Republicans Angry? Uh, Yeah, at Themselves.

Republicans believe in their hearts that the U.S. is going to Hell. Yeah, and it's the Republican Party that is taking us there.

Headed to work: Dude, if you're making less, uh, blame the GOP.

 It's one of the great ironies that I took quite a number of roads-not-taken and ended up with a decent retirement and, fortunately so far, good health in which to enjoy it. Yeah, and thanks to a good union with good retirement benefits, solid health insurance to help maintain it.

I believe that I eked by. Being a relatively early Baby Boomer, I reached the end of my career before my ability to make a living began to bottom out. I see so many in the ranks of Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millennials that are up against it, with little chance it will get better anytime soon.

And, folks, you've got the GOP to blame for it. Surprisingly, quite a few of you don't get that.

As polling has shown consistently, Donald Trump tends to do better among voters with lower incomes than he does among those with higher incomes. This is true of education as well: In the New Hampshire primary, Trump won 23 percent of the votes of those with a post-graduate degree, but 46 percent of those with only a high school degree or less. He's the closest thing the GOP has found to a candidate of the common man in a long time. But that's not necessarily a good thing for the Republican Party.

GOP candidates have long had trouble with the perception that they represent "the rich man's party." It's easy to make a case that a corporate raider with a car elevator like Mitt Romney will represent the interests of the wealthy and powerful. The attack has its greatest sting when opponents can mesh the personal (this guy's a plutocrat) with the political (this guy will represent the plutocrats). Even Republicans who aren't personally wealthy are vulnerable to that attack, since the Republican economic agenda — cutting taxes, particularly on those at the top, and cutting regulations for corporations — remains so firmly wedded to the interests of the rich.

There's no question that Republicans believe deeply that those policies are righteous and true. But it's never been easy to convince ordinary people that what will really improve their lives is a cut in the capital gains tax. Republicans have usually solved this problem during the campaign by focusing on other issues, whether it's terrorism or crime or abortion. They've been particularly adept at finding ways to talk about class that push economics out of the picture, painting Democrats as "elitists" who look down on ordinary people who don't have fancy educations or drink fancy wine. But while the party may campaign on any number of issues, when a Republican takes office, tax cuts will top the agenda for action.

Get that, working class? The Republicans don't care about you and those among you with lower incomes and less education fall for the GOP hook, line, and sinker. So, go ahead, run with the Donald. At least there's a chance he's not a real Republican, so if he accidentally gets elected -- with your votes -- he might turn out to be a center-left Democrat like he used to be. And that's what's freaking out the Republican establishment.

That's what has establishment Republicans so freaked out about Trump: He shows no commitment to core conservative policy dogma, on economics or anything else. Democrats can attack him for being very, very rich, but if he won there's no guarantee he would actually represent rich people's interests. Sure, he'll put out a perfunctory tax plan saying he'll cut rates, but he'll also promise trade wars and pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare. His outbursts of economic populism are essentially random. They aren't guided by any firm ideological foundation, but by whatever sounds good at the moment. And in a general election, they'd likely become even more frequent. Conservatives who believe that "Thou shalt cut taxes on the wealthy" is one of the Ten Commandments have plenty of reason to doubt Trump's sincerity when he says he's with them.

But don't count on it. Because think of all the Republicans you voted for, and then think of all of them that got elected, and then think of how if you just elect one more Republican, they're going to fix everything!

Factoids: There are 31 Republican governors and 30 Republican-controlled state legislatures. Republicans control the House and the Senate, and, admit it, the Supreme Court. How's that working out?

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. (That's quiet snickering, because I'm freaked out, too.)