Op-ed: Trump runs free

  • By Rich Lowry
  • Sunday, February 14, 2016 3:33pm
  • Opinion

Donald Trump’s crushing across-the-board victory in New Hampshire had the breadth and depth that one would expect of a future nominee. If the result doesn’t shake the lazy complacency about Trump that has held in Republican circles for months — and was reinforced by his disappointing Iowa finish — nothing will.

The question is no longer whether Trump will fade. It’s whether he can be stopped and who is actually going to do it and on what terms.

Trump has many unusual characteristics for a Republican front-runner. Among the weirdest is that with the exception of the furious last few weeks before Iowa — when the faux Ted Cruz-Donald Trump bromance finally ended — he hasn’t been subjected to sustained attack. Yes, the Lindsey Grahams and Jeb Bushes of the world have been yapping at him, but there hasn’t been a concerted effort to blunt his appeal.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

It’s possible that New Hampshire is being over-read. The state can have idiosyncratic tastes. It gave its nod to Pat Buchanan in 1996 and to John McCain in 2000, in a victory over George W. Bush as crushing as Trump’s Tuesday night.

Buchanan was done in by his own limits as a candidate. Trump is a more potent performer, and is running at a moment when the Republican electorate is dry tinder for a cleansing populist fire. McCain, on the other hand, was dismantled piece by piece in South Carolina in a ferocious counterassault by the Bush machine.

Will there be such a campaign against Trump? So far the opposing candidates have been too consumed with (understandable) tactical considerations to turn on him in a serious way.

Marco Rubio was rooting for Trump to win Iowa to damage Cruz, and never got close enough to Trump in New Hampshire to shoot at him. Cruz hit Trump in Iowa and in the immediate aftermath, when Trump accused him of stealing the caucus, but ducked and covered in New Hampshire, where he wanted Trump to win to damage Rubio (it turned out it wasn’t necessary).

Jeb Bush has been the most consistently anti-Trump candidate. He has also, as an earnest representative of a political dynasty, been the perfect foil for him and routinely complains that Trump is divisive, not exactly a cutting critique for Trump-friendly voters.

As for the Republican establishment, it exists, but is a shell compared to the overwrought image of it as an all-powerful force. It is fractured, confused and pusillanimous (Trump would use a more pungent phrase).

It is, in part, frozen by the Bob Dole-Jimmy Carter consensus that Cruz is a dangerous, overly rigid ideologue in the field. In this view, there are few things as distasteful as someone who firmly believes in ideas. So nothing can be done to harm the unapologetic demagogue, lest it indirectly help Cruz.

The logic goes: Wait a while longer. Maybe Trump can kill Cruz in South Carolina. And then Bush, Rubio or possibly John Kasich can sweep in and pick up the pieces.

This was the idea prior to Iowa as well, and if it had worked out — if Cruz hadn’t pulled off an upset victory — Trump would have an even more formidable head of steam right now.

Everyone imagines that he’ll win in a matchup with Trump. Cruz wants a two-way race with Trump. Bush and Rubio want to get in a three-way race with Cruz and Trump. But there’s no guarantee that Trump won’t get stronger.

The “rules” of politics may have been partly suspended as Trump taps into an abiding disgust with politics-as-usual. But some rules still apply: Momentum matters. Victories are validating. If Trump continues to run free, he gets harder to stop, not easier.

At least the interval between New Hampshire and South Carolina should resemble the final push in Iowa, with Cruz engaged in trench warfare with Trump. And so the task of foiling a hostile takeover of the GOP will, once again, fall to the man that the party’s mandarins disdain most.

Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.

More in Opinion

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks to Anchor Point residents during a community meeting held at the Virl “Pa” Haga VFW Post 10221 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Big beautiful wins for Alaska in the Big Beautiful Bill

The legislation contains numerous provisions to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource economy.

Children are photographed outside their now shuttered school, Pearl Creek Elementary, in August 2024 in Fairbanks, Alaska. (Photo provided by Morgan Dulian)
My Turn: Reform doesn’t start with cuts

Legislators must hold the line for Alaska’s students

Deena Bishop, commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development, discusses the status of school districts’ finances during a press conference with Gov. Mike Dunleavy at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Opinion: The fight to improve public education has just begun

We owe our children more than what the system is currently offering

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (Doug Mills/The New York Times file photo)
Opinion: Mistaking flattery for respect

Flattery played a role in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Life is harder when you outlive your support group

Long-time friends are more important than ever to help us cope, to remind us we are not alone and that others feel the same way.

Deven Mitchell is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.)
Opinion: The key to a stronger fund: Diversification

Diversification is a means of stabilizing returns and mitigating risk.

A silver salmon is weighed at Three Bears in Kenai, Alaska. Evelyn McCoy, customer service PIC at Three Bears, looks on. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Will coho salmon be the next to disappear in the Kenai River?

Did we not learn anything from the disappearance of the kings from the Kenai River?

Jonathan Flora is a lifelong commercial fisherman and dockworker from Homer, Alaska.
Point of View: Not fishing for favors — Alaskans need basic health care access

We ask our elected officials to oppose this bill that puts our health and livelihoods in danger.

Alex Koplin. (courtesy photo)
Opinion: Public schools do much more than just teach the three Rs

Isn’t it worth spending the money to provide a quality education for each student that enters our schools?

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter to the Editor: Law enforcement officers helped ensure smooth, secure energy conference

Their visible commitment to public safety allowed attendees to focus fully on collaboration, learning, and the important conversations shaping our path forward.

Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire file photo
The present-day KTOO public broadcasting building, built in 1959 for the U.S. Army’s Alaska Communications System Signal Corps, is located on filled tidelands near Juneau’s subport. Today vehicles on Egan Drive pass by the concrete structure with satellite dishes on the roof that receive signals from NPR, PBS and other sources.
My Turn: Stand for the community radio, not culture war optics

Alaskans are different and we pride ourselves on that. If my vehicle… Continue reading

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) delivers his annual speech to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Sullivan, Trump and the rule of lawlessness

In September 2023, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan established his own Alaska Federal… Continue reading

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in