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Opinion

Republican chaos alienates virtually every demographic group

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, reacts as Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,rebukes a comment made by Trump during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, Thursday, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, reacts as Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,rebukes a comment made by Trump during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, Thursday, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla. AP

The sound of chaos coming from within the GOP is the elephants in the party going 50 shades of rogue. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz grapple with each other over who has the biggest tusk and drag themselves further into the muck of fear-laced rhetoric appealing to the basest of emotions, alienating virtually every demographic group along the way.

On the congressional front, they wallow in the mud of obstruction, basking in the dim light while refusing to perform even their most basic functions, like holding hearings for a Supreme Court nominee. They remember everything but learn nothing.

So as we slog forward in this most entertaining yet least ennobling campaign in memory, the illuminating glow in the distance is coming from the other party, the one that believes government can do good, that unity and diversity are not mutually exclusive, that justice and equality for all is not just a slogan, and that the winners in this election will determine if we move forward as a nation or get mired in the quicksand of endless fear.

Ken McDaniel, Arroyo Grande

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 8:10 PM with the headline "Republican chaos alienates virtually every demographic group."

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