The Republican and Trump, Hubris, and Nemesis

First Things ^ | PETE SPILIAKOS

[Mercat]

There is a chasm that separates right-leaning voters (a group that is larger than the conservative “base”) and the Republican Party's establishment. A grotesque !gure who had supported single- payer health care and a recent supporter of Planned Parenthood is leading the polls for the Republican nomination. A famed surgeon who has no experience of elective o"ce is running second, while the Republican senator most hated by the Republican senatorial conference is running third. These polls are a terrible predictor of the next Republican presidential nominee, but they still tell us something important. Donald Trump's current support is remarkably broad. Trump's coalition contains social conservatives despite his socially liberal policies. It includes !scal conservatives despite Trump's history of crony capitalism and support of socialized medicine. Above all, the billionaire's support is disproportionately drawn from ideologically heterodox, Republican-leaning whites who have completed less than four years of college. The Republican establishment is facing revolts from both the populist right and the centrist, working-class segment of the Republican center. The Party's establishment has forfeited the trust of so many kinds of Republicans because of choices it made in the aftermath of the GOP's defeat in the 2012 election. The Republican establishment could have acted as a broker within the party. The leaders could have sought common ground within the factions of their coalition, while trying to reach persuadable votes. That would have been statesmanship. Instead, the Republican establishment chose to act as a faction that advanced the interests and priorities of the donor and lobbyist classes.

[Mercat]

Read the whole thing. I don't particularly like the attacks on Trump but the analysis of the RINOs is one of the best I've seen.