Posted on 08/31/2015 7:17:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A pugnacious, television-savvy, anti-trade, anti-illegal-immigration candidate comes out of nowhere, attracts intense enthusiasm from an angry Republican grassroots, gets denounced by a disgusted media, and suddenly endangers the hopes of a presidential frontrunner named Bush.
That was Pat Buchanan early in the 1992 presidential election; that is Donald Trump today.
Buchanan is one of the most significant figures in modern Republican history, but he’s been a perpetual outsider since leaving the White House in 1987. Once a trusted adviser to Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, he never held office himself, though he ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996, and was the Reform Party nominee in 2000. His populist philosophy always attracted significant support in Republican circles, but never enough of a following to put him over the top.
Today, that may have changed. The similarities between the Buchanan and Trump agendas are pretty clear: Both are harsh critics of free trade, both staunchly oppose illegal immigration, both spoke out against the Iraq War and find themselves at odds with the party’s hawks. They each wear accusations of racism, xenophobia, and hatred as a badge of honor for bravery against the forces of political correctness. And they share a certain style: blunt talk, raised voices, jabbed fingers, and pounded podiums.
The media, particularly television media, are entranced by Trump’s every utterance, much as they once were with Buchanan’s fiery public pronouncements.
There are slight stylistic differences between the two. A martial tone runs through Buchanan’s rhetoric; he famously declared a “cultural war” in his 1992 Republican National Convention speech and closed his victory speech after the 1996 New Hampshire victory by commanding his supporters, “Do not wait for orders from headquarters; mount up, everybody, and ride to the sound of the guns!”
Trump is more like a court jester, mocking his opponents. He gave out Senator Lindsey Graham’s cellphone number to the public, and later sarcastically congratulated Graham for reaching 4 percent support in a poll of his home state: “You’re only 26 points behind me!” He jabbed at Rand Paul’s height, saying “Rand, I’ve had you up to here” and holding his hand halfway up his chest.
But more important than their contrasting public personae is at least one glaring difference in their political platforms, which may explain why Trump appears to be rising beyond Buchanan’s heights.
“Pat was too tied up in cultural issues, which limited his appeal, whereas Trump is making a broader-based economic case, which broadens his appeal,” says Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer who recently wrote a column titled, “Pat Buchanan Was Right.”
Social conservatism was a core component of Buchanan’s philosophy. He was, and is, a staunch opponent of abortion and the “amoral idea that gay and lesbian couples should have the same standing in law as married men and women.” He aimed to “control the raw sewage of pornography that pollutes our popular culture” and decried the new “de-Christianized America,” pointing the finger at Supreme Court decisions, anti-Christian cultural elites, and the counterculture of the 1960s.
Donald Trump says he is pro-life, but he’s never seemed like a man to wear his faith on his sleeve. He referred to Holy Communion as “my little cracker.” Asked if he was “an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy,” Trump responded, “probably equal.” Asked for his favorite Bible verse, he responded, “I wouldn’t want to get into it because to me that’s very personal.”
Nevertheless, Buchanan, who declined to comment for this article, is pretty enthusiastic about Trump. He’s written about the current GOP frontrunner five times in his syndicated column since the beginning of July. He approvingly compared Trump to another famous populist, former Louisiana governor Huey Long, describing a style that sounds a lot like his own: “boastful, brash, defiant, unapologetic, loves campaigning, and is putting on a great show.”
Occasionally, Buchanan seems to wish Trump were a bit more wonkish, although he applauds the basic thrust of the real-estate mogul’s ideas. “One never hears Trump discuss the architecture of our rules-based global economy,” Buchanan wrote. “Rather, he speaks of Mexico, China, and Japan as tough rivals, not ‘trade partners,’ smart antagonists who need to face tough American negotiators who will kick their butts.”
As much as he really likes Trump, Buchanan loves Trump’s supporters, describing them as needed revolutionaries.
“People are agitating for the overthrow of the old order and a new deal for America,” Buchanan writes. “For there is a palpable sense that the game is rigged against Middle America and for the benefit of insiders who grow rich and fat not by making things or building things, but by manipulating money.”
Buchanan became politically radioactive in some circles in the 1990s, largely because of the perceived anti-Semitism of his occasional qualified praise for Hitler, his flirtations with Holocaust denial, and his ceaseless criticism of Israel and its supporters. While he remained a constant presence on cable news and in print, he never really regained his ability to influence the GOP’s ideological direction. By the presidency of George W. Bush — with its pro-free-trade stances, dramatic expansion of U.S. military action abroad, dismissal of mass deportation, and support for guest-worker programs — Buchananism seemed all but dead.
