Republican leadership is desperate to blame everything negative about the Republican Party on the shoulders of Donald Trump. Two recent polls show that 67 percent of all Americans view the GOP in an unfavorable way. This is an increase of nine points since a similar survey was taken in October of 2014. As Trump’s numbers rise, so do the percentages of negative reactions to Republicans.

First of all, it’s not Donald Trump who is responding to the polls; it is the Republican base. Not a single member of the mainstream media will tell the truth; the Republican establishment created “Trumpenstein.” John McCain, Mitt Romney, Reince Priebus, Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner are but a few of those who destroyed the once Grand Old Party. By allowing a small group of extremists to move their party far to the right and away from center, they consented to a dissolution of our Democratic Republic.

Trump’s candidacy was simply and foremost an opportunity for disgruntled Republican leaning voters to express their anger with party leadership. The most fearful truth for the establishment is that they are unlikely to return to the party as it exists today. A contested or ‘brokered’ convention will only increase their level of frustration.

If their candidate, Donald Trump, has the most delegates on July 18^th, and he fails to receive the GOP nomination, they will not go to the polls unless Trump becomes a third party candidate.

These latest polls include the opinions of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. They are all dismayed at the display of a lack of concern for American values and principles. Trump believes in freedom for a few and justice for even fewer. He has exposed a party laced with racism, bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia.

A promise by Republican leadership to change after the 2012 election never materialized. The party continues to be dominated by older, white men and women, who are religious extremists. It has ignored the growing number of minorities and an increasing bloc of single, well-educated women. It has lost virtually all of non-religious Americans, (about 65 million), and all of the LGBT community.

Independents are the one group who most often decide the outcome of the election. They are among the loudest detractors of the Republican Party in 2016.

Neither Trump nor Cruz can defeat Clinton or Sanders. Republican leadership is desperately attempting to create a contested convention and allow them to handpick a new candidate. If this occurs, it will result in “bye, bye GOP.”

GOP, we knew you well when Republicans were respected and cared about the American people.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Novels by James Turnage are available on Amazon’s Kindle