jimnyc
03-21-2016, 03:39 AM
If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, which looks probable — though I’m still hopeful Ted Cruz can catch him — he will have reshuffled the deck in a way no one has since Ronald Reagan transformed the GOP into a conservative party.
Trump is remaking the GOP into a populist/reform party of working class/evangelical and entrepreneurial class voters. He is completing what Ross Perot tried to build in 1992 with his Reform Party.
For the Washington Republican establishment this is a disaster, much worse than the election of Barack Obama. Because they’re the first people who’ll get run out of town and find out what it’s like to lose their jobs to an alien.
Trump doesn’t have the cadre of Republican consultants, pollsters, funders and party organizers that I would argue have been a big part of the problem with our government. They are the party apparatchiks the Trump brigades are partially rebelling against.
Meanwhile, the Super PACs keep raiding their millionaire and billionaire check-writers for more tens of millions of dollars in TV ads denouncing Trump. Can anyone imagine Democrats doing that to Hillary Clinton? Bernie Sanders practically genuflects in front of her.
If Republicans had spent their $100 million roughing up Clinton rather than Trump, the GOP would be in much better shape and the “Trump can’t win” mantra, already dubious, would be all the less convincing.
Instead, the Republican intelligentsia is thumbing its nose at Trump and even making the banal argument that Hillary in the White House would be better.
Huh? This is the Hillary Clinton who wants to raise tax rates to 50% or more; favors abortion on demand with no exceptions; wants trillions for new spending and debt; would shut down America’s oil, gas and coal production; will double down on ObamaCare; and was the architect of the disastrous foreign policy of leading from behind.
Other than that, she’s conservative enough.
A person’s vote is a matter of moral conscience. And if people feel they can’t vote for Trump because of his policy positions or obnoxious behavior, I respect that totally. I voted against Bush in 1992 because he lied about raising taxes — and I have no regrets. But the idea of a de facto Obama third term would seem to be the death of the conservative movement.
What is more inexplicable is that after two decades of chasing after blue-collar Reagan Democrats, the GOP finally has a candidate who lures them into the party — only to treat them as outsiders, low-information voters and even racists.
What bothers me most is that Republicans don’t seem to be learning anything from Trumpism.
Jeb Bush and Trump were the two polar opposites of this election. Bush was obsessed with raising money and spent all his time pulling in dollars six figures at a time. His idea of a political rally was to go to a posh country-club home, chat with 30 to 50 donors and swoop up checks with lots of zeroes. Trump’s events attract actual voters in the tens of thousands. Bush wouldn’t have won if he’d had a billion dollars.
Trump challenges Republican and conservative orthodoxy on trade, immigration and foreign policy. No one took him seriously because he had rough edges, said offensive things and had never won an election. But lo and behold, a plurality of GOP primary voters liked what he said. The explanation may go back to the famous cereal commercial: “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!”
On these pages I’ve criticized Trump’s Fortress America position on immigration and trade. But this year at least, the voters don’t agree with me. They do want the wall. They do want to get tough with China. They do think foreign goods are taking American jobs. They do want to keep out Muslims. They do want a balanced budget and an end to foreign aid. And they won’t be intimidated by the thug tactics of the left.
If Trump wins the nomination and then the election, he will do so by forging a new coalition of voters. He will lose many highbrow Republicans, but he will gain millions of independents and blue-collar Democrats — commonsense workers who’ve been crushed by Obama’s anti-business policies.
They would be a coalition of voters who want to put America first. And maybe it’s about time.
http://www.investors.com/politics/brain-trust/stephen-moore-trumps-new-coalition-of-voters-who-put-america-first/
Trump is remaking the GOP into a populist/reform party of working class/evangelical and entrepreneurial class voters. He is completing what Ross Perot tried to build in 1992 with his Reform Party.
For the Washington Republican establishment this is a disaster, much worse than the election of Barack Obama. Because they’re the first people who’ll get run out of town and find out what it’s like to lose their jobs to an alien.
Trump doesn’t have the cadre of Republican consultants, pollsters, funders and party organizers that I would argue have been a big part of the problem with our government. They are the party apparatchiks the Trump brigades are partially rebelling against.
Meanwhile, the Super PACs keep raiding their millionaire and billionaire check-writers for more tens of millions of dollars in TV ads denouncing Trump. Can anyone imagine Democrats doing that to Hillary Clinton? Bernie Sanders practically genuflects in front of her.
If Republicans had spent their $100 million roughing up Clinton rather than Trump, the GOP would be in much better shape and the “Trump can’t win” mantra, already dubious, would be all the less convincing.
Instead, the Republican intelligentsia is thumbing its nose at Trump and even making the banal argument that Hillary in the White House would be better.
Huh? This is the Hillary Clinton who wants to raise tax rates to 50% or more; favors abortion on demand with no exceptions; wants trillions for new spending and debt; would shut down America’s oil, gas and coal production; will double down on ObamaCare; and was the architect of the disastrous foreign policy of leading from behind.
Other than that, she’s conservative enough.
A person’s vote is a matter of moral conscience. And if people feel they can’t vote for Trump because of his policy positions or obnoxious behavior, I respect that totally. I voted against Bush in 1992 because he lied about raising taxes — and I have no regrets. But the idea of a de facto Obama third term would seem to be the death of the conservative movement.
What is more inexplicable is that after two decades of chasing after blue-collar Reagan Democrats, the GOP finally has a candidate who lures them into the party — only to treat them as outsiders, low-information voters and even racists.
What bothers me most is that Republicans don’t seem to be learning anything from Trumpism.
Jeb Bush and Trump were the two polar opposites of this election. Bush was obsessed with raising money and spent all his time pulling in dollars six figures at a time. His idea of a political rally was to go to a posh country-club home, chat with 30 to 50 donors and swoop up checks with lots of zeroes. Trump’s events attract actual voters in the tens of thousands. Bush wouldn’t have won if he’d had a billion dollars.
Trump challenges Republican and conservative orthodoxy on trade, immigration and foreign policy. No one took him seriously because he had rough edges, said offensive things and had never won an election. But lo and behold, a plurality of GOP primary voters liked what he said. The explanation may go back to the famous cereal commercial: “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!”
On these pages I’ve criticized Trump’s Fortress America position on immigration and trade. But this year at least, the voters don’t agree with me. They do want the wall. They do want to get tough with China. They do think foreign goods are taking American jobs. They do want to keep out Muslims. They do want a balanced budget and an end to foreign aid. And they won’t be intimidated by the thug tactics of the left.
If Trump wins the nomination and then the election, he will do so by forging a new coalition of voters. He will lose many highbrow Republicans, but he will gain millions of independents and blue-collar Democrats — commonsense workers who’ve been crushed by Obama’s anti-business policies.
They would be a coalition of voters who want to put America first. And maybe it’s about time.
http://www.investors.com/politics/brain-trust/stephen-moore-trumps-new-coalition-of-voters-who-put-america-first/