Many Republican friends are now doubling down. They want you to think this - if Hillary wins it will only be because she is not Trump.
If she wins- so goes the story - it will have nothing to do with the carefully thought-out policies she has been explaining for months, nothing to do with her plans to improve the economy, the environment, and America's position in the world.
Here is a summary of one version from the October 13th Washington Free Beacon: Hillary will be a fluke president simply and solely because of the ineptness of her opponent. If only Jeb, Marco, or John Kasich had been her opponent, she surely would have lost. Her victory will be due to the truly deplorable character of the present Republican nominee. In short, she will have no mandate (even if she wins by fifteen points and forty states.)
We can come up with many theories about how the Republican Party allowed a man like Donald Trump to become its candidate for President. Perhaps it has something to do with the energetic opposition of Congressional Republicans to all those Obama initiatives which would have helped address the legitimate concerns of Trump's most committed followers?
But whatever the reason, Republicans are showing increasing signs of fear that they are going to lose the White House to Hillary Clinton. Sincethe drubbing they are taking for Trump's statements and behavior has become almost cringe-inducing, perhaps Democrats can use the drubbing to lay the groundwork for unlocking the Washington stalemate.
On August 17 when Trump attempted to legitimize the Breitbart world view by making its leader Stephen Bannon his campaign CEO, he "unshackled." He stepped up his attempt to de-legitimize all institutions of government starting with the Obama Presidency, and the Republican Congress, the court system, the electoral process, the Federal Reserve, the American military ….in short, he has worked to de-legitimize "the Establishment" which he insists has made America ungreat.
Before Trump fired his first two campaign managers, Lewandowski and Manafort, It had been easy for Republicans to say that knee-jerk attacks by their nominee were evidence he suffered from a puerile inability to stay "on message." But, no, his attacks, taken as a whole as opposed to one by one, were the message. Post-Bannon/Breitbart,we can now see with crystal clarity the consistency throughout his campaign of what Trump has been saying: "The system must be overthrown, and only I can save America." And it is that message which will be rejected by the American voter.
The Republican establishment, having finally understood the profoundly radical essence of their candidate's message, is jumping overboard in ever more panicked waves, clinging to the no-mandate-for-Hillary life raft as their last line of defense.
They don't yet recognize that should Hillary win big time, voters will also be rejecting the effects of Republican obstructionism.
As of this writing, although it looks good for the chances of a Hillary Clinton Presidency, polls are notoriously unreliable (think Brexit and Colombia), and some swing states remain surprisingly close.
But in the event of a Hillary victory, whatever the margin and however long her coattails may be, there will be at least one undeniable mandate. And that will be a mandate to the severely damaged Republican Party itself:
Work with the President to protect and heal America.
Work with the President to create a fiscal policy that builds infrastructure, creates working class jobs and stimulates the economy.
Work with the President to understand and address the anger and disaffection of the hard core Trump supporters that have brought your party to its knees.
And we can be sure that at least part of President Hillary Clinton's mandate will be to help the Republicans find their better selves, like she did when she worked and prayed with them as a Senator.
We are stronger together.
###
October19, 2016
