above is about as intolerant, divisive, and racist as anything I’ve heard from Trump’s supporters! Wow. How can this country ever begin to heal if that’s our position?

Divisive? Seriously? Like there was some Trumpist effort at unification which I disrupted?

And, finally, "racist"? One can only guess which orifice that was pulled out of.

If "healing" means clenching my teeth and pretending that everything in my OP isn't true, I'd prefer amputation. thank

.

...where they showed the slightest interest in "healing"?

Tell it to the Rockefeller Republicans, if you can find any left.

They built a political machine that scorns compromise, treats opposition as illegitimate, and turns on "backsliders" as traitors. It's pushed them farther and farther to the right. People who were "arch-conservative" 15-20 years ago are considered RINOs now.

They're not conservatives, they're radicals, and have been since William F. Buckley was merely an undergrad Yalie prick.

They don't want to heal, they want to remove an infestation, which in their eyes is us.

Maybe Not all of them, but the ones driving the agenda do, and the rest go along with them.

You want the country to heal? Break the conservative radical's hold on the Republican party.

They need to come to their senses and work to earn respect.

However, the rest... Most people on this forum see reasonable conservatives every day on cable news networks whose daily behaviors and opinions bear no resemblance to your description. Not everyone has completely lost his or her moral compass. Neither they nor their counterparts among the voters who are similarly concerned about what's happening should be attacked this way.

Political bigotry with its dangerous, destructive levels of uberpartisanship do not belong to one party.

"reasonable" folks you describe. I specifically stated how I thought conservatism has been redefined and found fault with those who adhere to this new meaning.

a basic personality type, but with wide variations, and a wordapplied to the political orientations most who are conservative by nature tend to adopt.

I agree, of course, that traditional conservatism as an ideology has been purged from the Republican Party. Conservative intellectuals have been deploring the "death" of conservatism as a political philosophy for well over a decade now. Its protective principles made it an obstacle for the wannabe kleptocrats and fascistic types who intended to destroy a lot.

Still, the urge to traditional conservatism is still part of those whose personalities make that a natural fit. Plus, not all conservatives have been turned into evil-embracing followers. We have to accept and ally with any of those who will in order to form a working majority. Those who might have to be a very small minority so far, but an extremely valuable one.

...well, they really didn't even show up to fight much. They just hoped it would all blow over...but it didn't.

The Koch's, hard right media, etc. whipped the base into frenzy via Tea Parties to oppose the "Kenyan born, nazi and socialist...never mind the two systems are diametrically opposed to each other, going to take your guns away, declare marshall law and instate himself as president for life and FEMA camps will be concentration camps for conservatives..." known as President Obama. They failed in their gambit to limit Obama to a one term President....and that should have been the end of it.

Instead, they created a frankenstein that kept living...and regained steam with the assist of foreign nations.

The "Conservatives" were pushed out during the Tea Party and they didn't fight back, so the practically cultish, racist, etc. took over. I don't expect them to survive, if they do however and retain power. Then it may be time to admit the previously unthinkable.

Search his comments about what would happen if the religious nuts ever gained control.

projectile vomit diarrhea disguised as a philosophy.