By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Chances are if you were to pick up a major establishment media newspaper at any given time or listen to one of their multitude of TV news programs that it wouldn’t take long to find a story detailing how President Donald Trump is dragging down the Republican Party in some form or another.
The Trump denunciations are so commonplace they’re getting old by now. Here’s a sampling of the types of headlines one might encounter: “Trump’s tweeting sidetracks congressional GOP;” “Trump’s low poll numbers worry party candidates ahead of 2018;” “Russia/Obstruction of Justice probe limits Trump’s sway in moving legislation,” and, “White House staff circus atmosphere leaves everyone jittery.”
No wonder the president says it’s all fake news. If Trump’s detractors actually looked at the vote tallies lately they’d discover Trump is hardly having a deleterious effect on the Republican Party. Sure, we’ve only got several special elections (to replace Republican congressmen in red districts) as a vote sample, but there’s little denying how the novice politician is not proving to be the albatross around the GOP’s neck the media swore he would be.
Some argue the recent special election results reveal more about Trump than the party’s prospects for the future, however. Byron York of the Washington Examiner wrote, “Special elections have been notoriously unreliable for predicting the results of elections more than a year away. That’s probably especially true in the current speeded-up news cycle. That doesn’t mean Republican and Democratic strategists won’t try to take lessons from GA06 and try to apply them to the future. But who knows what might happen by next week, much less next year?
“Still, the election results do tell us something about this moment. ‘They tell you that Trump’s supporters support Trump,’ said [a Republican] strategist. ‘So far, all the available data is that Trump’s supporters not only support him but are motivated.’”
Motivated indeed; it’s true, which makes the “fake” headlines I invented above all the more, well, “fake.” Literally ever since President Trump was nominated last year the media and Democrats have been forecasting catastrophe for the entire Republican Party because the outspoken New Yorker would be its figurehead. The liberal chattering class would have everyone believing Americans care more about behavioral matters like tweets and off-the-wall boasts (“My inauguration day crowd was bigger than Obama’s”) than they do about saving on their healthcare insurance premiums or reducing their income tax burden.
They’re wrong. York’s article indicates the Republican voters he talked to in Georgia’s 6th district just wanted Americans to give Trump a chance, a notion the media and the Democrats are dead-set against.
So there’s an enduring political stalemate that will likely continue well into next year’s all-important 2018 midterm campaigns. No matter how much the Democrats and media talk about Russia/obstruction of justice there remains a sizable contingent of Republicans who just want to wait and see if Trump is able to make good on his agenda.
Unfortunately for conservatives and true believers in limited government, moving on the agenda will likely require compromising with the big government establishment to push it through. When Republicans were in the governing minority – which includes pretty much all of Obama’s two-term presidency, even when the GOP took control of Congress – conservatives could afford to hold out for strictly principled objections.
Hence, Ted Cruz’s 2013 battle to block funding for Obamacare was 100% justified. Cruz was a hero to those of us who trust in the genius of the Constitution and also favor a government that’s as limited and restrained as possible. When you don’t hold power there’s absolutely no compulsion to vote for or approve something that is wrong for your constituents or the country.
If there’s a bad proposal, let the people who want it passed pay the political and cultural consequences.
“Governing” is different, however. Now that Republicans possess all the cards they’ve got to produce on the promises they’ve made. (Note: “Compromise” does NOT mean rubber-stamping the Senate GOP’s new wretched healthcare bill. It needs a lot of work to be acceptable.)
Sadly, 2017’s political realities indicate limited government conservatives do not constitute even close to a majority in the House or Senate; and as much as it’s painful to admit, President Trump is no small government advocate either. Though Trump does not fit neatly into any ideological classification he appears to believe government’s duty is to provide benefits and standard-of-living protections to the populace (as opposed to citizens being free and unrestrained to achieve on their own).
Trump’s is very much a “good government” orientation and he will certainly continue to push for his side of the argument, which also involves providing “stuff” to the people – but only when it’s a “good deal” to do so.
Therefore, until principled conservatives comprise a large enough force in elected government we have to work with the moderate “government stuff” enthusiasts to make the best deals possible for Americans.
This doesn’t equal selling out on everything; it just means choosing your battles carefully. The Founding Fathers created a system where theoretically everyone would be at liberty to pursue their own “stuff” — not have it automatically provided for them. But the 21st century American public apparently doesn’t see it that way. Congress needs to act on the “stuff” and not go bankrupt in the process.
As conservative leader Richard Viguerie often preaches, “It’s the primaries, stupid.” Republican state primaries and conventions are the means whereby conservatives can take over the GOP (and its leadership) and hope to restore limited, constitutional-driven government.
Until that time, we need to work with the “stuff” people to pass legislation. Grassroots campaigns will help move the leadership towards enacting the best conservative proposals possible, but at present the most crucial imperative is to pass bills and have President Trump sign them.
After all, it’s safe to say conservatives trust Trump and most Republicans to be the “stuff” providers over Democrats. At least then it will be fair and equitable instead of a crooked slush fund to pay off pet constituencies. Can you say, “green energy” anyone?
For their part, Democrats are still trying to figure out what’s gone so wrong for them in this year’s special elections. Caitlin Huey-Burns of Real Clear Politics reports, “As Democrats pick up the pieces ahead of next year’s midterms, they’re largely in agreement that the party needs a sharper economic message and stronger candidates. But just what kind of message and what kind of candidates will deliver victories in the Trump era remain points of contention.
“It took the most expensive House race in history to make clear that while resistance to the new president excites some Democrats, the voters needed to regain control of the lower chamber just weren’t ready to come aboard. Even if many rank-and-file Republicans harbor a distaste for Trump, it isn’t yet driving them to support a Democrat down ballot, particularly if they associate that candidate with Nancy Pelosi.”
I never thought I’d say this, but poor Nancy Pelosi; she’s truly awful in virtually every sense but is Pelosi really all that different from any of the others in the Democrat leadership line-up? Couldn’t Republicans just plug in the names of Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Obama, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Maxine Waters, Al Franken, (the list goes on and on)…instead?
The modern Democrat party has been thoroughly coopted by the most radical leftist elements of the country. They’re no longer a tangent to a more center-left Democrat party emblemized by Bill Clinton. No, now they’re the George Soros guard of fringe freaks like would-be assassin James T. Hodgkinson and Black Lives Matter.
I’ve said it many times… there is no such thing as a “moderate” elected Democrat any longer. The party’s “moderates” became Republicans and joined the House Tuesday Group.
Still, Democrats seem bent on blaming poor Nancy P. for their woes. Democrat Tim Ryan said yesterday it will be very difficult to win back the House with Pelosi at the helm and because of her the party has become “toxic.”
It isn’t Pelosi alone that’s “toxic”. It’s the entire Democrat agenda. Since the Democrats – and the media – are always seeing fit to dispense advice to Trump and Republicans, let me offer them a few suggestions of my own: cast off the horrific influences of Hollywood and George Soros, allow traditional values and pro-lifers a place in your party and tell the corporate elites (who are now big-time Democrats) to go take a hike.
I don’t worry about the Democrats gaining ground because of any secrets I might reveal to them because they’ll never take guidance to heart anyway. They’re much too concerned with firing up the radical feminists, race baiters and environmental loons to concern themselves with the deplorables’ point-of-view.
And for that reason, they’ll keep on losing.
Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com
