Posted on 03/08/2016 1:19:35 PM PST by Jeff Head
After writing "The Donald Trump Phenomenon - Straight Talk," a couple fo weeks ago. I thought I would further articulate my feelings about this 2016 Election cycle, and in particular the Donald Trump Phenomenon and
what it continues to mean.
This is probably one of the most critical elections for the future of the United States in my life time...similar to, and equal in import, to the 1980 election between then President Jimmy Carter and Ronald
Reagan.
Throughout the GOP Primaries, people have gone from believing that Donald Trump's campaign was not serious, to being aghast at his campaign style, to being surprised at the issues he has raised, to wondering
if and when he might go too far and say things that will end his campaign, to seeing him win numerous states, to seeing record numbers of people turning out to vote, to realizing he might actually win, to
either wildly suppporitng him or trying to find any way to stop him.
Well, as much as some people (ie. the MSM, the DNC, the GOPe, etc.) do not want to admit it, Donald Trump's candidacy and its success to this point is a direct result of a very broken GOP leadership.
candidates, some of them could not follow through because they were blocked by the leadership...and then spurned when they tried (like Ted Cruz) to keep their promises anyway.
This has resulted in a growing frustration and anger amongst Republican voters over the last 10-15 years, who have elected people promising to do one thing, and then seeing them not do it...again, and again,
and again.
Trump has focused on this frustration and provided not only an outlet for it...but has gotten directly into the face of the MSM and the GOPe in a completely politically incorrect fashion.
Inb doing so, Trump says the very things that the frustrated electorate has been thinking, and he proposes plans that they want. And he does it using his own money, and without a lot of adsvisors writing
his speeches for him. THis has his supporters viewing him as a self-made man, a man not beholden to the process...and that is what they want.
This is resulting in a phenomenal attraction to Trump...and not just from the frustrated GOP voters. It is now extending to independents and even democrats who are also sick of the political establishment
and who all want someone to go into that establishment and kick the house down.
They believe Trump is a person who will actually not just talk about it...but who will actually go in and do it.
In the midst of campagning, and indeed, as a result of his former role as a reality show star, people have already determined that:
Romney knew it when he glowingly accepted Trump's endorsement in 2012...and he knew it when he attacked him recently.
But all of these people who are so frustrated and upset with the political estrablismment DO NOT CARE. The people who want to take the country back and want the political establishment put in its place want
things fixed and want theings changed more than they want reverence, political correctness, politeness, or platitudes.
It's that simple and so the people wanting to attack Trump over these things find no traction. They find they cannot use them against Trump because the people already know it and they are supporting him any
The do not understand that it is the very crass nature odf the man, his irreverence, and his profane nature, and the things he is sayting he will do that is precisely what thesevoters want.
This is what is happening in the GOP Presidential Primary race, and IMHO, it is too late for the GOPe or the MSM to stop it.
The establishment and politically correct MSM operatives (which is what they are...passing themselves off as journalists), are simply incapable of understanding these things. The only persoin, IMHO, who
really understands it, and it because he himself has been fighting the GOPe tooth and nail...is Ted cruz.
I personally believe it is also too late for the DNC to do anything about these fundamental issues and the rise of an electroate that wants things fundamentally changed in washington.
If Donald Trump becomes the GOP nominee, then the DNC and the MSM will try to do the same types of things that the GOPe and the MSM will have done...and nfailed at. The DNC will determin in fact that they
have to double down on it, particularly the Clinton machine.
But it will not matter. They will fail as miserably as the GOPe and MSM are failing now...and for the same reasons.
More and more democrats will join this Tsunami (and it may well become a Trump-nami), and the DNC, like the GOPe, and like a lot of the MSMs basic operating policy, will be washed aside in the flood.
If it continues as it is now for Donald Trump, and, there is a chance that it may not with the Cruz campaign, Trump will win the GOP nomniation and then go on to win the presidency in a landslide.
When he does, the political prognosticators on both sides will be shaking their heads wondering what happened...just like they did when Ronald Reagan, whom they viewed as an ignorant, old, right-wing,
class-b actor, swept into the White House in a landslide in 1980. And then won a second election in an even bigger landslide in 1984.
I am a Ted Cruz supporter. I am voting for him and hopes he wins the nomination and then the Presidency. I believe there is still a potential path for him to do so. I believe he would be rock solid as a
conservative and would support the U.S. Constitution more faithfully than anyone else.
But what I described above is the reality of what is happening. At this point...although I believe that the only candidate who might have a chance to change it is Ted Cruz...it is most likley that Trump will
win.
No other candidate, party establishment, prognosticators, media putlet, etc. can stop it.
In the event that Ted Cruz dis unable to change the trend and, in essence have the same qualities become focused on him, (because quite frankly Ted Cruz himself has fought the establishment tooth and nail in
Washington, and could filling that same role)...as I say, in the event Trump proceeds and wins the GOP nomination, as Americans we will then simply have to do all we can to mkae it a win for America.
And I honstely think, the good Lord willing, that we can.
1st and foremost, we have to pray (and fast) in beseeching God in Heaven to turn all of this for the good.
2nd, we have to be active in following through on our prayers and becoming personally involved wherever we can in working hard to turn it for the good.
3rd, we have to constantly voice our feelings to our represetnatives, right up to the President and demand that they keep their promises and fulfill their oaths to the Constitution.
If we do those things, I believe that Donald Trump will proceed and keep his promises to:
frew world.
