Among the concerns many of us have if Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, and especially if he were to become president, is that he would redefine the Republican Party in a way that would make it significantly less conservative and philosophically incoherent. Mr. Trump’s recent interviews with the editorial board of the Washington Post and two reporters for the New York Times make that clear.
Mr. Trump refers to himself as favoring a foreign policy of “America First.” He is a fierce protectionist, opposing free trade agreements and favoring a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports. He considers NATO obsolete and sees little value in maintaining U.S. military commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. He has admiration and expresses sympathy for Vladimir Putin, wants the United States to be “neutral” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and advocates war crimes. Mr. Trump is an outspoken opponent of entitlement reform, favors eminent domain, and is sympathetic to Planned Parenthood. During this campaign he has spoken favorably of a single payer health care system and the Obamacare mandates. As the Washington Post’s Dan Balz puts it, “Trumps views on issues… represent a fundamental break with many of the conservative ideas that have been at the party’s core for years.”
A political party is not the same thing as a philosophical movement, but the former can give a political home to the latter. That has been the case with the Republican Party and conservatism for generations. It explains why conservative are overwhelmingly Republican.
If Trumpism were to prevail, that link would be severed, at least temporarily. Conservatism would not have a political home. The party would become secondary to the cause, and in some respects at war with it. What this means is Mr. Trump could do to the Republican Party what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could not – reinvent the party of Lincoln and Reagan and deliver a historic setback to conservatism.
Who would have thought that, back in 1994, this is something Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh would eagerly participate in?
