The sound of sharpening knives

By Robert A. Vella

Do you hear that eerie noise in the distance?  It’s the high-pitched vibrations of metal grinding against metal which generates frictional heat;  and, it is getting louder.  It’s the sound of sharpening knives.

Republicans have a really big problem, and it’s sitting in the White House.  The meteoric rise of Donald Trump gave them the presidency after eight frustrating years under Barack Obama, but like all meteorites he is destined to crash down to Earth in a fiery explosion.  The GOP knows this much better than does the general public.  They know well the scale and depth of his corruption.  They know what’s coming and that there’s little they can do to stop it.  Like a cattle rancher who must wait for the right opportunity to put down a prized bull which has gone mad, Republicans are looking closely at their options way behind the scenes.

Outwardly, the GOP refrains from being too critical of Trump for fear of angering his rabid base of supporters.  The party will need them in 2020 regardless of the President’s political fate.  However, this rhetorical unity is cracking and allowing less vulnerable members to express their condemnation.  It is not coincidental that Trump’s most vocal critics are Republicans.  From:  Trump fires back at Mitt Romney for scathing op-ed

Romney, who is set to take office Thursday, criticized the President’s character in a Washington Post op-ed Tuesday, saying that Trump’s “conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the President has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. … And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring,” Romney wrote.

The incoming Utah senator also said that he does not “intend to comment on every tweet or fault,” but that he will “speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”

Romney was seen as a “Never Trumper” during the 2016 election.

Now with Flake on the way out, Romney could take up the role of being an outspoken Republican critic of the President in Congress.

Republicans’ disapproval of Trump is not limited to politicians such as Romney and Flake who have presidential aspirations of their own, not by a long shot.  Even the evangelical community, which has been staunchly Republican since the days of Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority, is being torn over Trump.  From:  Evangelists Against Trump May Be ‘Immoral’: Falwell

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. claimed that it “may be immoral” for evangelicals leaders “not to support” President Donald Trump in a recent interview.

During his conversation with Washington Post journalist Joe Helm, published on Tuesday, Falwell argued that all Christians should support the president.

“You’ve been criticized by some other evangelical leaders about your support for the president. They say you need to demand higher moral and ethical standards. You disagree with them on that?” Helm asked Falwell Jr.

But, it’s still too soon for the GOP to put down its mad bull just yet.  It must show support for Trump right now.  From:  Romney’s attack prompts call to protect Trump from 2020 primary challenger

Mitt Romney’s scorching critique of President Trump in a New Year’s Day op-ed has sparked a call from within the Republican National Committee to change party rules to protect Trump from any long-shot primary challenge in 2020.

The RNC committeeman representing the Virgin Islands late Tuesday emailed fellow elected members of the national party urging them to change the rules when they convene in New Mexico for their annual winter meeting later this month. Republicans are confident that Trump would hold off any primary challenger, but worry the campaign would derail his re-election.

“Look, the political history is clear. No Republican president opposed for re-nomination has ever won re-election,” RNC committeeman Jevon O.A. Williams said in an email obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Unfortunately, loopholes in the rules governing the 2020 re-nomination campaign are enabling these so-called Republicans to flirt with the possibility of contested primaries and caucuses.”

Circumventing the democratic process to protect Trump would be a pathetically desperate move by the RNC, although it cannot remake the image of a candidate forever stained by his own corruption;  and, many Republicans do not see Trump staying in office beyond this year.  From:  Trump Presidency Won’t Survive 2019: Ex-GOP Congressman

John LeBoutillier, who was a GOP representative in Trump’s home city of New York back in the early 1980s, made his prediction in a column for The Hill.

“Donald J. Trump’s presidency will not survive 2019,” LeBoutillier wrote.

“The downward trajectory of every aspect of his tenure indicates we are headed for a spectacular political crash-and-burn — and fairly soon.

“His increasingly erratic and angry behavior, his self-imposed isolation, his inability and refusal to listen to smart advisers that he hired, all are leading him to a precipice.”