The GOP's Awkward Family Week Is About To Commence

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As Hill Republicans stagger back to the Capitol this week, many are coming to terms with what still hadn't sunk in when they recessed 10 days ago: Donald Trump is their nominee.

“Donald Trump was not my first choice. He wasn’t my second choice or third or fourth choice. I have lots have differences with Donald Trump and lots of problems with him, but I am absolutely in the ‘never Hillary Clinton’ camp,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who is running for re-election told the Dom Giordano Program last week. "I guess this is where we are."

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On the House side, Ryan also has a majority to defend even if it is a less fragile one. Still, Ryan had hoped his rise as speaker would empower him to set a policy agenda and sell his conservative plan to voters. Trump, meanwhile, the party's standard bearer at the moment, doesn't even seem to speak the same conservative language. Ryan has pushed for a trade bill. Trump has spent his campaign railing against free trade. On the issue of abortion, Trump's record is inconsistent. On health care, Trump has said he wants to repeal Obamacare, but some of the options he's looking to replace it resemble universal health care, an even more abhorrent option for conservatives. And on entitlements, Trump tells voters he wants to keep them as they are while Ryan has spent his tenure in Congress pitching ways to scale them back.

While it is difficult to imagine Ryan not coming around on Trump, he had been planning to roll out a Republican agenda regardless of who the nominee was, and Ryan's conservative vision isn't just at odds with Trump's, they practically collide.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-gops-awkward-family-trust-fall-is-about-to-commence

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1. "I am not going where Donald Trump is taking the party," Graham said on CNN Friday. nt

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2. Trump’s gonna be Trump: There’s no way in hell he can remake himself for the general election

Liberalism is a culture infected with a deep worrywart impulse, a tendency to mistake cautious optimism for complacency. Little wonder then that this week, when the final obstacles between Donald Trump and the Republican nomination fell away, has caused a bout of panic that our once-great nation will be facing the specter of a President Trump. And so, even though the polling data shows nearly insurmountable odds for Trump, we are nonetheless being subjected to a series of hand-wringing articles about how he’s going to somehow pull this off.

Clearly, we all need to worry really hard in the direction of this slim possibility. That will make all the difference.

Of all the “everyone panic!” articles I’ve read, the only one that gave me pause was a Vox piece by David Roberts titled, “Why the media will lift Trump up and tear Clinton down”. In it, Roberts argues that the systems of political coverage are built around a presumption that it’s a contest between equally matched opponents, and so there’s an incentive to pretend that is true even when it’s not.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/trumps_gonna_be_trump_theres_no_way_in_hell_he_can_remake_himself_for_the_general_election/

[Hortensis]

3. Good articles and observations, Bemildred, thanks.

I'm still smiling at the thought of the GOP's awkward summer family reunion. And of the meeting this Thursday. Wish I could be a fly on that wall!

Wonder what Trump's advisers are telling him in preparation. Apparently they've been encouraging some of his more unrealistic notions (keeping "in" with this nutcase must be quite a balancing act). Otoh, he just competently got anti-abortionists who opposed him strenuously to hop right in line behind him by bringing an anti-abortion conservative they really like on board as an adviser.

He's offered conservative leaders a real sop of reassurance by saying he'll to refer SCOTUS nominations to the ultraconservative Kochopus via one of their public faces, the Heritage Foundation. That of course could cement in an anti-government ideology for the next few decades. He's also promised to get rid of the ACA--but also mentions replacing it with a universal system, lol. Poor evil, conniving schmucks.

Btw, the "Liberalism is a culture infected with a deep worrywart impulse" seemed more of a writer's creative intro to the desired theme than reality. I wish. Liberals are the ones more inclined to figure it'll all work out in the end. Conservatives are the worrywarts, and I envy them for that kick it gives them to get off their butts and go vote. Sort of like the anxious transition phase does for women in labor. We are just more anxious than usual for really good reason.

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4. Thanks.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'd pay to watch that: :"Wonder what Trump's advisers are telling him in preparation."

That would tell you a bunch, which is why we won't get to see it.

Agree about the projection: "Liberalism is a culture infected with a deep worrywart impulse". Bullshit. Conservatives are the worrywarts, they have the most to lose. You got that right.

[MisterP]

5. it's an uncomfortable Thanksgiving that lasts for 6 months! marvelous!

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6. Poor them

And oh, yeah,