Not specifically related to Trump (any more so than anything else in American politics right now), but it struck me today that it's a real shame there's nobody on the "not batshit crazy conservative" side pulling the strings of real schism in the GOP, with the kerfluffle surrounding Roy Moore and the general rabid hatred for Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan on account of their not being quite crazy enough. It seems like the perfect time to start astroturfing a synthetic "grassroots" movement to vote for some kind of MAGA Party. Play up all the ways the Republican establishment is stabbing Real 'Murricans in the back by failing to round up and imprison, deport, and/or execute anyone who isn't white, straight, male, or Christian enough. It's plainly evident that there's no turning these people back from where they are, and the least destructive way to avert actual disaster is to stop treating them as if they're within the spectrum of reasonable politics. Give them exactly what they want -- an openly extremist party, but one totally controlled by cynics and doomed to failure -- just to mop up all those MAGA votes and throw them in the trash. I'd do it, but I left my fifty billion dollars in my other pants.
The Real ‘Murricans may be doing that job all by themselves. There are, after all, a growing number of Republican incumbents who have already decided to not run for reelection next year.
One of those incumbents, to my surprise, is the “moderate” from my congressional district. In this particular case, Mr. Moderate is so popular it’s extremely unlikely he could lose the GOP primary to a rabid conservative. And, after having being reelected several times by sizable margins, the Democrats have yet to find a viable candidate, who actually lives within the congressional district, to run against him. The consensus opinion in the district is that Mr. Moderate has had his fill of the crazies in his party, and just wants to move on with his life.