Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:12 pm
Day one of the Republican National Convention and war has already broken out, and this war brings drips of sarcasm and snark that is most decidedly a step up from Trump’s thuggish name-calling.
It all started with Paul Manafort, Trump’s “campaign manager”, accusing Ohio’s Republican Governor and previous 2016 Republican primary candidate John Kasich of refusing to endorse Trump because he wants to be the President, according to a report in the New York Times.
Manafort called Kasich “petulant” and said he is embarrassing the Republican Party in Ohio (talk about projection).
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Manafort then blamed Kasich strategist John Weaver for the situation, saying Weaver thinks Kasich has a better chance of being president if he doesn’t support Trump (it couldn’t be that Trump is so abhorrent that Kasich won’t endorse him, no, not ever Trump’s fault).
Manafort put the Trump thug stamp on this statement by telling the Times this is “a dumb, dumb, dumb thing.â€
Mr. Weaver replied in a way that will make you weep with gratitude for a sign of sanity in the Republican Party. In an email to the Times, Weaver wrote that Manafort’s problem is that he’s spent so much time on the lam with thugs and autocrats that he doesn’t recognize integrity. This is followed by a perfectly dished out dig about the disastrous VP roll out.
Oh yes.
In full:
“Manafort’s problem, after all those years on the lam with thugs and autocrats, is that he can’t recognize principle and integrity. I do congratulate him though on a great pivot at the start of the convention after such a successful vice-presidential launch. He has brought great professionalism, direct from Kiev, to Trump world.â€
Governor John Kasich is one of the last of the old Republican Party. Not to suggest that his attacks on unions and women and more would be helpful to the country, but rather that he has the integrity to know that he doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of history by standing with Trump. We can disagree on policy, but still stand together in acknowledging the danger of Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
Kasich is under tremendous pressure to do the Party’s bidding and bow down to Trump, but he is standing tall. Kasich was the best choice for Republicans, but he lost because he’s not crazy or stupid.
People might disagree with Kasich’s policies, but the man has a rare form of political backbone sorely missing in U.S. politics right now.
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