While I know this might sound like heresy on its face, I think that there is some reason to believe that we are somewhat fortunate that it was Donald J. Trump who was the first to exploit the populist potential within the Republican Party rather than a more polished politician.

The fiscally conservative politicians of the Republican establishment who were the former leaders of the Republican Party for many years led their socially conservative base around by their noses by promising them to support their “they are not like us” agendas while consistently voting against the financial best interests of their constituents in order to line the pockets of their rich supporters.  It was only a matter of time before some politician recognized this weakness of traditional GOP leadership methodology and exploited it for his own ends.

Remember that Trump won because he not only appealed to the traditional Republican conservative base, but also because he appealed to white, blue collar workers in key states who felt threatened by globalism and immigration. However, what makes Trump dangerous as the most powerful person on the planet, his character and his unstable personality, also makes him less dangerous as a candidate for reelection in 2020.

Consider for a moment if it had been a charismatic Republican with a sterling character with a real ability to communicate with the common man who had been the first politician to recognize this weakness of the tradition Republican leadership politicians and used Trump’s populist strategy to become the Republican nominee in 2016.  He probably wouldn’t have had the help to the Russians, but he might have been even better able to appeal to the blue collar union workers who normally vote for Democrats.

If it had been such a politician instead of Trump who instead took up residency in the White House, we wouldn’t have the daily chaos which currently reigns within its walls.  We wouldn’t be able to point to the endless presidential blunders in both national and international affairs.  We wouldn’t be able to fact check the endless stream of lies emanating from the mouth of the President of the United States.  We wouldn’t have the now numerous investigations into every aspect of the life of a man who operates more like a mob boss than an ordinary politician.

In summary, the 2018 mid-term elections might have had a different outcome and the current President would be a much more difficult opponent to send packing after the 2020 election.

Now it is an open question whether anyone other than blatant liar and professional con man would have been able to appeal to the “deplorables” within the Republican ranks.  However, if an exceedingly cleaver Republican politician had been able to use Trump’s populist strategy without appearing to be overtly raciest, he would be a very formidable opponent indeed in 2020.  And “Trumpism”, under a different name, would be better situated to remain a force in American politics.

Cajun    4/7/2019