The trouble with the Republicans is – OMG there are so many problems with the Republicans, and Donald Trump isn’t the worst of them. I’m not a political expert. For the most part I don’t really know what they are talking about a lot of the time. I believe I pay more attention to politics than the average American but my grasp of foreign policy and economics are severely lacking. I worry that I am a low information voter. And yet I’ve watched enough of this campaign to believe that I can actually offer some insight into winning if anyone is interested. The problem with the Republicans is that they take themselves way too seriously and they have no understanding of public relations. They’re wasting so much time preaching to the choir about issues that are irrelevant when it comes right down to it.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Trouble With The Republicans

Donald Trump

Let’s start with Donald Trump… While he may not actually be a conservative, he’s certainly stirring the party up. Currently he’s way ahead of the rest of the pack in the polls. I’m not the only one who thought he’d be out of the race by August, and yet here he is going stronger than ever. I’m still not even considering giving him my vote, but I do love that he is shaking up the party and the process. He’s going to ensure that another Bush does not occupy the Oval Office and for that I am grateful. I am a little saddened that he’s been given so much attention and because of that some of the really decent candidates have quit. I’m mostly talking about Rand Paul. Other than that, I’m enjoying the panic and anxiety he’s causing to the party and the other candidates on both sides of the campaign. The RNC can’t control Trump, and that is how it should be. It’s just too bad that you have to be a billionaire to consider a run for office of the President of the United States.

Republicans are Namby Pamby

I’ve spent a fair amount of time watching the debates, and so far not one of them has come up with an interesting or original idea. They are towing the same conservative line – blah blah blah defund abortion, blah blah blah repeal Obamacare, blah blah blah Ronald Reagan…etc, etc, ad nauseam. I want to know how they are going to get people who have left the job market back into it. I want to know how they are going to fix our broken public school system. I want to know if they really understand why affordable health insurance is such a clusterfuck in this country. We have a race problem in this country and so far only Rand Paul was willing to address it. I get it, it’s a scary thing to discuss, especially for a bunch of middle aged white guys, but it seriously needs to happen. And while I know this will never happen, I’d really love to hear one of them say “Hey, that was a good idea that  my opponent had, let’s see if we can’t explore it and implement it because it could help a lot of people.”

Republicans have a PR Problem

The Republican candidates are great at talking about reducing welfare or defunding Planned Parenthood. The problem they have is they never give reasonable explanations for why those might be good ideas. They have allowed the left to define them on issues such as minimum wage and welfare reform. Because they have allowed the left to define them they come off sounding like bigots and misogynists. I’d like to see one of them talk about the difference between a hand out and a hand up, and then work really hard at offering that hand up to those in need.

Pandering

All politicians pander, that’s not news. I’d just really like it if someone didn’t. Trump and Sanders come closest to not pandering to the voters, but that’s only because they haven’t practiced it enough like the rest of the candidates. As the race gets tighter both of them are now beginning to promise things that even they look like they’d have to hold their nose to accomplish. Thankfully, most campaign promises never come to fruition.

Boring

The campaign is boring. So far the most exciting thing about the Republican campaign has been Donald Trump calling Cruz a ‘pussy’ and the fact that Cruz hired a soft core porn star to be in one of his commercials.

Hypocrisy

And then they fired her. They fired her because she had a job for which they didn’t approve. The Republicans are all about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and working for a living – except if it gives them a hard on. You’d think the Republicans were all celibate based on their fear of sex. If the Republicans want to win Presidential elections they’re going to have to stop obsessing about everyone else’s sex lives, and just get on with worrying about their own business. I believe if they could just do that one thing, they’d be an unstoppable force.

Next week – The Trouble with the Democrats.