See my:
The Trump Phenomenon: Straight Talk
Jeff Head
Idaho, USA
March 2016
“You can thank Cruz for leading the fight that killed the Gang of Eight amnesty bill in the House. I was here when FR was thanking him for that too. I could go on with other successes he’s had, but you don’t care.”
I am interested...but, is Cruz really the leader on the failure of the Gang of Eight? Truly?
Reagan united the base only after picking GWHB for Veep.
Also, you didn’t have the GOPe in 1980 telling the voters that they were nuts, screaming that Reagan was a fraud, etc., and saying that they’d vote for Carter. Gerry Ford did NOT come out and slam Reagan.
Trump’s manners (or lack thereof) are surely part of the reason that some people won’t support him...but so are the attitude and the actions of the 2016 GOPe.
Uh, did you even read what I said about those things?
HINT: Here is what I wrote about those very things:
Donald Trump is crass.
Donald Trump is irreverent
Donald Trump is often profane.
... this is something that everyone already knows.
Romney knew it when he glowingly accepted Trump's endorsement in 2012...and he knew it when he attacked him recently.
But all of these people who are so frustrated and upset with the political establishment DO NOT CARE. The people who want to take the country back and want the political establishment put in its place want things fixed and want things changed more than they want reverence, political correctness, politeness, or platitudes.
It's that simple and so the people wanting to attack Trump over these things find no traction. They find they cannot use them against Trump because the people already know it and they are supporting him any way."
“Reagan united the base only after picking GWHB for Veep.”
Bush was in the primaries to the last state.
Reagan’s percentages in the last 12 states:
Idaho-83%
Kentucky-82%
Nevada-83%
California-80%
Mississippi-89%
Montana-87%
New Jersey-81%
New Mexico-64%
Ohio-81%
Rhode Island-72%
South Dakota-88%
West Virginia-84%
Looks to me like they were already united prior to GW Bush being picked as the VP.
My “Yeah, so what!” comment wasn’t meant to disparage what you said...it was (perhaps not too clearly) aimed at those who say those things about him.
I believe that your analysis is pretty much spot-on. While Trump MAY not get the 1,237 votes needed to win on the first ballot (and, then again, he may), he will at least have close to that number and be way ahead of Cruz. My fondest desire is to see the 2 of them combine their delegates and cram them up the Establishment’s hind quarters. That’ll unify the party’s voters like nothing since Reagan nominated Bush in 1980, with similar results.
“Looks to me like they were already united prior to GW Bush being picked as the VP.”
Oh, just wait until we get to the last dozen or so states this time around - Trump won’t have Kasich and Rubio to contend with, and it’ll be plain that he has a large lead over Cruz, so the numbers should be similar.
...you have no indications that he is backing any kind of amnesty, vs tRump who is the “touch back” guy...
ymmv
Bush suspended his campaign before those primaries. So Reagan was running unopposed and voters who didn’t favor him didn’t go to the polls. That didn’t mean the party was united behind him.
“You weren’t old enough to vote then - you said that yourself. I was.’
ok. but looking at the numbers. 85-90% of the popular support looks pretty united. Those are the actual numbers.
The mask is off.
....ummmmm, no YOUR mask is off and you look downright silly with your stupid comments from tRump worship, go troll elsewhere....
ymmv
Thanks for the clarification, and sorry for any mis-comm on my part.
It remains one of my fondest hopes that we would see a Trump/Cruz ticket as well.
Thinking back to 1980...if those men were able to accept and proceed with a Reagan/Bush ticket as they did back then...setting aside some of their nasty rhetoric at the time...it is certainly feasible that the same could occur now,
And, despite all of the rhetoric, I hope it happens now.
They could easily get past all of the uproar and attempts by the MSM and DNC to use it against them by simply laughing at it and stating that this was their strategy and intent all along!
LOL!
That would end up being the mother of all rope-a-dopes!
Most American people believe, irrespective of whatever else, that Donald Trump means what he says and will do all he can to make it happen.
...true Jeff, but when he changes what he is going to do any day, and then back again the next day, who has any confidence that he has any fixed convictions, other than promoting his brand? Sure wouldn’t want to partner with a biz guy who pockets $32MM while his investors LOSE $100MM with his stock price down 89% while other good gaming companies are all making money???? just my $0.02
ymmv
“Bush suspended his campaign before those primaries.”
Bush suspended his campaign in May of that year. Reagan was getting 60%+ in most of the primaries prior to that.
In the less urban states, yes, but Bush had done well in more urban states, winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and others.
I'm not sure what the argument is about, though. I was just pointing out that those last 12 primaries did happen after Bush stopped campaigning, so the party wasn't as united behind Reagan as the numbers might indicate.
In any case, it wasn't party loyalists Reagan was worried about, but the swing voters who might still go with Carter. That's why he had to pick a running mate who was thought to be more "moderate."
“They could easily get past all of the uproar and attempts by the MSM and DNC to use it against them by simply laughing at it and stating that this was their strategy and intent all along!
LOL!
That would end up being the mother of all rope-a-dopes!”
“I’m not sure what the argument is about, though.”
Trump’s campaign can’t be compared to Reagan’s. They are nothing alike. That was my original point.
Yeh hey I can understand why the cruzers are shocked and angered to realize Teddy can’t stay out the Bushes. LOL!
Yep. Amen to all of that.
Trump has made it no secret; he’s assembling a populist parade.
This isn’t the most terribly righty or even well defined thing in the world. Factor in Trump’s own troubles understanding it and we get a wild ride.
However, in the end, if this is half a loaf, but most definitely baked, this is better than a whole loaf, and not baked.
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