Tribe: It's as if Trump's determined to destroy the entire country. "If you won't love me, then F-U" [View all]

[highplainsdem]

Lauremce Tribe was commenting on yesterday's column by Eugene Robinson (link and excerpt from that below), in which Robinson said it's as if Trump is out to destroy the GOP.

Tribe says it's worse than that:

Link to tweet

I’d up the ante: It’s as if Trump is determined to destroy the entire country. His parting message: “If you won’t love me, then F-U.” A scorched earth departure. One worthy of Steve Bannon or Stephen Miller. Or Nero!

Robinson's column yesterday:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-leading-the-republican-party-down-a-sewer-of-unabashed-racism/2020/06/25/44073be6-b71c-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html

It’s almost as if Trump is determined to destroy the Republican Party


-snip-

I’m talking to you, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. And you, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado. And you, Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Steve Daines of Montana, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and John Cornyn of Texas. And while those of you in deep-red states whose reelection ordinarily would be seen as a mere formality may not see the giant millstones you’ve hung around your necks as a real risk, think again. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, you should look at the numbers and realize you are putting your Senate seats — and the slim GOP majority — in dire jeopardy.

You can run and hide from reporters asking you about Trump’s latest statements or tweets. You can pretend not to hear shouted questions as you hurry down Capitol hallways. You can take out your cellphones and feign being engrossed in a terribly important call. Ultimately, you’re going to have to answer to voters — and in the meantime you have decided to let Trump speak for you. Best of luck with that.

It is not really surprising that Trump, with his poll numbers falling and his reelection in serious jeopardy, would decide to use race and public health as wedge issues to inflame his loyal base. That’s all he knows how to do.

-snip-

All the other Republicans who fail to speak up while Trump runs the most nakedly racist presidential campaign since George Wallace in 1968 shouldn’t kid themselves. Their silence amounts to agreement. Perhaps there’s enough white bitterness out there to carry the Republican Party to another narrow win. But that’s not what the polls say.

Trump’s antics are self-defeating. He’ll put on a racist show for a shrinking audience, but he won’t wear the masks that could allow the economic reopening he desperately wants. He may be able to avoid reality, but the Republican governors — including Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida — scrambling desperately to contain new outbreaks cannot.

-snip-

Of course Trump never cared about the Republican Party, or any other party. He just views political parties, like individuals and situations, in terms of how much he can exploit them. And he knew he could exploit the Republicans, easily, after they fell for his birther idiocy.