Keeper of the flame
Defender of the faith
Guardian of standing athwart and yelling STOP
John Fowler, National Review Publisher, telling us basically that the GOP "establishment" has become the new Surrender Monkeys.
But BTW - "GOP Establishment"? Is that even still a thing? And yes, of course it is, even though they've been striving all these many long years to trick people into thinking there isn't really an "establishment" because that goes against all of that rugged individualism bullshit they've been peddling for those same many long years.
"The Big-Daddy Conservatives" have inveighed against Central Planning forever (working feverishly to make sure the rubes ignore the fact that the strategy comes from a committee at GOP HQ), but now that their party has broken up into a thousand little independent franchising operations, they're all clutching their pearls tight enough to choke a RINO (buh-dum-chssh - sorry).
Anyway, if any of these jokers had ever really bothered to read Ayn Rand, they'd know that the main tenet of Objectivsm is that while a contradiction can exist, it can't prevail. Which means they'd understand that what's happening to the GOP now is what they've actually been saying should happen.
They've wanted everybody standing alone. If we're all separated from each other, we can't very well act in concert with each other, and that way, the people who're already in power get to stay in power, and the rest of us get to pay rent to them.
But then, here comes Trump-o-mania. I can't think of a clearer example of the almost instinctual inclination of people to get together and push back once they realize they're being fucked over. Why, it's almost like they're - dare I say it? - Unionizing.
What I think is going on now is that the old GOP bosses are finding it a lot more difficult to co-opt the Trumpkins like they co-opted the TeaBaggers. The more the GOP tries to play nice and get the rubes to come home, the harder Trump pushes them towards the extreme. Whatever else he is or appears to be, the guy's no dummy. He knows how to hijack a proxy fight at a stockholders' meeting.
And yes, there are some very close parallels with The Bernie Mensches. But don't be stoopid enough to think I'm joining the Both-Siders. If you can't tell the difference between Bernie and Trump, you need to put down the spray paint and go outside for a while.
So - common cause, anyone? Bernie makes a lot of sense for the Trumpkins - all the good stuff about truth-telling and fair deals and solid American values, but without the brown shirts and protester beatings.
