Trump foments civil war within Republican Party

In politics, timing can be important. In this year’s election, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s timing has been impeccable.

If more fellow Republicans had taken his advice, they might not be in the fix they are now.

The South Carolina senator vacillated a bit during the primary season about whether he could support a Donald Trump candidacy. But he decided early that he just couldn’t stomach the bilious bully, even though Trump was dominating the GOP primary campaign and standing up to him invited the unfettered verbal abuse at which Trump is a master.

Way back in June, Graham warned that sidling up to Trump could exact a high price. When Trump disparaged Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the judge overseeing a fraud case against Trump University in California, Graham urged party leaders to openly oppose the blowhard billionaire.

Trump had called Curiel a “hater” who was unfair to him because the judge is “Hispanic,” because he is “Mexican” and, well, you know how Trump feels about them. In fact, while Curiel is of Mexican ancestry, he was born in Indiana, went to law school at Indiana University and, of course, is an American citizen.

Trump’s comments seriously irked Graham: “This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy. If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it. There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”

That time has yet to arrive for many voters. But Graham’s early warning was prescient: If Republican officeholders and other party leaders wanted to exit the runaway Trump cavalcade, June would have been a good time to do it.

Mid-October, less than a month away from Election Day, is too late. The so-called GOP establishment now is stuck with no-win choices regarding their standard-bearer.

The infamous Trump video, a lame performance in Sunday’s debate and Trump’s decision to unshackle himself and cut loose on party leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and former presidential nominee Sen. John McCain have thrown the party into turmoil. Trump’s attack on his own party resembles a kamikaze mission, one that seems likely to destroy both his candidacy and the party.

But the Republican elite have no good choices. If they abandon Trump at this late date, they reveal themselves as rank hypocrites and risk angering the Trump loyalists whose votes they need to retain control of the House and Senate.

But if they don’t abandon Trump, they look like craven opportunists and risk angering party moderates who no longer can countenance the misogynist at the top of the ticket.

Graham has a perfect right to say, “I told you so.” He also might ask what party leaders learned about Trump in the past week or so that they didn’t already know months ago.

The GOP establishment types might be kicking themselves for failing to use subterfuge to derail Trump at the convention before he became their nominee. But that never was a practical solution.

What would they have said to the hundreds of thousands of Republicans who voted for Trump in the primaries? Trying to deny Trump the nomination would just have started this inter-party civil war a little sooner.

The sad fact is that Republican leaders have been cynically paving the way for Trump or someone like him for years. They have coddled and condescended to the unhinged right wing of their party – the birtherists, the Muslim haters, the wall builders, the conspiracy mongers – and the result was Trump.

They should have taken the off-ramp when they had a chance. Now they’re tooling down the highway to hell, paved with venal intentions, with no exit in sight.

This story was originally published October 16, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Trump foments civil war within Republican Party."