Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Should "Trumpism" Prevail? What Cruz Must Do

Let's forget all the noise about the NY and I-95 Trump wins.  Everyone expected them, including Trump's opponents--and the fat lady hasn't begun to warm up, much less sing.

Let's instead look at a very cool and careful dissection of Trumpism.  Cutting to the chase:

...Opponents of Trump’s views on immigration, trade, and a ban on Muslims’ entering the United States often use individual-based arguments to justify their views. Immigration is needed because individual employers need to contract with individual workers. Free trade is good for individual companies and consumers, and for the (often foreign) individuals with whom they trade. The rights of individual Muslims in America outweigh the concerns of native-born Americans about their safety. The implicit understanding conveyed by many in the “never Trump” movement is that the country is little more than a land mass containing individuals rather than an entity with obligations to, and capable of imposing obligations on, those who belong to it.

Trump voters disagree with this view. The America they want to “make great again” is not a land mass, a large, rules-based network that lets individuals coordinate with minimal transaction costs. It is instead a place, a people, a nation. Trump voters believe that they have upheld their side of the American social contract, while others — businessmen, politicians, journalists, professors — have violated it....

Yes.  (The quoted essay has other valuable insights; you should read it.)

My "yes" does not change my #NeverTrump stand.  His laughable, and often utterly ridiculous statements on the place of the FedGov demonstrate beyond question that the man has never read such things as "the Constitution."  To him, that's a foreign language that he won't bother to learn.

But understanding the essence of Trumpism as described above IS important to Ted Cruz.  And I suggest that Ted must begin to reflect that in his final primary-campaign moments.  Properly done, that will put the silver cross through the Hildebeeste's heart.

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