Republican Party: Disqualified
Donald Trump is not to blame for the Republican Party disqualifying itself from winning the 2016 Presidential election. It’s the establishment. The purpose of an establishment of any party is to maintain some type of stability.
The stability of values any party represents are fundamental to the party’s existence. It is true that parties in practice deviate from their platforms based on the transient realities of the electorate at the time of the election. Most of the times this can be done without destroying the tenets of the party.
The Democratic Party had strayed from its tenets when it adopted Ronald Reagan’s voodoo economics (supply-side economics). It got implicit coverage during the period when a ‘good economy’ raised all boats. The fundamental failure of that extractive tenet is now in effect. Both Bernie Sanders and to some extent Hillary Clinton or acknowledging said failure. Their policy proposals address how they intend to create policies to give the middle-class and the poor the relief they must have.
It is true that Donald Trump at times sound like a populist when he talks about the problems that ail the middle-class and the poor from health care to jobs. Unfortunately, his prescriptions are simply to trust him he can. Why? Because he is a businessperson. Of course, his businesses have been much less successful than advertised.
Ted Cruz offers the poor and the middle-class nothing but rhetoric. In his supply-side view of the world, he will simply kill Obamacare, reduce taxes, and get rid of a lot of regulations. That will magically create an exploding economy for all.
A president must be respected nationally and internationally. Discussions about the size of hands and penises does not endear trust. Debates about the beauty of objectified spouses does little to command respect. Talk about carpet-bombing foreign lands or using nuclear weapons on the enemy is not only reckless it endangers America.
Yet, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the only realistic options emanating from the Republican Party. Had the Republican Party sanctioned debates based on substance as opposed to reality TV, it is likely more serious candidates would have emerged. Instead, they teamed up with a derelict media to create a highly rated media spectacle that made the TV networks millions but completely disqualified any Republican from the presidency in 2016.