Dangerously Insane!

[Dale00]

Republicans are in a full scale panic today because Donald Trump’s candidacy appears to be in chaos. There is talk of an “intervention,” inspired in part by Trump’s continuing attacks on the Khan family. RNC chair Reince Priebus is described as “very frustrated” and “stressed,” because he is “running out of excuses” to offer party bigwigs about Trump’s political incompetence and indifference to basic political norms. Republicans are panicking because Trump is frittering away a chance to defeat Hillary Clinton amid “self inflicted mistakes” and “missed opportunities.”

Some in the Republican Party are reaching new levels of panic. Here's why picking a new nominee might not be the answer.
In other words, if only Trump were not acting in such a crazy manner right now, he’d be on track to having a real shot to beat Clinton, and if Trump just gets a handle on his fleeting bout of bad behavior, he’ll be right back in the position of having a good chance to win. An “intervention” just might set that right.

But let’s entertain another interpretation of what’s going on here. Republicans have shifted into a much higher state of Red Alert because Trump’s erratic antics are revealing just how reckless their decision to nominate him really was, and how reckless their continued support for him really is. In other words, Trump is now threatening to damage the party in far worse ways than Republicans had bargained for, because he’s revealing in inescapably clear terms the real character and qualifications of the person they knowingly nominated to run the country and continue to support for the presidency.

This quote from Newt Gingrich to the Post is extremely revealing:

“The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable,” Gingrich said in a Wednesday morning telephone interview. “Trump is helping her to win by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.”

Gingrich said Trump has only a matter of weeks to reverse course. “Anybody who is horrified by Hillary should hope that Trump will take a deep breath and learn some new skills,” he said. “He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now. She can’t be bad enough to elect him if he’s determined to make this many mistakes.”

In this telling, Hillary Clinton is beatable because she is “unacceptable,” and all Trump has to do is be a little less “unacceptable.” You widely hear various versions of this argument. The premise: Clinton is so widely despised that a majority of Americans will leap at the chance to support Trump if he merely acts like a minimally acceptable alternative. Trump’s behavior right now is compromising that.

Gingrich seems displeased that he was not tapped for the VP spot. Beyond that the press is determined to transform itself into The Onion.

 

[RETOKSQUID]

It's all part of the plan.