[WideRight05]

You asked me the difference between skipping the Kentucky Primary and voting 3rd party in the general. How you voted differed from the case you laid out in support of voting for a 3rd party candidate, but like I said, I didn't give you any grief about it then and wouldn't have done so this time just on that basis.

But things have not been restricted to that basis. You've been running a campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee right here on BGR. I have disagreed with your methods and many of your conclusions because they require one to accept as fact that Mr Trump has been lying about his transition into the conservative view. I say there is no way to prove that, this side of a Trump Presidency. And since many if not all conservatives must make some kind of similar journey to the light in any event, and given the certainty of the alternative this time around, we must give him a chance to do what he promises.

I have gone on to cite people who are widely respected in conservative circles who I believe agree with my position, and as I have attempted to point out, there is no shortage of those of that mindset. Nobody on the planet denies that one of only two people will step into the Oval Office next January. There is no other possibility in the realm of the remotely plausible. That being the case, if you can say with a shred of honesty that you don't understand how a pro-life conservative could support Trump, I can say the following whole heartedly. I do not understand how a pro-life conservative could or would, take the time to campaign extensively and frankly aggressively, against the only candidate who has any chance whatever to win, and who represents that pro-life conservative's stated positions.

I'm not at all surprised that both sides of the aisle coalesced to oppose Trump in what I had predicted to be an unholy alliance, but even I underestimated the intensity and the spectacle of it. Republicans should unite behind the presumptive nominee, and in my view given current events, so should the Democrats. Our quality of life and the health of our country is at stake, and in that light I believe this to be the time for patriots to stand up and make service to their nation the reality, rather than campaign rhetoric. Ted Cruz should offer his considerable gifts in service to the people, and throw his hat in the VP ring to heal the national rift and provide the guidance he said he was all about a couple of months back. That rift BTW, is as real at the national level as it is on this site. But thankfully, I hear more and more of Trump's one time staunch opponents, now publicly recognizing the actual singularity of choice with which America is faced.

In the beginning did you expect to see Trump being opposed by those who were anti-establishment? As different as you, Hoot, and I have been this election cycle, one thing the three of us having in common on a deep end - is that we all oppose the establishment and what they have done. We all agree that we have been represented by leaders who mostly have backed down or caved on several important issues.

At first I thought that as Trump moved along, even though he was running against some of the other guys I thought he would unite with Cruz, Rubio, Paul, and the ones that were fighting against the Jeb Bush's and Lindsey Graham's of the world. Instead, he has not just destroyed a relationship with the establishment, he has destroyed a relationship with many others. Had, say, Marco Rubio won, I think the election would have been intense but I don't think Cruz or Paul would have had much trouble rallying around him. I almost expected to see this kind of scenario with Bush or Graham not supporting the candidate if a non-establishment candidate won, and if this were just a few members of the establishment rebelling in fear of losing their power I would be understanding.

Trump, with the way he handled himself in the primary especially through his Twitter posts, put himself in a deep hole when it comes to his relationships with some of the others in the GOP. Trump has no one to blame but himself when it comes to how this party has become so divided.

The GOP has made some huge gains in recent years. Having 247 seats in the House, 54 seats in the Senate, 24 states under full GOP control in terms of the legislatures, this is the best position the party has been in at least during my lifetime. Given the way the scenario is looking right now, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Democrats get some huge gains coming up in part because of Donald Trump and in part because of some of the governors pussing on some key issues. I just can't see Cruz wanting to put his name in the VP slot because of the relationship between him and Trump and the potential failure of this presidency given that he has the shot of potentially winning the presidential primary in a future campaign.

Cruz has been offering his gifts and continued to take major stands in the Senate since the primaries ended, as has Rand Paul.