helped into the mainstream by M$M without challenge.

Trump IS the Republican Party. Period. And NO amount of Republican 'hand-wringing' can change that.

Just look at how they treated President Obama, or how they allowed the likes of racist xenophobe Steve King to pontificate without admonishment all these years, or how Darrell 'got rich from Gubment' Issa treated civil rights icon, John Lewis. Or how Goober-Gohmert spews his hateful tripe every chance he got.

Sorry, but Trump IS the Republican Party, and Hillary Clinton can beat any Repub who dares to come up against her. Just like President Obama has for eight years and who will continue to do so after he leaves office with extraordinarily high approval ratings.

...he was not a real republican.

BULLSHIT, tRump is EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE!

The only thing they seem to have in common (not including pejoratives) is they all want to be haters.

We seem to have take a lot of steps backwards to get to this point.
I just hope someday soon, we get to move forward

...it's just that they made a turn to the darkside for power and influence. Case-in-point: Lee Atwater and "the Southern strategy," which not only advocated racism, but featured it as the showcase item in the GOP's quest to become the party of power.

Lee Atwater started that drastic divide and conquer crap forty-some years ago and look where it's gotten us all. Our country will not be able reach our potential when we are divided and against one another.

In short words, as long as the law of the land has things and property above the interests of the citizens, we live in this divide.

Democrats are about People
Republicans are about Property

This is how they think. I don't think we will ever "come together" like we all wish it would be. So I think this divide will always be here, just like it always has.

It's just that it becomes violent once in a while, like the Civil War. But when we are not at war, we are still divided.

Granted Pence is the lower half of the ticket, but Trump has had the support of many Republicans, some of whom ran for the nomination and may intend to run in the future.

...and Hillary Clinton is going to wipe the floor with Donald Trump.

The supreme irony is that they held an incredibly "democratic (small d)" primary. Nearly twenty Republicans to choose from. Nut cases, like Carson, to experienced governors (JEB and Kasich), a former Speaker of the House (Gingrich), business people from the outside (Fiorina and Trump), members of Congress (Graham, Rubio), I mean they gave themselves a REAL choice.

With such a wide range, they could have picked anybody. They chose Trump. The rank and file Republican voters chose Trump. Not some Party bigwigs in the proverbial "smoke-filled room" of national conventions past, but the real Vox Populi. And the Populo spoke loudly and clearly. "Give Us Trump!" And so they got exactly what they wanted. Not what the Kochs wanted, maybe, but what their rank and file wanted.

If the Foxhall Road cocktail circuit Republicans, the Palm Springs Republicans or the Newport Yacht Republicans are repelled by their choice, maybe they should look into just who these people are that they have drawn in and made their majority. It was this old Nixon Republican crowd that created Fox "News" twenty years ago, and over a generation, it was Fox "News" that created the sort of Republican that voted in Trump as their nominee. Like Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice, "die ich rief, die Geister, werd' ich nun nicht mehr los (the spirits I have summoned, I can no longer be rid of them)."

If the "old style" Republicans want their party back, they'll need to find a way to dismantle Fox "News" and turn off National Hate Radio. But like Goethe's spirits, I fear, the evil, angry sentiments they have awakened will not be easy to make dormant again. I'm not sure I want them knocking at our door, though. Our tent may be easily big enough to accommodate Bernie and Hillary. I'm not sure it is big enough to accommodate the likes of Rubio or Kasich.

Your points are well made DFW.

My thoughts regarding the "Old Style" GOP are that:
1 Most moderate Republicans and Social Liberal/Fiscal Conservative types identify as Independent now. They still vote GOP -don't get that twisted - but want the separation so the mud doesn't splash on them
2 The bigwig Chamber of Commerce types always knew they were just using the Culture Warriors/Evangelicals to further their agenda
3 All of the GOP since Jack Kemp died provided a welcoming home to racists

I also gave myself a giggle fit imagining low info Republicans pronouncing Goethe as "Go EEth"

I should compile a whole dictionary of Republicanese. They even have their own rules of grammar.

Frequently use an apostrophe to form a plural, but always at random.
Never write "your" when you mean "you're," and never write "you're" when you mean "your."
Never use the correct spelling of "there," "their," or "they're" in context.

She beat the most popular GOP primary candidate EVER. That is what we should keep repeating. But you know they will try to delegitimize her win just like they tried with Obama. Losers.

Anyone who saw the last debate knows Hillary Clinton DESERVES this win. She baited Trump into mistakes, showed heart and courage while managing to keep a laser-like focus on her message. That was a virtuoso performance. She closed the deal.

She is the best candidate, ran the best campaign, worked the hardest for the longest and she DESERVES to win.

I mean, John Kasich could only win his home state of Ohio in the primaries. You think he could compete on a national level?

Marco Rubio got swamped by Trump is his home state. But, he'd be competitive? LOL

Jeb Bush spent 10s of millions and came in 4th place in New Hampshire. Could Mr Low Energy have done better nationally with his last name?

Ted Cruz was almost as unpopular as Trump at the end, and likely could have ended up less popular than him because he's not as media savvy as Trump and most of his colleagues hate him.

One of those people would have done better? I think not.

I was very surprised by how bad Rubio actually was. He looked good on paper..... Maybe Kasich would have been a better GE candidate. Of the group, he was the only one seemed sane in the debates. And then he would open his mouth and talk about women and my stomach would turn, so who knows if he would have done much better in the GE or not. Women were not going to like him and POCs were def not going to like him either.

Clinton was strong all along with non-millennial women and with POC. Media does not like to account for those groups. It is obvious when you look at TV and movies that those two groups are pretty much invisible to them. So the spin was always how unpopular Clinton is because she IS unpopular with the people they think really matter.

But we are not invisible at the ballot box. That is the joy of democracy. They can spin it any way they want but she still won. She also won more primary votes than ANY candidate too.

Marco Rubio gave a good speech at the 2012 RNC. I'm not talking about the content, but his tone and his story were good and he was a far better public speaker than most top Republicans. So, I thought he was a threat for 2016. But, after his water bottle speech and Chris Christie humiliating him, he basically folded up and went away.

If Republicans hold the House by even one vote they plan to start impeachment hearings on DAY ONE.

It never even OCCURS to them to think America is rejecting the Right Wing.

I hope they do just that.

A lot of people started to open their eyes about the GOP's supposed values this election.

A quick reminder that they couldn't possibly care less about the will of the people would hammer the point home for a generation

That gets old when they block things people want.

Because that is the last time they will hold the House for years! It worked so well for them last time

Step 2: Conservatives lose all respect for government, think "anyone" can do it with their eyes closed.

Step 3: Conservatives will then vote for any manipulatable doofus the power brokers want to see in office.

==================

...they were just trying to dog-whistle what Trump was Trumpeting.

They were selling snake oil too, he just stole their crowd and they couldn't denounce his scam without exposing their own.

They all tried Trump Lite rhetoric - The wall stayed, but no mention of how it would be paid for.

Muslims would be restricted in a manner not elaborated upon.

Refugees would be blocked by various schemes

Etc. Etc. ad nauseum

Hillary will be in jail tho, that was agreed

Trump was saying it out loud and the base liked that better. It was impossible for the other candidates to counter the message since they were saying the same thing, just all polite like. Serves them right!