Washington Merry-Go-Round

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 September 2024
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
Today’s Events in Historical Perspective
America’s Longest-Running Column Founded 1932
              The Trump small tent strategy
By Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift         
 
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s strength is also his vulnerability. Unlike any major party candidate before, Trump revels in division instead of unity.
Instead of a Big Tent, he caters to a series of small tents to accommodate a multitude of single-issue voters who may or may not agree with each other or even respect him, which is why Vice President Kamala Harris would be making a mistake to make this race about character.
              Before dropping out of the race, President Joe Biden exclaimed in his ill-fated debate with Trump: “You have the morals of an alley cat.” It is an undeniable truth that would have ended any other candidate’s campaign. Not so for Trump. It does not matter how vulgar, crass, or immoral he is. He lies prolifically, and his supporters believe what he says, or they say it does not matter, he’s just having fun. His small tent acolytes are only interested in his support for their causes. His base of support is unshakable but shrinking. Hence, his vulnerability.
              This strategy worked for Trump in 2016, not so well in 2020, and apparently worse in 2024. The old football mantra, “If the play works, run it again,” does not necessarily apply to politics.
              Meanwhile Trump is rerunning his small tent play.
First among the tents is the anti-immigrant sentiment Trump has encouraged since he came down the Trump Tower escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy. If reelected, he says he will round up and deport the millions of people in the country who are here illegally, ignoring the fact that they are here because the jobs are here. So, the actual solution is to increase work visas while tightening the border.
Other supporters rally around Trump because they adhere to an older strain in the Republican Party: isolationism. Trump says he would likely reduce U.S. support for NATO or even withdraw from the alliance that has kept the peace for member countries for more than 70 years. He would also terminate support for Ukraine. Pre-World War II Republican isolationists ran under the banner of “America First,” a sentiment Trump often reiterates.
The ant-abortion religious right owes Trump for naming three conservative justices to the Supreme Court who tipped the balance to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.
Fiscal conservatives who favor an economically disastrous balanced budget amendment seem to be listening to his rhetoric rather than his deeds. As president, he prodded Congress to add trillions to the national debt, and he will add trillions more if he gets the chance, once again pushing through tax cuts for the wealthy.
Trump tariffs are popular with his supporters even though most economic experts say they are inflationary. Traditional Republicans who want to lower tariffs are known as globalists, which is why Trump parted company with them as he continues to advocate his stand-alone vision of Fortress America.
              The upcoming test will be whether the big tent unifying message from Harris will inspire enough small tent Trump loyalists to look beyond parochial interests and put country first.
 
          See Eleanor Clift’s latest book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).
          Twitter:  @douglas_cohn
          © 2024 U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
          Distributed by U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND