2016 Postmortem

yellowcanine

(35,701 posts) Mon Jun 20, 2016, 03:06 PM Jun 2016

The GOP stop Trumpers aren't going anywhere but they will weaken Trump.

And I believe this is their purpose. They want to make sure Trump does not win the Presidency so they want to weaken Trump and at the same time offer cover for down ticket Republicans to put daylight between themselves and Trump. If Trump gets soundly thrashed by Clinton it will squash Trumpism for good and the Republicans can start rebuilding for 2016. It has happened before - Johnson thrashed Goldwater in 1964 but the GOP came back to win in 1968. I believe that the GOP stop Trumpers think they can do this again and that it is the best hope for the GOP at this point.They know the Presidency and probably the Senate are gone for 2016 but are hoping to hang on to the House majority. I also think Ryan is playing a very clever game to assist them in every way except publicly backing the effort.

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The GOP stop Trumpers aren't going anywhere but they will weaken Trump. (Original Post) yellowcanine Jun 2016 OP

Goldwater's defeat didn't kill Goldwaterism. David__77 Jun 2016 #1

No it didn't. But a big part of the Goldwater to Reagan transition was yellowcanine Jun 2016 #2

David__77

(23,484 posts)

1. Goldwater's defeat didn't kill Goldwaterism.

Reply to yellowcanine (Original post)

Mon Jun 20, 2016, 03:14 PM

Jun 2016

Sixteen years after Goldwater's defeat, a conservative was elected president. Trump, in my opinion, is a sort of nationalist-populist - at least that's how he occurs to me. Perhaps he will get defeated, and still lay the basis for transforming the entire Republican Party into a nationalist-populist rather than conservative party.

yellowcanine

(35,701 posts)

2. No it didn't. But a big part of the Goldwater to Reagan transition was

Reply to David__77 (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 20, 2016, 03:27 PM

Jun 2016

Nixon's Southern Strategy - Republicans enticing the Dixicrats to join the Republican Party. That was more or less a historical accident which was a direct result of the Democratic Party's full embrace of civil rights beginning with Truman's desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948. The Republican Party cannot transform itself into a nationalist-populist party and survive because they do not have enough of the people with them.

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