He’s a Son of a Bitch, but he’s OUR Son of A Bitch

With the primaries for the US presidential elections winding down/ coming in the final stretch, focus has shifted onto the next steps. Conversations have turned to talk of the vice-president selections for the Republican and democrat nominees.

Clinton has said she wouldn’t rule out Sanders as VP, possibly a power move as she seeks to officially clinch the Democrat nomination.

His campaign has flirted with former presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and Newt Gingrich–as well as Iowa Senator Jeni Ernst and New Mexico governor Susana Martinez. While some of the pics on the Vice Presidential Shortlist have been outspoken about their utter lack of interest in the role, others say they “wouldn’t say no”.

And that seems to be the Republican attitude towards having Trump as their candidate: since they have no other choice, they have to roll with the punches. The success of Trump’s absolutely inane populist campaign has so far highlighted the numerous fractures in the Republican party. His lack of a singular moral or ethical code points to the crumbling of the core Republican ideologies that were still central to the party’s identity not that long ago.

Trump announced his race for President by taking one stance on curbing illegal immigration to the US: “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems… When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists…it’s coming from all over South and Latin America”.

Ten months later, when the race comes down to Trump and two Democrats boasting massive following, Trump needs to cozy up to Latino voters now that he needs their support. Addressing a group of Hispanic Christians on Sunday, Trump assured them that his administration is “going to take care of you, we are going to work with you, you are going to be very happy, you are going to like president Trump.”

The Donald Trump dialectic has been held together only by its universal capacity to offend–to alienate or pander to whoever is convenient at the time. This populism marked by sexism and racism has once-proud Conservatives, like conservative radio host Tony Beam, scratching their heads wondering what kind of How-To-Be-Republican cheat sheet he had copied notes from.

As the host of Christian Worldview Today, Beam is a proud and true conservative speaking to an audience of mostly evangelical Christians. His views on God and politics stay in line with his view on what makes a good Christian. In short, Beam has an ideology–one where politics and spirituality are intimately connected. In an episode of NPR’s This American Life, titled “I Thought I Knew You”, Beam explains how far Donald Trump strays from any sense of traditional Christian or secular conservative values.

When Trump called for a ban on all Muslims, Tony was appalled.”All Christians don’t shoot abortion doctors and bomb abortion clinics. I don’t want to get lumped in with them because I’m a Christian any more than there are Muslims that don’t want to be lumped into the idea of terrorism … this is so opposed to everything that are my core values.”

Beam uses the word core a lot when it comes to his belief, and his identity as a Christian and as a Conservative. To Beam Trump’s popularity spells doom for the US and for the Republican party.

“[Do] we have such chaos in this country that we would look to a man like Donald Trump, who has no core value system, to lead us back to the place that we need to be as a country?… I’m afraid we’re gonna split the party and be in real trouble”.

The extent to which Trump’s campaign highlights the fractures in the Republican party is best illustrated by their pained attempts to embrace him as one of their own. Paul Ryan has taken meetings with Trump, supposedly on the basis on finding common political ground. Ryan tries to play it cool in his tacit endorsement of Trump. Trump, says Ryan, could win, but I’m not ‘betting’ on it¨.

So as Americans watched Congress members embrace Trump with clenched teeth, they eagerly awaited a genuine showdown in Donald Trump’s recent FOX interview with anchor Megyn Kelly. Millions tuned in to the interview expecting a showdown between two arch enemies. After Trump referred to women he disagreed with as ‘pigs’, ‘dogs’, and ‘disgusting animals’ during the first Republican debate in August 2015, moderator Kelly coolly fired back.

Trump evaded responsibility during the debate and opted to respond later via social media: a Twitter post stating that “bimbo” Megyn Kelly had bombed as a moderator. The “bizarre” feud that resulted has been one of the most memorable highlights of the Republican campaigns for nearly a year. Kelly had won major journalistic credibility for her toughness and refusal to accept evasive answers.

Most of us looked forward to seeing how Trump could defend himself against what would surely be a firestorm of hard-hitting questions on his controversial campaign. What would Kelly ask about his lack of political experience? How would she tackle his Islamophobia? His occasional requests for a peek up her skirt?

Apparently, with the kind of “hard-hitting” questions that make the Oprah Book Club look controversial by comparison. For a moment, we were presented with false hope that the interview would go somewhere as Kelly tackled the time Trump had called her a bimbo, and her interviewee tried to smooth it over.

The tension was palpable and that was somehow reassuring to audience. But the conversation quickly turned to the kind of talk-show profile that would paint Donald Trump as a softie. Or, at the very least, an everyday man who is “not as fancy” as his public image. Kelly asked Trump to recall a time he had been “emotionally hurt”. She asked how he had handled family deaths and tragedies with grace.

And most importantly, she asked a question safe enough for kindergarten: his favorite color. And Trump responded with an equally safe answer: blue.

Blue may be the only appropriate way to feel after weeks of watching Republicans try damn hard to put on a show of genuine, if careful, endorsement of Donald J Trump as presidential candidate. It’s the attitude Franklin Delano Roosevelt adopted in his support of General Somoza’s Nicaraguan uprising. FDR had reportedly said, “He may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch” as a reflection of Somoza’s uprising that would ultimately favor the US activity in Central America.

Republicans know their party is fractured, so their only way up is resignation disguised as an embrace in solidarity.

Too bad that embrace reads more like a one-armed hug.