Posted on 02/02/2016 11:52:22 AM PST by Truthsearcher
...Forget Trump and consider instead Trump’s constituencies. They are weary of being lectured that they deserve presidential rebuke for their supposed Islamophobia because they are angry about the terrorist killings of Americans. The middle classes are exhausted from being sermonized that they do not “pay their fair share,†when their state and federal tax bite is nearly 50 percent — especially when half the population pays no income tax, and massive federal entitlements have done little to address the pathologies of the underclasses. The contractor and the insurance salesman are furious at being scolded that “they didn’t build†their businesses, when those doing the scolding are pampered elites like Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama, who never built anything other than grievance careers...
...Trump has done the Republican party lots of damage, but he has also done it some good by reminding its leaders that victory lies in swinging a ball and chain through the flimsy glass mirror of political correctness and the current liberal spectacle of very wealthy people projecting race and class injustice onto others as a way of excusing their own privilege.
Far better than ridiculing Trump as a showboat would be to show more constructive passion than does Trump and to discover what makes sane citizens see him as their last resort. Rather than dismissing his empty populism, it would be wiser to fill it in.
Respect and listen to and learn from Trump voters — and they will not vote for Trump.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Nailed it.
Actually a pretty worthy and readable script by Victor Davis Hanson.
The National Review issue that attacks Trump will only inspire his supporters. In fact, it may wind up being the final boost in Iowa that gives Donald the nomination.
National Review just handed Donald Trump the Election
Republican Newswatch ^ 1/22/16 DOUG IBENDAHL
Posted on 1/22/2016, 8:39:33 PM by Amntn
National Review’s publication of the collective anti-Donald Trump missives from 22 self-appointed conservative potentates has caused quite a stir in Republican circles.
The nationwide responses range from, “Wait, I thought National Review went out of business years ago,” to “Ed Meese? Seriously?”
The Gang of 22 have officially become parodies of themselves. One would have to reach back to the days of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew to lift an adequate quote to describe them.
“Nattering nabobs of negativism,” “vicars of vacillation,” “pusillanimous pussyfooters,” “the decadent few,” “ideological eunuchs,” “the effete corps of impudent snobs,” or “the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history” - take your pick, because they all apply about equally well to each and every one of them.
So clueless is the Gang of 22 they can’t even see how they’ve stumbled right into the narrative Trump’s been communicating so successfully for months. Just like the elected officials from both parties, the Gang of 22 has been GREAT at complaining about stuff, year, after year, after year.
But getting anything accomplished? Not so much.
Many of the Gang of 22 have been hanging around and chattering for decades, and some are active cogs in the Conservative Entertainment Complex, deriving their income by pandering to conservative anger while offering no real solutions.
Donald Trump represents a threat to these ineffectual poohbahs in the same way he represents a threat to do-nothing public officials.
Jealousy is also seriously at work here. Trump is inspiring and exciting a broad spectrum of the country like no member of the Gang of 22 ever has, or ever will.
In just seven months of campaigning, Trump already has more Americans listening to a Republican message than the entire Gang of 22 could muster over decades.
Trump understands that before you can advance the ball, you have to convince people to take time from their busy lives to listen. No one on the GOP side since Ronald Reagan has accomplished that like Trump.
No one else has come close, and certainly no one from that “effete corps of impudent snobs” to which the National Review thinks we should defer.
The Gang of 22 had their chance. They’ve done a lot of bitching over the years, and it paid well for some.
But Americans care about results. They can plainly see that all of the empty talk from the Gang of 22 got us eight years of Barack Obama, and a loss in pretty much every conservative battle there was to lose.
At the same time when Americans look at Donald Trump’s life they get a lot of assurance that here is finally a man who shares their focus on actually getting results. And Trump returns the respect by recognizing regular hard-working Americans are a lot smarter than any of the “ideological eunuchs” in all of their pontificating glory.
The “pusillanimous pussyfooters” love to nitpick Trump’s words, but what voters are looking for this year is competence and accomplishment. Donald Trump has an actual record of delivering both in spades.
