Republican Unity Proves They are Adrift

Republican leaders are falling into place behind Trump

Republicans may well win the White House this year, because they stand for no clear policy.   This is good politics.

In a romantic comedy the boy and girl cannot just immediately fall in love.   What's the thrill in that?   When Boy meets Girl or when Trump meets with  Ryan or the RNC there needs to be a bit of stalling and some difficulties to overcome, to show this is really true love.   Spoiler alert:  Trump and the Republican Establishment will kiss and make up and get married, or at least move in together until the election is over.

Man with money meets woman with standards. (Hint: they get together)

Yesterday's news was All-Trump All-The-Time.   Trump met with Speaker Ryan.  Trump met with the RNC.  Trump met with Senators.  

Ryan is being coy.  Lindsay Graham says no-thanks.   But the dominos are quickly falling into place and prominent Republicans are standing by their man, which means they are standing by their brand. 

After the meetings people marched to the cameras and announced how fruitful were the meetings, and how they enjoyed finally getting to meet this person they had heard about,  and that they were sure everything was going to work out.

They are Republicans.     Yes, Americans; yes, people of ideological integrity; yes, people with voting records.   But voters voted and GOP leaders need to return to home base:  their party.

Trump ran and won condemning traditional Republican positions.    But now Trump is the nominee, so they support the man who condemned what they have fervently promoted.   They are not ideologues and they need not be consistent.   They are Republicans.

Trump positions are not sort-of GOP.  He is anti-GOP.  No matter.

Republican voters fell behind Reagan up through Romney and Ryan in supporting free trade.   The leaders are on record, with votes in favor of free trade.  Trump said their free trade position was a disaster.

Republican leadership wanted outreach to Hispanic voters.    Senators supported the bi-partisan compromise.  Trump said Mexicans are criminals to be deported.

The Republican platforms of Reagan up through 2012 advocated smaller government and lower taxes for the donor class job creators.   Smaller government, reduce entitlements, lower taxes, a "no new taxes" signed pledge.   It is all part of their records. Trump says the donors corrupt the system, that wealth isn't trickling down, that current policies hurt the average American.

The Republican platform going back to Reagan and up to the present puts values issues (anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-Planned Parenthood) as high priorities.  Trump barely cares about them, but wins evangelical votes anyway.

Trump doesn't just insult Romney.  He says Romney was dead wrong.

The Republican foreign policy stance seeks greater American engagement in the Middle East,  and the leadership backed George W. Bush, while Trump wants to pull back saying America First and says aloud that the Bush policy they supported was a disaster.

Trump policies are not "sort of" Republican.  They are in opposition to what Republican leaders--and voters--supported in 2012 and back through Reagan.

Yet Republicans are falling into place supporting Trump who ran in opposition to everything they said was important.   How can this be?    Simple.  The Republican Party is not a national party of policy and governance.  They are a party of protest.   They oppose the Democrats.   

Obama's positions on trade, on immigration, on working with (as opposed to dismantling) Wall Street are closer to orthodox Republican positions than are the position Trump takes.   No matter.   There is one dispositive Republican unifying idea:  opposition to Democrats.

Trump represented real, substantial opposition to the Romney/Ryan policy agenda. Republican leaders have websites and campaign brochures from 2012 and 2014 advocating the importance to America of the traditional Republican policies on free trade, immigration, job creators and trickle down yet they are falling into place in support of Trump.  Those web pages will need to be changed, possibly reversed.   

The Republican brand is an advertising image, a mere brand symbol, like the American flag or the Statue of Liberty.   It is proven to be a powerful brand.   Republicans oppose Obama and Hillary. 

Insofar as voters want this election to be about "change" rather than "more of the same" (and the votes for Sanders suggest that this is a bi-partisan desire) then the new Trump Republican party is perfectly positioned.  Republicans don't need to stand for any given policy.   Indeed, it is a stronger position for them in 2016 that they do not stand for something.  People who traditionally vote Republican can find something to like within a Trump speech and something to think that Trump says but does not really mean.  

Stop Hillary in 2016 is good political positioning and a stronger argument than Hillary holds.   She needs to defend that America is working and getting better and that government can help solve problems.   GOP disfunction doesn't prove Hillary's case.  It disproves it.

In policy terms the GOP stands as a near blank slate.   In advertising terms it stands for change, in the form of stopping that Obama-loving crooked Hillary Clinton.   And that is enough.