Posted on 07/19/2015 1:01:23 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Even before Donald Trump found himself on defense for disparaging Sen. John McCain's military service, Sal Russo wasn't too impressed with the real estate mogul's presidential prospects.
Russo knows a thing or two about populist uprisings and anti-establishment candidates. The former Reaganite spent eight weeks advising billionaire Ross Perot's third party campaign in 1992. In 2002, he consulted for a conservative challenger to moderate Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in California's Republican gubernatorial primary (his candidate won the nomination). A few years later, Russo founded Tea Party Express, a group he still runs.
On Saturday, Trump came under fire for questioning whether McCain's time as prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, during which he was severely tortured, qualifies the Arizona Republican as a war hero. The day before, in a telephone interview with the Washington Examiner from his home in Sacramento, Calif., Russo discussed the billionaire businessman/reality television star's upstart bid for the GOP presidential nomination.
Russo's verdict: The frustration with Washington and the political establishment that Trump has tapped into with his unorthodox, blunt style is very real and shouldn't be dismissed. Trump has risen in part by taking a hard line on illegal immigration. But the New Yorker's comments have been interpreted by some as broadly anti-immigrant, and Russo said that Trump's message lacks the substantive seriousness and positive, uplifting vision required to turn anti-establishment agitators, like President Ronald Reagan, into winners at the ballot box.
The interview with Russo was edited for length and clarity.
Examiner: What do you make of Donald Trump?
Russo: Both Trump and Bernie Sanders are taking advantage of abject frustration with the established order — on the left and the right. People think the system doesn't work. The manifestations are, of course, candidates that speak very boldly but not necessarily in ways that make them universally popular. The problem with their electability is, protest candidates aren't usually successful. Those that are successful articulate a vision for the future.
Examiner: Has Trump caught fire with Tea Party voters?
Russo: I would say no to that. We continually poll our donors to see what they're thinking and he has not polled very well.
Examiner: In 1992, you spent about eight weeks in Dallas advising Perot, another billionaire businessman rabble-rouser. Any similarities?
Russo: I don't think the overlap is clear with Trump other than the frustration and [voters] liking the blunt, straight talk. And Perot was pretty folksy — he was far less provocative than Trump.
Examiner: You live in California and witnessed first hand the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis, which featured another celebrity-turned-politician in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Any similarities between that race and what you're seeing with the Trump phenomenon?
Russo: Schwarzenegger has the celebrity that Trump has, [although] in the campaign Arnold never said anything too provocative. That's where Trump — a lot of things he says strains credibility. He hasn't laid out an agenda where people can relate to it. But when you look at Arnold saying, 'I'm going to blow up the boxes,' nobody was offended by that. It was, okay, he's going to go up there and clean up. It's an important pivot point, credible even if unspecified. If voters like you and trust you they'll impute to you what they think should be done. But you need to be likable.
Examiner: Is Trump hurting the Republican Party's brand and jeopardizing the eventual nominee's chances against Hillary Clinton?
Russo: I would generally say no to that. I don't think anything is damaging particularly. The nominee defines the party. When we have a nominee that person is going to define the party and what the alternatives are. I hear all that hand wringing; I think it's pretty silly. I don't think it's going to matter. If Trump's on the ticket, it matters.
Examiner: Can Trump win?
Russo: We have never in modern times elected a protest candidate as president. The candidate with the more forward looking agenda has tended to win all of the time. So the big question is, can Trump turn his protest movement into something more appealing to the general public? The personality candidates seem to often be the protest candidates, which means there is a limited shelf life. People want a vision.
Hi BobL.
Your comment is off topic but I'll leave a link here so that you can learn where all Mexican Consulates are in North America:Mexican Consulates in the U.S. and Canada
And by the way, Scott Walker revoked instate tuition for illegals a couple of months into his first term. The only governor to ever do that.
It’s interesting how people who support Cruz ( I love Cruz!) can’t be as gracious as Cruz when they speak about Trump.
Maybe the actually don’t respect Cruz at all? When Cruz starts beating up on Trump, I’ll take a listen. Right now, Cruz is ok with Trump and that’s ok with me.
lol - amazing isn't it?
Good point - it sure looks like Perry totally LOADED UP Texas with services for Illegals.
For a while you were confusing me, going from Perry to Walker, but now that I better understand Walker being an Open Borders Republican, just like Perry, it makes a lot more sense.
Trump is the Judas goat leading the sheep to slaughter.
I know A LOT of people who didn’t realize how BAD the DemocRATS are until recently.
I’d put Trump in that group.
And Lord knows in the past I’ve had my issues with the Donald and his ego but he is now saying things that need to be said.
If this is what it takes to out the Rhino’s in our party so be it...
You need to get up to speed.
January 3, 2011 - Walker assumes Office of Governor of Wisconsin.
June 27, 2011: Walker Revokes In-state Tuition For Undocumented Students Attending Univ And Colleges In Wisconsin [ONLY STATE TO DO THIS] "- On Sunday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) signed his two-year 2011-2013 budget, which included ending in-state tuition for undocumented students attending public universities and colleges. In-state tuition for undocumented students
Love it, “off comment”! It is relevant when you want to push Walker. Walker is GOPe, scheming by some reports with Rubio, has history with illegals. His only claim to fame is beating Wisconsin unions. Great accomplishment but as we saw in his announcement last week, he’s a lousy national candidate, has a stale message, and, well, he’s too late. Seriously, did anyone really notice he FINALLY entered the race, did anyone care? Another me-too candidate is enough. We’ve already got plenty of people to choose from. Trump, Cruz and a gaggle of others.
All Trump needs to do is call for a marriage amendment banning same sex marriage.... and tell the world Lindsey Graham is really a Linda Graham, and then the Tea Party will be back with him......
Judas goat? That’s made up right? Reality isn’t where you want to be? Cruz is ok with Trump for now, then so am I ? You want to take Cruz to task for not calling out the ‘Judas goat’? Do you think Cruz is a sheep?
Trump also called for a 20% tariff on all imports from China and even higher tariffs on imports from Mexico. Hardly a position that would be taken from a free market conservative.
Also, Trump was proudly pro-choice until only recently. (i.e. when he started to consider running for the GOP nomination)
All in all another great post. Keep 'em coming; some of us actually enjoy reading about the issues.
You too need to get up to speed.
Defund Planned Parenthood.
Concealed Carry, no more 48 hour waiting period for handgun
Lower property taxes
Voter ID
Tuition Freeze
More school choice, vouchers
Wins against activist environmentalists
Thank you. I knew there were more (the list is long).
bttt!
I thought the Tea Party was no more? I guess it’s been resurrected to push the meme of Donald Trump’s demise.
See what happens when an DC Cartel outsider leads the polls. He gets missquoted, taken out of context and the Tea Party leaves him before he polls number one. Smells like desperation to me. They would do the exact same thing to Cruz if he polled number one.
Russo works with Willard the cowardly Rat Romney to help
Tag Romney and Willard ... profit from sales to Iran.
Google it yourself.
These people are scum, not TEA Party.
They support the Mullahs against Freedom
I identify as Tea Party. I am hoping for Trump/Cruz 2016 and I will be energized as I have never been before. Bring it on, we deserve our country back and these two are the only ones I see to do it.
As long as Walker is INVITING in the Mexican government to support ILLEGALS in his state, I’ll stick with my conclusions.
I'm sick of the professional politicians.
If yu approve the establishment, IMO you're a goat.
I see you don’t want to do anything but deflect from Donald Trump’s non conservative ideology and make this a bash Walker thread.
My previous comments to you stand.
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