"Trump isn’t losing because Kamala Harris is being hyped by the press and fluffed up to kingdom come. He isn’t losing because the press is being unfair to him. He’s losing because he’s a weak, unpopular, undisciplined candidate running at the head of a weak, minority electoral coalition. That’s the truth, whether anyone wants to hear it or not," Wright concluded.

Damn. The National Review is not pulling its punches on Trump.

I’ll just leave this here

"Trump's weakness only remained hidden for much of this year because…

Only for “much of this year”? Are you kidding me?

His many, many flaws were/are invisible to his selectively blind cult members. Those people were, however, loud and obnoxious enough to force their opinion on the weak Republican Party, and the party was too ineffectual to come up with an alternative. Boo fucking hoo.

Bad candidate, bad businessman, bad father, bad husband ... it's almost impressive how much he sucks.

"The GOP electoral coalition is the smaller, weaker coalition. It’s lost the popular vote seven out of nine times in my lifetime (I’m 36). It has lost the Electoral College three out of the last four cycles. Conservatives might not be very eager to hear this, but 'We the People' are mostly Democrats," Wright continued.

So much for calling themselves the Silent Majority.

Of course they can still win, the way they are looking at now is to cheat!

I don't think this is a good thing. While the current form of conservatism was kind of started by Trump via whatever horrible things he was saying, it's a pandora's box that was opened and will probably never be closed again as long as there's an audience to the talking points. If Trump were to become effectively disowned by conservatives, they're likely going to replace him with someone even worse (someone like Mike Johnson or any other christian fundamentalist) which is the true horror.

Also remember - all this talk from conservatives about Trump being a "bad candidate" is not because his policies or project 2025 are bad, it's only because he's no longer that popular.

"Is Harris an ideal candidate? Is she an incredibly talented orator? Is she deft on her feet and nimble in debate? Is she a famous wonk? Does she have a long track record of competence at the state and federal level? Has she been scrutinized by a tough no-nonsense press and come out stronger on the other side?" wrote Wright. "No, of course not — but she’s an alternative to Trump/Biden, and that’s probably going to be enough."

Hard disagree.

1. Probably. 2. Yes. 3. Yes. 4. Yes, but I wouldn't consider her famous for it. 5. Yes. 6. We'd have to have a no-nonsense press before I could answer that. 7. Yes, but she's much more.

We picked a guy who has lost two straight elections to run in a third election? Yeah, that tracks.

"Republican Party is a minority coalition that picked a very unpopular 78-year-old retread as its candidate"

Is it possible to read this and not read as "retard"? I cant for the life of me.

May they never recover.

Even Fox News is hanging up on him when gets ranting during his regular Fox and Friends morning call.

The GOP electoral coalition is the smaller, weaker coalition. It’s lost the popular vote seven out of nine times in my lifetime (I’m 36). It has lost the Electoral College three out of the last four cycles. Conservatives might not be very eager to hear this, but 'We the People' are mostly Democrats," Wright continued.

So you’re saying, the republicans are a minority. So maybe they need some inclusion and equity so people can appreciate the diverse opinion they bring to the table. So basically, conservatives and republicans need DEI 🤔

All that remains, he said, is for Republicans to "stop whining" and try to create a stronger coalition — which so far there is no indication they are trying to do.

And how will they do that? Hint, joining with Nazis or white supremacists isn’t necessary. The commoners want more than bread and circuses, and blood or bloodlust is a poor substitute. Conservatism as a platform needs to become less disingenuous and hypocritical. The republicans are the party of the oligarchs, and by definition that will always fail a democracy.

I think the Conservatives had little choice left. The extreme forces in this party without any values have been on the rise since at least the Tea Party movement. Even then, they decided to focus on extremism, racism and pretty much every other "ism" there is - just because this made it possible to hide their actual political agenda behind that, which is - of course - exclusively in the interests of a wealthy minority. Trump is simply the consequence of that decision. Since his presidency, he has managed to take over that party completely. While doing so it surely has played into his hands that the conservatives are so spineless and power-oriented that there was hardly anyone to counter Trump. Now he has already filled all the key positions with family members or minions who are dependent on him. I don't think that there is a GOP anymore; just the Trump cult that's left of it. The good thing about all this: If Trump loses the election, the GOP is probably finished.

Picked two bad candidates.

Bad candidates, bad policies, bad justifications, bad faith... The list goes on