Republicans
1,347 pieces tagged “Republicans”, newest first.
Trump Is a Malleable Mess
"I remember, when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as 'The Boneless Wonder.' My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes, and I have waited fifty years to see The Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench." —Winston Churchill in the House of Commons, referring to Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, 1931. Donald Trump, whose promises are probably as malleable as his principles, promises to support the Republican nominee. Some of his rivals for the nomination, disoriented by their fear and envy of him, are making the GOP seem like the party of boneless wonders.
Republican Suicide
Nine years ago, aboard a National Review cruise, I debated immigration policy with my colleagues and the cruisers. It was a good discussion that touched all the familiar bases. Are there really jobs Americans won't do? Are big business and big agriculture enmeshed in a corrupt bargain with liberal Democrats whereby business gets cheap labor and Democrats get new voters? I argued then, as I do today, that there are many serious immigration reforms we ought to be undertaking. We have a valuable commodity — the right to live and work in the U.S.A. (and in some cases to become a citizen) — and we should not be handing it out to just anyone. We should swiftly deport criminals even as we should be more welcoming to those who earn PhDs or bring other skills. But I also argue that illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico, is steeply declining and likely to continue to; that even most Republicans, to say nothing of the larger electorate, are moderate on immigration; and that immigrants tend to work hard.
What the Other GOP Candidates Can Learn From Trump
According to polls, the No. 1 thing Donald Trump's fans like about him is that he "tells it like it is." I think his fans are wrong about this. But that's a column — actually a lot of columns — for another time. It is true, however, that there is something refreshing about the way Trump talks. It's not actually candor, though lots of people mistake it for that. Rather, he's unfiltered. The one thing you can be sure of is that he hasn't consulted with a political consultant about how to talk. He doesn't worry what the liberal editors at The New York Times or The Washington Post — or, for that matter, the conservative editors at National Review — think of him.
Another Impossible Thing May Happen: Change in Partisan Alignments
In my last column, I looked at the possibility of two impossible things — impossible things in the sense used by Alice and the Red Queen — happening in the already turbulent 2016 presidential cycle. Here I'll look at another: the possibility that the partisan division lines that have endured with little change for two decades might suddenly shift and change. This has happened before. History teaches two lessons pointing in opposite directions: Partisan divisions can stay the same for a long time. And they can change suddenly and without much warning.
Caesarism Comes to the Republican Party
Among a very long list of harms inflicted upon the United States by Barack Obama and his party, perhaps the worst was Caesarism. Obama relished the worship of millions in 2008. From his star turn at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was treated not as a political candidate, but as a savior. Progressives fell into a swoon, typified by Newsweek editor Evan Thomas' 2008 comment, "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above — above the world; he's sort of God." Now, a similar kind of unreasoning adulation is greeting (improbably enough) Donald Trump. Fred Barnes reports that a focus group of Trump supporters is swept up in a kind of worship, too: "He's not just their favorite candidate. Their tie to him is almost mystical. He's a kind of political savior, someone who says what they think."
Trump Is All Talk
Donald Trump is the first talk radio candidate. Everything he says on the primary trail sounds just like what you can hear on conservative talk radio every day. When he's riffing about the failures of the political class in Washington, calling for an end to birthright citizenship or handling a media heckler like Jorge Ramos at a press conference, Trump is talking straight to the hearts and minds of the talk radio demographic. He's not much of a conservative, or much of a Republican, for that matter.
Two Impossible Things That Could Happen in 2016
"One can't believe impossible things," Alice objected. "I daresay you haven't had much practice," the Red Queen replied. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." You may be reading this sometime after breakfast, and six is a pretty large number of impossible things. But looking at developments in the 2016 campaign, I can see two impossible things — impossible in the sense that almost every pundit (including me) ruled them out — that might happen in the weeks and months ahead.
Bush's College Plan Even Worse Than What He Recently Decried
Not the way to win over conservatives.