It’s not surprising, then, that Buchanan sees Trump’s rise as sweet revenge on a Republican establishment that wrote him off as a political liability and a hatemonger.
“Whatever becomes of Trump the candidate, Trumpism, i.e., economic and foreign policy nationalism, appears ascendant,” Buchanan wrote. Considering how much Trumpism sounds like the old Buchananism, that assessment must have brought a smile to his face.
— Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent for National Review.
Apples and oranges.
Except:
Pat was the most anti-Israel Republican I can think of.
Pat knows nothing about basic economics.
Pat has probably never been outside the Beltway.
Pat has never done anything useful other than talk.
Talk is NOT action!
More bs from beltway pundits. NR will depend on liberals to stay viable after 2015.
Now for more real news why Trump is kicking asses across America and in the Beltway.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3331205/posts
Why Donald Trump Dominates GOP Race: He Has A Bold Agenda And His Opponents Don’t (Steve Forbes)
Forbes ^ | Steve Forbes
Posted on 8/31/2015, 6:32:31 AM by RoosterRedux
DONALD TRUMP’S CONTINUING surge in the polls has left his GOP opponents flummoxed and floundering. Some are trying to sound like mini-Donalds. Jeb Bush garnered eye-rolling publicity by referring to “anchor babies” from Asia, as well as Latin America, and muttering about the need for a crackdown. (How? By requiring a pregnancy test for every woman who visits the country and a forced trip to Planned Parenthood if she tests positive?) Scott Walker says we should cancel China’s strongman Xi’s upcoming trip to the U.S. to show our displeasure with Chinese foreign and economic policies. That’ll show ‘em!
And on it drearily goes. One would never know that Trump’s rivals have substantive records in politics, business and/or medicine. Instead they come across as high-pitched miniature dogs, pathetically yapping at an unassailable alpha dog.
They have only themselves to blame for Trump’s steadily increasing lead. Why? Because these veterans of the public square violated the first law of politics: They let Trump set the agenda. There was a vacuum in both policy and, astonishingly, searing criticism of Barak Obama (in the recent debate there were a few passing whacks at Hillary Clinton but hardly a mention of Obama). If you’d asked anyone before Trump’s roaring entrance what the other 16 GOP presidential aspirants stood for, at best you might have elicited a few mutters but no real enthusiasm. Everyone was just waiting for things to unfold. None of the 16 had firmly identified themselves.
Then, like a thunderstorm on steroids, came The Donald, and ever since the 16 have complained that they can’t be heard.
I voted for Pat Buchanan for President. I’m enjoying Trump’s run, but I hope that he isn’t the nominee. I’m still looking for Cruz, Jindal, or Santorum. I want a solid social conservative. Still enjoying the GOP-e getting it in the eye, though.
Hell no they're not and its not. We're speeding towards disaster.
I also see similarities to Jesse Ventura, Ross Perot, and Arnold S.
NRO checks in with its daily anti-Trump screed. Thanks, GOPe! Now go screw yourself.
Trump is not a culture warrior or an anti-Semite and he’s far, far more successful at this point in his run than Buchanan ever was.
Another failed attempt by the NR weenies to smear Trump.
First of all, I don't think Bush had any major challengers in 1992 except for Pat Buchanan. Even still, Bush won every single primary and caucus by a landslide. Buchanan only got the attention he did because he was the only main challenger. I think New Hampshire was Buchanan's best showing and it was all downhill from there.
Then we had that Ross Perot excitement during June and July.
Trump leading virtually every early poll by a wide margin in a 17-man race is clearly unprecedented and can in no way be compared to Pat Buchanan's 1992 run.
Buchanan, in his wildest dreams, was never as popular as Trump.
I actually liked Pat...
get real...
I don't think he is anti-trade, but he, as I see it, is for fair-trade. Too many, if not all, of our trade agreements make the U.S. the patsy.
TALK DOES NOT COOK RICE,
Trump is not even anti-immigration.
Heck, I think he is SOFTER on illegals than the press makes him out to be.
He’s actually giving these illegals a way to RETURN after they leave.
The media, particularly television media, are entranced by Trump’s every utterance, much as they once were with Buchanan’s fiery public pronouncements.
Stick to fiction writing, Jim.
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