Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is going around saying that GOP leaders that don’t show support for Donald Trump this fall “face a penalty” if they plan to run for the White House themselves in the future. Priebus is hinting that the party will somehow work against non-Trump backers and prevent them from getting a future nomination. This might be the emptiest threat in the history of American politics.
Keep in mind that Priebus is overseeing a party and a process that couldn’t keep a non-Conservative, non-Republican, Hillary Clinton supporter from becoming the presidential nominee in this election! Donald Trump didn’t have access to the Republican party’s donor network or grassroots infrastructure either. So what of great value or influence would Priebus actually withhold from a non-Trump supporter four years from now? Besides, when things get very ugly very early on election night for the GOP, don’t you want someone free from the “guilt by association” to be able to pick up the ball and start running it back in the right direction?
Unfortunately, House Speaker Paul Ryan has decided to do his Wisconsin buddy a huge favor by playing the “I don’t agree with anything he says or how he says it–but he’s still our nominee and I will support him” game–so far. Ryan must be betting on the extremely short memories of American voters–who will likely have completely forgotten that Donald Trump ever ran for President–much less who supported him in four years time. Priebus’ other Wisconsin pal–Governor Scott Walker–is doing everything but holding his nose every time he give lukewarm support to Trump.
It will be Reince Priebus and all those who follow his call to sell your soul for “the good of the party” who–when this is all said and done–will be made to look the fool. I just wonder how long after the November shellacking that Trump will do his highly-compensated, “exclusive” TV interview–where he admits that he was not only a “plant” by the Clinton political machine to make her look like the lesser of two evils to just over half the people who went to the polls–but to also destroy the Republican party from the inside for generations to come.
And that is a threat that is NOT that empty.
