In an effort to raise the bar, the RNC has instituted the "wind tunnel challenge."
Posted on 01/23/2016 6:28:44 AM PST by Theophilus
So how does Donald Trump do it? Do what, you ask?
Entirely detached from identifiable conservative principles, and almost equally detached from a recognizable conservative record, he nonetheless is filling up venues with enthusiastic people who are responding to what they think is some kind of conservative vibe. What is it that enabled someone like Sarah Palin to go dithyrambic?
It isn't anything conservative, of course, but it is not just smoke. There is a reason people are thinking what they do, and as a showman and entertainer, Trump knows how to exploit it. And as it happens, the two things he is energetically exploiting are the two things that the Republican establishment has resolutely refused to do for decades.
The first is that he says and does things that are outrageous to the pearl clutchers. They all gasp and get their dresses over their heads, and Trump simply doesn't care. Whatever else he is not, Trump genuinely is not PC. True conservatism is also not PC, but they are very different kinds of not PC. A dog and a cat are both mammals and quadrupeds, but for all that, however much you might want it to be otherwise, a cat is not a dog.
I leave out of this formulation, of course, as a discussion for another time, any cats that might want to self-identify as dogs. My understanding is that some cool cats are like that. Something to do with their fathers.
The other thing Trump does is that he defends his turf. If you cross his line, you are the enemy and are treated accordingly. I am not saying his lines are in the right place, or that his enemies are the right ones, or that he is anything other than some variety of all screwed up. I am simply saying that he fights for his position (whatever it might happen to be at the moment). In this respect, he is just like the Left. They fight for their turf also. They defend their party, and they don't even back away from their free-stuff-for-everybody berserkers. Shoot, one of them is doing pretty well in the Democratic primaries even as we speak.
So it is a simple fact that Donald Trump is not a conservative, however much of a conservative vibe he wants currently to exude. But is Donald Trump the first one? Is this the first time? These are simply "conservative principles don't matter" chickens come home to the "elect-ability" roost. The Republican Party has demanded the inclusion of non-conservatives for a long time now. If Trump gets the Republican nomination as a non-conservative, will he be the first one? Ha. Definitions don't matter, voting records don't matter, principles don't matter, and now, all of sudden, you want them to matter? Because Trump?
The problem that the respectable Republicans have with Trump is not that he is "not conservative." It is that he is so gauche about it. But if he does well, the RINOs will adapt to it - money, influence and access are the great emollient. If he does not do well, and someone like Cruz gets the nomination, the RINOs will all go back to . . . attacking real conservatives.
No different than Obama 2008. People hear what they want to hear.
Slogans. Feelings.
2) Defends Turf
He left out one.
3) Defends America.
Wilson misses the point that Trumps appeal is also derived from the abject disgust we feel from the betrayal of so called conservatives like Ryan, McConnell, and boehner in passing budgets that fully fund everything Obama wanted. It goes something like this - if being a “conservative” GOP elected official means supporting a budget capitulation for the second year in a row, what’s wrong with supporting the outsider whose derided by these very betrayors as a “non-conservative”?
God article here - http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/22/selective-outrage-national-review-trashes-trump-rallies-behind-ryan/
Here, here.
When the very name of you source is “blog”, why do you post it as News?
I don't think he misses it completely: "... two things that the Republican establishment has resolutely refused to do..."
But your's is a very good point. It's like a Gresham's Law for politics. We've had a train of absolutely wicked impostors leading the GOP since Reagan (I include W) but I've always been optimistic that someday we'd get a real conservative candidate. However, the impostors have apparently, by quantitative dilution, succeeded in destroying what "conservative" means.
my mistake.
” the impostors have apparently, by quantitative dilution, succeeded in destroying what “conservative” means.”
Exactly. Well put.
Exactly. It's shocking that after watching Obama so many are taken in by the next snake oil salesman.
So the only person who had the courage to confront illegal immigration and Islam head on is no different than Obama?
You can’t be serious...
Trump may or may not be sincere about stopping it but they both use it as a tool.
His various straw men will never survive his so-called wind tunnel test.
Great Article! It just solidified my reaction the NR's weak, non-Cruz-endorsing maneuver. I submit two Steyn gems:
It's Still the Demography, Stupid... Mark Steyn
I't comforting to me to know that people (not at NR) much smarter than I am are doing briliant analysis on this.
You know, if we REALLY want Trump, God is going to let us have him, even though Scripture explicitly admonishes us to elect godly men and women to be our leaders. But, since judgment is already in store for us because we have legalized the abominations of abortion and same-sex marriage, God will use Trump to judge us, as He has been letting Obama do the same.
We have a chance/choice to turn back from judgment, or at least to postpone it, but we are settling for a lot of hubris, hot air and “experience”. No one can get near Trump in this campaign without being slandered, and his supporters will not listen to anything about him. I get that, but we are having another 2008 moment here, with a so-called conservative “god” instead of a reasonable debate. We have a few Christians in the line-up this year but no one listens to them anymore. We’ll get what we think we want in a candidate, but he’ll not be who we think he is after the election. Conservatism will be over. We’ll be relegated to the leftist trash bin and they’ll be celebrating that they’ll never have to run against a conservative again...if we have a country left, that is. The warnings are all around, but the siren call to elect another celebrity is very powerful. We are avoiding the clear warnings of Scripture, something we have been getting very good at, but God’s patience just might be running out. If we do nothing to undo the SC rulings that have turned Christian America into a hell-hole, and to make it worse, we force other countries to bend to those same things if they want to receive money from us...just remember...God is not mocked. Remember Israel. God took them into captivity for these same things, then Judah followed afterwards. We need to learn from history. God gave us His Book for the teachings and the warnings.
Interesting question. All of the above, of course. But I wouldn't blame the rest of the GOP field, though, just most of them.
The most immediate threat is illegal immigration. It's existential. Trump has put it first. Will he continue to grasp and act on the fact that we must be decisive and cheerfully do what is (to liberals only) unthinkable. If he's truly for "touchback amnesty," he doesn't get it.
The second-most important threat is Moslem invasion. He seems to get that, and in the right priority.
The over-arching threat, which is both existential and eternal, is the destruction of our culture caused by immorality and the lack of religious sense and self-discipline. This has led to the destruction of both family life and the economy. In a nutshell, young men with a sense of purpose and families to feed don't hang out playing video games in their parents' basements. These young men inspire young girls to look forward to marriage. These young men sire legitimate children who know how to work, love, and pray. Such children, our real future, are being born in certain enclaves, but it should be happening all over America, and it's not.
The last threat is the ultimate cause of the first two. Does Trump get that? Does he have the attention-span to even grasp it? I hope he does. May his Presidential journey make him realize it, and be the leader he should be.
Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.
Every nation gets the government it deserves.
-Joseph de Maistre
1 Samuel 8:18
And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
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