This week of the Republican Convention
saw the Republican candidates who ran against Trump in the primaries come together
to continue the unceasing selfishness that basically nominated Trump in the
first place. While some candidates
(Christie, Carson) saw the benefits in getting on the Trump Train, most
continued to pose a problem for the nominee.
Jeb Bush began the run up to the Convention making sure the entire world
knew he would not be getting on board. Convention Monday saw the feud between Trump
and Kasich explode again. The Trump forces attempted to bully John Kasich into
attending the convention. He refused, and, in an apparent bit of punishment for
the attempt, he halted joint efforts to build the Ohio ground game. Then came a leaked rumor from the Kasich camp
that Trump wanted Kasich for V.P. and that the Trump team tried to lure Kasich
with promises of potentially the most powerful Vice Presidency ever because he
would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy. This undermined Mike Pence
and renewed speculation that Trump barely wanted the job.
Ted Cruz did even more damage as he used his
convention speech to give succor to those who might decline voting for Trump as
a matter of conscience. The resulting
tumult led to the night being eaten and Mike Pence’s speech being overshadowed.
The Republican nomination in 2020 seems very
valuable right now if Donald Trump loses.
And it seems that some Republicans have no problem pushing for that
outcome.
The Trump people have also
seemed unable to convince their former rivals that their interests would be
well served by getting on board. Indeed,
Trump’s forces may very well have made things worse via additional antagonisms. The individual agendas of leading Republicans
remain a problem for the Trump team that did not evaporate this week. Selfishness does not end.
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