The Washington Post ran a piece today asking numerous republican and conservative figures how the party should respond to Trump. The replies ranged from the reasonable, Haley Barbour("unite), to the idiotic, William Kristol("third party candidate"). One, from former Bush Press Spox Ari Fleischer, caughtmy attention.
Fleischer basically said that Trump, if nominated or elected, would spell the end of the republican party as we have known it and would usher in a party realignment. The dems would be the ultra libs, the republicans the traditional conservatives,whatever that means now, and Trump would head a populist faction of blue collar workers, independents, etc.
This idea has been mooted on these boards many times in the past. It seems the time may have finally come, fostered not so much by Trump himself but by the irrational opposition of party insiders, neo-con war mongers and self-described conservative intellectuals. They have demanded that we support their loser candidates, eg the Bushes, Bob Dole, McCain and Romney, but now that the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly it's different and they will have a tantrum if they can't get their way.
The dems have become increasingly bizarre. Their candidates are a comical duo of an elderly commie and a woman so dishonest her own supporters rate her as very untrustworthy. In their last debate, they pandered so wildly to the open borders/amnesty crowd that even the Washington Post had to interrupt its non-stop anti-Trump screeds to denounce their proposals as unworkable and incompatible with national sovereignty. It's no wonder Trump has drawn untold numbers of nominally democrat voters, many of them who look a lot like the Reagan democrats of old. Blue collar union workers who live in the real world, not the university/media/government fantasy land of the party elites.
On the republican side, we have a group of "leaders" with no followers. The party elite's favored positions on trade, immigration, foreign affairs, entitlement reform, even social issues like gay marriage, are deeply unpopular with rank and file voters. See Cantor, Eric. For all their talk now of conservative purity, what has it gotten us? Gay marriage, obamacare, open borders, a crazy iran deal and a series of increasingly idiotic middle east adventures. Thanks guys, for nothing.
As Fleischer noted, Trump could just be a one-time personality cult phenomenon. If elected however, it's likely he would usher in a more far-reaching realignment. The dems would be the far left, euro-socialist party, the republicans the think tank conservative/country clubbers. and the Trumps would be a coalition of economic populists, nationalists and cultural traditionalists. When you contemplate the ramifications, you understand why the powers that be, in both parties, are so desperate to derail Trump.
Fleischer basically said that Trump, if nominated or elected, would spell the end of the republican party as we have known it and would usher in a party realignment. The dems would be the ultra libs, the republicans the traditional conservatives,whatever that means now, and Trump would head a populist faction of blue collar workers, independents, etc.
This idea has been mooted on these boards many times in the past. It seems the time may have finally come, fostered not so much by Trump himself but by the irrational opposition of party insiders, neo-con war mongers and self-described conservative intellectuals. They have demanded that we support their loser candidates, eg the Bushes, Bob Dole, McCain and Romney, but now that the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly it's different and they will have a tantrum if they can't get their way.
The dems have become increasingly bizarre. Their candidates are a comical duo of an elderly commie and a woman so dishonest her own supporters rate her as very untrustworthy. In their last debate, they pandered so wildly to the open borders/amnesty crowd that even the Washington Post had to interrupt its non-stop anti-Trump screeds to denounce their proposals as unworkable and incompatible with national sovereignty. It's no wonder Trump has drawn untold numbers of nominally democrat voters, many of them who look a lot like the Reagan democrats of old. Blue collar union workers who live in the real world, not the university/media/government fantasy land of the party elites.
On the republican side, we have a group of "leaders" with no followers. The party elite's favored positions on trade, immigration, foreign affairs, entitlement reform, even social issues like gay marriage, are deeply unpopular with rank and file voters. See Cantor, Eric. For all their talk now of conservative purity, what has it gotten us? Gay marriage, obamacare, open borders, a crazy iran deal and a series of increasingly idiotic middle east adventures. Thanks guys, for nothing.
As Fleischer noted, Trump could just be a one-time personality cult phenomenon. If elected however, it's likely he would usher in a more far-reaching realignment. The dems would be the far left, euro-socialist party, the republicans the think tank conservative/country clubbers. and the Trumps would be a coalition of economic populists, nationalists and cultural traditionalists. When you contemplate the ramifications, you understand why the powers that be, in both parties, are so desperate to derail Trump.