This page was last updated on February 29, 2016.
When Donald Trump first got involved in the Republican primary, I thought he did so as a goof. What better way is there for an attention-seeking flamethrower to get the attention he craves? I even saw some good come of this in the beginning. Although not in a positive way, Mr. Trump spoke of some issues other candidates of both parties dodged. Though flawed with name-calling and so on, perhaps Mr. Trump’s best contribution was standing up to the mainstream media instead of fearing it. On the other hand, in a year with a bunch of solid Republican candidates, Mr. Trump turned what should have a great primary season for Republicans into a circus sideshow. Any discussion of ideology has been effectively shouted down by Trump antics that would embarrass a little kid playing in a sandbox.
I may still be right about this being a goof for Mr. Trump, but it’s gotten to the point of being dangerous. In fact, it may already be too late. Though Mr. Trump signed a pledge not to run as an independent if he didn’t get the Republican nomination, he’s already threatening to break the pledge if Republicans aren’t nice to him. If Mr. Trump conducts a third-party campaign, he won’t win but he pretty much guarantees neither will the Republican nominee. Mr. Trump would likely consider that to be a win for him.
As a conservative, I can see why too many Republicans jumped on the Trump bandwagon. For far too long, the Republican Party has treated its conservative base like crap. Since Ronald Reagan, we’ve had two Republican – but not conservative – presidents. I believe both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to be honorable men, but neither are conservative. That’s why the younger Bush referred to his ideology as “compassionate conservatism.”
The term “compassionate conservatism” denigrates conservativism by implying traditional conservative beliefs are inherently without compassion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Real compassion is a human trait, not one of economic or political philosophy.
The Bushes are Rockefeller Republicans. Rockefeller Republicans are named for Nelson Rockefeller, grandson of Standard Oil’s co-founder J.D. Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller was Republican governor of New York for 16 years (1958 – 1974) and Vice President for two years (1974 - 1977). Mr. Rockefeller was strong on national defense and security but liberal when it came to domestic policy.
About eight months before the 2010 mid-term elections, Obamacare became law without a single Republican vote. Republican leadership told the base we needed a lot more seats in Congress to stop more Obamacares. Taking up the challenge, the Republican base delivered a landslide victory in 2010. At all levels of government, Republicans routed Democrats the likes of which hadn’t been seen in many decades. In the House, the base delivered a net gain of 63 seats, more than enough for Republicans to become the majority. In the Senate, the base successfully defended every Republican seat – the first time since 1964 - and took six from the Democrats. Though not enough to take the Senate, the base set the table for the 2014 mid-term election.
The base isn’t stupid. We knew holding only the House limited what could be done. With the Senate still in Democrat hands, nothing Mr. Obama didn’t like would ever make it to him for signature. Also, the House could not stop Executive Orders. On the positive side, the House could stop more Obamacares and any other leftist programs that had to get by the House.
Two things angered the Republican base after the smashing 2010 election. The first was symbolic votes for stuff Republican leadership knew wouldn’t even be taken up by the Senate, let alone get a vote. The second was how easy it was for Democrats to get the House Republican leadership to roll over, belly up, when they had leverage via the Constitution’s power of the purse. Despite that, all Democrats and their media allies had to do was 1) claim racism directed at Mr. Obama or 2) claim Republicans were trying to shut down the government.
Though new Obamacare-scale programs were stopped, a very good thing, little else changed.
Mitt Romney as the 2012 Republican candidate for president was another tough pill for the Republican base to swallow. As I do for the Bushes, I believe Mr. Romney to be an honorable man, but he is not a conservative. The real killer was Massachusetts’ Romneycare served as a model for Obamacare. The 2010 Republican landslide was driven mainly by opposition to things like Obamacare, yet the Republican candidate for president was the father of Obamacare’s father.
Mr. Romney promised to repeal Obamacare if elected, but not because he opposed government-run healthcare in principle. Mr. Romney simply believed government-run healthcare should be decided by each state and not forced on the states by the feds. In any case, many of us doubted he could pull the trigger on what amounted to Romneycare on steroids.
Mr. Romney also said he would replace Obamacare. The party base wants a “repeal” but not a “replace.” Regardless of the Supreme Court’s rulings (here and here), forcing citizens to purchase medical insurance is clearly unconstitutional, and poor economics even if it weren’t.
Since the Republican base didn’t have a candidate they could get excited about, too many made the mistake of staying home and not voting. Though Mr. Romney wasn’t conservative, he would have been infinitely better than Mr. Obama.
For the 2014 mid-terms, the Republican “establishment” once again told us they needed more help. As in 2010, the base delivered. Republican voters delivered a net gain of 13 House seats, adding to the existing majority. Even better, the base delivered a net gain of nine seats in the Senate, more than enough to regain the majority.
Still nothing changed.
Like Mr. Romney regarding Obamacare, today’s Republican establishment can’t say “repeal” without saying “replace.” It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to predict the term “Republicare” will appear. I’ve come to conclude “establishment” Republicans don’t oppose government-run healthcare as long as they get to run it.
So yes, I get the anger. I can also see how early primary voters would indulge their anger and support/vote for Mr. Trump when few delegates are in play. The rest of us don’t have that luxury, however. Should Mr. Trump become the Republican candidate for president, our country will be screwed for years, if not decades. Further, though Mr. Trump signed a pledge not to run a third-party campaign if he didn’t get the Republican nomination, he’s already threatening to break the pledge if Republicans aren’t nice to him.
Mr. Trump is an opportunist; he is neither a Republican nor a conservative. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Mr. Trump are three peas in a pod. They are all habitual liars who will say anything to get what they want.
Mr. Trump as candidate – either Republican or third-party – affects a lot more than just the White House. Not only will the Democrat candidate likely win the presidency, too many Republicans may stay home, allowing Democrats to retake the House and Senate.
Does any Republican want Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Sanders, or Mr. Trump to nominate the next few Supreme Court justices? If that happens, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence will be considered as nothing more than quaint, outdated pieces of parchment written by racist, white slave owners.
What’s amazing is, for once, we have some apparently-true conservatives in the mix from which to choose. Though no candidate is ever perfect, both Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have excellent conservative credentials. The American Conservative Union (ACU) lifetime ratings for Messrs. Cruz and Rubio are 100% and 98%, respectively.
In the case of Mr. Cruz, he also took on the Republican “establishment” when he said Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) lied to him and other Republican senators to get their vote for some Export-Import bill. Mr. Cruz not only called Mr. McConnell a liar, he did so on the Senate floor.
Mr. Cruz said,
“It saddens me to say this. I sat in my office, I told my staff the majority leader looked me in the eye and looked 54 Republicans in the eye. I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie, and I voted based on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us.
“What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie.”
At this point, Mr. Cruz is pretty much the candidate we’ve been looking for, yet it appears too many of us are happy to support the antithesis of a true conservative.
I’m trying to understand the recently-apparent insanity of Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) in endorsing Donald Trump. When I first heard of Mr. Hunter’s alleged endorsement, my first thought was it was another “The Onion” faux news story.
Messrs. Hunter and Sessions have American Conservative Union (ACU) lifetime ratings of 93% and 94%, respectively. Why on Earth would these guys endorse Mr. Trump instead of Mr. Cruz or Mr. Rubio?
© 2004-2016 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.