With the GOP race to the nomination now down to three men, it is becoming clear which routes each candidate needs to take in order to secure the nomination and all roads lead to a brokered convention. Which isn’t the worst thing in the world but it does reflect poorly on the party in the eyes of the nation. In any other cycle, this election is a virtual layup for the GOP. This year however, the GOP has done what it does best; shot itself in the foot.

A question that I can’t seem to answer or find a sufficient answer to; why, with all of the plethora of polling data available showing Trump as the weakest candidate in the general election, do those who claim to be the most angry support him? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the anger would galvanize support around the clear favorite in the general? It didn’t. Resoundingly. It would be too easy to simply blame willful ignorance. Marco Rubio was ultimately done in by his own campaign’s lackadaisical attitude towards the election itself. Not setting up shop in any of the important early primary states was a product of the campaign’s belief that Marco was anointed years before any of this began after ousting Crist in Florida.

The answer to the, ‘why do the angry…’ question is all of a sudden crystal clear today. The anger of the Trump crowd is pointed directly towards… drum-roll, please; their own party. Which I suspect we all knew already. Have you ever noticed that the fights you get into with friends and family are almost always ten times more vicious than fights that you get into with people you don’t care all that much about? The fights within our own groups are vicious because each member involved feels personally attacked, regardless of the authenticity of the claim. It feels better, more satisfying  to punch your friend for doing something which you feel betrays the friendship than it does to punch a stranger who picks a fight with you. Trump supporters feel betrayed. They feel let down. They feel completely disenfranchised by the leaders they had chosen to bring about a united effort against the Obama administration.

This is expressly the fault of Mitch McConnell and  Paul Ryan, in my opinion. McConnell has done nothing but disappoint in his tenure as Senate majority leader. Ted Cruz’s pointing out of McConnell’s penchant for stooping to Harry Reid’s level, while accurate to a certain extent, was a tremor in the discord earthquake which would give rise to the Trump tsunami. That coupled, of course, with Ryan’s caving to Democrats at every turn, supporting bailout after bailout and helping to push a spending bill which supported Planned Parenthood as recently as last October, did a tremendous amount of damage to the conservative brand. The final straw for many, was the disastrous budget deal of last December in which Ryan frantically tried to assure conservatives that there were certain policy victories hidden within. That’s not enough, Mr. Speaker. I don’t blame Republicans for being angry. I am too. However, this throwing the baby out with the bathwater approach speaks volumes about the anger which fuels Trump supporters. Anger, when channeled and focused is an amazing motivator. When it is unchecked, nebulous and is given a figurehead who is brilliant at interweaving deep-seated prejudice into an overall message which reinforces a false narrative, it is down right scary.

The disenchantment with the GOP cannot be completely to blame for Trump’s rise. It is quite simple and has been pointed out by various media outlets already. It is a combination of 5 things;

1. Unlimited free air time from major networks.
2. A sense of being fed up with political correctness propagated by their own side.
3. The unfounded belief that Americans (who are currently screaming for higher minimum wage) will take the low paying jobs that illegals normally take.
4. A cringed feeling of world-wide ridicule at our perceived ineptitude in dealing with anything which doesn’t have to do with overreaching social policy.
5. Prejudice.

Now, I am not going to pretend that I don’t somewhat agree with number 4. The United States has routinely, over the past 7 years, shown that we are willing to prefer a lessened status among world powers in exchange for being cast in a more favorable light by countries which couldn’t care less about us in the first place. In the end, Trumpism is more about sticking it to the GOP than it is about any sort of vision for the future. They want to hurt their tribe more than they want to hurt the other. They expect disappointment from the other tribe. Whenever someone becomes overly emotional about a particular candidate rather than the principals by which that candidate would govern, the concern is there in spades. It is the only rational explanation for the complete denial of polling data that shows Trump supporters that their candidate is a huge embarrassment in November.

Either that or its that pesky number 5, rearing it’s ugly head again. But I’m pretty sure most Trump supporters would respond to that much like the boiler plate answer given to the umpteen million questions asked of the closet racist about the hypothetical Black family moving in down the street; we’ll talk about that when we’re alone. 

 

.