Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How an Obscure Adviser to Pat Buchanan Predicted the Wild Trump Campaign in 1996"
The Week dot com ^ | Michael Brendan Dougherty

Posted on 01/20/2016 2:17:11 AM PST by WayneLusvardi

Imagine giving this advice to a Republican presidential candidate: What if you stopped calling yourself a conservative and instead just promised to make America great again?

What if you dropped all this leftover 19th-century piety about the free market and promised to fight the elites who were selling out American jobs? What if you just stopped talking about reforming Medicare and Social Security and instead said that the elites were failing to deliver better health care at a reasonable price? What if, instead of vainly talking about restoring the place of religion in society — something that appeals only to a narrow slice of Middle America — you simply promised to restore the Middle American core — the economic and cultural losers of globalization — to their rightful place in America? What if you said you would restorethem as the chief clients of the American state under your watch, being mindful of their interests when regulating the economy or negotiating trade deals?

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 2016election; donaldtrump; election2016; elections; immigration; newyork; patbuchanan; trump; trumpwasright
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 01/20/2016 2:17:12 AM PST by WayneLusvardi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Thanks for posting that. Real interesting read.


2 posted on 01/20/2016 2:19:33 AM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Holy crap! Fantastic read! This explains the rise of Trump like nothing else can.


3 posted on 01/20/2016 2:38:56 AM PST by angelrod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: angelrod

Everyone needs to take a break from all the flame wars and read this article.


4 posted on 01/20/2016 2:41:31 AM PST by angelrod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Great read. Thanks.


5 posted on 01/20/2016 2:53:50 AM PST by mindburglar (When Superman and Batman fight, the only winner is crime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

“I told [Buchanan] privately that he would be better off without all the hangers-on, direct-mail artists, fund-raising whiz kids, marketing and PR czars, and the rest of the crew that today constitutes the backbone of all that remains of the famous “Conservative Movement” and who never fail to show up on the campaign doorstep to guzzle someone else’s liquor and pocket other people’s money.”

I rather enjoy watching many of these throw temper tantrums every day anymore.


6 posted on 01/20/2016 2:58:34 AM PST by commonguymd (The enemy within is our MSM. War starts there imo. twitter @commonguy123)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

I agree with the articles premise. I worked on the Buchanan campaign here in Louisiana in 1996, and ran as a delegate for him. Trump has effectively captured many of the issues espoused by “Pitchfork Pat.”

However, in 1996 it was Bob Dole’s “turn,” and that didn’t work out too well, did it?


7 posted on 01/20/2016 2:59:35 AM PST by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Great Read, Thanks for posting.


8 posted on 01/20/2016 3:16:02 AM PST by onona (Blind Faith - originally released in 1969 on Polydor Records)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Tassle loafers and bow ties? George Will?


9 posted on 01/20/2016 3:19:17 AM PST by BigEdLB (Take it Easy, Chuck. I'm Not Taking it Back -- Donald Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: abb

Yes, our little Republican primary voters demanded Bob Dull so they could then defeat him in the fall.


10 posted on 01/20/2016 3:56:58 AM PST by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi
Trump knows where the real battle is.

The American people are sick and tired of being manipulated by the elites in Washington, the media, Wall Street, Hollywood, the GOP-e, and Democratic parties--which are really just two wings of the same bird.

Dislodging the corrupt "establishment" from power is the first step to restoring America's greatness. That is why Americans of all stripes are supporting Trump. He gets it.

11 posted on 01/20/2016 3:58:28 AM PST by Jess Kitting
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi
The money quotes:

Trump has attracted his coalition of supporters among those who are the most-weakly attached to the Republican Party as an institution.

The Trump phenomenon does seem to be sui generis... his celebrity persona, his extremely unusual and independent financial power, his felicity for not just recognizing but channeling the grievances of his supporters is unmatched.

But the Trump phenomenon also seems global and inevitable.

What is so crucial to Trump's success, even within the Republican Party, is his almost total ditching of conservatism as a governing philosophy.

What so frightens the conservative movement about Trump's success is that he reveals just how thin the support for their ideas really is. His campaign is a rebuke to their institutions.

12 posted on 01/20/2016 4:12:03 AM PST by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Teacher317

I am not a Trump fan but it is clear that both parties are heavily invested in reducing or eliminating the middle class.


13 posted on 01/20/2016 4:24:15 AM PST by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Great article. Long but worth every word.


14 posted on 01/20/2016 5:00:24 AM PST by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

This article comes a lot closer to the truth of the matter than most others. It still tars Trump with the whole “white nationalism” thing, which I think misses the mark. He’s a patriot in a political environment where that’a a threat to a lot of people.


15 posted on 01/20/2016 5:02:46 AM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cowboy Bob

ping for later read.


16 posted on 01/20/2016 5:18:50 AM PST by Cowboy Bob (With Trump & Cruz, America can't lose!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

Wow, Samuel Francis, a true visionary and spot on. Thanks for posting.


17 posted on 01/20/2016 5:42:28 AM PST by iontheball
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneLusvardi

important bttt


18 posted on 01/20/2016 5:59:15 AM PST by Riflema
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theodore R.

My dad hated GH.W Bush as well as Bob Dole or any other Rino for that he supported and worked on Pat’s campaign nomination in 92, and 96’ in 2000 he worked on Alan Keyes’s campaign for the nomination. Right now he supports Scott Copland who is running for the nomination for President in the Constitution Party, and he’s also working on Phil Hakdo’s campaign for governor, on the Constitution Party, in my home state of West Virginia.


19 posted on 01/20/2016 7:15:23 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Vote Tom Hoefling of America's Party for President the only party to restore the Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: iontheball

Samuel Francis was a must read for many years until, as the article notes, he went off the rails on race.


20 posted on 01/20/2016 7:15:36 AM PST by kristinn (Welcome to the Soviet States of Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson