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| A Republican Primary. |
Mitt
Romney, 2012 GOP nominee, had finally taken up the gauntlet of stoutly
resisting Donald Trump in a savage, lacerating assault on Thursday March 3rd.
That’s a prospect that Republican party elders were loath to confront because
of their fear of sparking an internal war that would not only weaken the party,
but prevent them from winning the general elections come November. Quietly,
they nursed the vain hope that the Trump candidacy would be treated as a joke,
waiting to fade into oblivion without leaving a sour taste in the mouth. But
they underestimated the anger of the citizens, and the distrust and scorn with
which they hold politicians of every stripe who go to Washington to entrench
themselves, abandoning the promises they made to the people who elected them
into power.
Tapping
into the resentment and fears, both real and imagined, of the evangelicals and
working-class whites, on many issues, especially trade and illegal immigration,
the real estate mogul called The Donald confounded the predictions, dismissive
or tentative, of many political pundits and observers as he did not flame out, but
went ahead to solidify his front-runner status through his many commanding
victories in the Republican primaries conducted so far. Captured in the popular
imagination as a hard clever negotiator, first-class wealthy businessman, a
self-funded non-politician who cannot be bought and pocketed by any money-bags,
when Mr Trump bellows to the adulating crowds that “we will make America great
again” , they believe him. So far, they are not prepared to countenance any
argument to the contrary, no matter how well reasoned.
With
Jeb Bush, derided as “low energy” by Trump himself, humiliated out of the race,
showing the ambivalence with which he ran, despite his $100 million war chest;
and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz failing to make any appreciable impact due to
their lack of consistency and courage in frontally challenging Donald Trump at
the risk of alienating his loyal supporters, the field was clear for Trump to
become the driver of the Republican party.
If
there is still any chance remaining to energize the party faithfuls to wrest
control of the party from Mr Trump, the party elders needed someone of immense
gravity and importance. The unpleasant task of trying to slam the brakes on Trump’s
momentum fell inevitably on Mitt Romney, one-time governor of Massachusetts and
2012 Republican presidential nominee who happened to be the son of George
Romney, a governor of Michigan, extensively deep in Republican politics. The
attack was unprecedented and unsparing. Speaking at the University of Utah,
Mitt Romney said: “Here’s what I know: Donald Trump is a phoney, a fraud. His
promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing
members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White
House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”
Pointing
to Trump’s “ bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd
third-grade theatrics,” Romney said that “dishonesty is Donald Trump’s
hallmark.”
Going
further, Romney said of Trump: “He has neither the temperament nor the
judgement to be president. Mr Trump is directing our anger for less-than-noble
purposes.”
The
jury is still out if Romney’s desperate plea would dissuade other Republicans
from joining forces with Donald Trump. What is clear is that if anybody
expected Trump – a blow-hard, pugnacious, take-no-prisoners warrior – to take
Romney’s unprecedented assault lying low, they were hugely disappointed.
Characteristically, The Donald came back swinging hard, stinging with
undisguised derision. Of Romney, he said: “He was begging for my endorsement. I
could have said: ‘Mitt, drop to your knees’ he would have dropped to his knees.”
Accused
of hypocrisy and disloyalty for attacking a man he asked to endorse him during
his presidential race of 2012, Mitt Romney defended himself that he was forced
to go on the offensive when Trump hesitated to disavow the white supremacist,
David Duke’s endorsement. That he would not like to embrace “a bigot” that
Trump has proved himself to be.
We
have not seen the end of this escalating fight. Does the Republican
establishment have the stomach to endure a long-drawn out war with Trump who
has never hidden his resolve to revolt and run on a third-party platform,
should there be any undemocratic gang-up to stop his nomination? Are they going
to make peace with Donald Trump, and hope that he would show pragmatic and
conciliatory leadership in their battle to take occupation of the White House? Listening
to Ben Carson after he ended his presidential campaign officially on Friday, it
seems likely that avoiding internal war and making peace with Trump is a more
tolerable option for some leading Republicans.
Defending
Trump, he said that Mitt Romney’s tear-down of Donald Trump would “destroy the
unity in the party...People who think Donald Trump would be the worst thing
that ever happened, you make a really big mistake by trying to thwart the will
of the people.”
Carson
pointed out that Trump’s biggest goal includes being “successful. That’s a huge
part of him. He would feel terrible if he had a presidency that was not
successful. And he’s smart enough to know that he cannot have a successful
presidency with some of the things that he’s talking about, so he would appoint
people who were very, very good and very, very smart, and he would largely stay
out of their way.”
Looking
at the vast mine-field of political gerrymandering in the Republican party, Josh
Marshall, editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo said: “This #NeverTrump
nonsense will never be convincing if the entire Republican party is saying Trump
is a danger to country and party and that the GOP faces an historic turning
point while they also agree to support Trump if he’s nominated.”
What
is very clear however is that Mr Trump has proved himself to be a hard,
unflinching and tenacious fighter.
Opportunistic, perhaps, but not lacking in the area of bouncing
confidence. Learning fast as a
politician, he has even shown he is willing to reverse or amend his position in
order for him to become more acceptable to others who are terrified of his
strongly-held views. Concerning the use of torture on terrorism suspects, he
had said, “the United States is bound by laws and treaties, and I will not
order a military officer to disobey the law. It is clear that as president, I
will be bound by laws just like all Americans.”
Here’s
the reality check. No matter our best of intentions, we must eventually come
around to the basic doctrine of democracy that Ben Carson harped on: “You make
a really big mistake by trying to thwart the will of the people.”
Whether
the American people would eventually vote in as president this fascinating
master manipulator and spinner that Daily Kos calls “reckless and remorseless”,
a man who tried to hide his German ancestry but kept a book of Hitler’s speeches,
My New Order, by his bed – and apparently has stolen a few tricks from Hitler’s
playbook on mass psychology and propaganda – no one can predict. What is certain is that
whatever choice the American people makes as the leader of the free world, the
rest of the world must learn to make peace with it.
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