In The Tank For the Republicans...Again

I mean, of course, the mainstream press.  Daily Kos has compiled a handy collection of mainstream reactions to the claim by Donald Trump that all of his inciting hatred and violence for the last year was nothing but an act, and that we should just forget all about it.  Here are some excerpts.  As with the things I quote in Wingnut Wrapup, they are so contemptible that I will not dignify them with a link; if you want to read more, go to the link to Daily Kos.

Washington Post:  "Trump’s chief strategist Paul Manafort told members of the Republican National Committee in a closed-door briefing here Thursday afternoon that his candidate has been playing a “part” on the campaign trail, but is starting to pivot toward presenting a more businesslike and presidential “persona.” [...] 

Manafort said Trump is “totally committed” to “carrying the brand of the Republican Party” in the fall. He reassured RNC members that Trump would view them as “partners” in the general election."

Not a word about the fact that the guy has risen to the lead in the Republican party by, apparently selling a total lie to the American people; or maybe he meant everything he said, and he's lying now. When Hillary changed her opinion on gay marriage after years of thought, that was universally portrayed as a pandering flip-flop, proving she was a dishonest, power hungry pol.  But, being a Republican, it's just expected that Trump will tell a totally different story about everything he believes to the Republican base and everyone else, without ever risking being called a liar.

AP:  "The message, delivered behind closed doors in a private briefing, is part of the campaign's intensifying effort to convince party leaders Trump will moderate his tone in the coming months to help deliver big electoral gains this fall, despite his contentious ways. [...] 

"He gets it," Manafort said of Trump's need to moderate his personality. "The part that he's been playing is evolving into the part that now you've been expecting, but he wasn't ready for, because he had first to complete the first phase. The negatives will come down. The image is going to change."

See, "he gets it."  He gets the fact that it is his job to lie his way into power, because that is what Republicans are allowed, and expected to do.    He "had to complete the first phase," i.e. inciting hatred, racism and violence among the Republican base, because that is what Republicans do to win elections.  It's all okay, though, because that's today's rules.  Now, we need to just forget about all of that, and take him to be a reasonable politician with well-thought out, moderate positions.  While, of course, Hillary will be crucified for things she said thirty years ago, whether she really said them or not.

Slate:  “The campaign is evolving and transitioning, and so am I,” Trump boasted to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, promising to be “more effective and more disciplined” on the trail. “I’m not going to blow it,” he added." 

More of the same.  "Evolving and transitioning" from one insincere lie to another.  Or maybe from a lie to the truth, or from the truth to a lie.  Who knows?  

CBS News:  " it might be instructive to look at the promises he's made that are purely operative during the campaign cycle. He has discarded some, deferred others, and kept only parts of others."

  "Purely operative during the campaign cycle..." -i.e. are total lies.  But that's okay, because he is a Republican, and no one in the mainstream press expects the Republicans to tell the truth.  That's because they all know that the truth is that the Republican party is currently owned by the richest couple of thousand families in the country, and will enthusiastically destroy every one of the rest of us, if it benefits those families.  Not really a winning platform, so it is the press' job to convince voters that a strategy of infinite lying to get elected is a fine way to run the country.

Salon:  "For the last year, Trump has been unwieldy, undisciplined, and inconsistent. That approach may win him the most primary votes, but it won’t unite the party behind him at the convention. If anything, the 1.0 version of Trump was talking and insulting himself into a political cul-de-sac. But Trump 2.0, as Cillizza put it, will “show unbound delegates as well as party leaders and influencers that he can be magnanimous, that he can be a uniting force within the party.” “The campaign is evolving and transitioning,” Trump said recently, “and so am I. I’ll be more effective and more disciplined. I’m not going to blow it.” 

All of these changes ought to terrify Republicans looking to stop Trump. If the Donald is going to feign dignity and talk like an actual presidential candidate, they’re in real trouble. It’s much easier to sabotage Trump at the convention if he’s still playing the role of the race-baiting clown. But if he’s willing to play the game as he has the last week or so, well, that adds a whole new layer to the Republican race."

The changes "ought to terrify Republicans."  They should be terrified, I tell you, that they got exactly the kind of candidate and exactly the kind of base that they have spent forty years deliberately constructing.  Even from a presumably left-leaning place like Salon, not one word about how terrified the rest of us should be at the almost inevitable prospect that the mainstream press (and, welcome to the club, Salon) is going to conspire with the Republican party to hide the months of evidence that they are nominating a hate-filled, ignorant, lying demagogue to be President of the United States.

Long time readers of Green Eagle can skip the rest here, as I am going to repeat something I have said over and over again.  The Democrats could crush the miserable, hate-filled Republican party out of existence without even trying.  What they cannot beat is the Republicans and the press working together to fulfill the dreams of their rich masters.

And that's what we've got.  Thank you, Ronald Reagan, Antonin Scalia and the rest of the corrupt "strict constructionalist" liars and con men who gave us this gift, as a substitute for democracy.