Last week, Trump sent a cease and desist letter to the RNC, NRCC, and the NRSC, ordering these organizations to stop using his name in their fundraising campaigns.  His takeover, and ultimate destruction of the GOP is now unavoidable.  The Republican party that we came to know and disagree with no longer exists; in 2016, the party handed trump the keys to the kingdom and he’s now burned the whole thing down.  He’s coopted the entire organization with all of its members, and now has cut off the money they were using to perpetuate themselves.

Think about it – CPAC this year was nothing short of a Trump coronation.  Every single speaker worshiped him, and declared him the only brand the GOP had.  Hell, they even had a golden idol of Trump and everyone wanted to be photographed standing next to it.  No Republican will oppose him on any policy or even publicly disagree with him.  Trump has so amassed support for himself with a radical (and violent) base that he’s cowed the entire Republican delegation at the local, state, and federal level.  After handing the party over to Trump, he’s now cut off the money so he can take it all for himself.

After coopting the party, he’s now using the same tactics he’s always used in life – lawsuits.  Trump’s primary tool, besides prolific lying, is to use lawsuits as a bludgeon to force capitulation to his demands. That didn’t work as president, but it most certainly works in private life, and now he’s turned it on those who have handed him their party and their fundraising apparatus.  Trump’s plan is now crystal clear – when he announced at CPAC last week that he’s not starting a third party, what he meant was there was no need to, because he was taking over the GOP.  Now party leaders have a decision; start a new party to siphon people away from Trump, or just lay low, hoping that one of the criminal cases against Trump sticks enough to take him out of the limelight.

This will be interesting for those of us on the outside of this soap opera to watch.  I can only hope it continues to weaken the GOP and its really bad ideas.

The DNC is now considering what to do about Iowa in terms of where it sits in the order of presidential primaries, since it is traditionally first to go in the presidential race every 4 years.  My opinion?  Dump it.  The unmitigated shitshow of 2020’s caucuses should be the nail in the coffin of Number One Primary, but it goes beyond that.  Iowa voters are not predictive of a winner; its population is older, more rural, and generally less informed than many other states. As an aside, I even question the importance of New Hampshire, but whatever, let’s dump on Iowa tonight.  I’ve got an idea, how about we start out with Super Tuesday and just go from there?

There’s also other upsides to dumping Iowa; no more stupid steak fries, corn on the cob roasts, butter cow sculpture contests, and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on bus rentals going from VFW hall to VFW hall to press the flesh of octogenarians.  On top of that, the Iowa Dems can’t even manage implementing a Goddam iPad app, hence 2020’s disaster.  In short, fuck those hayseeds.  Go to the back of the line; sit down, shut up. Eat your corn.

Not that I’m opinionated.  Or worn out.  Or just sick of hearing about Iowa.  Rant over, good night.