Trump dominates the GOP base. Party leaders live with the consequences.

[DonViejo]

By Dan Balz November 11 at 2:27 PM

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Republicans have been dealing with a split between their establishment wing and a populist insurgency for some time. This is a function of the widening socioeconomic coalition that now comprises the Republican Party, a coalition that includes what used to be called country club Republicans; evangelical Christians, who became a powerful force inside the party beginning with Ronald Reagan (and who are no longer a monolithic political force); and a 21st-century version of what once were called Reagan Democrats. Trump has added an additional layer.

The tea party was a manifestation of the tensions within the party. Its rise in 2010 produced some of the same kinds of divisions that former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon is trying to generate today — dissatisfaction aimed at the party’s Washington leadership.

Before there was candidate Trump, the Republicans were embroiled in a different kind of debate about their future. That dispute was symbolized by the presidential candidacies of Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas. Cruz represented the view that the party should double down on its conservative values and rally what he said was its silent, conservative base. Rubio envisioned an appeal designed to expand the GOP coalition in a different way, by attracting more Latinos and younger voters.

The argument was a response to Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012. Cruz said the party lost those elections not because Republican policies and ideas were too conservative and its appeal too narrow. He argued that the problem was that Sen. John McCain in 2008 and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2012 were not sufficiently or authentically conservative. It was Cruz’s belief that there were in fact millions of conservative voters who were on the sidelines because their presidential nominees were not true conservative champions.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dominates-the-gop-base-party-leaders-live-with-the-consequences/2017/11/11/3f2a14de-c6f3-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html

[Madam45for2923]

1. The stupidest thing GOP did was have 20 candidates for Prez.

[underpants]

2. Yep. Trump started "winning" with 20% of primary votes.

Also he has turned over their rocks. From the overt racist to the exposure of their Radical Evangelical Wackos, both of which they've been hiding for years, to losing the control of the base by just feeding them strips from the touchstone words table. Oddly it was they're own creation of the Teabaggers (to hide a part in full free fall) that started all this.