The Elephants,They Are Imploding

"Mein Trumph". Laura Ingraham seigs a little heil with the Donald
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It was as unbelievable a spectacle as has been seen in modern politics in a long time: There stood Ted Cruz at the podium of the Republican National Convention, being roundly jeered by the multitudes, for refusing to endorse the candidacy of Donald Trump. The Texas senator is damned lucky he's white. If Dr. Ben Carson had pulled this kind of stunt, there is no doubt in my mind that, given the demeanor of this mob, they would have lynched the poor old bugger on the spot and asked questions later.

 

And yet, there was old Ted standing his ground. It was a brave thing to do - or at least it seemed brave to those who haven't spent the last two-and-a-half years studying carefully this dangerous ignoramus's every move (as I have). Ted is playing his cards just right. He knows damned good and well that the Donald is going to get throttled at the polls come Election Day. He's angling himself to be in the perfect "I-told-you-so" position four years from now when the 2020 Republican primaries come to town. And perhaps that will be the case. The only problem is that, by then, the Republican Party will have been relegated to the fringes of the American political conversation.

 

Still, show me a political party where someone as completely repulsive as Ted Cruz emerges as the hero du jour, and I'll show you a political party that is in one helluva fix.

 

The 2016 Republican National Convention was such a totally surreal sideshow that I hardly know where to begin. My first reaction was to smile and say, "Somebody pinch me!" But this was no dream. This was happening before our very eyes; and the amazing thing is that none of the participants in this debacle seemed to have a clue what international laughingstocks they were making themselves out to be. It was quite amusing - in a pathetic sort of way. Donald Trump is legendary for his monumental lack of self awareness. Or is he?

 

"I was born a poor black child"

Trump is a student of political theater. He has studied the GOP campaign process quite closely, and he understands - as anyone who seriously studies it  can easily understand - that the only way a candidate is able to receive  the Republican presidential nomination these days, is by stumbling around the country - with one foot on a banana peel and the other in his mouth - saying a lot of jaw-droppingly mean and stupid things. The only candidate to come close to the Donald in sheer meanness and stupidity was Ted Cruz. That's why Cruz was the only other contestant left standing in Indiana back in May. It was there that poor old Ted folded his cards. Trump had seen to it that he wasn't going to be "out-stupided", not even by a hideous Neanderthal like Ted.

This political summer is like 1968 all over again (minus all the cool music, of course. There are no Beatles in 2016). In the aftermath of the riots at their national convention that year, some political soothsayers were writing the obituary of the Democratic Party. It only survived because it was inhabited  by enough serious people who desired to be responsible, faithful representatives of their constituents. In the late summer of 1974, in the wake of the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, the Republican Party was in ruins. They managed to carry on because there were still enough serious men and women within that organization to keep it viable. That's not the case with the modern-day GOP.

Now you see 'em. Soon you won't.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

 SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here's my little musical contribution to the discussion, taped on July 20:

 

https://www.facebook.com/tomdegan/videos/10154261087980729/   

Ain't I a riot?

SUGGESTED READING

Neurotic, Not Psychotic: A Blue Girl in a Red State
by Heather Henderson Addison

My Facebook pal, Heather, has a new blog that shows much promise. She's most definitely on the right side of history - as are most lefties; A contradiction in terms if there ever was one.

https://heathersavann.com/

Drop in and show her some support. She lives in Alabama. She needs all the support she can possibly get!

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Was at FYE in Newburgh on Saturday and picked up the film, Selma. It's about Dr. King and the events leading up to the march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. If you haven't seen this one yet, you really ought to. It's a keeper. The struggle for equal rights and human dignity is all-consuming and never ending.  Here's my review (sort of) from February 11 of last year:

http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2015/02/selma-in-february.html

Wasn't that a time?