Below is a message I posted on a discussion forum at Breitbart.com, an “alt-right” news website. I was conversing with a man named Chris, a passionate Cruz supporter and hater of Trump.
Chris was lamenting that Trump ruined our nation’s chance at having its first “constitutional conservative” president in 30 years. Chris was a very articulate man. I watched as he went toe-to-toe with several knuckle-dragging Trump supporters, and then I reached out to him.
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Chris,
I appreciate our exchange and I apologize for the many meatheads that roam this place. Some of the back and forth is amusing, but a lot of it is puerile.
Clearly you were a fan of Reagan. And I assume part of that is because he was a constitutional conservative? Reagan might have been, but he was also immensely charismatic. I’d wager that a significant percentage of his support (e.g. the “Reagan Democrats”) was because of that. Simple blue collar folk who were tired of Reagan’s wimpy, apologetic predecessor. Carter’s was a demoralizing presidency. People wanted America to un-nail its foot from the floor, to stop tucking its balls between its legs. People wanted someone to put fear into our enemies and to run roughshod over crybaby liberal idiocy. Reagan delivered.
It’s a cocktail, the constituency of any presidential candidate. For a Republican to win, they need to reach outside the conventional party, and bring in unanticipated, previously marginalized or discounted groups. That’s happening now.
I don’t think, for all his ideological purity, Cruz could have done that. He just doesn’t have charisma. I’m not making a moral case for charisma, I’m making a practical one. Charisma wins elections. It doesn’t reflect flatteringly on the intelligence of the American electorate, but it is what it is. If a constitutionalist is going to be president, he must be charismatic.
Trump is a convention-buster. A similar phenomenon to the “Reagan Democrats” is happening now. I think we’re gonna see a massive turnout, and an overwhelming mandate.
He is certainly not a scholar, but I believe he is a patriot. I do believe he wants to give back. I do believe he wants America to take much better care of her own. He could just be playing golf right now, enjoying his autumn years, but he hurled himself into the arena and he’s taken many risks, said many forbidden things that supposedly couldn’t be said, he’s taken a series of beatings and he’s come out on top. And he has contempt for a lot of things for which I have contempt. He is immensely crass, not near the class act that Reagan was, but there is a great thirst for the kind of housecleaning that he promises to bring.
May 24, 2016 at 12:44 am
I heartily agree with your thoughts about the influence of charisma. However, a key component of charisma is an ability to generate not just support, but affection. Neither of the likely nominees has charisma. That’s why they both still have high negatives. Both Clinton and Trump are generating support from those who agree with their ideas, but not getting much love for who they are as people. It’s Bernie Sanders who has the charisma. People who think his ideas are totally unworkable still like him!
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May 24, 2016 at 6:03 pm
Oh, I heartily disagree. Trump’s supporters adore him. There is tremendous affection. I’ve seen it countless times in video recordings of his rallies, and I witnessed it personally at a rally in Lynden Washington a couple weeks ago. The love is palpable. Trump is the first champion the working class has had since Reagan. It is a deep movement. There is great passion.
I agree that Sanders is loved. And I posit that there is overlap between the constituencies of the two men. I’m predicting 20-25% of Sanders supporters cross over to Trump in the general election. I predict a blowout.
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June 1, 2016 at 12:12 pm
This is True about Trumps supporters. We really really like and care about Trump. I don’t think the media spends a lot of time on this subject and it may not be apparent to outsiders but if you have attended rally’s, and spent time among enthusiastic Trump supporters you will begin to realize the affection they have for him.
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