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No way.
No more Trump. Not now, not ever again. Turn the page and flush the toilet. He’s done.
That has to be the Republican response to the latest maniacal ramblings of the disgraced 45th president of the United States.
Not because of Tuesday’s election, but because of his conduct since the election of 2020. He had 46 months of a useful and productive presidency, he provided great service to his country. But his machinations after losing the 2020 election eventually metastasized into treason.
By the fateful afternoon of January 6, 2021, he had broken his oath to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. His conduct since has become ever more dishonest, divisive and deranged. He is a cancer on the Republican party and a threat to the wellbeing of the United States of America.
And his anticipated announcement of a third campaign for the presidency must be rebuffed. It must be rejected by people across the political and national spectrum. This isn’t about polls, or who won or who lost last Tuesday, it is about what is right and who is wrong.
And Donald Trump is wrong for America.
The issue isn’t the accomplishments of his presidency, any more than Benedict Arnold’s victory at Saratoga was relevant after he sold the plans of West Point to the British. The wrong Trump has done disqualifies him, without regard to the much good he undeniably did.
There must be a moral bottom line, a minimum threshold of character. An American leader must understand and keep his oath to the Constitution, he must be able to put the common good ahead of his own ego and interest. He must be a man of duty. We elect citizens in this Republic, not emperors, and no elected official ever becomes sovereign.
And we follow principles, not personalities. Our loyalty is to the Republic, not to an individual. Individual elected officials are merely tools used by the people to advance the interests of the nation – all are expendable and interchangeable. Yes, we may love and support them, but only so far as they do their duty and serve our country.
So it’s time for courage.
It’s time to give Trump the back of our hand.
Every single Republican senator, every single Republican congressman – every single Republican talk-show host, columnist, pundit or poser. This isn’t the time to hide in the shadows and wait to see which way the wind is blowing. This is the time to lead. This is the time to say Trump is done.
The response to his presumed candidacy must be loud and clear. We don’t want him, we won’t support him, he’s not one of us. He’s not part of the conversation, he’s not a king or a kingmaker, he’s dog crap we’re wiping off our shoe.
And those who stand with him will be making a statement about their own character. This will be a birds-of-a-feather moment, and those who seek to suck more money and power from his aura will be wrapping themselves in his stench. At this stage of his public collapse, the people around him are not supporters, they are accomplices.
The Republican Party was born to preserve the Constitution. It has been led by men like Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt – giants of character and commitment who their fellow citizens could always depend on. It cannot further stain its skirts by association with this man. His money and his hubris, and even his supporters, are of no import. You can’t do the right thing the wrong way, and you can’t protect American liberty by subverting the American Constitution – including the part about the Electoral College.
The Republican Party has many men and women of integrity, experience and capability who could be successful and honorable presidents. We need to focus on them. They are the future, of the party and hopefully the nation. They are who the Republican Party must offer to the American people as potential leaders.
The era of Trump is over.
And you either see that, or you are part of the problem.