HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

Vote was two-thirds anti-Trump

Written February 21st, 2016 by Hasso Hering

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If this indigenous American is not worried about the presidential nominations, it's only because he's made of wood.

If this American icon is not worried about the presidential nominations, it’s only because he’s made of wood.

Trump got 32 percent of the Republicans who voted in the South Carolina primary Saturday, and the Associated Press called this a “commanding victory.” It sounds less impressive when you consider that two-thirds of those Republican voters preferred one of the more sensible candidates, somebody other than Trump.

Republicans have proved a minority in presidential elections lately. So now the current leader for the Republican nomination for president can claim the support of a one-third minority of what is already a minority voting bloc. What makes anyone think someone like that, without even the slighted qualification in democratic government, could actually win the election? When two-thirds of his own party thinks he’s not fit to be president or at least not the best candidate, it’s a thin possibility indeed.

We can blame the number of Republican candidates for Trump’s leading position so far. If they have sense enough to put their country ahead of their own ambition, the others remaining in the contest will get together and get behind one of their group as their candidate. Together, Rubio and Cruz got about 12 points more support in South Carolina than Trump. Either one could probably beat Trump for the nomination if the other dropped out.

And then, if the new frontrunner picked a competent governor — Kasich comes to mind — as a running mate, the Republican ticket might actually have a chance in the fall.

What’s the alternative? The alternative is a government that for the next four years would be run by an idealistic and angry old man who likely would turn the country into a bigger version of Venezuela, where even toilet paper is hard to come by, or, more likely, by someone who can’t be trusted with secret information and whose administration would seem like Obama squared. (hh)





17 responses to “Vote was two-thirds anti-Trump”

  1. Gordon L. Shadle says:

    Trump may be a wild man, but the real wild card this election is FBI Director James Comey.

    • HowlingCicada says:

      Huh? What do you know about Comey that I don’t? Good or bad? Something about his dispute with Apple? Something about the lack of autopsy for Justice Scalia? (something which upsets me even though I’m neither a Republican, nor a conspiracy theorist, nor even a supporter of most of Scalia’s opinions).

  2. Bob Woods says:

    Galatians, 6:7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

    In Congress, since Reagan took over, Republicans held the majority in the Senate for 20 years and the Democrats held it for 18. In the House, the Democrats held it for 20, and the Republicans for 18. Yet since the election of 1996, Republicans have concurrently held both the House and Senate at the same time for 12 years while the Democrats have only done that for 2 years.

    Since 1968 they’ve run Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney. They got 7 presidential terms and the Democrats got 4.

    The Supreme Court is generally seen to have to leaned towards conservatives since 1969 beginning with the Nixon appointments. Since that time Republicans have appointed 13 Supreme Court justices. Democrats have appointed 4.

    The America you see today is a country that has been shaped under Republican control. And most of you Republicans seem to hate it. You created your own problems.

    In the past, Republicans nominated folks that understood that actually running a country required compromise and incremental changes, but sold the base on “…government is the problem” and by promising to “…drown it in the bathtub” and to “slash government spending”. Which never happened.

    They slashed taxes by throwing coins to the masses, and delivering bags of dollars to the elite. They drove up deficits because they promised “no new taxes” but spent the money anyway. Then the economy crashed and they were left holding the now empty bag.

    They promised “revolution” but delivered “evolution” at best.

    For the last 8 years, the Republican Party as not been a party of the “loyal opposition”, they have been a party of hate, catering to the most violent and vitriolic elements they can find in America as they seek to gain total power and control.

    The base has screamed loudly over and over that they want strength, revolution, control, and a wholesale rewriting of laws and court decisions over the last 80 to 220 years.

    That’s the kind of demand that history clearly shows leads to totalitarianism. That is the base that the Republican Party has built.

  3. Bill Kapaun says:

    So when Hilary or Bernie get less than 50%, I guess it means most Democrats don’t like either one of them?

    • Hasso Hering says:

      Well, no. It means half like one, and the other half like the other. But in the crunch, they’ll all vote for one of them over a Republican. (hh)

      • Bill Halsey says:

        And that doesn’t even count the Republicans who will sit this one out because they’re nauseated at the dismal state the GOP has sunk to – or cross over and vote Dem.

  4. HowlingCicada says:

    I don’t see Cruz being a better choice than Trump for a Republican victory in November.

    While Trump may have very high “negatives,” Cruz’es support is probably more Republican-only. I could never vote for Cruz, but could possibly imagine voting for Trump, expecially if some of the conservatives’ accusations against him are true (“pro-choice,” etc).

  5. Bill Halsey says:

    That’s some logic you have there, Hasso. Using the same logic we could also say that the vote was 93% anti-Kasich. Or 88% anti-Cruz or Rubio. Yep, that’s some logic, that is.

  6. centrist says:

    Memory of a question/joke between Dad (WWII vet with 7 relatives resting in Mrs Lee’s yard) and another vet in 1958 — “what’s the difference between a Southern Democrat and a conservative Republican?” The answer puzzled the kid. Six+ years later the answer seems to be ” there are no southern Democrats.”
    How much of the current anti-Democrat angst is voiced by folks who aren’t wearing their white robes publicly?????

    • Hasso Hering says:

      Sure, go right ahead and smear people worried about preserving liberty as Klansmen looking to lynch someone. (hh)

      • centrist says:

        Easy there HH
        Simply saying out loud what others are too polite to say. Haven’t found that the Rs have been much about preserving liberty as about preserving their personal purses for many decades.
        The Rs of Lincoln’s time had something that the current one don’t. I was raised R, but registered D when I came of age to vote against Morse. Nixon pretty much convinced me that the newer Rs were noting I could support.
        BTW, the family has experience with the Klan and Know Nothings, none of it positive. The opinion stands

      • Bill Halsy says:

        You worried about liberty, Hasso? Shall we address your views on how people “should” vote. And what qualifications they “should” have?
        That ain’t liberty – that’s a hard be-like-me game.

  7. Bob Woods says:

    “White Supremacist Groups See Trump Bump”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620

    That was back in December. As Trump continues to win, he will greatly benefit from those that want to support “a Winner”. It happens in every election cycle.

    This is shaping up to be the most critical campaign in a century. There is a very real chance that the United States will become a neo-fascist state under a charismatic leader who admits to no wrong, lies at every turn, insults any who disagrees with him, and garners the support of millions

    Trump. Cruz. Rubio. Bundy’s. Militias. White supremacists, The Republican party is having quite a year.

    The only sane one left is Kasich, and he doesn’t have a chance.

    • Al Nyman says:

      There is a very real chance that the United States will become a neo-fascist state under a charismatic leader who admits to no wrong, lies at every turn, insults any who disagrees with him, and garners the support of millions. Perfect description of President Obama.

  8. Richard Vannice says:

    The majority doesn’t always win, often leading to disaster. In 1933 there was an election in Germany in which 12 parties vied for seats in the German Parliament. The German Nationalist party won with 44 percent of the vote giving them the ultimate power to place Hitler in office and thus leading to a dictatorship and the ensuing world wide consequences.

    I have no idea what the number of German citizens exercised their right to vote; but, if they were anything like the US another minority went to the polls.

    Too much apathy. But, then, Who cares? As long as the voters in this country fail to vote, whether who they vote for or not is the one you prefer, we are in danger of something happen as did in Germany.

 

 
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