Has anyone else noticed how the GOP Presidential race has begun to resemble reality TV?
Front-runner Donald Trump, a veteran of reality TV with his show The Apprentice, may be best positioned to make things go his way under this scenario, but that isn’t really my point here. I am disgusted by what is happening but to be honest I’m not exactly sure what is putting the bad taste in my mouth.
Is it the approach by the party to play down to the people? Or is it the people gladly falling into this perversion of the process?
Let’s take a quick look back and maybe you will see what I am seeing.
We begin with a HOST of candidates, far too many to make the early contests and debates relevant so everything in the process was diluted and thin. Seventeen Republicans declared for the nomination and months were spent with watercooler conversations sounding like the discussions of the previous episode of “Survivor” rather than real talk concerning solutions to our ills.
Then there was the brief billionaire Donald Trump/Senator Ted Cruz dalliance, which in my opinion was nothing more than a testing of the waters by Trump and Cruz to determine their efficacy as running mates no matter who should win the nomination.
Trump was leading so not so sure it was the best strategy but a great move on Cruz’s part as he, at the time stood little chance of unseating Trump. The honeymoon didn’t last long though, and I would surmise that was at the instruction of the party.
If I had to guess, and I don’t, my opinion is the party leaders approached Cruz and explained in no uncertain terms he was shoring up the Trump campaign and it had to stop.
Enter Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey and former candidate himself. To the surprise and dismay of so many party faithful, Christie threw his considerable weight — pun intended — behind Trump with an endorsement. Now, to this point there has been no indication he would be chosen to be Trump’s running mate, though the smart play would be for Trump’s people to insinuate as much to have his votes become aligned with Trump.
Sorry, Governor. Never going to happen. You are both from the Jersey area and no way a party does not look for a little more diversity and selects a running mate from The South. Do not forget S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley even though she and Trump are now slugging it out on Twitter.
Now for the latest development as a new alliance has been formed, and get this, NOT to win the nomination but to keep someone else from winning — sounds democratic in a way, doesn’t it? That’s right, Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have joined forces and have concocted a plan to allow them to split up the states remaining in the primary season, not campaigning over one another and, as a matter of fact, avoiding campaigning in the same states, to undermine the Trump campaign.
Personally I find it demeaning to most of us these two would go so far, that the party itself would be so blatant in an attempt to keep a single candidate from receiving a nomination. And what about the remaining voters in the states yet to be contested? How should they feel?
You will not hear any conservatively bent radio or TV host say something such as “This is nothing more than a desperate manipulation of the delegate system, tantamount to a rigged election as it is no longer about the will of the people but the party. Once someone who was an outsider took the lead the convention was predestined to be contested convention.”
And for those of you who stuck around long enough to reach the end, this is not an endorsement of any candidate but merely the reflection of having seen better choices on an Ethiopian buffet and the lengths the parties will go to to manufacture your vote, no matter which side you are pulling for.
