There have been a lot of charges against Donald Trump. Many on the right have accused him of not being a real Republican (after all, he had good words to say about Planned Parenthood!!). Some on the left even harbor some hope that, if elected, Trump will do an about face and revert to some of his long ago “beliefs”, such as single payer (assuming he even knows what that means).
Well, Marco Rubio put all these questions to rest last night, when he convincingly argued that Trump is, indeed, a real Republican:
Rubio, the leading aggressor during the debate, picked up where he left off Friday morning. In several television interviews, he questioned Trump’s business background, his ability to lead the nation, and repeatedly called the billionaire businessman a “con artist” who has spent decades “sticking it to the little guy.”
via Daily Kos
Trump couldn’t be more Republican. The Republicans have been spending decades sticking it to the little guy too! Trump fits right in. The fact that the little guy doesn’t know who’s sticking it to him doesn’t change the facts. The Republican Establishment can relax now. Trump is just another mainstream Republican, and if he can get elected by speaking directly, rather than in code, they can hardly take offense at that. In fact, my guess is that soon we’ll see other Republicans putting aside the dog whistle and being loud and proud about their various bigotries. After all, the point has always been to mislead the rubes into voting against their own interests, and if Trump’s method is effective, and it appears to be, there’s no reason to think he won’t have imitators.
But Rubio made a few other points, all of which prove that Trump is a good Republican. True, not every Republican has a business background, but those that do are usually in the Trump tradition. And so far as ability to lead the nation, no matter how badly Trump performs, he’d have a tough time doing any worse than any Republican president since 1980, and that includes the sainted Reagan, who specialized in sticking it to the little guy (massive inequality began on his watch), running the economy into the ground, and selling weapons to Iran. Turns out poor leadership is also a Republican strong point!
And as for con-artists: Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee, to name just the most recent.
So, is Trump a real Republican? Sure looks like it. Oh, by the way by no means am I implying that Rubio and Cruz aren’t Republicans. For instance, they measure up to Trump, except, being younger, they haven’t spent as many decades sticking it to the little guy.
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