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The Republican establishment is known for its opposition to [[movement conservative]]s, from opposing [[Todd Akin]] and [[Richard Mourdock]] in 2012 to opposing [[Donald Trump]] in 2016. Rather than put American interests first, both in domestic and foreign affairs, the establishment within the Republican Party prefers to stay "moderate", often siding with Democrats for personal and political gain rather than support consistent conservatives, whom they view as "extremist" and "unfit". Many GOP establishment tokens served in the Bush administration, such as Colin Powell, Karl Rove, and even George W. Bush himself. Others include Mitt Romney, John Kasich, and liberal Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

The Republican establishment is known for its opposition to [[movement conservative]]s, from opposing [[Todd Akin]] and [[Richard Mourdock]] in 2012 to opposing [[Donald Trump]] in 2016. Rather than put American interests first, both in domestic and foreign affairs, the establishment within the Republican Party prefers to stay "moderate", often siding with Democrats for personal and political gain rather than support consistent conservatives, whom they view as "extremist" and "unfit". Many GOP establishment tokens served in the Bush administration, such as Colin Powell, Karl Rove, and even George W. Bush himself. Others include Mitt Romney, John Kasich, and liberal Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

The GOP establishment played a huge role in the Republicans' huge defeats in elections in 2012. Rather than siding with Todd Akin (also Richard Mourdock) and move on, RINOs and RINO Backers teamed up with Democrats to attack Todd Akin,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130304043834/http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/314452/romney-akins-inexcusable-comment-robert-costa Romney: Akin’s Comment ‘Inexcusable’]</ref> subsequently causing him to lose the 2012 Missouri Senate election to then-incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill.

The GOP establishment played a huge role in the Republicans' huge defeats in elections in 2012. Rather than siding with Todd Akin and move on, RINOs and RINO Backers teamed up with Democrats to attack Todd Akin,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130304043834/http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/314452/romney-akins-inexcusable-comment-robert-costa Romney: Akin’s Comment ‘Inexcusable’]</ref> subsequently causing him to lose the 2012 Missouri Senate election to then-incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill. Similarly, several Republicans attacked [[Richard Mourdock]] and caused him to lose the 2012 Indiana Senate election to [[Joe Donnelly]].<ref>[https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections_in_Indiana,_2012 United States Senate elections in Indiana, 2012]</ref> After Mourdock said: "I just struggled with it myself for a long time but I came to realize: Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen",<ref>[https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/10/richard-mourdock-under-fire-for-rape-remarks-139411 Richard Mourdock under fire for rape remarks]</ref> Dan Parker later took Mourdock's words out of context, saying, "As a pro-life Catholic, I’m stunned and ashamed that Richard Mourdock believes God intended rape." Romney also withdrew his support for Mourdock. Note that Mourdock never said that God intends rape, rather he could have worded his sentence better. Since the second clause of the sentence regarding God's intentions in Mourdock's words comes right after the second half of the first clause regarding rape, the slight vagueness of the sentence was too easily exploited to construct a strawman attack.

==See also==

==See also==