| Because Washington's Republican primary really doesn't matter today (sorry, Washington), we might as well explain why both parties have chosen their presumptive nominees, and more than the half of the electorate doesn't like either one: |
| WHAT'S WRONG WITH REPUBLICANS? |
| Volumes have been written to explain the emergence and subsequent dominance of Donald Trump. You've probably heard the talking point that rank-and-file Republicans want an outsider , someone who has no experience in elected office, because voters' lives suck since the Great Recession. They figure a guy with strength and bluster and no friends in Washington can finally shake things up. Or at least make those elitist D.C. pig-dogs feel everyone else's pain. |
| Another prominent story line is that the Republican Party is divided, perhaps irreversibly so, between fiscal conservatives who want limited government and social conservatives who want government to tell people how to live. A party too consumed with infighting was caught flat-footed, and those who could have squashed Trump early on didn't because they thought he had no chance of winning (oops). |
| There are many other theories, including that Republicans really are that racist (and/or misogynistic), and that any fan of 19th Century literature should have been able to predict the rise of Trump. |
| So, now the candidate who doesn't represent the GOP's established brand of fiscal or social conservatism appears to be the party's only hope of staying together. But Trump doesn't exactly do the olive branch thing well - as witnessed by the rift between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan , who will oversee the convention but has refused to endorse Trump. |
| WHAT'S WRONG WITH DEMOCRATS? |
| If the Republican problem is mostly ideological (the party based on beliefs suddenly doesn't know what it believes anymore), Democrats' problem may be more one of coalition. Its various factions had a tacit understanding that they needed to compromise for the good of the party. |
| But now environmentalists and union members are at odds, hinting at a rift over how to handle the growing number of white-collar Democrats. Blue-collar workers have been leaving the party for decades. |
| Meanwhile, some on the far-left have become emboldened by polling that suggests Bernie Sanders would trounce Trump in a general election. They are pushing the party to embrace more of his democratic socialist ideas and are threatening to fight Hillary Clinton if (read: when) she becomes the nominee. They say the system is rigged, man, and have thrown chairs and curse words in an attempt to gain more sway - to which party leadership has tried to referee by basically saying , "Stahp. You're acting like Republicans." |
| THEIR DYSFUNCTION, OUR PAIN |
| Pick your theory for why voters have whittled the choice to Trump or Clinton: Is it economic malaise? Changing demographics? We all secretly want to watch the world burn? The result is the same: roughly two-thirds of Republicans and Democrats say neither Trump nor Clinton shares their values. |
| Another poll found that 91 percent of voters under 29 want an independent on the ballot - a generation's "near-total rejection" of Trump and Clinton, says a blogger on the website Zero Hedge. The big question now: Will disaffected voters effectively press for an Option C? Or just stay home in November? |
| MORE FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL |
| • | Columnist: What do you do when there's no one to vote for? (Jackson Sun) | | • | Lindsey Graham, a vocal Trump critic, pleads for party unity. Trump's son: You'll see others get in line behind my dad (USA TODAY) | | • | Scott Walker, one-time GOP golden child, may need to get a cardboard sign and a cup to pay off his presidential campaign debt (USA TODAY) | | • | Senate Minority Leader says "hell no" to the prospect of Clinton choosing a senator as her veep. Sorry, Elizabeth Warren fans (USA TODAY) | |
| NOW, HERE'S AN OSTRICH |
| Today's newsletter is admittedly a little Debbie Downer. Sorry - politicians do that to us sometimes. To make up for it, here's a video of an ostrich chasing cyclists. It's funny because 1) Ostriches waddle when they run, and 2) They're vindictive, which is why that thing just. Keeps. Going. Is there a political metaphor here? |
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