A lot of Republicans fear and loathe Trump. We learned that during the primaries. But only a very few brave ones will admit to that now.

Trump is their man, he is the last thing they need to roll back the New Deal, lower corporate taxes and regulation, and prevent money from the rich from being diverted to the poor and middle classes or for programs that have no immediate payback to Wall Street–like the environment and medical care. And as long as unemployment remains high, salaries will remain low and profits and executive bonuses will continue to rise. Econ 101, the Law of Supply and Demand. That is priority one. For these people, nothing else matters.

The social policies concerning religion, law’n'order, terrorism, race, abortion, guns and immigration are of much less importance, but they are important to the trog allies of the business community which are thereby diverted from their true economic interests to support the Right. So they give these “cultural” issues lip service, but you know perfectly well when Daddy Warbucks’ little Peggy Sue gets knocked up, he won’t have any trouble finding her an abortionist.

This coalition gives the Conservatives political power all out of proportion to their numbers. They are not about to bad mouth their man Trump, no matter how much they may despise him, it might mean losing this temporary advantage. So they will make excuses for him and cover for him–they have no choice. That’s what you see the Conservatives here on the Zone doing, not outright support, just trying to blunt the harshest (and most justifiable) criticisms.

However, I do believe the Right would love to remove this embarrassment, and replace him with someone with a less toxic temperament and perhaps a bit more competence as an administrator. This will happen soon, they need to replace Trump early in his administration, and to replace him with someone with enough time left in office to continue those Trump policies they want to reinforce. They delayed getting rid of Nixon too long, which made Ford unelectable.

Watch Pence. He’s been playing the good soldier for Trump, but he has not once stuck out his neck for him in any meaningful way. He can actually deliver on all the policies Trump can only promise to bring about. And he will do it in a quiet and background fashion, with very little controversy. And he will see to it the deplorables blame the Liberal Press and the Democrats for the destruction of their red-faced, tiny-handed hero.

I hate to keep flogging this horse, but Progressives must get away from this obsession with bad-mouthing Trump. His replacement will be much more effective at installing the Conservative program, and in shutting down future comeback opportunities for Democrats (think Supreme Court, voter suppression, regulatory rollbacks, gerrymandering, giveaways
and corporate welfare for big business).

We need Trump, he may cause a lot of short-term damage, but it will be repairable and he will innoculate America against fascism for a generation. We cannot afford to make a martyr out of him. It will make America into a corporate welfare state.