Give me a break.
Here's an excerpt from Perry's speech (all emphasis mine). When you read it, just ask yourself, "Has this guy got balls, or what?"
The White House has been occupied by giants. But from time to time it is sought by the small-minded – divisive figures propelled by anger, and appealing to the worst instincts in the human condition.
In times of trouble, there are two types of leaders: repairers of the breach and sowers of discord.
The sower of discord foments agitation, thrives on division, scapegoats certain elements of society, and offers empty platitudes and promises. He is without substance when one scratches below the surface.
He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued.
Let no one be mistaken – Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.
It cannot be pacified or ignored, for it will destroy a set of principles that has lifted more people out of poverty than any force in the history of the civilized world – the cause of conservatism.
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Donald Trump the reality television star is a great generator of ratings. But Donald Trump the candidate is a sower of division, wrongly demonizing Mexican-Americans for political sport.
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Donald Trump is the modern-day incarnation of the know-nothing movement.
He espouses nativism, not conservatism. He is negative when conservatism is inherently optimistic.
He would divide us along bloodlines, when conservatives believe our policies will work for people of all backgrounds.
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I, for one, will not be silent when a candidate for the high office of president runs under the Republican banner by targeting millions of Hispanics, and our veterans, with mean-spirited vitriol.
I will not go quiet when this cancer on conservatism threatens to metastasize into a movement of mean-spirited politics that will send the Republican Party to the same place it sent the Whig Party in 1854: the graveyard.
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My fellow Republicans, beware of false prophets. Do not let itching ears be tickled by messengers who appeal to anger, division and resentment.
Resentment is the poison we swallow that we hope harms another. My fellow Republicans, don’t take the poison.
Again, give me a break.
Remember four years ago, when Trump questioned President Obama's birth certificate? Somehow I don't recall Gov. Perry -- or any other Republican, for that matter -- calling him "the modern-day incarnation of the know-nothing movement."
Forgive me if I just don't remember anyone from the party of "demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense" warning against "false prophets." I guess I can't, for the life of me, recall anyone saying, "Do not let itching ears be tickled by messengers who appeal to anger, division and resentment."
No; in fact, it was quite the opposite.
John Boehner, the leader of the Republicans in Congress, when asked if he would vouch for the president's citizenship said, "It's not up to me to tell them what to think."
Over and over (and over) again, the opposition party has acted positively shamefully during Obama's presidency. (Did poor, delicate John McCain, whom Trump insulted last weekend, ever correct his 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin, about "death panels"? No; he used her to campaign for reelection.)
I could go on and on -- the examples of the GOP's utter lack or responsibility are just too numerous to count.
So cut me a little slack for enjoying the show. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for the rise of Mr. Trump and what Gov. Perry calls "Trumpism." The chickens, as they say, are coming home to roost.
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