Bruce Bartlett isn’t your run-of-the-mill Donald Trump backer.
Bartlett, a former official in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, supports Trump’s presidential bid, but not because he thinks Trump will Make America Great Again. Instead, he sees Trump as “the surest path to complete and total destruction of the Republican Party as we know it.”
Bartlett identifies as a conservative, but is a harsh critic of the modern GOP, which he says panders to “morons and bigots and racists.” Bartlett predicts that Trump will get trounced in the general election, burning down the rotting structure of the Republican Party in the process and eventually presenting an opportunity for sane conservatives to clear the ashes and start over again. Bartlett lays out his full rationale for supporting Trump in a piece for Politico.
Ever since GOP primary voters granted Bartlett his wish of a Trump nomination, the conservative apostate has gleefully tweeted a never-ending stream of criticism towards Republican Party loyalists — or he likes to call them, “wankers.” Here’s a look at what he’s been saying:
With Cruz out and Trump guaranteed the wanker nomination, Phase 1 of my plan to destroy the wanker party is now complete.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 4, 2016
I don't think the wanker party will literally die but may be transformed just as the party of Eisenhower replaced the party of Taft in 1952.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 9, 2016
Tribal loyalty on the right is tight but fragile. If a threshold number of wankers say they will vote for Hillary, the dam could break.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 8, 2016
Percentage of conservatives among wanker primary voters–32% in 1980, 76% in 2016. https://t.co/WLmwp1Eywe pic.twitter.com/plTFAexeFY
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 10, 2016
All wankers who oppose Trump should prove they opposed Sarah Palin in 2008 or else they have zero credibility. E.g. Max Boot et al.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 9, 2016
Does anyone believe the wankers will come out of their convention more unified? I think not.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 8, 2016
If Trump is serious about getting the GOP behind him for November he should replace RNC chairman Reince Priebus with Roger Stone today.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 6, 2016
Bartlett responded to rumors of a Gingrich-Trump ticket with a dig at another of his favorite targets, the George W. Bush administration.
If Newt Gingrich is Trump's VP he will be worse than Dick Cheney at filling the president's head with terrible ideas.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 12, 2016
Bartlett even offered some faint praise for Trump in comparison to conservative hardliners:
I don't understand why Trump's views on the debt seem to frighten people more than the routine refusal of wankers to raise the debt limit?
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 11, 2016
I actually find Trump's flipflopping to be endearing. He appears far more receptive to new ideas & changing his mind than other wankers.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 5, 2016
Bartlett is supremely confident that Trump has no chance in the general election. His counterintuitive plan for reform depends on his prediction of a GOP loss coming true:
Until the very last minute the media will maintain that the race for president is close in order to keep people interested.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 11, 2016
My guess is that around November 1 the mainstream media will suddenly notice that Trump is nuts and launch an all-out assault on him.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 11, 2016
Of course Trump will lose. The question is what will be the meaning of his defeat & whether it will lead to reform of the wanker party.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 5, 2016
