Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:58 pm
Donald Trump might beg to differ with Priebus’ pronouncement, which is the latest in a series of damage control measures taken by the Republican Party in the wake of Donald Trump’s triumphant primary tour.
Trump has already threatened to unseat Speaker Paul Ryan from his chairmanship of the Republican Convention, and Ryan, admitting that his party is falling apart, then proved it by sheepishly promising to do whatever Mr. Trump wants him to do.
“He’s the nominee. I’ll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention.”
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Talking to radio host Mike Gallagher, Priebus tried to reassure worried Republicans:
“Number one, Donald Trump is not wanting to rewrite the platform, okay? He’s just not. So all that anxiety, just take it off the table. Not willing to do that. But, you know, get into that, tell people that, that you don’t want to rewrite, you like, you appreciate and agree with the platform the way it is.â€
Listen courtesy of Right Wing Watch:
This is not at all the message Americans are getting from Trump, who has bragged that he won the Republican Party and it is now to do with as he pleases. As Right Wing Watch’s Miranda Blue writes, “Trump has explicitly said that he would want to change the Republican platform on abortion.”
It is difficult to say, of course, what any final Trump positions might be on any issue, given 9 out of every 10 things he says is a lie, and given his tendency to say what he thinks his audience wants to hear. None of that may matter given the tendency of Trump supports to mistake bullsh*t as something profound, according to a new study.
Priebus also sought to allay worries about the Supreme Court in Trump’s hands:
“Second thing is, I think that they ought to release however many names — five, 10 names — people that would make great Supreme Court justices, from which you’re willing to choose a justice from. You know, something that the Federalist Society and the Heritage folks — you know, solid names that we can say, okay, this is what this is about. This is what this is about. It’s about a conservative Supreme Court for generations.â€
Yes, it is that, and Americans have shown they trust Obama and Clinton more than they trust Trump when it comes to nominating those Supreme Court justices.
According to Paul Ryan now, speaking to the Journal Sentinel, “I never said never. I just said (not) at this point. I just want to get to know the guy … We just don’t know each other.”
The Republican Party is going through some post-Trump convulsions. The Establishment is wondering how it is both going to contain Trump and more importantly, survive him, and the Religious Right is pondering the lesser of two evils.
It is important not to overstate the case, however, as Gallup is showing that only 31 percent of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Trump. For comparison, Clinton has an unfavorable rating among 26 percent of Democrats.
Ryan will meet with Trump Thursday and the results should be interesting. Also telling will be results of today’s Republican primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska. Everyone but Trump might have dropped out, but there are still names on the ballots, leaving Republicans the opportunity for a protest vote.
In the end, Priebus is telling us that Trump doesn’t want to change the GOP platform, but figuring out what Trump’s platform is might be the bigger trick. Until then, Republicans voters will have to go by his latest lie.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
