GOP Wall of Noise Surrounding Trump Begins Cracking

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Just a few scant days ago hearing any criticism of Donald John Trump emanating from within the Republican Party required finely honed listening skills, and with Trump constantly on the spew like some angry volcano, hearing anything that made sense coming from other Republicans was damned near impossible.   Trump's Republican Party is one of noise, not substance.

But now there are a few cracks beginning to appear and spread across that wall of insane noise, and a few fragments of commonsense are beginning to seep through and be heard.

It began with Asa Hutchinson, a former party functionary at the national level who just completed two four-year terms as Governor of Arkansas.   Hutchinson, whose career paths are starting to be limited, decided to go out with a grand "Hail Mary" and run for President, but with the Republican field certain to fill with loonies attempting to "Trump" their way into the White House, Hutchinson decided to try a more unique approach and run as a responsible adult.  He would present as a true conservative, but one who is much more sane than Donald Trump.  Now, several weeks into his campaign, Hutchinson is still basically an unknown, and his only chance of winning the nomination would likely be if all of the other candidates went on a campaign cruise and the ship sank.

This week former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie popped up trying to also occupy the never-Trump lane of the GOP campaign.  Christie is far less civilized than the dignified Governor Hutchinson, and he is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers - or pluck the whole damned chicken!  Christie jumped into the fray with attacks on Trump's character, his alleged criminal history, and even his shady family, and Trump immediately fired back by trying to fat-shame the former New Jersey governor, a strategy that was as ironic as it was petty.

Trump got a big initial boost in this year's presidential race with an appearance a couple of weeks ago on a "CNN Town Hall" in which he was given a smorgasbord of softball questions and plenty of opportunities to strut his well-scripted-and-rehearsed outrage at the media, Joe Biden, and the legal system for trying to hold him accountable for his actions.

Last night Chris Christie had his own turn on a "CNN Town Hall," and he used it to attack Trump's rampaging ego and to try and refocus attention on how Trump brought all of his current troubles on himself.   Christie, who himself can roar as loudly as Trump, told the CNN audience that what they were currently witnessing coming from Donald Trump was "Vanity run amok.  Ego Run amok."   The former New Jersey governor pointed out that while everyone is blaming prosecutors, in reality it was Trump who "did this."

Governor Christie noted that there are people within the Republican Party blaming the DOJ (Department of Justice) for Trump's current situation.  And then he offered this alternative:  "How about, blame him? (Trump)  "He did it!"

Asa Hutchinson is a pea-shooter, and that cruise ship scenario is never going to happen.   Chris Christis is a cannon, and he's loose and rolling around the deck of a hardy old battleship, and God alone knows what he is capable of doing.  If there was ever a creature who could out-Trump Trump, Christie would be it.

And it would seem that Chris Christie's broadside attacks on Trump have not gone unnoticed by the other GOP candidates, most of whom are still far too timid to speak out against the party's wind machine.  Former governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who served as Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations, and now an announced GOP presidential candidate, has altered her once blind defense of Trump and is now calling his removal and sharing of secret White House documents "incredibly reckless,"  a clear departure from accepted party dogma.

Another South Carolinian who is also running for the GOP presidential nomination, US Senator Tim Scott, has recently stepped on Trump's description of the 37-count federal indictment as a "witch-hunt," and instead called it "a serious case with serious allegations," something that is also a clear break with the the party's established position on the matter.

So the Republican Party's wall of noise around Donald Trump is fracturing with little cracks from Hutchinson, Haley, and Scott, and major rips from Chris Christie,   It's clearly not enough new noise to drown out a pro like Donald Trump, but it is there, and it is a start.  

Listen carefully, world.  There's a lot left to hear.