Having a hard time articulating my answer to the dangers of Trump and what he stands for. I’ve deleted several paragraphs so far…
Even up against as polarizing a figure as Hillary, I don’t see him winning. IF he did, hypothetically, I think seeing him fail to achieve his goals would most likely result in total defeatism in his supporters. Then the question becomes, what remains of the GOP after being stripped of this group’s support. If he miraculously won, I don’t see how anyone who out Trumps Trump could possibly win some sort of referendum on the man.
Now if we want to explore the scariest hypothetical, Trump gets in, puts on a good show but unlike Obama facing a pure partisan opposition, Trump faces a bipartisan “establishment” opposition. He rallies his supporters to vote out as many GOP establishment seats as possible and replace them with those sympathetic to or loyal to him. I don’t see this happening. He IS a good showman. He IS a personality people are drawn to. Maybe they don’t all like him, but it’s just hard to look away when he gets the spotlight. I don’t think he can simply lend out or bestow that type of support to others.
So what about losing? First, the GOP establishment can go, WE TOLD YOU SO! They are even given the opportunity to cut this group loose. Now possibly, that’s not their decision, maybe this group becomes so disenfranchised that they just crawl away and are no longer a political variable. I doubt either would happen though. I think that volatility and hand biting be damned, they will still court these voters. Maybe I’m wrong and the establishment will finally try and reinvent itself. If they trim off their more extremist edges and promoted fiscal conservatism and state rights that sounded realistic rather than just lip service, I think they could still grow the party. And their cases for State’s rights can’t be pandering to those fighting social issues. In fact, they need to raise the white flag on some social issues. Pandering to those who long for the bad ol’ days is no longer worth the gains. If you can’t sell a group on your whole platform, or at least the vast majority of it, you are vulnerable to someone who panders to them harder than you. They are learning right now that taking fringe elements of your party for granted is dangerous.
Then lastly we have the scenario that Trump becomes a martyr to his cause. I’m not sure what my take on this is. I don’t see his supporters as having a goal. What happens when you have an angry mob given proof that the others are out to stop them? Do they get more angry? I guess it depends a lot on who martyred him… Then, who can co-opt them to their side?
Had to edit train of thought derailment which was contradicting myself...