By Mark Rhoads
Does Donald Trump think that Republican Party unity is important? Trump said to George Stephanopolous on ABC News Sunday,“Does it have to be unified? I’m very different than everybody else, perhaps, that’s ever run for office. I actually don’t think so. I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be — there would be something good about it. But I don’t think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense.”
In the first GOP debate on Aug. 6, 2015, Fox News moderator Brett Baier asked if all candidates on the stage would agree to support the nominee of the party and Trump was the only one who raised his hand to say no. He later changed his position and now other former candidates are going off in different directions.
The two most recent Republican presidents and the 2012 nominee and the Speaker of the House have not yet endorsed Mr. Trump and he does not seem to think that matters to his campaign.
I can't vote for Trump because I am convinced he is not a conservative, but I still think he is right about the irrelevance of "party unity" because it will make little difference in the fall unless the race is very close which does not seem likely now.
So I wish the supporters of Mr. Trump who do like him well in your own lives, but let the rest of us go our own way in peace. We might see you again in 2018 or 2020, or maybe not. But in either case, chances increase that Hillary and Trump will likely be gone from politics by then because Trump at age 70 would be the oldest president ever inaugurated next January if he were elected and Mrs. Clinton would be the second oldest.
I believe you are correct that “party unity” is irrelevant, especially at this time, when we see so-called “Republicans” like Mark Kirk parroting Democrat lines and espousing Democrat policies.
The Establishment Republicans’ refusal to confront Democrats on international and domestic issues while ignoring the will of millions of Republican voters has been the “Trump card” which has propelled The Donald into his status as Candidate Number One.
And, about “Age 70:” Trump has shown more energy in this GOP race than men two-thirds his age. I think he can handle it As I am about to turn 70 myself next week, I hope I can maintain HALF his energy!
Exactly.
I love how establishment republicans like Rhoads continue to use the lamest of excuses when trying to convince us we should work against Mr. Trump.
It’s the same old lame republican attacks they’ve used against the Dems for decades – no wonder they can’t win anything important!
Mark….. how has anything that has been done by Republican Presidents or the Republican Congress or Republican appointed justices since 1989 been conservative? Please, tell me something they did that was actually something that helped to preserve our civilization or increase our liberties?
People who are not too lazy like you to do their homework and know my record will find it comical that you think I am pro-establishment which has become the catch-all smear against anyone who thinks Donald TRump s a fake conservative and a childish demagogue. He cannot fix his disfunctional personality disorder now it is too late for that and all you Trump voters are stuck with him but don’t ask authentic constitutional conservatives who study the issues to jump off the cliff with you.
All I did was quote what Trump said in his own words and his delusional enablers get mad. He said it, I did not. But I do agree with him that he is better off not tainting the GOP brand name for everyone down ticket.
I will also be 70 this year Observer. Do you really think someone our age is going to be in good condition to handle that job or do you simply choose to be delusional because it makes you feel good?
Wasn’t Reagan?
I’ve noticed that Republicans have had control of the House for 6 years and the Senate for 2 years and we’ve gotten next to nothing from them, not even cuts to “green” cronyism. Power plants and coal mines have been shuttered as fast as they could have been with all Democrats in charge. It’s almost as if Repubs, in private, agree with the Democrat tirade against these working class people because of personal investments or a deep snobbish hate and distrust of ex-Democrat United Mine Workers even though they’re the new base of the Republican Party. The people who are ridiculing Trump right now ridiculed Cruz back when he forced a shutdown for basically only a week. I see that Cruz is being panned by his fellow Senators now. He got used.
Hillary is about our age, too. And Bernie is even older. Where is the Democrat voters’ age-bias being shown? I don’t hear of it or read it anywhere.
I have seen people with creeping senility as young as fifty. I know several men and women over ninety who are still mentally sharp.
“Delusional?” ME?
I appreciate your insults, because it shows we are “getting to you.”