Well, we’re back. We couldn’t resist commenting on the upcoming election. Without repeating much that already has been said, we did want to delve further into the Republican Party’s magnanimous comments while many members concurrently were pulling support from its nominee, Donald Trump. A lot has been said about the GOP’s “values” and “principles,” and we keep asking ourselves, Just what might those be? From our vantage point, the only values and principles the national GOP possesses relate to its unparalleled talents in losing national elections. No organization is better at grasping defeat from the jaws of victory, as the old saw goes. Further, many pundits talk about how the nomination of Trump is all the fault of the GOP, which is true. However, we differ in that it isn’t anything the party has done during the last 15 months, but, rather, its failures dating to the late 1980s, when the GOP ceded control to the wimpy, liberal Bush wing of the party. As much respect as we have for Ronald Reagan, his biggest mistake was putting George H.W. Bush on the ticket as his vice-presidential candidate. Little did we know that while Reagan was resurrecting the Republican Party, he had inadvertently created the monster that would ultimately destroy it. Trump isn’t destroying the establishment GOP; the Bushes beat him to the punch in a big way. Explaining Trump’s relative success: Voters are attracted to him for no other reasons than he’s willing to fight and calling out the establishment and rigged systems, and we’ve not seen that from a Republican on the national stage since Reagan.