The Gang of 22 is right to be terrified. A President who could get things done would expose them as the irrelevant creatures they truly are.
It can’t happen fast enough.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3387420/posts
I agree. Traitors.
You see you are so in the bag for Trump that you cannot see how VDH is really for the establishment. /s/ I was terrified to click on the link, but it is a very well written and balanced article.
PS. Given some of the responses here, I think folks need a course in enemy identification.
Discounting Trump because Ted got 1 more vote is stupid, childish, and silly. Anyone thinking someone should an entire 50 State race because they got 1 less vote in the first State is a quitter, a loser, and I’d love to see them make the same claim if their candidate loses the next State by one vote.
Trump is to be commended if only for spending $200k while the other candidates are spending 100 times that much. Considering that he has only one less delegate than Cruz who spent $20 million, that speaks volumes about what Trump can do to slash waste from our economy.
Correct.
We stand together
I'm 100% for Trump but if Trump doesn't win I'm voting for the Republican candidate. Seven years of obama has damned near destroyed the country...and we still have a year to go. Four years of either Hillary or Bernie will naill the coffin shut. My grandchildren deserve better.
Summary:
1. There’s no telling what Trump would do if elected.
2. Other candidates might not do any better.
3. Rude demagoguery has a long and storied history.
I am also tired of the endless suggestions that “identifying the problems are the same as solving them” rhetoric.
There are hundreds and hundreds of problems in the federal government and how it does what is supposed to be its job. And there are thousands of proposed solutions to these problems as well.
The problems are known. The solutions are known. So what is needed is for a “chief executive” to carry out those solutions. So there is just one question that a candidate has to be asked: will you fix this broken government?
We do not need a hypocrite who says he will fix problems, but secretly supports and encourages problems to grow.
We do not need an ideologue who thinks that if he just had more *power*, he could do things. The office of the POTUS already has far too much power. Once he fixes things, he needs to work with congress to *reduce* the power of the office, so the next egotistical fool won’t foul up everything again.
Importantly, a president is just one man. However, if he appoints an entire cabinet intent on slashing the size and power of government, he might get somewhere.
His very first budget should utterly horrify the establishment. Massive cuts. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees laid off. Entire agencies closed. Libraries of regulations canceled.
He will need a small army of dedicated government cutters to do the job. The Vice President will need to be in on the action as well.
And if Mitch McConnell stands in the way, then he needs a new line of work. The senate and the house caucuses must either agree to this, or those that do not should get no further support from the party. If they persist, then they should be stripped of their party affiliation.
No more voting with Democrats for any reason. And when Republicans are in charge, the Democrats will not be allowed to interfere, just like Harry Reid did to the Republicans when he was in charge.
So far, the only candidate with the brains and the desire to do even some of this is Ted Cruz.
It happens every four years. The sides form up according to who likes whatever candidate. Attacks start from all sides. People who liked their candidate start loving that candidate as they're attacked. Then before you know it they start hating the opposing candidate and 'will NEVER vote for so and so' no matter what! Luckily, history here shows us that, at least on FR, once the primaries are over sanity and civility return.
I can’t believe all the panic around here. Some good and some not so good. This is a LONG way from being over. Just ask President Santorum. Or President Huckabee.
(The last two winners of the Republican caucus in Iowa.)
Trump is the biggest RINO out there.
“Just ask President Santorum. Or President Huckabee.”
Funny, isn’t it?
My knickers are fine, FRiend. I just see an awful lot of vitriol and unnecessary rancor on this forum these days.
>> What I know is that I’d like to see a true citizen-President, someone who has spent a career outside government <<
The last time we tried that was with Herbert Hoover, who had made a world-wide reputation in the mining industry before he tried his hand at government service. Didn’t work out so well as POTUS.
Maybe if Trump has one or more primary challengers in 2020, he can invite Huck, Santorum, AND Cruz to a veterans fund raiser, just like he did this year.
>> I was terrified to click on the link, but it is a very well written and balanced article <<
What? I thought it was against the rules to read the articles.
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