“He used to be a winner”

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post reports on the last gasps of the Trump campaign in North Carolina.

FLETCHER, N.C. — As he took the stage here in this mountain town Friday afternoon, Donald Trump was as subdued as the modest crowd that turned out to see him. He complained about the usual things — the dishonest media, his “corrupt” rival Hillary Clinton — but his voice was hoarse and his heart didn’t seem in it.

He also promised to do all that he could to win, but he explained why he might lose.

“What a waste of time if we don’t pull this off,” Trump said. “You know, these guys have said: ‘It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. There’s never been a movement like this in the history of this country.’ I say, it matters to me if we win or lose. So I’ll have over $100 million of my own money in this campaign.”

“So, if I lose,” Trump continued as the crowd remained unusually quiet, “if I lose, I will consider this —”

Trump didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t really need to. After weeks of controversy and declining poll numbers, Trump and his campaign have settled into a dark funk. Even as he vows to prevail in the race, the GOP nominee’s mood has soured with less than three weeks to go until Election Day.

His final debate performance this week was a bust, with him snarling that Clinton was “such a nasty woman” and gritting his teeth as he angrily ripped pages off a notepad when it was over. He is under fire from all quarters for refusing to say he will honor the election results if he loses, while 10 women have now come forward accusing him of groping or kissing them without consent. The capper to Trump’s bad stretch came Thursday night, when a ballroom full of New York City’s glitterati booed him as he gave remarks attacking Clinton at a charity roast.

The gloomy mood has extended to his signature rallies, which Trump used to find fun. During the primaries, he would bound onto rally stages bursting with energy and a sense of excitement that intensified as the crowds chanted his name and cheered his every word. He would regularly schedule news conferences, call into news shows and chat with reporters, eager to spar with them. He would say politically incorrect things and then watch his polling numbers soar. He used to be the winner.

But no more. In recent days, Trump has tried to explain away his slide in the polls as a conspiracy carried out by the media, Democrats and Republicans. If he loses, it will be because he was cheated, Trump has repeatedly told his supporters, urging them to go to polling places in neighborhoods other than their own and “watch.”

Of course, it must all be lies, given that Johnson works for the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, North Carolinians are so anxious to vote that they are waiting hours in lines in order to vote early. Of course, North Carolina’s Republican-controlled government has done its best to curtail early voting. You wouldn’t want people to vote, you know! Well, you wouldn’t if you’re a Republican. That’s conservatism for ya! I don’t know about you, but I’ve never spent more than five or ten minutes waiting to vote.

By the way, I took a gander at B4V. Where’s Rusty? Has he tapped out already? No shame in that, I guess.

The Problem with Today’s Conservativism

As we near the midterm elections and immediately start down the path of the 2016 Presidential elections, it seems as if the two sides of the political spectrum, liberal and conservative, are getting farther apart. Where once there was a sort of comity and willingness to work toward consensus for the good of the country, we are now so divided that nothing can be accomplished without a solid one-party majority. In my opinion, this gulf between liberals and conservatives boils down to one thing: The System. Conservatives believe if they can’t accomplish their goals, they must destroy the system to ensure it can never be used against them again. This has been on full display in the last few weeks.

Conservatives will destroy the system to get what they want without regard as to who may get harmed in the process. When Obamacare was passed and the States had to decide if they were going to accept Medicaid expansion, some states controlled by conservatives refused, but a number of them have taken steps to ensure those legislative or gubernatorial decisions can’t be reversed. Republican state legislators won’t allow voter referendums on Medicaid expansion in states where the public overwhelmingly supports expansion. In Tennessee, The Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill that would require any Governor to get approval by both chambers before he could expand Medicaid. Their intent was to prevent a future Governor from ever providing access to health care to the poor.

Conservatives believe the judicial system is not a co-equal branch of government when it rules against them. In Oklahoma, the State Supreme Court recently granted a stay in the execution of two men because of a question on whether or not the state had to release information on the drugs to be used for the execution. Governor Fallin refused to recognize the authority of the State Supreme Court and said the executions would take place as scheduled. At the same time, the state legislature immediately started impeachment proceedings against the five justices who voted for the stay. The blatant threat to the justices worked, because the day after the impeachment was announced they reversed their stay. Conservatives are quick to use the threat of impeachment against their opponents, especially the President, but when their own Governor blatantly violates one of the central tenets of the Constitution they are 100% behind her.

When domestic terrorists descend upon a small town in Nevada and threaten government employees, law enforcement officers, and the local residents with guns and bombs, conservatives are full-throated in their support and become incensed at the domestic terrorist label. However, when peaceful protestors stage demonstrations against income inequality, conservatives believe they are fully justified in calling them terrorists and want to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

Conservatives are trying to destroy the concept of voting rights. In state after state where they control the legislatures, they have passed draconian voter ID laws with the sole intent of making it harder for minorities, students, and the poor to vote. In press conferences and in arguments before the courts, they claim these laws are necessary to combat voter fraud, but they have yet to prove that voter fraud is a problem or that photo ID would do anything to prevent it.

We need a two-party system in this country that provides balance. While liberals have slowly been moving to the center of the political spectrum, conservatives have taken a radical turn to the right. They have embraced the radical fringe, like the Teahadists and the Oath Keepers, sacrificing their integrity in order to win statewide elections. We can never get back to a functioning productive government as long as the radicals control the right, so we must continue to fight them and put their beliefs and actions on full display. Shining light on them will lead to more and more voters seeing them for what they truly are. Radical conservatives will win fewer and fewer elections, only being successful in small areas where the Teahadists and Birthers dominate the electorate. Eventually the Republican Party will change, or it will disappear into history with a new moderate conservative party taking it’s place.