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.
Lessee. What has the LSM thrown out there just this weekend? Trump “insulted” vets, now the tea party has “soured” on him.
Keep throwing spaghetti at a wall. Someday, maybe some will stick. I doubt it, though.
When the MSM, DEMs and GOP-e together all beat up on someone (Trump), I take extra notice on why. I’m liking Trump more every day.
Posting linkable data, without attacking the Trump supporters, is the way FR discussion is properly generated.
A few other posters don't seem to understand (or pretend to not understand) that simple and logical fact.
I thought the tea party was dead? Anyway, dream on. This won’t stop trump.
Don’t worry about this week.
Worry about his call for universal healthcare, fight for eminent domain, his support for Democrats (high regard for the Clintons) and his continual changing of political party membership.
The Tea party? Are they Republicans? RINOs? Are they the GOPe?
Why has the Republican party renamed the party with multiple names and phrases? It it the all inclusive party?
Is meant to be something for everyone? Or just a divided party hoping to hang on to party members in the face of a very angry electorate who’s lost all patience?
Before Sal Russo speaks about the Donald he should read the American Conservative’s article of McCain and the POW Cover-up in the 1980s. Questions, questions need to be
answered.
I feel I'm Tea Party also and I disagree with about everything you post. I don't support Trump. He doesn't even rise to the level of RINO. One of us is not Tea Party. Is it you or me?
there is no Tea Party to sour on Trump
the Tea Party is only a memory
Lois destroyed it
The Tea Party is grass roots. The MSM only finds a "Tea Party" spokesperson when they want to bash something.
-PJ
Wishful thinking.
TRUE DAT!
Don’t like Russo. Don’t like McCain. Don’t like Trump. They can all tear each other to pieces for all I care.
So no one wants the Tea Party/Conservatives which comprise over 40% of the population.
Wisconsin fought back. And Lois was in on this too:
How John Chisholm's bad bet boosted Gov. Scott Walker [Watergate break-in pales in comparison]
"In January of 2014, John Chisholm had a choice. The Milwaukee district attorney's John Doe investigation into a slate of conservative groups in Wisconsin had just been ground to a halt by Judge Gregory Peterson, who overturned a number of subpoenas that had been granted the previous October.
Given Peterson's common-sense reasoning in quashing the subpoenas, Chisholm and his chief investigator, Francis Schmitz, could have called off the investigation. After all, continuing to appeal the decision would take valuable financial resources and staff time, with little chance for success. And Chisholm already had been embarrassed by a previous John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's county executive office that ended up showing no wrongdoing by the governor.
But Chisholm decided to become the Captain Ahab of Wisconsin politics, chasing Walker's white whale to his own eventual demise. Unexpectedly, when Chisholm's flaccid case went forward, its targets decided they had had enough and began to fight back. And in doing so, it turned the Milwaukee district attorney into a national laughingstock, eventually ending in complete exoneration for his targets....."
Emails: Lois Lerner Is Longtime Friends With Regulator Who Targeted Scott Walker
"Lois Lerner, the former IRS official accused of targeting conservative non-profit groups, is longtime friends with a Wisconsin state regulator who helped local prosecutors investigate aides and conservative allies of Gov. Scott Walker.
The Wall Street Journal reports in an editorial ["Wisconsin's Friends at the IRS"] that Lerner and Kevin Kennedy, the director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB), were in routine contact via email between 2011 and 2013.
Emails viewed by The Journal show that the two regulators discussed issues ranging from the personal to political. They shared news articles about campaign finance and also discussed dinner plans. The pair have known each other for more than 20 years, Kennedy told The Journal.
The revelation raises questions over whether Lerner and Kennedy coordinated in any way in their investigations. ......"
Good question.
Who do you support please?
I guess you won’t be posting this, but I’ll help - and will post it on each of your Trump hit-pieces.
Walker will do as well as Perry did in 2012 once his ‘very spotty’ record on Illegal immigration is exposed.
Mexican Consulate Brings I.D. Services to Wisconsin (Walker’s Request)
“http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3313926/posts";
I’m STILL looking for the transcribed words proving Trump “disparaged” McCain’s “hero” status.
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