At a moment when Republicans had hoped to begin taking on Hillary Clinton – who is seemingly on her way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination – the GOP has instead become consumed by a crisis over its identity and core values that is nearly certain to last through the July party convention, if not the rest of the year.
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At a news conference Friday, Trump said he’ll do well in Florida because of his real estate investments there and because voters feel Rubio “abandoned” them by skipping Senate votes while pursuing national office.
Remove this huge capacity for bullshit and self-deception from the party’s political arsenal-or at least render it ineffective-and it’s hard to envision what mobilization tools (and thus what policies) would replace it. There is an optimistic scenario in which a reconstituted conservative movement organizes around a more productive, less uncompromising politics.
The turmoil grew from coast to coast Monday after a raucous rally in Radford, Virginia, as Trump endured taunts from “Black Lives Matter” protesters a day after initially refusing to disavow the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. “‰’Anybody but Hillary’ is the mantra of a lot of people in our party”. “This party does not prey on people’s prejudice”.
Although he condemned Trump’s initial response to the Klan and Duke questions, Ryan said he will support whoever emerges as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
“We’re seeing really intense Republican energy and turnout and I think that will happen in November”, he said.
“I’m one of those people that’s ‘anybody but Hillary or Bernie, ‘ ” said Williams, former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party.
McConnell reassured Republican members of the upper chamber they could run negative ads against Trump if he becomes the nominee and it threatens their re-election, reports The New York Times. “They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry”, Ryan told reporters after a Republican Party meeting.
Interviewed by phone on ABC’s “Good Morning America” as voters went to the polls early Tuesday, Trump said once again that he had on several occasions disavowed Duke.
A Super Tuesday triumph wouldn’t guarantee Trump the nomination, but analysts said it would put him in position to seize it two weeks later if he can beat rivals Sen.
A Trump rival, Marco Rubio, has only recently made a decision to tap that treasure trove of opposition research.
Trump says on Fox News, “He has to get out”. Pelosi said that while some in the GOP are distancing themselves from Trump, Republicans refused to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds and have blocked renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada noted that both GOP leaders say they expect to support the eventual nominee.
Ryan has previously remained quiet when it comes to campaign matters and has refused to support or denounce anything said on the campaign trail. That doesn’t mean he isn’t anxious – not with polls in Tuesday’s primary states showing the NY businessman with strong support.
“The only reason we were given was that Mr. Trump did not want us there”, 22-year-old senior Brooke Gladney told the newspaper. He said he has tried to avoid commenting on the presidential race but felt a need to speak up.
“I try to stay out of the day-to-day ups and downs of the primary”, Ryan said.
But for someone like Brown, who would like to see OH governor John Kasich win the Republican nomination, or like DeLuz who thinks the current Republican front runner is dividing the party, the 2016 election is heading down a disappointing path.
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Influential voices in conservative circles are attacking Trump more and more loudly. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., an advocate of updating US immigration law, said the prospect of voting for Trump is “not a pleasant thought at all… We had a pretty successful year last year and Republican presidential candidates telling Republican voters that the Republican Congress is the problem I think is exceptionally short sighted”, Cole told CNN.
