Here’s David Frum, Senior Editor of The Atlantic, on the rise of Trump and what he thins happens next (in 15 tweets as a response to this interview of Paul Ryan by CNBC’s John Harwood). What do you think?
1) A personal statement first. It’s been my perception since 2008 that US politics are shifting left, as they shifted right after 1970
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
2) It seemed to me that this was a moment for conservatives to offer timely concessions to mitigate even worse possibilities.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
3) EG yield on universal healthcare coverage to avert pressure for more radical income redistribution.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
4) To put it mildly, few other conservatives shared this view. They saw the same landscape, and saw a country ripe for Reagan-Kemp 2.0
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
5) While high turnout elections (2008 and 2012) confirmed my assessment, low turnout elections (2010 and 2014) seemed to confirmed theirs
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
6) Result: while Democrats turned to center after their beatings in 80, 84, 88 – Republicans turned further right after 08 & 12.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
7) The problem was, that the Republican leadership’s version of a right turn – Paul Ryan’s version – was not what the base had in mind
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
8) So as GOP generals stood at Armageddon to battle for the Lord, i.e. Reagan, their troops were deserting to Donald Trump
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
9) Trump being a candidate whom most Republicans elite regard as a Goldwater-style disaster who will drag whole party to defeat after him
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
Recommended
10) But (as Ryan told Harwood), desperately as GOP elites seek an escape, they cannot see it. They will allow themselves to be dragged
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
11) The big clarifying election Ryan yearns for is much more likely to consolidate D control than R control- as he must see.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
12) Yet even as the R elite sees what’s probably coming, it won’t believe it. What worked in 1980 must work again. It just *must*.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
13) I’ve spent a lot of time being dismissed as a RINO squish, or worse, because I think to save most of conservatism, we must change some.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
14) The dominant faction on my side of the argument, however, has insisted that it can win all, by changing none.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
15) Instead, the "change-nothing" faction has lost control of their own presidential nomination. We’ll see what more there is left to lose.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
OK, that’s enough for now
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2016
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member