Donald Trump vs. the Party of Septuagenarians
I shall pose the question once again that I posed months ago: Why is the Democratic presidential field the field of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), and where is the party's diversity? Does one really have to be at retirement age and white to be considered a Democratic candidate for president? OK, OK, Elizabeth Warren is related to Hiawatha or Sitting Bull or maybe just to Bull, but she has not yet declared, and the rest of the Democratic Party's aspiring candidates are all white and old enough to be accepting Social Security benefits. The only exception is former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. He is 52 and often campaigns shirtless to prove some obscure point — perhaps that he is younger than Hillary Rodham Clinton. Possibly he has his eye on President Vladimir Putin's job. Actually, he would have a better chance at the presidency of Russia than the presidency of the good ole U.S. of A. He now is polling at 2 percent here. Could his polling in Russia be any worse?
Reform, Replace, Restart or Innovate?
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently released his replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act and jump-started the presidential debate about how to wind down Obamacare. In his book "Overcoming Obamacare," The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein catalogs the three main schools of thought regarding post-ACA policy: reform, replace and restart. The restart school needs a little explaining. It would repeal the ACA and implement reforms as lawmakers would have at 2009 spending levels, had they a chance.
Letter to a Friend: 'Harsh Immigration' Is Not Why Latinos Hate Republicans
A blunt, P.O.'d talker like Trump strikes a nerve with people who feel like they're falling behind and, more importantly, have been let down by get-along, go-along GOP leaders. These are the Boehners and the McConnells who huff and puff about President Barack Obama and his "out of control" Democratic Party, but by Thursday have moved on to other issues, after having yet again been out-maneuvered by the Democratic Congressional minority.
GOP Should Worry Less About Trump and More About Itself
Commentators and political consultants are working overtime to divine why Donald Trump's candidacy is explosively successful despite his breaking all the established rules. They're outthinking themselves. They say he is a flash in the pan, the darling of disaffected independents, the tea party's dream, a Clinton plant or the right wing's narcissistic alternative to Barack Obama. Folks, it's not that difficult. For many Americans — who knows what percentage? — the Republican Party is not an antidote to President Obama's seven-year wrecking ball.
Sorting the Candidates
Despite a nuclear Iran looming on the horizon, the media seem to be putting most of their attention on two candidates for their respective parties' presidential nominations next year. Moreover, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each make their own party nervous. If next year's election comes down to Clinton versus Trump, a lot of people may simply stay home in disgust. When we are this far away from the official start of the primary election season, we can usually just say, "It's still early days." Many a front runner this early in the process ended up out of the running by the time the party conventions were held, and totally forgotten by election day. That is the way it usually is. But that is not likely to be the way it will be this time.
Why Conservatives Should Care About Ferguson
Last Saturday I made a first-ever visit to the down town Dallas Police Department to fill out a report. I had never been to a police department before. My only image of one was the police station I had seen on the television series *Hill Street Blues*. Unlike the television show, the building I approached was thoroughly modern — constructed of glass and steel. I was impressed. Also unlike the television show, the building was locked. Locked? Yes locked. The police take off on weekends? Apparently. From what I remember, people walked in and out of the *Hill Street Blues* police station at any time night or day. It was part of the community. Not in Dallas.
Trump Defines Down the GOP
It has come to this: The GOP, formerly the party of Lincoln and ostensibly the party of liberty and limited government, is being defined by clamors for a mass roundup and deportation of millions of human beings. To will an end is to will the means for the end, so the Republican clamors are also for the requisite expansion of government's size and coercive powers. Most of Donald Trump's normally loquacious rivals are swaggeringly eager to confront Vladimir Putin, but are too invertebrate — Lindsey Graham is an honorable exception — to voice robust disgust with Trump and the spirit of, the police measures necessary for, and the cruelties that would accompany, his policy. The policy is: "They've got to go."
The Immigration Swamp
For years, immigration has been the subject of near-constant, often bitter argument within the GOP. But it is true that Trump has brought the debate to a new place — first, with his announcement speech, about whether Mexican migrants are really rapists, and now with the somewhat more nuanced Trump plan. Much of it — visa tracking, E-Verify, withholding funds from sanctuary cities — predates Trump. Even building the Great Wall is not particularly new. (I, for one, have been advocating that in this space since 2006.) Dominating the discussion, however, are his two policy innovations: (a) abolition of birthright citizenship and (b) mass deportation.