It was also perhaps a vain attempt to control the uncontrollable by letting Mr. Trump know that the campaign was not only about him and to make clear he had some responsibility to come to terms with down-ballot candidates on explosive issues like immigration and trade.
“The bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee,” Mr. Ryan, the highest elected Republican official in the nation, said in an interview on CNN
.. “It’s time to set aside bullying, to set aside belittlement and appeal to higher aspirations, appeal to what is good in us and to lead a country and a party to having a vast majority of Americans enthusiastic about choosing a path,” Mr. Ryan said in the CNN interview.
.. “He’s the embodiment of everything Americans hate about a system that’s rigged for the top 1 percent,” Mr. Reid said of Mr. Trump during a conference call with reporters. “He’s the definition of a man who was born on third and thinks he hit a triple. What’s worse, he uses his wealth to rip people off and is now sowing hatred and division every place he steps.”
.. In addition, the seats most in play this year are those of the less conservative House Republicans in more vulnerable districts, meaning the speaker could enter 2017 with a smaller but even more conservative majority, making it even harder to strike compromises.
.. And Mr. Trump has spoken favorably about Mr. Ryan’s top lieutenant, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority leader.
Elizabeth Warren: Anti-trump Facebook post
Trump seems to know he’s a loser. His embarrassing insecurities are on parade: petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, and flagrant narcissism. But just because Trump is a loser everywhere else doesn’t mean he’ll lose this election. People have been underestimating his campaign for nearly a year – and it’s time to wake up.
.. Many of history’s worst authoritarians started out as losers – and Trump is a serious threat. The way I see it, it’s our job to make sure he ends this campaign every bit the loser that he started it.
The Conservative Case Against Trump
William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson between them turned a conservative Democratic Party progressive.
.. His unfitness starts with basic issues of temperament. It encompasses the race-baiting, the conspiracy theorizing, the flirtations with violence, and the pathological lying that have been his campaign-trail stock in trade.
But above all it is Trump’s authoritarianism that makes him unfit for the presidency — his stated admiration for Putin and the Chinese Politburo, his promise to use the power of the presidency against private enterprises, the casual threats he and his surrogates toss off against party donors, military officers, the press, the speaker of the House, and more.
.. And given his mix of proud ignorance and immense self-regard, there is no reason to believe that any of this is just an act.
Ten Reasons Moderates Should Vote for Ted Cruz
Cruz is one of the least gaffe-prone politicians in memory: He sometimes says things that have debatable returns with voters, but he almost always says exactly what he intends to say.
.. Let’s say you think — as do many moderate Republicans, and even as do many ideologically conservative but of-moderate-temperament Republicans – that, despite all of the above, Ted Cruz is a self-promoter with no loyalty to the party, a demagogue who promises unrealistic results without a plan to deliver them, and a Goldwater-sized general-election disaster in his own right waiting to happen. You’re terrified of nominating Ted Cruz. Well, guess what? Cruz isn’t going away! Trump is 70 years old ..
.. If you think Cruz is a disaster waiting to happen, better to let him happen now and have a chance at a more moderate or at least more moderate-sounding nominee next time.
.. Moreover, if Cruz loses to Hillary, conservatives will be compelled to listen. Cruz is the beau idéal of a “True Conservative,” in the prime of his career, facing an aging, unlikeable opponent with massive scandal baggage, a dynast in a populist year against a populist opponent. If he can’t beat her, the party’s conservatives will have no choice but to reassess the idea that too little conservatism has been the only problem with recent national tickets.
.. Trump is crude, ignorant, and proud of both, the sort of man who boasts about being a serial adulterer and is unafraid to insult entire races, religions, and ethnic groups. Trump’s rallies have frequently turned ugly, and he has activated an army of white supremacists (especially online) who pollute everything around them. Trump’s prominent endorsers include all sorts of disreputable and embarrassing people. He’s replaced a campaign manager who got in trouble for manhandling a female reporter with one who’s been a toady for nasty foreign dictators and has been linked to the Russian mob.
.. But Trump ascendant means a wholesale rejection of the very concept of civil debate and empiricism in favor of raw rage and fringe conspiracy theories.
.. whenever a new movement has arisen or a new coalition or alliance has been formed, one or both parties has moved to respond to it, co-opt it, provide it with more responsible leadership, and ultimately tame it. Trump’s movement can go the same way, if we nominate a leader who is responsive to those currents.