Once again, the finely sharpened pen of Charlie Pierce is flung into action at Esquire, this time to remind us that Donald Trump’s refusal to say he would accept the results of the upcoming election to effect a smooth transition of power is not really unique. In fact, he argues, with plenty of evidence, that it is just a continuation of a pattern the GOP has followed for at least a quarter century.
Since 1992, the country has elected Democratic candidates for the presidency four times. In every case, the organized Republican Party, especially its legislative elements, and especially some of the people who are now horrified that It's All Come To This, have refused to "respect" the results of the election.
And Pierce then rolls out the litany:
Bill Clinton’s first election: Senator Bob Dole says his job is represent those who didn’t vote for Clinton.
Bill Clinton’s second election: Impeachment attempt
Bush Gore election:
There simply was no way the Republican Party—including its judicial auxiliary in Washington, D.C.—was going to allow Gore to be president. A hired mob of Republican staffers shut down a legal recount in Dade County and, a few months later, most of them were loudly applauded for having done so at a gala dinner in honor of Washington's conservative elite
Barack Obama first election: Inauguration night meeting of GOP sets plan to stymie his every effort and proceeds to do so for eight full years.
The refusal to hold hearings on the Merrick Garland nomination.
The constant effort to institute Voter ID and suppress votes by THEM.
The birther movement to delegitimize an elected president.
The refusal to hold hearings on judicial and administrative nominations because they are not Republicans (and even in some cases, when they are.)
It has been an article of faith for the entire Republican Party for a quarter-century now that any elected Democratic president is prima facie illegitimate. Trump is just putting a layer of narcissistic varnish on the bucket containing all the historical deplorables.
I have argued numerous times in this election that voters need to be reminded that it is important to vote, not only against Trump, but against EVERY Republican, because whether or not you think your GOP Senator or Congressperson is OK, the plain fact is that the vast majority of them have stood by while Donald took power. They were more than happy to let the far right wing of the party throw monkey wrenches into the gears at every turn as long as it meant money and manpower to help them get reelected. Virtually NONE of them have stood up and said, “This is wrecking democracy. We cannot function as government if we insist that the only compromise we will accept is what WE want.”
They have not, and today as election day approaches, growing numbers of those up for re-election find themselves caught in a Trump vise: They long to disown him, but they don’t have the guts to risk incurring the wrath of his uber zealous supporters. A pox on them. Vote against them. Whether or not they actively participate in the obstruction, their party is clearly culpable and deserves our scorn and dismissal.
After election day, the GOP clearly faces a reckoning and it is not going to be pretty. It is not clear which faction of the party is going to walk away with the party organization, but either scenario is going to be ugly...a GOP that becomes defacto the Liberty Lobby of the House, Louis Gohmert, Jeff Sessions and Tom Cotton, or a GOP controlled by supposedly “centrist” members (albeit ones pulled so far to the right by fear of being primaried that they are hardly different than their peers), but a party so fractured by divisions that it will take years to recover….if ever.
The GOP conducted a post mortem after its 2012 losses and its findings were, in retrospect, right on. All the things the study said they should do, they ignored….appeal more to minorities, women, resolve immigration, adopt more inclusive views. They promptly ignored all of that and the results as reflected in today’s polls show clearly how doing so is costing them the election with key constituencies, and even worse, driven by a narcissistic, bullying, sexist buffoon so clueless that he goes to a bi-partisan dinner Catholic-sponsored dinner with a long tradition of comity and self disparagement and instead attacks his opponent for “pretending she doesn’t hate Catholics.”
No doubt, there is going to be another round of soul search and analysis after the ashes cool in November. The party could save itself a lot of money and just dust off the 2012 study. It is still valid, but more likely, the virulent right wing will insist they are still the only pure branch of the party, and America loves their ideas. They just had the wrong candidate.
And signs are already mounting that at least some of the party are ready to try doing to Hillary what they did to Obama…..block everything. John McCain lost his last shred of dignity asserting that his party was ready to block any Supreme Court nomination from Clinton (and then backtracking.) Unless some returning GOP members of Congress finally say this is enough and begin to marginalize the firebrands in their own party and the right wing media that support and encourage them, we are in for a continuation of obstruction, and Charlie Pierce can begin adding more evidence to his treatise.