Wither now Trumpster?

I opined some months ago that the Trumpster will never be the nominee of the GOP.  As it turns out, I might end up being mistaken about that.  That will be an interesting outcome.  The longer-term story will be the fate of the republican party.  

You can't put on a TV channel (other than the cartoon channel) without hearing about the GOP establishment tearing themselves apart in an effort to #stoptrump.  They've trundled Mittens Romney out in front of the cameras to bang on about how we all need to pull together in order to stop Trump.  Of course, the establishment finds themselves in the curious position of having to #stoptrump to the benefit of Ted Cruz.  I admit I didn't see that one coming.  The other GOP candidates are working together to support each other in their home states.  This movement has become so all encompassing that even the New York Times has decided to pitch in and #stoptrump any way they see fit.  Up to and including the release of off-the-record conversations with Mr. Trump.  

What happened here?  It's simple really.  On the issues that matter, the Government has stopped providing solutions so Mr. Trump has taken those same issues and emerged as the purist expression of those ideas.  

I can hear you now: "what the hell does that mean Harrover?"

Fair enough.  Let us use immigration as an example.  We've heard every variation of "nuanced" stand on immigration.  From Mitt Romney's ridiculous "self-deportation" stance to "go home, come back and all is forgiven".  Politicians of both parties have been picking a single threads from this debate for years and using them to get elected.  The net result has actually been less and less action on immigration as a whole.  People don't like it and Trump emerges as a pure expression of the dialog: build a wall and throw all illegal immigrants out.  That's it.  

Trumps position on ISIS?  Turn Raqqa (their HQ) into a parking lot.

Free Trade?  we end up losing jobs and dumb people negotiated our deals.

You want simple, approachable positions that people can understand?  Positions that promise action to issues politicians have been playing with for years?  There they are.  

Whose "fault" is this?  That's simple.  Congress and the President are the problem here.  A backlash like we're seeing is only generated when the governement stops providing solutions for the goverend.  To be sure, every elected person in Congress – no matter what they say – fears Trump more than anything else.  Imagine what this will look like for them – Trumpster calls a circus-like press conference and identifies a handful of Senators as "the problem."  With the moral authority of an election behind him, his command of TV and energized followers available….I think he turns their life into a living hell until he gets what he wants.  They certainly do not want to have to deal with that.

Of course, The democrats aren't providing an answer either.  It's just happening at a lower volume.  Why else would they have a hippie senator from New England dogging Hillary's every step.  

So what happens?  The GOP is in a pickle  Trump's going to win Florida and Kasich is going to win Ohio.  I don't think that Trump is going to win the nomination outright but he will have a ton of delegates.  That's the tricky part.  Political conventions are complicated things that may look really messy.  For example, I ran a campaign several years ago where my guy won the total vote count at the convention but lost the nomination and it was totally legit according to the convention rules.  People were angry and confused.  And there were fewer than 1,000 people there.  

Imagine if something like that happens at the republican national convention.  If Trumpster rolls in there with over a thousand delegates and doesn't get the nomination the party is going to face some trying times.  Some seem to think that this has become a necessary thing.  I don't know that I agree with that but I do think that if the leadership goes all in to stop Trump – and are succesful – that the damage to the GOP as it is currently constituted will be vast.

On the Democratic side things aren't any better.  Hillary is still a divisive figure in Amerian politics and may well be under enditement by the time the campaign starts in earnest.  Certainly she'll spend the bulk of her Presidency fending off investigations.  I'm also not #feelingtheBern because socialism is a fantasy land.

How to fix this? I think it's too early for that discussion.  I really do.  We don't know what the damage will be but it is pretty clear that the elites in both parties have failed us.  Regardless of whatever else happens, I think a necessary part of the solution is more involvement in the process by ordinary Americans.  The American people, taken in the aggregate and without manipulation by gerrymandering politicians generally have good horse-sense and make good decisions.  That's a starting place anyway….