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The Republican Party is in the process of ritual public suicide. There are too many chickens for the party to handle and nowhere near enough roosts.

Forty years of batshit economics and dangerous demagoguery, god-bothering and otherwise, have made a liar out of the Globe's contention that the party's "standard" deserves to be hoisted by anyone who is anything but a demagogue.

Everybody with eyes can see this.

When Glenn Beck Quotes Martin Luther King, We All Lose
Reminder: Beck is on Team Cruz.



BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
APR 11, 2016

Before we get to the awarding of this week's House Cup, which is probably the easiest choice that the committee has ever had to make, let's take note of those scamps at my old newspaper, The Boston Globe, who ran a prank front page depicting the paper's speculation about the events of the first year of the administration of President He, Trump.

Three cheers for out-of-the-box thinking, but then the paper had to go and spoil the whole thing by writing an earnest editorial expressing grave concern about the whole possibility of a He, Trump presidency.

Talk about stepping on your own punchline. And this passage was the worst buzzkill of all.

Action doesn't mean political chicanery or subterfuge. It doesn't mean settling for an equally extreme—and perhaps more dangerous—nominee in Ted Cruz. If the party can muster the courage to reject its first-place finisher, rejecting the runner-up should be even easier.

The Republican Party's standard deserves to be hoisted by an honorable and decent man, like Romney or Ryan, elected on the convention floor. It is better to lose with principle than to accept a dangerous deal from a demagogue.

The Republican Party is in the process of ritual public suicide. There are too many chickens for the party to handle and nowhere near enough roosts. Forty years of batshit economics and dangerous demagoguery, god-bothering and otherwise, have made a liar out of the Globe's contention that the party's "standard" deserves to be hoisted by anyone who is anything but a demagogue. Everybody with eyes can see this.

However, there seems to be an abject terror within the elite political media at the prospect of the Republican party's destroying itself through the extremism that the party has tolerated for far too long.

If the Republican Party goes away, whatever will we do? All of our Both Sides tropes will be instantly inoperative. Thinking once again will be required around the Fournier manse.

This existential pundit panic manifests itself in a few ways: first, Both Sides can still be invoked if we can point to a rockfight on the Democratic side, too; second, we can go along with the Globe and pretend that an utterly unprincipled retread like Willard Romney, or a complete public charlatan like Paul Ryan, are "honorable and decent men," or third, we can talk to the real crazoids and pretend that they are sensible actors in the political life of the country, and by doing that, we can pretend that the Republican Party as it currently exists is, well, sane.

My man Chuck Todd, who always has been the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, chose door number three, and thereby ran away with the House Cup.

He decided that what the grave situation needed was an extended conversation with yesterday's lunatic, and currently disappeared Ted Cruz surrogate, Glenn Beck.

Only a week ago, Beck told his audience that World Heritage Week was preparing to honor Baal in Times Square and, as Dave Barry always says, I am not making this up.

"Why would you put it up on the high holy day of Satan?" Beck asked. "Good God Almighty, what are we doing? It's really creepy. And that's what Drudge is making fun of me on. I mean, if you want to pay attention at all, what are you doing?

I mean, we are slapping God in the face over and over and over again and our press is making fun of [me]." "This country was established through the might and the power of the Almighty God," he continued, growing more and more upset, "and I'm sorry if that's politically incorrect but read our own documents!

Read the words of our founders. They were lead here by God, they established this country by God, our founding documents are all about God! Our rights do not belong to us; we borrow them, He gives them to us to protect. And what are we doing?

In our darkest hour, we are erecting in Times Square, America's crossroads, we are erecting the Temple of Baal on Satan's high holy days and nobody seems to care and the press is silent and that's something that conservative organizations care to mock me about! We are toast."

(I would point out that the World Heritage Week people are reproducing the arch to a temple to Baal as a warning of the danger posed by Daesh to priceless ancient archaeological sites.)

This is the kind of stuff that can cost you your soapbox in Washington Square Park. Nonetheless, two days after Beck unlimbered himself of this craziness, my man Chuck Todd saw fit to treat him as though there were not great gusts of wind blowing in one of Beck's ears and out the other.

So just how would the conservative-based radio act to that outcome? Glenn Beck joins me now. He is the founder of TheBlaze.com. It's a conservative website and TV network. He's also endorsed Ted Cruz, by the way. Mr. Beck, welcome to Meet the Press.

And we are glad to see that the straitjacket has not caused any permanent neurological damage. Please feel free to fling your poo now.

I think it would be very bad. You can't disenfranchise people. We've all gone out. We've been passionate about it. We've all been going back and forth and voted on the people that we believe. I really think it has to be one of the two frontrunners. I just think people would feel very betrayed, and that's why, quite honestly, that's why people like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are doing well, because people feel very, very disenfranchised and they are angry.

And that's something we don't want to add fuel to. When Roger Stone was calling and saying he was going to put out the hotel room numbers and encouraged people to go to the delegates' hotel rooms, and called for the Days of Rage which we all remember in 1968, that's really not a good thing.

We don't want to play into the anger and the hatred and vitriol. We are in this together. Martin Luther King said we either going to live like brothers together, or we are going to perish together like fools.

Brief historical footnote: the "Days of Rage" had nothing to do with the events at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. They took place a year later and were organized by the Weathermen, whose politics were almost as mindless as Beck's are. Also, Dr. King would not have considered it to be living together as brothers calling archaeological preservationists tools of Satan.

I don't know. I would like to take him [Paul Ryan] at his word, but I don't take anybody really in Washington at their word anymore. I don't know what that ad is about. But again, if the G.O.P. doesn't find its principles, this isn't about a candidate coming up with some utopian future for us.

This is really about finding our principles. And if they don't find their principles, the G.O.P. is going to be over. And disenfranchising people who have worked hard and gone out and campaigned for some of these people, I think would be a really bad mistake.

What does this mean? Who in the hell knows, except that Beck is looking for someone principled to run on the anti-Baal ticket.
I just don't think this is going to happen. And I haven't decided on what I would do.

I know I will not vote for Trump. And I would probably go and just look for the strongest people in the House and the Senate that would keep Hillary Clinton at bay.

Because Trump is not going to win the general. If you look at the polls, Todd, and you know this, no matter what you say, you look at the polls, Hillary Clinton wins every time with Donald Trump.

TODD: All right. Glenn Beck, I'm going to leave it there.

You do and you'll clean it up.

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