Some might say that this Memorial Day weekend marked
a turning point in what has become, at least in my lifetime, the
"weirdest" election ever as news came that a third party candidacy is
real. Bill Kristol, said to be one of
the nation's leading conservatives, and editor of the influential Weekly
Standard, is working very hard in his effort to convince as many as will listen
to him to join him on what I see as being little more than a suicide
mission. And if the resulting casualties
were to only include himself and those stupid enough to follow him, I wouldn’t
mind. But unfortunately, his antics
involve a lot more people.
It was just this past Saturday that Kristol let fly
with a Tweet that said: "Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There
will be an independent candidate – an impressive one, with a strong team and a
real chance." This, of course,
triggered the expected, and perhaps even the desired response from Trump which
was a literal barrage of tweets. The Republican
presumptive nominee dissed Kristol as a "dummy" and an "embarrassed
loser." But if this news is proven
to be true, it could, at least potentially, prove to be bad news for Trump, who
himself had threatened a third party bid during the early stages of the
Republican primary.
And then on Monday, we saw how it was that NBC News
took it upon itself to list those whom it has determined are the potential
independent candidates to whom Kristol may have been referring. The network identified Mitt Romney, but
offered up an almost immediate disclaimer saying that sources close to the
former Massachusetts governor saw his entrance into the race as being relatively
"unlikely." They also
discounted Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who has also been a strong critic of Trump,
signing on. But the network identified
potential wildcard choices, including Condoleezza Rice and current New Mexico
Gov. Susana Martinez.
The one thing that the Kristol news would seem to
indicate is that Trump still appears to be having some level of difficulty
winning over key ‘conservative’ base support as he prepares for the RNC's July
convention in Cleveland, which is usually seen as being a unifying event for the
party. Two leading conservative thought
publications – Kristol's Weekly Standard and National Review, remain very much
staunchly opposed to Trump’s candidacy, despite the fact that he will up with
more than the needed 1237 delegates. I
would argue that their position says far more about them than it does about
Trump. After all, the people have
spoken, it’s time to move on.
Romney, like Kristol, has been rather vocal when it
comes to need to recruit a ‘viable’ third-party candidate who could not only
stop Trump, but in, I suppose, a perfect world perhaps even win a three-way
race. Backers of the third party bid
think that both Trump and presumptive Democrat nominee Hitlery have extremely
high negatives among voters. This,
coupled with the fact that Trump may cut into union, blue collar and some
ethnic voters that traditionally vote Democrat, may open the door for a
conservative third party candidate becoming viable – and even winning in once
die-hard Blue States.
In a Saturday Wall Street Journal story, Romney
explained his own reason for wanting to take on Trump. Romney said, "I wanted my grandkids to
see that I simply couldn't ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which
revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free
world." Now it would seem to me
that if Romney had been as concerned about his grandkids in 2012 as he appears
to be concerned about them now, he would have put forward a much more
aggressive campaign in 2012 than he did.
But then, maybe the grandkids just weren’t as important 4 years ago as
they seem to be today.
And then of course Romney went on to say,
"Friends warned me, ‘Don't speak out, stay out of the fray,' because
criticizing Mr. Trump will only help him by giving him someone else to
attack." And then added, "They
were right. I became his next target, and the incoming attacks have been
constant and brutal." And why not? When Romney asked for support from Trump what
did Trump do? He stepped up and
supported Romney. And how does Romney
now return the favor? By stabbing Trump
in the back. I’m just thinking he’s just
jealous, he sees Trump doing what he should have done against Barry, but lacked
the guts
to do it.
And then The Journal quoted a Romney confidant as
saying his friend is determined: "He feels like the last lion." The last lion? He can’t be serious, right? Romney wasn’t much of a lion in 2012! He was more of a lamb. And Trump adviser Ben Carson was spot on when
he suggested an independent bid would hand the White House to Hitlery. If that were to happen we would see a repeat
of the very same thing that took place in 1992.
Once again, if Kristol is successful in his effort, we would be allowing
yet another Clinton to sneak into the White House by way of the back door. How typical for this kind of trailer-park-trash-politician!
But Kristol and the anti-Trump conservatives like
Erick Erickson, founder of Red State, believe Trump will lose decisively to
Hitlery come November. The loss will not only dash GOP hopes of winning the
White House, but end Republican control of the Senate as the party faces more
than a half dozen toss-up races across the country. Look, how about we get real here for a second. After what we’ve seen taking place during the
18 months of Mitch McConnell’s ‘leadership’ I think we can safely assume that
the Senate is already lost. And anyone
who doesn’t see that coming is nothing short of a complete moron! You can’t blame Trump for that!
Realistically, and no matter how badly it is that
Kristol may want to bring Trump down, it’s likely too late to get into the game
as an Independent, and even if they do, I doubt very much they can get on the
ballot in all 50 States. Given that, the only reason someone would mount a
third party run right now would be to help ensure that it’s Hitlery who wins
the presidency. There’s really no other
credible reason. And I question whether
either Kristol or Romney can truly be identified as conservatives. After all, Romney tended to shy away from
calling himself a conservative in 2012.
And yet, many conservatives chose to vote for him anyway.
Kristol fails to see that he’s part of the problem.
The people have spoken and they selected Trump. Krystal is just like every
other elitist progressive in that he can't accept that people think contrary to
his "brilliance". Hey Bill, I don't like Trump either, but too bad. If only they had opposed Barry as vigorously
as they do Trump. Tells me which side they are really on. No true conservative would prefer the lying
thief over Trump, and while I'm not sure what Trump will do, I know what
Hillary will do. These same people never
accused Barry of not prepared to be president.
We held our nose and backed their candidates now it's time for them to
support Trump.
These so-called "conservatives" attack
Trump because they see him breaking up their power monopoly and possibly
putting an end to stuffing their pockets and selling us out. Considering Trump will be the nominee and the
American people have spoken that Trump is who they want as their GOP candidate.
Had the reverse happened and Jeb had been chosen and someone came along and
tried to force a third party candidate there would have been hooting and
hollering til the end of time. Trump won
like it or not, and like with everything else they’ve thrown at Trump this will
backfire in a humiliating way for Kristol. Shut up, put up, or leave the
country.