Too Late, Republicanos... You Created This Base Of Imbeciles And Now They're Shoving Fascism Down Your Throats

This week a gaggle of Mitt Romney operatives, led by Katie Packer and under the name, Our Principles PAC, spent over $2 million-- from undisclosed sources-- running TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire attacking Herr Trumpf and his positions. The over-all theme is that he isn't a real Republican and all of the messaging is in the video above. The ads themselves are below. They've also been bombarding the media with anti-Trumpf press releases like this:

The latest TV and online advertisement from Our Principles PAC which begins airing this Friday, clearly exposes more inconsistencies of Donald Trump while raising serious questions Mr. Trump doesn't want to discuss in a campaign debate. This revealing ad shows Trump-- in his own words-- contradicting the major premise of his campaign: immigration. Trump blatantly talks about how the real path to citizenship in America is through an amnesty program.

This shocking new ad raises new questions-- thanks to Donald Trump's own words-- about whether the voters of Iowa can trust him, even when he makes tough statements about his signature issue of immigration. Trump's entire campaign claims that he "says it like it is," yet we are finding that over and over, on core Republican issues, Trump says different things to different audiences. More and more, Trump appears to be the kind of politician voters fear the most. Donald Trump's decision to opt out of the next GOP debate is clearly an attempt to duck the issues we've raised and avoid the tough questions about his chameleon-like campaign.

The barrage of ads have had no discernable impact on Trumpf fans and the latest polls from Iowa all show him ahead of his more conventional GOP rivals. The new CNN poll:

• Herr Trumpf- 41%, up 2 points
• Cruz- 19%, up 1 point
• Rubio- 8%, up 2 points
• Dr. Ben- 6%, down 4 points
• Jeb- 5%, up 2 points
• Christie- 4% down 1 point

All the other candidates are in margin-of-error territory. The new Fox poll is equally discouraging for those who think they can stop Herr:

• Herr Trumpf- 34%, down 1 point
• Cruz- 20%, no change
• Rubio- 11%, down 2 points
• Dr. Ben- 8%, down 2 points
• Jeb- 4%, no change
• Kasich- 4%, up 2 points

Everybody else-- bunched up in margin-of-error territory. And yet... Mary Kate Cary, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, in an editorial for US News and World Report-- yes, they're still in business-- just opined that Herr can still be stopped. "It's not too late. Not a single vote has been cast," she pointed out.

A few brave Republicans have come forward to say that Trump is completely unacceptable. Katie Packer, a veteran of Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, has started the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC; Make America Awesome, another political action committee, is now running ads in Iowa. And groups supporting Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have run anti-Trump ads as well... To be against Trump does not mean you are for Ted Cruz.

...It's not too late for good people to say that our next president should support women, war veterans and the disabled – not mock or denigrate them; that we believe experience counts when it comes to our commander in chief, and that the last seven years have taught us that on-the-job training is unacceptable; that we want fact-based, well-researched and consistent ideas for expanding opportunity for all Americans, strengthening our military, securing our border and limiting the size of government. We want a leader who respects life and the God-given dignity of every person. We want someone who uplifts and inspires, who plays by the rules and is a happy warrior. We need a president who knows how to build consensus. We seek integrity in our leaders, consistency of thought and action, and not least of all, humility. And finally, we want a leader who can unite the country, gain the support of mainstream voters and win the general election.

Donald Trump has none of those qualities. And it's not too late to say so. It's also not too late to talk about all the money Trump inherited from his father, all the bailouts he's accepted, all the bankruptcies and defaulted loans. It's not too late to hear from all the people who suffered because of his business deals-- the laid-off workers, the small business owners who sat across the table from him, the homeowners who had dealings with his failed mortgage company and those whose property he tried to get through abuse of eminent domain.

There's still time to point out to those who like Trump's promise of sticking up for the downtrodden that he's often the one doing the trodding. Make America Awesome's Iowa ad, entitled "Real Trump Record," catalogs examples from his business dealings and bankruptcies before ending with the line: "That's the real Trump record: fighting for himself-- not us."

What bothers me the most about Trump-- as a mom of two daughters, especially-- is the way he bullies women. He tries to torment and intimidate everyone he doesn't like, and he especially seems not to like women. There is no denying he is a misogynist bully.

Why the other Republican candidates are not attacking him more strenuously-- and instead are engaged in a circular firing squad against each other-- is beyond me. And why the Republican National Committee dropped National Review from cosponsoring a GOP debate-- so much for free speech by an opinion magazine-- is beyond me as well.

Trump is not the right man to lead the party-- or our nation-- forward.

These are dangerous times, and we can do better. Much better.

It's not too late to say so.

This weekend the Washington Post's Dan Balz, surveyed the GOP establishment's agony over what's left of the Deep Bench as it wonders if there's still away to thwart the rise of fascism inside the party.

Mainstream candidates have struggled as never before. Because there was no next-in-line candidate, no heir apparent among them, establishment support splintered, pitting the four candidates against one another to squabble among themselves for that portion of the pie. And they have been conventional in an unconventional year.

One strategist described the imbalance in the race to date as “an anti-establishment superhighway and an establishment dirt path.”

What is most striking about the assessments of how establishment candidates can get back into the fight is a consensus that it will not happen quickly, that it will require the capacity to absorb a series of losses before the dynamic shifts.

Their unrealistic hope starts with "a strong finish," whatever that means, by Rubio in Iowa tomorrow. He pointed out that "Rubio’s team thinks the survival strategy eventually can be a winning strategy. Two things will have to happen, however. One is that establishment money will have to coalesce around a single mainstream candidate. So far, that has not happened, and it probably will not until after Super Tuesday on March 1. But some strategists think that whoever ends up as the remaining establishment candidate will receive an unprecedented financial windfall sometime in March." And that has to go hand in hand with a wake up among GOP voters that "they cannot stomach either Trump or Cruz as the party’s nominee and swing decisively behind the remaining establishment candidate." This is all such incredible pie-in-the sky that it's hard to believe The Post even allowed Balz to publish it.

It is too late, Republicanos. If you want to thwart fascism, you have two choices now: conservative Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has a name you hate but is basically the same as most of you. Or someone who will transform America and push the country forward in a truly substantive way: Bernie Sanders. Think about the country and the ordinary families who live here, for a change.