
In Jewish tradition, there is a famous explanation for the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans in 70 a.d. The ancient rabbis did not blame the Romans. They blamed the Jews. And the reason, they said, was “gratuitous hatred” — Jews hating one another for no good reason.
Bear in mind: Not all hatred is gratuitous. The hatred of evil, for example, is actually the only moral response to evil.
But gratuitous hatred is utterly destructive. And that’s what many Republicans now have for one another — and what will therefore enable today’s Romans, the Democrats, to destroy our country in the year 2016.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code, was published by Regnery. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com. © 2016 Creators.com
Screw all of you!
As long as our desire for revenge outweighs our desire for doing what’s right, we are prone to nominate someone who does not support our values.
You have a right to your opinion. That is all.
LOL you sound like a Hillary supporter and probably deserve what you are getting.
FR will survive. Not so sure about the GOP.
Everyone on this forum has been praying for decades for a patriot to fight for us. He’s here right now folks! WAKE UP! He’s not perfect, get over it!
WRONG....CORRUPT RINOS WHO ARE SPINELESS AND REFUSE TO LIVE UP TO THEIR OATH OF OFFICE ARE RESPONSIBLE!
Trump's support, expanding every day, is not from irrational hatred, but from the very rational view that GOP left them a long time ago, represents crony-capitalism, incompetence and sell-outs and does nothing for the interests of we the people. So far, Trump is the only one to whom that charge does not apply at all. Marco - forgeddabout it. Ted - an awful lot of baggage actually.
And as we see, when Trump negotiates, he is tough, but after victory, he is gracious and without rancor towards the defeated opponents. Those who refuse to recognize they were defeated and come at him again - that is another matter.
I'm guessing it was a bit more than questioning.
Your reply to a call for tolerance within the conservative movement is “Screw all of you!”?
Is that sarcasm?
Its kind of hard to figure out what’s going on.
There’s too much emotion and anger out there to be sure, but its justified by the situation the country is in.
Is one person the answer?
In my lifetime I invested a lot in President Reagan and think he was pretty good, but he was only one man and not perfect.
Then I got sucked into the notion that a Republican controlled Congress would change things with Newt.
When W was president, the GOP controlled both Congress and the White House.
Did things get better? NO.
Government got bigger.
Considering the mistakes of the past like the worship of personalities as a solution including
Ronald Reagan
Newt Gingrich
George W. Bush
Rush Limbaugh
etc. etc. etc.
Maybe its time to stick to principles and take action as individuals outside the political system to change things.
Some folks did in Oregon back in January and all they got was objection to their tactics and or a cold shoulder from politically obsessed personality obsessed people chasing the rainbow that Joe Schmo as President would change everything.
I need to change what I’m doing instead of thinking its someone else who will ‘change things’.
The rabid political debate over the GOP presidential nomination distracts people from taking up their responsibilities as individuals to live the right kind of lives and do the right kind of things.
I have yet to see an single Trump supporter launch a nation #NeverCruz #NeverRubio campaign.
There is another ancient tradition. Blaming the victims for fighting back.
Don’t throw punches unless you are ready for the target to punch back.
Now Lou, there is no cure for TDS yet, but this will make you feel better.
If Trump does just three things ,secure the border, simplify the tax code and repel Obamacare, he’ll have done more for the party than any “conservative” has done for us since Reagan.
I know Cruz will do the same things. I’ll support whoever gets the nomination. It’s the rational thing to do.
“it is difficult to conceive of even Trump being worse than four more years of a left-wing president”
Obama is not merely a “left-wing president”. Oh no, no, no! He’s an enemy of the state as far as I’m concerned, and that is not necessarily a radical view of what he’s done and what he intends to do because he can. Imagine what he would do if he could.
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.