No party can be completely elitist, or it would get 2% of the vote. The Republican Party is populist on social policy (Christian roots) and elitist on economic policy (low taxes). The Democratic Party is populist on economic policy (benefits) and elitist on social policy (non-traditionalist). This situation creates several different tensions. Neither party has created a home for national populism, which in terms of policy is English-only, anti-immigration, protectionist, and isolationist.

Does my grand theory still hold? It’s interesting that Trump’s nationalism hasn’t really emphasized English-only, which I always expected to be a key plank in this other type of populism. That type of populism has been historically perceived as white, working class, and unionized.

Possibly. Not sure that kind of repudiation is enough.

Many in the GOP endorsed trump, that alone is enough to brand the GOP for a long, long time.

Those officials (and possibly thought leaders, pundits, etc.) have to go too – or be marginalized.

Don’t see that happening now that there is clearly a contingent who had a taste of power and who don’t abide by conservative principles. A “marketplace” for those “ideas” has been born, and some will take advantage of that, just as they have with backing trump.

No, the GOP E has already been pretty much demolished. They still have money and funding, but the people’s loyalty and obedience to their Absolute Moral authority, has eroded. Which will erode more, if Trum loses.

GB, sorry for not replying sooner. Clinton and Trump aren’t Lenin or Caesar; they’re just two awful people who shouldn’t be president. My vote is almost entirely meaningless, but whatever value it has, it’s going to Gary Johnson (who, weirdly enough, is a big-government libertarian). That being said, here are three unrelated reasons I would support Clinton over Trump:

1) I’m an old-school three-legged conservative. I think that Trump would be slightly better than Clinton on social issues, about the same on fiscal issues, and substantially worse of matters of foreign policy – specifically on trade and terrorism. Yeah, the Benghazi lady. I know. He’d be worse.

2) The country can survive a lousy president, but it can’t survive the disappearance of its conservative party without real consequences. If Trump wins, the GOP is over as a conservative party. If November sees Trump lose by +200 EV’s, as I suspect, the Republican Party is going to snap back to normal so fast we’ll need air bags.

3) All other things being equal, a terrible predictable president is better than a terrible erratic president.

No one here is suggesting a “free pass” for Kahn. I made that crystal clear here.

Nor is anyone here saying Trump “attacked” Kahn’s son.

And I explained how deficient Trump is in understanding the Constitution, here (including in the comments section to that post).

The Republic is already ended, people should give their condolences and pray for the loss already. It is the inability to accept that loss, that makes the parting in this season and the next, so difficult.

People, like the Tea Party, were attempting to “reform” that which the Left has already killed. Unless they can resurrect the dead or bring virtue back to humans in humanity, it is an impossible divine miracle of a task.

As for the Alt Right, they are much like Democrats who voted Andrew Jackson. They lack Jackson’s virtues, but have all of his vices. The 1830+ Southern Baptists and slave lord supporters, eventually fell into evil and iniquity, away from the light of Christianity 1st AD. They are very good at conquering territory and submitting the weak under a “Christian nation”, but as for suffering abuse without blood letting, Southerners weren’t exactly Christ like when they started CW1 and paid for the mob lynching of abolitionist speakers. The ones that were, tended to be like Lee and various other people the Southern slave barons made outcasts later on. Lee didn’t go along with the slave lords, due to differences on slavery of humans. But the slave lords, instead of accepting criticism and advice on reforming their system, they made it out Them and Us, eventually leading to a war.

The Left may be responsible for the war of good and evil on this continent. But the Alt Right will be responsible for taking arms against evil, and potentially becoming the very evil they fight, just in a different stripe.