The Trump Movement Isn't About Conservatism -- It's About AmericanismThere is much division, consternation and dissension on FR over GOP POTUS candidate Donald Trump. There is an intellectual basis for this debate.
However, one thing that I think we can all agree on though, even at this early point of the primary process ... if Donald Trump wasn't in this race ... Jeb!Jeb? would be on the Dole/McQueeg/Romney gOpee path to the nomination with the lowest tepid minority percentage of the polls ever ...
Donald Trump do anything more than provide the spark which ignited the tinder created by Obama, McConnell, and Boehner?
If Trump had never entered the picture, would frustrated and angry American conservatives remain supine throughout an entire primary season?
Because Jeb Bush has bungled his campaign both before and after Trump's entry into the race, should we not conclude that he would have continued to do so had Trump not entered the race?
As Jeb's fortunes decline to the point where he is left with very little more than a war chest, can we not say that he was vulnerable from the very beginning to any effective conservative candidate who would campaign against the Republican establishment?
Even this early in the campaign, may we not reasonably conclude that Jeb has missed his chance?
As the campaign has evolved should we not conclude that the stand-in for Jeb's role as the establishment candidate is likely to be Marco Rubio because of his matinee idol looks, his well told biography, his undoubted appeal on the stump?
Should we declare Ted Cruz out before the first pitch is thrown, before the Empire has even called, "play ball "?
However, one thing that I think we can all agree on though, even at this early point of the primary process ... if Donald Trump wasn't in this race ... Jeb!Jeb? would be on the Dole/McQueeg/Romney gOpee path to the nomination with the lowest tepid minority percentage of the polls ever ... Well-stated, we're thinking along the same lines. I'd call Trump more of a catalyst rather than just a candidate. The results of a catalyst are increasing heat in the process, increasing the speed of the process, and creating a new form that's better suited to a desired use than any of the constituent parts. All those seem to fit Trump, along with the fact that when the catalyst completes it's work, it's usually no longer separable from the whole.