The hysteria of conservative GOP purists and party figures about Donald Trump is reaching absurd proportions. Talk show host Glenn Beck compared the Republican Party favorite to Hitler, and Nebraska senator Ben Sasse thundered that he would never support Trump if he was nominated.
The problem for Trump haters is that he has so far won an impressive 7.5 million votes and 679 delegates. In the process, he has won 19 states, more than twice as many as his closest competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. He is clearly energizing Americans across the country, and he is winning in every region of the country.
By winning, he is winning over novel voters who have not supported a Republican candidate in decades. The venerable “Reagan Democrat” coalition of working-class people, laborers, and unions sees Donald Trump as a defender of their values and a candidate with an answer to their ever-increasing economic problems.
The problem is that elites in both parties have been perfectly fine relegating millions of working-class Americans to the dustbin of history. In this campaign, Trump is tempting these voters with demands to stop illegal immigration, terrible trade deals, corporations abandoning America, and millions of jobs moving abroad.
As a result of this message, Trump’s support has been growing since he entered the race in June. The themes of his campaign and his politically incorrect style attract not only Republicans, but Democrats and Independents. Even though he was a first-time candidate, he defied convention, weathered withering criticism and $63 million in brutal advertising attacks to undoubtedly lead the GOP to the nomination.
This development is not sitting well with the establishment in both the Republican Party and the conservative movement. To say there is an uproar among the elites is an understatement. Many of these so-called leaders say they would never support Trump if he were nominated.
On Thursday, a group launched by Republican blogger and commentator Eric Erickson met in Washington, D.C. in a desperate move to stop Donald Trump from securing the GOP presidential nomination. The efforts failed to impress former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who said the group “should at least be honest and tell people, ‘You know, I prefer Hillary Clinton over the Republican candidate,’ because that’s what they’re doing.” They should just start an organization called Lost Republicans for Hillary and be candid about the effects of what they are doing.
If elected president, Trump will threaten intimate relationships, high-priced contracts and the internal dealings of Washington’s powerful power brokers. He doesn’t need their money, and if elected, he will enter the White House owing nothing to anyone. He can truly work for the American people, not special interests. It has been decades since the American people have had a truly independent president.
All of these potential changes are also too much for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has been a complete disappointment for conservatives. Ryan is clearly banking on a contested convention. At this point, he believes none of the three remaining candidates will have enough delegates to secure the nomination so that a contested convention could “become a reality.” Still, Ryan says he is not pitching himself as a potential Republican presidential candidate or “unity” candidate, an idea floated by former House Speaker John Boehner.
Among Trump’s current opponents, Ohio Gov. John Kasich remains in the running to be an alternative to the establishment if a negotiated convention is reached. Republican delegates are required to support their candidate in the first round but can change their support in the second round.
Ultimately, the race will likely come down to just two choices: Trump or Cruz, who will ultimately benefit from the establishment’s dissatisfaction with the frontrunner. Cruz has already secured significant establishment support through endorsements from former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, President Neil Bush’s siblings, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. While the establishment dislikes Cruz, they are starting to see him as a better alternative than a wild card like Donald Trump.
While Cruz may do well with party leaders, he can’t match Trump’s success at the ballot box. Trump is an “extraordinary phenomenon” who has “mastered popular communication” and, if elected president, “would be an absolute outlier in the trajectory of American politics.”
With $19 trillion in debt, 94 million Americans out of the workforce, a growing trade deficit, a wide open border, 15.7 million illegal immigrants, a struggling war on Islamic terrorism, and unrest across the country, it’s time for an “absolute outsider” to be elected president. “.
So far, Trump is attracting far more voters in GOP presidential primaries and rallies than any other candidate. As Florida Governor Rick Scott noted, “Donald Trump is the will of the people. We must listen to the people, support his candidacy and win in November.”
Consultants, pundits, analysts, party bosses and purists did nothing right in this year’s Republican Party presidential race. What they did wrong, and what they continue to ignore, is the popularity of Donald Trump, who withstood the fiercest political attack in up-to-date history and is still the favorite.
These critics should realize that someone with such broad and faithful support deserves the nomination and has a real chance of being elected President. Unfortunately, the melancholy but disturbing truth is that many members of the Republican Party leadership would much prefer a President Hillary Clinton over a President Donald Trump.
