Party Unity

We officially have our general election roster now. After over a year of pain and suffering we are finally to the main event. Both parties have had a tough time of it though.

The Republicans went so far as to have the party establishment push an anyone but Trump platform during the primaries. The fact that they put their final hope in Ted Cruz, who was the most anti-establishment person on the ticket, shows how divided the party is. But despite that the voters thumbed their nose at the Republican leaders and with a collective "screw you" put him into the general.

Ted Cruz's speech at the Republican National Convention made it clear that not everyone was willing to get fully into the same boat. There are very clearly rifts in the party beyond Trump's lack of universal party acclaim.

Moving on the the Democrats they had a similar story running through their primary season. An anti-establishment(ish) candidate Sanders fighting the embodiment of establishment Clinton. The difference there though was that the Democrat primary rules are stacked so the party leaders can put a significant finger on the scales to get the outcome they want through super delegates. And if that was all that had been used to ensure the coronation of Hillary as the Democrat presidential candidate things would look much more rosy for them.

Of course, that was not the case. Due to some friendly neighborhood hackers we have all been able to see the insides of the Democrat organization and the fact that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) actively collaborated with the Clinton campaign to deny Sanders the nomination. Going so far as to get informants in his organization and plant false stories and negative questions.

Because of that outright race fixing it has put a decent chunk of the Democrat party out into the cold. I think that the Democrat party has done a pretty thorough job at alienating most of the young vote because of this. Millennials mostly supported Sanders and beyond that are a lot more cognizant of fair play than older generations it seems. I doubt that will translate into much of a boost for Trump since Sanders was about as left as it gets, but it very well could be the death knell for Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.

So both parties are full of cracks and holes and factions and grudges, but the Democrats have it the worst by far. The only way this could get messier is if a meaningful third party candidate stepped up. That would make it a full three ring circus.