Joking aside, Republican leaders and principled conservatives now have a duty to break from the GOP, or at least this version of the GOP, and form a new party—or a new movement within the party, to take it back and transform it.
To do that, they need to purge the ranks of the emerging Trump GOP. All those who have thrown in their lot with an anti-free-trade, lifelong Democrat with no apparent understanding of the Constitution should not have a future in the party. Everyone who proved they were more interested in power than principle should be exiled.
The convention, then, is a kind of litmus test. We now know where most everybody stands. The VP fiasco served a similar purpose for the small group of career strivers vying to get the invitation. It turns out Gov. Mike Pence is exactly who we thought he was. If reports that Gov. Chris Christie was “livid” upon hearing he wouldn’t get the VP nod are true, then surely he’s the saddest Trump clown of them all.
The tragic figure in all this is House Speaker Paul Ryan. He can hardly stand on the sidelines, nor can he reasonably be expected to withhold his endorsement of the Republican Party’s nominee. Ryan himself noted he’s “the highest-ranking Republican in the country,” a post that comes with “certain duties and responsibilities.” Caught in the middle, Ryan has the unenviable task of trying to cajole Trump into supporting Ryan’s fairly well-articulated—if awkwardly named—reform agenda, “A Better Way.”
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