Can Republicans Win Elections With Donald Trump?
Can they win without him?
Most Republicans in leadership weren’t big fans of Donald Trump when he first announced his candidacy for the Republican Party primary in 2015. That’s no secret.
Trump spent the majority of his life as a Democrat prior to 2015, after all. He was a reality television star and real estate tycoon with no previous political experience. Plus, Republican Party leadership had other plans for their nominee.
Those plans did not include Donald Trump.
Trump made disliking him easy for leadership Republicans during the 2016 primary, it must be admitted. From insulting nicknames to throwing around the considerable weight of his online Twitter following, Trump seemed to revel in openly antagonizing his more stolid competition.
In part, it was this antagonistic attitude toward leadership Republicans — it must also be admitted — which endeared Trump to so many disenchanted working-class Republican voters wearied sick by a decade-long losing streak to the left on everything from elections to the culture war.
On this side of the Trump years, members of the Republican Party old guard like former House Speaker Paul Ryan are fond of warning that the Republican Party’s Pied Piper is leading conservatives right off a cliff.