Romney Isn’t Sure the Republican Party Can Survive

[DonViejo]

Mitt Romney said in a podcast interview that he didn’t know how the Republican party could be put back together after this election.

It’s hard for me to gauge what would happen if Mr. Trump were to lose. I think it’s more likely he’ll lose than not. If he were to win, I think my party would be particularly troubled between those who were strong supporters of Mr. Trump and a smaller number at that stage who would be wanting to go in a different direction. But if he were to lose, then I think there are going to be many, many people who still carry his banner — a banner, if you will, of anger, resentment, wanting dramatic change, different policies on immigration and trade than we have typically adopted as a party versus those who are the traditional, more mainstream Republicans.

Whether they can come back together again or not is a darn good question. I happen to think that for that to happen requires a person of unusual skill: a Churchill, an Eisenhower, an individual who’s able to step forward, a Reagan, who’s able to step forward and bring people together.

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https://politicalwire.com/2016/10/14/romney-isnt-sure-the-republican-party-can-survive/

[geek tragedy]

1. Vast majority of Republicans love Donald Trump

A few has-beens and newspaper columnists may leave the party, but the vast majority of GOPers feel perfectly at home in a party defined by bigotry and cruelty.

It will survive and persist though gradually declining. Because the decent people in this country will reject it.

[OnDoutside]

3. That's true. 72% of Repubs favourable for Trump, while 54% favourable for Ryan.

[OnDoutside]

2. Win or lose the Republicans have massive divides within their party. Ironically their best hope is

if they lose the WH/Senate/House, as it would allow for the necessary conversation/fight/war that will follow Nov 8. If they were to hang onto the House, it might force them to continue the belligerent partisan non-compliance, that has stopped Washington from working. That could well stop the obvious and necessary change that needs to happen within the Repubs.

[HAB911]

4. We might end up with TWO conservative parties

KKK types and "centrists", if I may use that term

[get the red out]

5. Which could, hopefully

Push Democratic candidates more to the left.

[HAB911]

6. he certainly seems to have legitimized the KKK faction

[HAB911]

7. white supremacist: Trump’s success “proves that our views resonate with millions”

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/14/13287532/trump-white-supremacists-racists

[ScienceIsGood]

8. My idiot relatives will never leave the GOP. It is like a religion to them. n/t

[tblue37]

12. Political parties and sports teams are like a tribal identity for many people.

That sort of attachment is hardwired into humans by evolution, and it takes a lot of reliance on reason to rise above it.

Unfortunately, being rational isn't easy, whereas reflexively responding to prompts from our reptilian brain is easy and emotionally rewarding.

It usually requires training over years for reason to become the dominant approach to responding to emotionally provocative events and situations. By undermining education in this country while bankrolling propaganda, corporatists and oligarchs have deliberately helped block the development of rational response in the masses.

[Freddie]

9. They have one more chance to get it wrong

After both McCain and Romney lost, the howl heard in the GOP was "we lost because our candidate was not a True Conservative!" They really wanted to run an extreme (even more than usual) far right candidate like Cruz. Instead they got Trump.
After Trump loses, they will of course blame their party for running this one-off "fluke" (to put it mildly). And finally, in 2020, they will get what they want, an off-the-charts extreme right winger on the ticket. And...they will lose in a landslide.

[GulfCoast66]

14. They rejected the most conservative,

Cruz.

And went with the most racist. Because that is their most motivating factor.

[AmericanActivist]

10. I believe the Republican Party has been hijacked. This is not

news to people here on DU. In this election cycle I have wondered what will happen to the Republican Party? I have never seen the level of public opposition within their Party. This year there are many Republicans who are vocalizing that they will not support Donald; there have been numerous reports of these in the media. I am grateful for all thinking people who refuse to support Don the Con. It seems there should be many more of these Republicans as I cannot fathom anyone supporting Trump. I do believe that people supporting him have been brainwashed by Fox News and are engaged in Group think. I hope, as I have for years, that true Republicans, those who have been called "centrists" will take back the Republican Party and exile the extreme fringe fundamentalists that hijacked the Party years ago. We shall see.

[mercuryblues]

11. They won't

take back the republican party. There simply isn't enough of them. The majority selected Trump by a landslide in the primaries. The R's have been nurturing this monster for decades and now they are shocked that the monsters selected one of their own kind to represent them. This is the BASE, these are the people that republicans rely on to get voted in.

[tblue37]

13. IOW, their "Southern Strategy" has gone south. Ha Ha! nt

[JHB]

15. You built that, Mitt

Your entire campaign fed from the same trough: 47%, "You Built That", etc.

You played footsie with the birther crap because if you openly came out against it you'd lose the votes of the foamers. To attack their pet conspiracy theories would be to attack them, and you wanted their votes. Just a matter of shaking the Etch-A-Sketch after the primaries, right?

You were so sure you'd win, so completely that the polls were 'skewed' (mainly on the strength of 'because you wanted to'), that you didn't even write a concession speech.

And you griped about it later. "People who just want stuff."

Go away Mitt. Your party cast out the Eisenhowers, and Reagan ushered in the party dynamics that have left Trump as the face of your party.