We disagree with Glenn Beck in his throwing around of the word 'corrupt' so cavalierly in his interview today, but we completely understand his frustration though a bit hyperbolic and slightly misguided. His underlying point, as well as the panel's, is that the federal government and the campaigns are not acknowledging what's going on in this country, a tone-deafness, and we agree but with a significant caveat. And it applies to the fact that Mr. Trump's rhetoric during this campaign has been divisive to the point of breaking open the fault line of this country singling out people's races and religions. By being so rhetorically flammable, Mr. Trump is effectively breaking down the rule of law, one of the very things he said he would uphold.
Where we agree with Mr. Beck is in his assessment of Reince Preibus and his place and statements in all this, as the ultimate Trump enabler. With regard to Mr. Trump evolving into a more mainstream candidate, Mr. Priebus said that the candidate has "come around a lot since a few months ago." He called it a 'fantasy land' idea for Republicans to vote for anyone but Mr. Trump. It can only make one shake his or her head, but Mr. Beck also said that Mr. Priebus surely knows better and doesn't really believe what he's saying. On this point, we not so sure.
Chuck Todd brought up the Republican 'autopsy' from the last campaign and confronted Mr. Priebus about the fact the no action was taken on it, to which the RNC chairman did the customary bob and weaver around the questions. The Republicans' current platform doesn't consider that 'autopsy,' which called for more outreach to minorities and women among other things. You know who didn't care about or read the 'autopsy?' The candidate, Donald Trump, that's who so we might as well just stop asking about it.
Tom Brokaw said that it's not the Republican party, it's the DonaldTrump.com Party.
As for the 'black swan' of an event as Hugh Hewlitt described the upcoming Republican convention, moderates and party onlookers can only hope for a 'it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be' type of assessment at the end of it. With this sort of expectation from conservative commentators like Hugh Hewlitt going in, it's hard to see how Mr. Trump's campaign gets the customary bump in the polls post convention. The reason for this is the fact that Mr. Trump's campaign in fact offers no positive message for the country. The candidate himself offers no positive message, which inexplicably is infrequently discussed by the pundits. "Make America Great Again" isn't a message, it's a slogan.
And if you evidence on how inspiring Mr. Trump can be, below is a tweet Mr. Trump wrote during the course of writing this blog.
This is what the Republican nominee thinks about the country he apparently aspires to lead.
...
You know what? It's too hot to get worked up any more because after seeing that tweet it was like a new layer of icing was smeared over our stale loathing cake.
Here's to hoping we all cool down for a moment, in our hearts and in our heads.
Panel: Sara Fagen, CNBC Contributor; Joy-Ann Reid, NBC News; Hugh Hewlitt, Salem Radio Network; Tom Brokaw, NBC News
We'll get the all the foreign policy craziness later.
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