When Clinton and the media get done with Trump his candidacy will be a shambles, the Republican Party will be a mess, and someone will need to pick up the pieces. It’s tempting to become a Libertarian, but it’s too soon. (Voting Libertarian in November is another matter.) All we need is another Reagan and we can have a party to be proud of again.
Reince Priebus will want give Trump what he wants, but only with the approval of the RNC, and subject to the will of the National Convention. I think most of the delegates there will be in no mood to kowtow to Donald Trump. Winning the nomination doesn’t automatically give you complete control over the party. Not if half the delegates voting for your nomination think you’re an unqualified jerk.
The Republican Party Platform should reflect the views of the delegates, not Trump. The Rules should be rewritten not at Trump’s behest, but in the interest of denying anyone like him the nomination again. The new Party Chairman should not be some Trump puppet like Corey Lewandowski. The delegates should decide independently. Ben Carson is out today suggesting Trump consider selecting a Democrat as his running mate. To hell with that. The delegates should listen to Trump’s request, and make their own, independent determination. I’d nominate Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
Paul Ryan may get this. His refusal to endorse Trump is a signal. If he wants to retain his majority, he’s got to distance himself from Trump. With Trump, what was once unthinkable – losing the House — is a possibility. Women, especially independent women, hate Trump with a passion. And these women don’t know the half of it — yet. They’re going to hate him even more when the media starts telling them stories about him. This will begin right after Cleveland. A Republican candidate for Congress who gets on the Trump bus is embracing a candidate who’s going to be absolutely toxic with these women voters.
The delegates to Cleveland have one overriding goal — separate the identity of the Republican Party from the obnoxious lunatic who just got the nomination. Once he’s gone, the party will remain. And the greater distance it has from Donald Trump the better off it will be.
I think I’ve discovered the secret of Trump’s appeal. He is the exact opposite, in almost every way, of a Bush. He’s like the anti-Bush. That’s why people are attracted to him. I’m reading Impostor, by Bruce Bartlett. He cuts up Bush 1 and Bush 2 pretty bad. If you want to know why I can’t stand a Bush, just read it.
In addition to maintaining a separate identity from Trump, we need to find one person we can all get behind for next time. Maybe that’s not possible. Nobody jumps out at you right now. It may well be that Cruz is the new Goldwater, the ground breaker for the eventual winner. We were lucky in 1964. We all knew who the guy was, Ronald Reagan.
And it took Reagan two tries before he could win it. I thought by the lay of the land that 2016 was going to be a Republican landslide. Thanks to the geniuses at the RNC who devised the 2016 nomination rules, we’ve got a landslide loss looking at us. But I’d say 2020 will be even better. Four years from now Clinton will be a worn out disaster of a President, worse than Obama by far. The country will be a mess, because the politicians in Washington refuse to fix our problems. It’s too hard, politically. They’re cowards.
But not Ben Sasse. He looks like a guy to keep an eye on. You’ve got to try and look at the bright side. The big shift in our politics that I’m waiting for may need a substantial shock to the system to get it started, one that gets people really worried. Something like that will probably happen in the next four years. I sense rough waters ahead.
reaganproject.com 