Trump is a phenomenon and while individual candidate loyalists naturally refuse to understand especially at this point he is not a surprising phenomenon. As far back as Perot we saw a significant desire for an extra political option with a clear anti-Washington DC bent. The GOP recovered from Perot ala Newt Gingrich and the commitment to core principles via the contract with America. The unraveling resumed with compassionate conservative GW Bush and his ultimate betrayal with the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008”.
Sen Fred Thompson’s ill-fated primary candidacy was a hint that there was a strong but still controllable desire for a Reaganesque candidate. John McCain of course lost to Obama and Obama’s out the gate excesses when taken with all the other betrayals of the America people fueled the rise of the Tea party which was the beginning of the real and final unmasking of the GOP-E.
Everytime we won victories like in 2010 by being bold and principled the GOP-E insisted that we must retreat back into the safety of ambiguity and the comfort of the shadow of the premises of the left. The popularity of Herman Cain once again illustrated that there was a huge desire for both an outsider and a Reaganesque candidate and he was beating the odds till awkward revelations concerning giving payments to a lady not his wife finally defeated him. Romney, the proud grandfather of Obamacare, very predictably lost. The postmortum GOP-E analysis insisted essentially that we weren’t liberal enough and accepting enough of liberal values.
We then went through a period where our House leadership tried to force amnesty on us at the direction of the Chamber of Commerce with the help of the Gang of 8 including Marco Rubio. We saw the rise of Ted Cruz at this point who had just been elected and I think we all know where that led. Now we have Trump who is an outsider like no other. Trump as a movement is the distilled discontent with Washington DC, our soft politically correct culture, and its obscene double standards. Its also a movement rejecting the political status quo not just the squishy moderate status quo but also the impotent elitist think tank conservative status quo which seems to value demeanor over substance. Its also a hopeful movement that really does want to Make America Great Again not simply allow America to continue to blindly submit to internationalism, corporatism, and transformation by illegal invasion.
Those who don’t get Trump and still under the impression that checking all the boxes on an issues list is going to fix Washington DC or that if only Washington DC had the right management it would get better. Trump supporters know what its going to take to fix Washington DC is to send it someone like Trump who will not be stopped by Washington DC, someone who will go around it and through it and over it. A person who will not think twice about breaking the machine. A Republican FDR who will not be stopped.
Trump bids to be a “right the ship” president, not a “steady as she goes” president.
+1
Great post! So true about the William F Buckley academics lecturing us on what the Founding Fathers intended, Milton Friedman, blah, blah. The house is on fire and they are still complaining about how the drapes didn't match the sofa. I think this is why Mark Levin has been motioned here so much. Listening to him, he still refuses to maintain any sense of pragmatism. I love Mark but he's part of this Conservative book of the month club. That it's 1980 and if you just tell the American people eloquently enough, steadfastly enough they will get it. Reagan won bottom line he was not Carter. I was old enough to remember the mood of my parents at the time and they would have voted for Bozo the clown over peanut head. All due respect to Levin, but people didn't elect Reagan because he really evangelized people to conservatism, they come to that political bent themselves by self reflection and circumstances, the voted for him because they liked him. Ted Cruz is not Trump, he does not have that ability to gain of plurality of people that like him. He's a darling of the Conservative elites, single issue conservatives and the purists.