Last month, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt irritated the living hell out of many people when he described Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as “one of the most important political figures of our time.”
That's because the truth stings.
The sight of Jesus and Beyoncé waving winning Powerball tickets couldn’t get me to vote for Trump. Still, I hope he secures the Republican nomination—but not because I’m a fan like Dennis Rodman, Mike Tyson, or YouTube viral sensations Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson are. Instead, I want Trump to win the GOP presidential nomination because it would be a case of the Republicans’ chickens coming home to roost.
Last summer, when Trump first commanded a nationwide lead over his many Republican competitors, I argued that he was a “fringe” candidate. Now, I believe Trump is not an outlier of the GOP, but rather its id.
Trump is not an outlier of the GOP, but rather its id.
This is the party that gave us Richard Nixon and his “southern strategy" of trying to gain political support in the southern states by appealing to whites’ racism. This is the party that gave us Ronald Reagan, a man who popularizedthe “welfare queen” stereotype. This is the party that gave us the racist “Willie Horton” attack ad. This is the party that gave us George W. Bush, a man who only won the presidency because the U.S. Supreme Court handed it to him. What's more, Bush’s chances for reelection in 2004 got a huge boost, thanks to the GOP’s initiatives to ban gay-marriage in several key states at a time when marriage equality was unpopular.
This is also the party that now speaks ill of Trump’s xenophobia and bigotry, but didn’t distance itself from him when the businessman questioned U.S. President Barack Obama’s American bona fides, and demanded to see his birth certificate. In fact, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney took a dig at Obama by making a birth-certificate “joke,” and later blamed his loss on Obama’s purported “gifts” to minorities and young voters. The Republican Party didn’t refute any of this.
So why wouldn’t Trump fare well in this year’s GOP presidential primaries? Republicans had no problem nominating a celebrity before, in Ronald Reagan. Sure, the former actor served as governor of California for two terms, but this is the party that said Romney’s background as a businessman would help him steer America’s economy in a better direction.
What bothers Republicans about Trump, though, is that they tend to deal with racism, sexism, and xenophobia in whispers and coded language, rather than with bluntness and brashness, as is the billionaire’s style. Indeed, during her response to this year’s State of the Union address, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said as much when she criticized both Trump for “having the loudest voice in the room,” and Black Lives Matter protesters for demonstrating a little too loudly for her taste.
What’s more, Jeb Bush had no problem purging black voters when he served as governor of Florida, but now acts like Trump is the nefarious character of the conservative bunch. Bush is the same person who, when asked in 1994 what he would do for black people in Florida if elected, responded with, “Probably nothing.” The former governor and failed 2016 Republican presidential candidate may not have as bad a history of racial discrimination against blacks as Trump, but he still has his own demons.
The only Republican candidate who has genuinely tried to reach black voters is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (who recently pulled out of the race), but the reality remains that if you’re not white, straight, male, and well-off, there’s not much for you in the GOP. After all, this is the party that wants to gut the Voting Rights Act, stall on immigration reform, bomb all of our enemies, and stifle LGBTQ rights.
No other Republican presidential contender is drawing comparisons to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini or famously corrupt former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi like Trump is, but that’s only because other candidates are far less engaging than him.
Faced with the prospect of choosing between Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump, Republicans are already leaning towards the reality star. Terry Branstad, the six-term Iowa governor, said he wanted Cruz “defeated.” Meanwhile, 1996 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole proclaimed that he preferred the Donald. Republicans who contributed to the National Review’s “Against Trump” issue may protest, but they’re outnumbered.
No matter how well Trump performs in the primaries, in many ways, he’s already won. He’s been the Republican frontrunner for more than half a year. He’s being welcomed—albeit, somewhat begrudgingly—by several longtime Republican leaders. He’s now officially a credible political leader, which few would’ve predicted when he announced his presidential run.
If Trump does win the nomination, even better: The GOP needs to see areflection of the monster their bad habits have created.
This post originally appeared on NTRSCTN.com
