♣ The Nominee is the party and the party the nominee. It can be no other way in a democracy. Donald Trump showed his colors early on but staunch republicans failed to oust their candidate when they had the chance. It’s clear they wanted a winner first and foremost. Republicans wanted a winner so intensely in fact that they backed a man who in retrospect many consider a boar and a bigot, a loose canon, a renegade, a disruptive intruder at odds with their party’s designated values. A distance into the circus tour that comprised the Trump campaign, signs that Donald Trump was a man of poor character seemed of little concern to the GOP desperate for control. From Jump Street the authoritarian ring master flaunted brash contempt on the sleeve of his coat like a neon swasticka armband with scarce a murmur of righteous indignation from Republicans.

Trump mocks a handicapped journalist.

Now it’s official. Donald Trump is the GOP nominee. Too late. The people have spoken. Indeed the Republican party has spoken. Suddenly staunch Republicans want to distance themselves from Trump, a difficult task as now they drink from the same tainted well as he. Even now,  genie hovering sprightly over his bottle, it’s not so much Donald Trump’s poor character that’s in question as his misalignment with standard Republican values. Wow, what a sad and sobering testament to those values. Despite his brazen slander, racist rhetoric and maledictory speech, his blatant lies, childish antics, organizational nonconformity and of course the waking cries from all his outraged detractors, Trump continues to run a pretty close race. Whatever the end, republicans can’t win for the losing. For the GOP, win is lose and lose win. Whatever the end, the end is nigh for the GOP, this owing as much to lost integrity in the ranks as to the anarchistic turns of their perfidious rogue agent Donald Trump. The nominee is the party and the party the nominee. It can be no other way in a democracy.

Yes, Republicans drink from the same tainted well today. To the unprincipled, truth, right and precedent are elusive ideas which inspire little conviction. For those who lack conviction all of life is serious quandary. Those Republicans in a quandary over Trump are simply lost as to whether to serve the party or serve their errant candidate. They’re lost as to whether to serve victory or serve the public good? Of course, the standard way to freshen a well is to disinfect the water. As long as contaminate Trump continues to dip his ladel into the party well, cleansing the dirty font remains moot however. A pure well from which all Republicans might drink these days cannot endure for one integral reason, due to one salient fact, according to one ineluctable truth. The nominee is the party and the party the nominee. It can be no other way in a democracy.

Those chosen to moderate the Republican primary debates allotted Donald Trump too much space to misbehave, space that soon unleashed a bully and his tactics, crucial stomping ground that clinched the nomination for Trump in the end. In addition, many staunch Republicans waited too long to grow a conscience. Many another party hack never did. More, many staunch Republicans waited too long for Trump to get in line. Sadly, Trump never did. Tough luck. Snooze, ya loose, morally and materially. Staunch Republicans knew from the start exactly who Trump was. As soon as they chose to hold out, they sold out. Now it’s a lock, a done deal: No deposit, no return. The nominee is the party and the party the nominee. It can be no other way in a democracy.

–♦©M. D. Phillips–awincingglare.com