Donald Trump is driving the GOP nuts.
Trump’s surging campaign has pushed the party in a different direction, one that often clashes with free-market principles that have long underpinned GOP economic policy. Some establishment Republicans worry that the turn could damage the economy, and their party, for years to come.
Trump criticizes government, but he shot to the top of the GOP field by rallying voters against another enemy: immigrants from Mexico and low-wage workers in China, whom he blames for lost jobs and stagnant wages in America. He has proposed levying tariffs on imported goods, deporting millions of immigrants who entered America illegally and reducing the number of legal immigrants allowed in each year. In a further blow against conservative orthodoxy, he said recently that he favors higher taxes on the rich. …WaPo
Of course, Donald Trump may be channeling his inner liberal (is in the race as a spoiler) or… he’s in it to win and then, well, screw you whoever you are. Got the money, got the time, got the mindset.
Go on, Donald: take the test:
I have a natural talent for influencing people.
I am not good at influencing people.Modesty doesn’t become me.
I am essentially a modest person.I would do almost anything on a dare.
I tend to be a fairly cautious person.When people compliment me I sometimes get embarrassed.
I know that I am good because everybody keeps telling me so.The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me.
If I ruled the world it would be a better place.I can usually talk my way out of anything.
I try to accept the consequences of my behavior.I prefer to blend in with the crowd.
I like to be the center of attention.I will be a success.
I am not too concerned about success.I am no better or worse than most people.
___
Still, the flailing is underway in the territory of the right. “Right Turn” editorialist at the Post, Jennifer Rubin, looks at the “anti-Trump angst” in the GOP and spells out the likely consequences.
You gather the data on Trump’s problematic views and rhetoric, you use earned media to blast away one issue at a time and you dump rounds of ads to remind voters he’s a Democrat at heart and would be a train wreck for the GOP. But most of all, you need to present an alternative, these voices say. All the GOP needs is one or more candidates to step it up, look like a party leader and sell a conservative reform vision.
Cross-posted from Prairie Weather
graphic via shutterstock.com