It all started with a call from the Clintons — or so many would like to believe. For a lot of Republicans watching their presidential primary go up in flames, only a Clintonian conspiracy of such epic proportions could explain the rise of GOP front-runner, business magnate and human dynamo, Donald J. Trump.
When Mitt Romney lost in the 2012 presidential election, the Republican Party promised to learn from its mistakes. It would no longer be the party of angry, rich, old, white men. Instead, it would become a more inclusive party. It would try to woo Latinos. It would reach out to women instead of antagonizing them. It essentially promised not to lose again by making sure the Republican brand underwent detox. But, like a freshman who after a Welcome Week bender says, “Never again,” the GOP just couldn’t stay away from the fireball that is Donald Trump.
The image the party has tried, and clearly failed, to shed is an image embodied by Trump. Whether it has been the Mexican rapist comments, Megyn Kelly or any of his Twitter rants, nothing that would otherwise sink a candidate has negatively affected Trump. If anything, his outbursts have strengthened and propelled him to front-runner status. From the left to the right, he has garnered widespread condemnation that seems to transcend demographics.
But ultimately, whether you like him or not, the Editorial Board believes Donald Trump is the savior the Republican Party both needs and deserves.
The election of Barack Obama was meant to usher in an era in politics that would put aside partisanship. What we got instead was a Republican Party angry in denial about its losses and the changing demographics that delivered the losses to them. Donald Trump is riding that anger, harnessing it to the fullest extent for egomaniacal gain and also just to troll everybody else.
The anger and resentment from the Tea Party wing acts as a driving force within the GOP, even at times steamrolling the establishment in the process despite party leaders’ best attempts to cover it up. These are the people still unsure the president was born in the United States, the people who think Obamacare is destroying America and the ones who have even floated impeachment because, well, why not.
Donald Trump is winning because those preventing the party from evolving continue to set the agenda. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, calls them “crazies.” The party calls them the base. It’s only fitting Trump is their front-runner, given the GOP has failed to placate the part of the party that has cost them the White House twice.
If Trump’s candidacy turns out to be rock bottom for the GOP, it will be a good thing. The loss of the White House for the third time might be enough to bring back the Republican Party from the fringe. Or it might not. Either way, it’s looking more and more like a Democrat will be answering the phone at 1600 Penn. for another four years.
