Now that Trump has Lost: Let’s Unite

Last updated on: October 29, 2016 at 11:07 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Now that Trump has Lost: Let’s Unite 2016-10-29T11:07:33-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Those that support Donald J. Trump for President of the United States should rejoice. I did not think he could possibly win the primaries (how could he?) and four years ago I thought Mitt Romney would win. Now that I am sure Donald Trump has lost, he will stage a miraculous comeback.

But what if he does not?

If he does not win, then Hillary Clinton will be President. Since one of the reasons I was happy President Obama was elected was ending the Clinton graft, you have even more reason to suspect my ability to foretell specific aspects in the future. I have a knack for the general trends of history, but am far too optimistic about the details!

Still, things could be worse. President-Elect Clinton is at heart a centrist Democrat who will be most interested in a second term in 2020. She will begin the Clinton strategy of “triangulation.” Sadly for her, she will be haunted all four years by memories of a bright young thing, the youthful Bill Clinton, beating George HW Bush out of a fourth Reagan term.

Obama’s magic will be even more faded in 2020 and Clinton will have a tough fight. Despite predictions of apocalypse, the Clinton survival syndrome will move her to the right. She almost surely hopes that Congress will stay in GOP hands, so she can blame the Republicans for her failure to pass liberal policies. In 2020 she can dump Kaine and add Warren to appease her base, but she will have troubles.

Where does that leave conservatives?

First, there is no place in Lincoln’s Party for the alt-Right. They are expelled or all Lincoln and Reagan Republicans will leave for a new Party. That would be a shame, but so be it.

Second, there is no place for Trump cheerleaders. He lost a winnable race by being a perfectly predictable toxic candidate, running the worst campaign in modern times. If a person took a Trump check or was a Trump cheerleader, then they are done.

Third, most Trump voters and “backers” were like my Congressman. I just got his mailer that attacks Secretary Clinton and lauds his record. It fails to mention the nominee. Did Pete Olson endorse Trump? Probably, but he sure did not say much about it. We know what that means. He respected the win, agonized, and then quietly withdrew his support from the indefensible Mr. Trump

People like Hugh Hewitt who called out many of Trump’s foibles fit this category. I did not agree with Hugh about voting for Trump, but then Hugh never acted as if Trump were somehow God’s man and HRC was the End of the West. Hugh stayed sane (at least as sane as the rest of us) and was respectful always of the #neverTrump crowd.

Finally, there are the Trump cheerleaders like the millionaire “president” of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr. He helped the GOP lose a winnable race by not just accepting Trump, but cheering for him. He must go. Anybody who fell into the Trump is “God’s man” or asserted the GOP was “God’s Party” has lost all moral authority. If you couldn’t call sexual assault, sexual assault, because Trump did it, that person has lost all moral authority.

So mostly the Party should be able to be united, but only if there is a general purge of misogynists and racists. Time for the good old boys to go who think that assault is just “macho” or “locker room talk.” The nominee in 2020 cannot be a person who backed Trump . . . as sad as that makes me about the future for Mr. Rubio.

Mr. Sasse or Mr. Cotton should start their engines. If the GOP retains the Senate, then they should give President-Elect Clinton’s nominees to the Courts a hearing and then vote any liberals down. Why? The voters will have given her only a mandate to not be Trump. She is a caretaker until 2020. I don’t envy her the role.

We are now in the loyal opposition. I am thrilled that we have elected a woman as President of the United States, even if I wish it were not a woman who owns her status to her husband. President-Elect Clinton is my head of state, if not my preferred head of government. I prayed for President Obama (almost) every day of his Presidency and I promise to do the same for President-Elect Clinton.

God save her and God save this Republic.

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