COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JAMIE WEINSTEIN IN THE
GUARDIAN
'The Republican
primary featured a slew of conservative superstars. But we picked Donald Trump,
a man devoid of principle, who has split the party in two"
Jamie Weinstein offers us a perfect example of utterly
biased and rather unthinking political writing.
First, the Republican Party, as perhaps many in Britain will
not realize, has been broken for a very long time.
It has hobbled along for some decades on rubbish like “family
values,” catering to the Christian Right, and anti-flag burning Constitutional
amendments, and now it is out of gas.
Tired, boring men like Jeb Bush, seeking to secure an almost
inherited presidency, and dark, unlikable, phony Christian fundamentalists like
Ted Cruz are hardly any thoughtful person’s idea of conservative superstars.
The Republican Party was given a breather, some new life, by
Ronald Reagan. He had a very mixed record, but he was popular and did have a
clear vision.
Which brings us to point number two. Donald Trump represents
a very similar phenomenon. The amazing thing about him is that this
non-politician succeeded literally in hi-jacking a tired and boring party,
bringing some new life and, what is really important, a new possible coalition
of supporters, including anti-war centrists and even liberals. Mr. Weinstein is
blind to this reality.
The Republican Party itself was formed not long before
Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy out of the remains of worn out and collapsed
predecessors, including the Whigs and Free-Soil Democrats.
Parties do not last forever, and here is Trump creating
something of a minor political revolution inside this tired and fairly
directionless old party – a phenomenon which I do not think has been much
noticed. But, of course, the press has been too busy attacking him from the
start to take notice or do any intelligent analysis, and he is attacked
precisely for the potential of what he represents, a new coalition of interests
and one excluding the continuation of the Neocon Wars Hillary would duly
embrace and expand, something not at all in the long-term interests of the
people of the United states.
