How Donald Trump stole the election
One year ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. with my fellow College Republicans.
The event featured a variety of conservative speakers and almost every presidential candidate we see campaigning now, including Donald Trump.
I remember shaking his hand after his speech and him saying, “I hope I have your vote.” I laughed and said, “Of course,” thinking he would either never actually run or if he did, he would just be some sideshow.
When he announced his candidacy two months later, he surged to first place in national polls after his controversial statements about illegal immigration. After winning three of the first four primaries and firmly taking frontrunner status, it’s no longer some crazy idea that Donald Trump will be president, but almost a certainty.
First, we have to look at the people Trump is running against in his own party. Arguably his number one challenger, Ted Cruz, was banking on support from Evangelicals and dominating the southeast United States, but after South Carolina we see that Evangelicals firmly support Trump.
Barring a surprise on Super Tuesday, Cruz’s campaign is fading. The “establishment” is now doing everything in its power to consolidate support around their golden boy, Marco Rubio. The problem with that plan is the conservative base has become increasingly alienated from the Republican policymakers in D.C.
There’s a feeling of betrayal after electing Republican control of both houses of Congress with the mandate to repeal and replace Obamacare and enact more conservative policies. Donald Trump has tapped into that conservative frustration with incredible results, even with his socially liberal stances such as supporting gay marriage and Planned Parenthood.
Assuming that Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, he’ll be facing off against Hillary Clinton in the national election. Sorry to kids my age, no one wants a socialist president, especially the Democratic National Committee.
Back to reality. Let me preface this by saying literally any other moderate democrat would beat Trump in a landslide, but this is Hillary Clinton, who’s the subject of three separate federal investigations, who’s taken millions in donations from an avowed Anti-American Saudi Prince and who killed people in Benghazi and maybe more with her email server.
Her strategy against Trump will be that four of his several hundred businesses have gone bankrupt and that he says mean things.
Trump’s policies of massive tax cuts to the middle class, border protection and rebuilding the military and VA are wildly popular.
Trump also is self-funding his campaign, unlike Clinton, who has taken millions from special interest groups. Trump has tapped into something visceral in the American subconscious. Love him or hate him, people have a passionate response to him.
From the beginning, people have been writing Donald Trump off. Now, he’ll get his chance on a national stage to see if the country chooses to continue the Clinton dynasty or to Make America Great Again.
