Q. "What’s going to happen to the GOP?
A. "My perspective is that the Republican party is profoundly corrupted by Donald Trump and it has been corrupted by a tolerance for all and any type of amoral and immoral behavior.
A. "My perspective is that the Republican party is profoundly corrupted by Donald Trump and it has been corrupted by a tolerance for all and any type of amoral and immoral behavior.
"Tolerance for astounding levels of corruption and exposure of hypocrisy from the religious far-right leaders like Falwell, to everybody who screamed and shouted about some perfidious act that Obama or the Clintons allegedly committed.
"Trump has remade the Republican party into an isolationist, grievance-driven, resentment-driven political party. The party looks like what it might have looked like if George Wallace had captured its nomination and become president.
"But nobody should underestimate Trump’s capacity to destroy the Democratic party as an institution.I think one of the most important things that is least discussed is that, how would you give consideration to the magnitude of the institutional failure of the Democratic party ...
"should the party nominate someone who is defeated by Trump in the general election? And winning the popular vote doesn’t count. The rules are the rules. And this election will be decided by the Electoral College.
"What are the consequences, and how do you assess the magnitude of the institutional failure if Trump and Trumpism is validated? If the majority of the country, or an electoral majority of the country, says four more years of him versus the alternative.
"It raises a substantial question about this moment of time and what’s required. What has the first order of precedence? Is it to establish purity around an ideological agenda?
Or is it to assemble the broadest possible political coalition around the broadest points of agreement and connection that unite people together who disagree on many issues for the purposes of repudiating Trump or Trumpism?"
"My personal belief is that Trump has every intention – and nobody should underestimate his ability to effectively directly communicate to his base – to portray the Democratic party as a socialist party that believes in open borders, is soft on crime, ...
"is tolerant of open-air drug markets and homelessness and will paint an apocalyptic caricature of the Democratic party.
"For example, he’s made it clear that he intends to brand the party as a socialist party. Proposals like Medicare for All help him accomplish that. I think in America a sociopath will beat a socialist seven days a week and twice on Sunday.
"The primaries are unique and the loudest, most dogmatic voices who we hear from the most in politics typically don’t represent any majorities. But the idea that the Democratic nominee is going to carry into a general election against Trump?
"The position that anyone who has private health insurance is going to have it taken away and dumped into a pool is an extraordinarily unpopular position. I think some of the Democrats on the stage understand that. Not all of them do."
