Tracking the Wild Rino

With the continued carping from the Republican back benchers, the NeverTrumps, it seems like a moment to clarify who is and who is not a republican in name only - a Rino.

Rino's have been a Republican bane for upwards of 40 years now, weeping and moaning and gnashing their teeth at other Republicans at whatever inopportune moment they can find. They appear to have originated in the northeast of these United States, and that remains their natural habitat, but have spread across the fruited plains into almost every political jurisdiction in the land. Over the years there have been confirmed sightings in Florida, Ohio, and also Arizona, and now Utah has drawn this grumpled beast to its jurisdiction.

And many other places as well. Wherever they are, they never boast significant numbers, but are hard to ignore because of the characteristic incessant, loud, grating noises they make.

So, what exactly makes a Rino rino-like? …

… It is not that they are moderates who will squishily go with the Washington conventional wisdom of the moment and torpedo an important conservative initiative. Such is a group-think disease common to politicians of all stripes and not per se indicative of the Rino.  Paul Ryan, for instance, has been oft called a Rino, but that would not be correct. He is actually a rather principled conservative as these things go, and a loyal soldier in the Republican ranks. He is just prone to give too much weight to Washington CW, especially when it coincides with the desires of the Republican donor class. His is a fault in the machinery of his judgment faculty and not a character defect as such.

And Rino-ism is a character defect. What typifies a Rino is not his policy preferences, but a visceral animus towards other Republicans in his own political coalition. The source of this animus can be variously located, perhaps in an innate arrogance, a narcissistic streak, or self-perceived superiority complex, but the central foci is manifestly a desire to gain, hold, and maintain power within the Republican Party. So long as the Tea Party, or the Evangelicals, or now the Trump supporters will stay in their place and bring out the vote each political season, the Rinos are perfectly content to play nice. But the minute any of these very important factions appear to be rising to a position of real influence on the Party, the Rinos rise to the attack - by any means necessary.

Mostly this involves taking advantage of inopportune  moments to suddenly shed their sheep's clothing and take down a political leader or policy of the disfavored Republican faction. The apotheosis for this tactic was, of course, John McCain (God rest his soul, and I mean that sincerely) rising from his sick bed to appear on the Senate floor, only to be the negative vote the Democrats needed to prevent repeal of Obamacare. This was a treachery of historic proportions, not only against the Arizona voters he had made promises to, but also the Republican Party that had supported him through decades of political runs, including two Presidential runs in 2000 and 2008. His single nay vote cast an irreparable blemish on the Party and was, I am sure, a significant factor (although not the only one) that led to the loss of the majority in the House a scant year and 1/2 later.

But you see, none of that is important to a true Rino, not the Republican majority, not solemn promises made, not natural loyalty to the horse that brung him. In this case, it was Trump. Donald Trump surprised the Rinos, exposing, leading, and growing a faction within the Party that few knew was there. For a Rino, with their backs against the wall as far as Party control was concerned, this mandated taking him down by any means necessary, including burning the Republican Party down if that is what it would take. And the Obamacare vote was the perfect opportunity to wound Trump and his coalition before they could gain too much momentum.

Trump is not the first target of the Rino assassins, of course. The Rino charge against their own party members has happened over and over. Charlie Crist against Marco Rubio; Mitt Romney against Newt Gingrich; John McCain against about any Republican; George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford against Reagan, etc., etc., ad nauseum. In all of these and more, it is the savagery of the attacks that are most notable. None of these people ever attacked Democrats with the same level of contempt; they always reserve a special venom for their own. In this respect, the NeverTrumpers are simply a new iteration of an old Rino pathogen in the Republican Party.

And the sad part is, the objects of the Rinos'  hostility are the effective base of the Republican Party who have been the most loyal Republican voters of the lot - most especially when the establishment kept putting up its milk-toast candidates. George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, none of these had any attraction for the base of the Party, but the base followed along, grudgingly to be sure, but they showed up and voted their candidate nonetheless.

It would be nice if the Rinos would do the same - let loose the Party reins for a while and let their vital coalition partners take charge. Like the base, they could then hold their noses for the candidates they don't like in the interest of Party unity and look to the future to convince the Party to put up better candidates. Like the base, they could also work the convention to influence the Party platform and perhaps, one day, should their ideas take hold, they could regain their Party power again.

And the base would support them even if it disagreed, because that's what players in a cohesive political coalition do. And that's also what people of good character do.

Good character - unfortunately that is something the poor Rino has no experience with.