“What happened to this party?”
That’s the line on the cover page, and the title of the lead article, of the latest soon-to-be-released issue of TIME magazine.
The terrible and tragic times of the Republican Party, in the United States, is quite obviously a subject bothering many people, making them wonder ‘what happened to this party’.
The same party that once boasted such stalwarts as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, seems to be in dire straits. And the proof of it is, needless to say, a man called Trump.
If the Republican Party’s frontrunner for the US Presidential candidate happens to be a man called Donald Trump, who is fomenting divisive feelings among people, and not talking much about his economic policies, what else can we make of it?
If he forgets that USA is itself a nation of migrants, and keeps attacking migrants, illegal ones of course; and if he keeps telling his voters that he somehow feels that “Islam hates us”, what else is he driving at? Except, at division and at discrimination?
The forceful and divisive politics of this business magnate – who probably never experienced what it means to be poor and middle class – is preventing other Republican candidates from even simply speaking up.
Trump supporters will rough up anyone protesting against him. And the massive protests outside Trump Election Rally locations show us that there are many who do not see eye to eye with Trump policies.
The cancellation and postponement of Trump’s Chicago election rally, which was scheduled for Friday 11 March, amidst security concerns, is a clear indication that things are getting out of hand.
Whatever violence there is, occurring between Trump supporters and protesters, according to Trump, is orchestrated by his rivals. But he does not admit that his aggressive words are, very often, emboldening his supporters to physically attack his rivals at these rallies.
He once told his audience “to punch that guy in the face” when someone interrupted him from the audience.
But whatever we say, the bottom line is this. Trump is the leading candidate among the Republicans.
He won 15 out of the 24 states he contested in. The closest to him is Ted Cruz. And at a distant third is Marco Rubio.
Another candidate Ben Carson had withdrawn from the race to be the Republican candidate, and said he will not mind being the Vice Presidential Candidate if Trump asks him.
A simple look at the performance of Donald Trump in the last few GOP (Republican) debates is enough to show that his show is more than his stuff. And other Republican candidates are just not giving him a good fight.
And the voters are falling for Trump’s aggressive stand against what he terms as Islamic terrorism, and migrant crisis.
I feel that if you can make your own country’s citizens feel like the world outside is out to get into your country, to kill you, or rob you of your jobs, obviously, the citizens will rally behind you. And this strange strategy, so far, seems to be working well, for Trump.
But the Texas senator Ted Cruz says it will be a “disaster” for Republicans — and the country — if Donald Trump becomes the party’s presidential nominee. And he says that the answer to beating Trump isn’t a brokered convention, but instead to “beat him at the ballot box.”
In the Republican camp, still contesting are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. But Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorna are out of the Republican race.
And Donald Trump does not really seems to be its trump card, if it wants to win.
In the democratic camp, Hillary Clinton is still leading, while Bernie Sanders is not giving up. But chances are Clinton will be chosen by them.
What is clear is this. The Republican Party is no longer what it used to be. They must probably call them “no longer GOP”, rather than “GOP”, the Grand Old Party.