NOT A LAUGHING MATTER

Trump’s campaign should have ended when he characterized Mexicans as rapists and criminals during his announcement speech nearly one year ago.

The campaign should have ended the minute that he said that Senator John McCain – a Naval avaiator and a Prisoner of War (POW) in Vietnam – was not a hero because McCain was captured.

Trump’s bid should have ended the moment he got into a spat with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly over her role as debate moderator and made inferences about about blood coming from her “whatever.”

Violence against protestors at his rallies should have led to a press conference by Chairman Reince Priebus to condemn the nominee for inciting his supporters.

An interview with Chris Matthews where Trump said a woman should face punishment for having an abortion, that should have been the moment when the Trump campaign ended.

His statements about using nuclear weapons on ISIS should have immediately drawn comparisons to Goldwater suggesting using those weapons in Southeast Asia and in order to avoid another Goldwater style beatdown, the Republican Party should have forced Trump out.

Last week’s spats with the Khan family and saying that receiving a Purple Heart from a combat veteran was easy should have ceased any talks of Trump’s bid for the presidency.

Not calling out David Duke when the Klan member endorsed his campaign followed by keeping the door open to endorsing Duke in his bid for the US Senate in Louisiana, that should have been the moment that the Republican Party disavowed any association with Trump.

Today should be that moment when the idea of Trump being our next president ceases to exist.

At a rally in Willmington, NC on Tuesday, Donald Trump stated that if Hillary Clinton is president and should she have the constitutionally mandated duty to appoint judges when the opportunity arises then the only recourse remaining is to rely on supporters of the Second Amendment.

What exactly was he implying with those comments?

My intial reaction was that Trump suggested the assassination of judges, not the president. Both interpretations are equally sinister and deplorable.

We’ve had four presidents assassinated: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinnley, and Kennedy. Many others have had close calls, most notably Ronald Reagan. Franklin Roosevelt was shot at while on a trip to Miami in February 1933 nearly two weeks prior to taking the oath of office. There were TWO attempts on Gerald Ford’s life, both were influenced by followers of Charles Manson. Andrew Jackson had an attempt on his life and nearly beat the assailiant to death with his cane.

Every president in my lifetime has had a threat on their life: Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush, and Obama.

Presidents aren’t the only ones who have had to deal with attempts on them and their family’s life.

Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords survived an attempt on her life in January 2011 that has made it difficult for her to speak to this day. The assassinations from the 1960s – Malcom  X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy – are still recounted in the history books, film archives, and those that were alive when it happened..

Trump knows that he is currently doing poor in the polls that he so frequently cites and relies on. With less than 90 days until Election Day, he is already laying the groundwork in similar fashion that the Republican Party did in their attempts to deligitmize Obama’s presidency. Trump played a role nearly four years earlier in the aftermath of Obama’s re-election which was a surprise to those on the right.

I would normally call on a campaign to suspend their campaign for this rhetoric. I would also call on the party to disavow the candidate for their behavior. So far many Republicans are fleeing Trump and either supporting Clinton, third party candidates, or not chosing to vote at all, but so far those Republicans are not well known.

I expect more will begin jumping ship over the next few days, weeks perhaps. As Trump’s poll numbers – both nationally and in the key battleground states - drop to unprecedented lows not seen in the era of hyperpartisanship that exists today, the party might make the decision to sacrifice the top of the ticket to preserve their majorities in the Senate and House, but it might already be too late.

At this point I would tell the Republican Party this.

He is your problem.

No amount of outrage or pearl clutching from the commentary class will convince you that Trump is toxic to the Republican brand.

No amount of facts will convince you that Trump is doing poorly among the groups that Republicans need to remain competitive in elections and will likely cause reliably red states such as Arizona and Georgia to flip into the blue column this cycle.

No amount of humiliation will convince you that it was Trump that cost the Republicans the White House, the Senate, and dramatically decreased their House majority.

This has long ceased to be a laughing matter.

The joke ends on 8 November when Hillary Clinton is elected president.