The loyalists are those who expect total fealty to Trump and his every whim, no matter how destructive. There will be no constructive criticism or attempts to lessen the impact of another hasty, ill-conceived Trump edict. To do so gets them labeled “establishment,” or the new catchphrase, “deep state,” and the alt-right, tinfoil hat wearing, extremely low-info, hoax-pushing minions will punish them for it.
The actual conservatives no longer trust them. They saw what they did at the RNC convention a year ago. They saw formerly respected members of the party fall in line behind a man not fit to shine their shoes on a New York street corner, without even an ounce of the integrity that was once ascribed to them. The leaders of the party and the ones we’d hoped would lead the charge to pull us out of the horrendous Obama years became Yes men and Yes women to a lecherous, conniving, adulterous con artist.
And now, the chickens are coming home to roost, and they are crowing oh-so loudly.
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Make no mistake: Liberal Democrats are giddy, right now. The Trumplicans are raging, out to punish those who have not shown the appropriate amount of deference to the king. The principled conservatives are stepping back, unwilling to sully their hands, any further. Democrats are counting the ways they’ll punish Trump and the GOP, once they manage to wrest control of the House back in their favor.
All of this could have been avoided, had the party leaders chose to stand on the principles that were the base of the party for so long, and weather the storm of Trumpism, rather than to immediately acquiesce.
But that would have required moral courage.