'Friends don't let friends vote for con artists:' Marco gives Il Duce a taste of his own medicine

I really loved last night's debate.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are finally doing what they should have done a long time ago: fight back using Il Duce's own weapons. It's the only way to deal with a bully. Let it be relentless. Let it be constant. Let the insecure little boy who is Donald Trump get a taste of his own medicine. Bring on the ridicule, the scorn, all the things a narcissist like Trump can't stand. Laugh at him. Refuse to take him seriously- and make it clear precisely why he is not to be taken seriously.

Marco and Cruz took Il Duce down a peg last night, and Marco is continuing it today:





Pour it on. He won't be able to take it. Bullies never can. The Donald will get nastier than ever. He'll bluster. He'll howl. He'll whine. He'll carry on. And the more he does, the more he will reveal himself for the pathetic little man he truly is.

Let it continue right on through the convention- and yes, beyond. This is mortal combat. This is "we will fight them on the beaches" time. We're fighting for the soul of the Republican party and the future of this nation against a candidate who is the antithesis of everything America has ever stood for. There will be traitors to the cause (coughChrisChristiecough).There will be defeatists and naysayers. But they don't matter, because defeat is literally unthinkable.

Even Hillary would be better than Donald Trump. A determined, principled conservative opposition could at least contain Hillary and minimize the damage. But all too many Republicans would be temped to take the Chris Christie route if Trump were, by some diabolical miracle, to be the first candidate in history with a 60% negative popularity rating to be elected, and sell their souls. And no matter what Trump says, he won't repeal Obamacare; he'll expand it. He makes no bones about favoring a single-payer system. Not only would he not appoint originalists to the Supreme Court (that sister of his he keeps touting as the ideal Supreme Court nominee, whom The Donald lied about so outrageously in last night's debate,  is in fact a pro-choice radical), but I doubt whether he even understands what originalism is. Couple Donald Trump with a Republican party that has bought into Trumpism and there is almost literally no limit to the damage Trump could do to the Republic.

That doesn't mean I'll vote for Hillary, or encourage anybody else to, either. If Trump is nominated, I'm hoping somebody has the courage to lead a conservative third party in the Fall campaign. I have never been one for voting for minor parties, not because I despise them in principle but because they're nearly always the political arms of fringe movements I don't believe in. If no such candidate emerges, I'll probably just stay home with my computer and my blog on Election Day, and prepare to oppose whoever (read: Hillary) wins the election.

In the meantime, let's bear in mind the vulnerabilities last night's debate underscored- vulnerabilities which, if  the cowed and cowardly media had done their jobs, it wouldn't have been left to Rubio and Cruz to tell the country about.

Oh, yes. If Trump is nominated, Hillary will be elected. The Democratic attack machine will have The Donald for lunch. The American people will learn all about The Donald. Better now, before it's too late.

So let's hear it, Marco. And you too, Sen. Cruz, who for all your many and grave faults are at least a genuine conservative.

Let's hear more about that million dollar fine Trump paid for hiring illegal aliens.

Let's hear more about how the famous opponent of illegal immigration "has to" hire them in Florida because he "can't find Americans to do the work" when Florida has over half a million unemployed Americans who would love the chance.

Let's hear more about his being audited by the IRS every year for the past 12 years- and whatever the reason,  it's not because he's a "Christian!"

Let's hear more about "Trump University," and the people who are suing him, claiming to have been swindled out of millions.

Let's hear specifics about Trump's history of abusing eminent domain to cheat people out of their homes and property.

And let's have many, many more moments like last night's best one: Rubio confronting Trump for "repeating himself-"  the very thing Christie mocked Rubio himself about a couple of debates ago- when The Donald recited his specifics-free, Mussolini-like, word-for-word  mantra about making America great again, making us "winners again" building that wall and making Mexico pay for it, curing cancer, signing an executive order outlawing death, yada-yada-yada.

And then, when he began the mantra a few minutes later, Rubio pointing to him, giggling, and saying, "He's doing it again!"

Ridicule. Laughter. Mockery. Martin Luther observed long ago that the devil can't stand up to them And neither can narcissistic bullies like Donald Trump.

Especially ones with as much to hide as he does.