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Sometimes it seems like we live in a huge loony bin where things make no sense.
How could the world richest, strongest nation give its highest office to a crude, vulgar, shallow, petty, self-worshiping, obnoxious, racist schmuck? How can Donald Trump draw so much political support?
Is it raw racism - widespread approval of his attacks on blacks, Muslims and Hispanics? What other explanation works?
During the 2016 GOP primary, fellow Republicans said:
"Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University." - Mitt Romney, 2012 GOP presidential nominee
"Donald Trump is a madman who must be stopped." - former Louisiana governor and GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal
"I've got to get this off my chest - Donald Trump is a jerk." - former Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush
"He's a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party." - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., former presidential candidate
"I don't think this guy has any more core principles than a Kardashian marriage." - Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
"A moral degenerate." - Peter Wehner, evangelical Christian commentator who served in three Republican administrations
"I won't vote for Donald Trump because of who he isn't .... He isn't a truth teller. ... I also won't vote for Donald Trump because of who he is. A bigot. A misogynist. A fraud. A bully." - former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
"To support Trump is to support a bigot. It's really that simple." - Stuart Stevens, chief strategist to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign
"Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey." - Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard CEO and former leader of John McCain and Chris Christie presidential campaigns
"The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism. This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American.... Never Trump." - Henry M. Paulson Jr., treasury secretary under George W. Bush
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