Republican Party

One week after Donald Trump made the surprising announcement that he hired former Goldman Sachs partner and Soros employee, Steve Mnuchin as his national finance chairman as he begins to roll out his presidential fundraising operation (Mnuchin has said he hopes to raise as much as $1 billion), Trump announced moments ago that he has picked Chris Christie to lead his transition team, which would prepare the political neophyte turned presumptive GOP nominee for the White House if he wins in the general election.

Reformed pastor Steven Wedgeworth, a conservative, says the Trumpening offers a good opportunity for Evangelicals to formally leave the GOP. He calls on fellow conservative Evangelicals who are 40 and under to “admit it. We voted Republican because of the issue of abortion and a desire to protect our religious values against government coercion.”

Well, now that you put it that way, Pastor, I’m 49, and that’s the only reason I have voted Republican at all for the past 10 years. Wedgeworth continues:

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

When it comes to the economic future, a Trump presidency could bring either a shitstorm or salvation. Regrettably, the odds of the former are immensely the higher.

That’s because Trump is a welcome, but extremely unguided missile.

My latest column at The Week begins thusly:

With his last two opponents, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, out of the race, Donald Trump is now the presumptive nominee for president of the Republican Party. As Kublai Khan conquered the ancient Song Empire of China to become its first barbarian emperor, Trump swooped down and conquered the once-mighty party of Lincoln. Now that party has to figure out how to respond.

So much for Reince Priebus' urging the party to unify around the presumptive Republican nominee. Speaker Paul Ryan said he was "just not ready" to support or endorse Donald Trump as the GOP nominee during an interview with CNN, laying "the bulk of the burden for unifying the party" at Trump's feet...

“To be perfectly candid with you … I’m just not ready to that at this point. I’m not there right now,”