In fact one of the most ironic screeds of the day comes from The Weekly Standard, who has been leading the #NeverTrump charge since day one and concludes their daily rant by calling Republicans prepared to unite behind Trump now that he is the last man standing out of the 17 original GOP candidates, a bunch of "unprincipled sellouts."
And now he will be the Republican party's nominee for president. Reince Priebus, the party's chairman, called for Republicans to unite around Trump and rally to his cause. One by one they fell in line—the unprincipled sellouts, the rising stars, the veteran officeholders, the would-be nominees. Jon Huntsman and Rick Scott. Nikki Haley and Brian Sandoval. Rob Portman and Kelly Ayotte. Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal.
The reason this particular "establishment" pundit screed is so ironic is because this is the same publication that lectured voters that did not think John McCain was the best candidate in 2008 to "Let's Grow Up, Conservatives" and "defeat the Democrats in November." The same publication that wrote, just a day before the 2012 Presidential elections all the reasons why, in their not-so-humble-we-are-the-political-geniuses" opinion, "Why Romney Will Win."
In case they need a reminder, the candidates that were shoved down Americans throats, the politically elite "selected".... lost in 2008 and in 2012.
Perhaps someone should send them a little note to "Grow Up, Conservative and defeat the Democrats (Hillary Clinton) in November 2016."
The point here being it is to the media's benefit to hype the "divide" in the Republican and Democratic parties because without controversary, they won't have readers, but they are being given plenty of material by the #NeverTrump crybabies that believe voters that disagree with them are too stupid to actually vote because... well... they are the pundits and voters are just people who, unfortunately for those oh-so-brilliant establishment-backing pundits, are allowed to vote and each one of the "peoples" votes count every bit as much as those of the pundits.
Which is where we find out that the "big divide" is manufactured, perpetuated by the #NeverTrumpsters, but still manufactured as a new Gallup survey finds that "rank and file Republicans," those not of the political class, are much less divided than the MSM and the political class would like us to believe:
We also have interesting data collected this past weekend on vote intentions. Seventy-one percent of Republicans said they would be likely to vote for Trump, with 21% ruling it out. Clinton? Among Democrats, 73% said they would be likely to vote for her, with 21% ruling it out. So, in terms of vote projection at this point, Trump is no more dividing the Republican Party than Clinton is dividing the Democratic Party. The same percent of partisans say they will not vote for their party's front-runner.
This suggests that Trump is not in as unusual a position as some might think. We need to be somewhat cautious in assuming that Republicans across the nation are riven by a devastating rift because of divided emotions about Trump. The significant majority of Republicans, in fact, apparently like Trump and say they are likely to vote for him, and Trump's image is only marginally more divisive among Republicans than Clinton's is among Democrats.
While poll numbers change, what they are good for is to get a feel of what "voters" are thinking rather than what the media is focusing on as to what the political "elite" establishment is thinking.
If this Republican primary season has taught us anything at all... it is that ordinary voters no longer care what the establishment thinks, wants, or tells us to do.
Laura Ingraham has an absolutely must-read article titled "Trump v. Clinton … and Bush," with a subheader of "As NeverTrumpers plot away, a reality check is in order," in which she does a great job detailing the differences between Trump and Clinton and Bush, focusing more on conservative priorities, but it is at the end of her article where we see the mindset that she seems to share with the majority of the "rank-and-file Republicans" spoken of in the Gallup survey.
During the American Revolution, the Patriots had a simple slogan: Join or Die. Not “Join, and We’ll All Be Happy.” Not “Join, and We’ll Build a Great Country.” Not “Join, and We’ll All Stick to Our Principles.” No: Join or Die. They knew working together would hurt. They knew the inevitable compromises would bother their conscience. They knew that they wouldn’t get the country they really wanted. But they also understood — much more than we do — that life is hard, and it’s often unfair.
In Federalist 51, James Madison wrote: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” But men are not angels. We are flawed, and taking politics seriously means agreeing to deals you don’t like.
To that end, those of us who will be voting for Trump are willing to work with all people of good faith to stop Hillary Clinton, and reclaim American sovereignty. If you don’t want to help us, we’ll understand. But we’ll never stop trying to help you.
The #NeverTrump political class, the establishment and die-hard Ted Cruz supporters still going through the five stages of grief after Cruz suspended his campaign, troll political threads that are supportive of Trump, accusing supporters of refusing to see his flaws, putting him on a pedestal or thinking he is a God, all claims we have seen here at ANP and across the Internet in comment sections, yet those same critics ignore the fact that Trump, whom Cruz once called a "force of nature," has figuratively run over each and every one of the other 16 candidates as proven by each one dropping out of the race before the last of the primaries have even occurred.
That doesn't make Trump without flaws, it doesn't put him on a pedestal and it certainly doesn't make him anyone's god, what it does is acknowledge reality, which is that Trump is the the last man standing after a brutal primary season and the person that knocked 16 other GOP candidates out of the race and, more importantly, that is not a career politician, not a member of the political class.
Donald Trump is the person standing between Hillary Clinton and the White House.
The American Thinker concludes an article published this morning with a statement which encompasses exactly what the political class should be doing right now in order to keep Hillary out of the White House:
Donald Trump is speaking to what has become vestigial folk memory in Fishtown about what this country is, what it has done and what it is capable of doing again. In his undisciplined, meandering rhetorical style, Trump exhibits no fluency in the language of classical liberalism or the American Creed, because he is not a native speaker. Instead, Trump evokes rough virtues once universally celebrated there -- at least until Fishtown men stopped wearing ties to funerals. Of course these are John Ford’s, William Wellman’s, Frank Capra’s or John Milius’ truths rather than Frederich von Hayek’s, but so what? Trump is offering nothing more nuanced than the Marseillaise scene at Rick’s. It is just as sloppily jejune, but it speaks successfully to people untouched thus far by National Review or The Weekly Standard, and hitherto given up entirely by the political class to TMZ. If Trumpismo can spark their political re-engagement then it creates the opportunity to persuade them to embrace the serious, and potentially painful, policy reforms and personal renewal necessary to begin returning this nation to security and prosperity. Rather than fear their reaction, political leaders can once again enlist their energy and renewed faith in America. Instead of deprecating a chance to rebuild social capital, politicians and opinion leaders worthy of the name ought to be prepared to run to the front of the parade and guide it.
Trumpismo may turn out to be a better political opportunity than a pathetic Republican leadership class deserves.
Well said.
BOTTOM LINE
Instead of telling the general public what is best for them, the political class, the establishment "elite," need to make a choice... Trump or Clinton.... then live with their choice because if they continue with their antics, their temper tantrums and continue to give the MSM the manufactured divide narrative, we the people, will hold them accountable if Hillary Clinton takes the White House.
The so-called "elite" have suffered a devastating blow and it is about to get much worse for them if they do not sit down, shut up, and get out of Americans way.
As Rick Perry explains below... it comes down to priorities.
