We Should’ve Expected Trump

There’s one distinct idea that, through thick and thin, has been talked about for ages. How did Donald Trump get to where he is? There have been articles written, YouTube videos made, blogs posts posted, and memes penned, all struggling to answer that one question. But the point is that there really isn’t that good of an answer. Even so, I believe there is one decent explanation for how he became the political candidate we know today. The reason Trump is the Republican forerunner and may be our president is because of the innate nature of the Republican Party.

"If voices like Donald Trump’s are commended by his party, conservatism will find its end."

I understand that that is quite a blanket statement to make, and I am not at all suggesting that it is the nature of members of the party; I know many level headed, open minded and thoughtful conservatives, both from back home and from Exeter (some of whom also support Trump). But there are inherent problems within the party itself.

Before we can examine what specifically lead to Trump, we have to go back in time, recounting the changes and developments within the party. The Republican party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery Whigs and gained national traction in 1860 with the election of Republican President Abraham Lincoln. Since that point, it has gone through several flips (quite similarly to the Democratic party); until the mid-20th century, it was actually a remarkably progressive party. Republicans were pro-Civil Rights, and during their “golden era” of the mid-19th century onwards, Republican majorities established groundbreaking amendments and mandates to our constitution (most famously being the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964).

Eventually and inevitably, the party changed. The election of President Ronald Reagan  inspired this, and (in a sense) almost single-handedly converted the party from liberalism to conservatism. It began to take hold in the deep South, with Evangelical white people finding things in common with the new GOP (such as the idea of small federal government). And thus, they switched roles—those voters who were Democrats became Republicans, and those who were Republicans became Democrats.

Now, fast-forward to 2016—Mr. Trump has a very valid chance to be president. And he is true-blue (pardon the phrase) Republican. He embodies everything the Republican party didn’t want to be when it was made; he’s loud, impolite, lacks basic courtesy, and spits out insults faster than the media can keep up. It’s not even worth it comparing him to Ronald Reagan.

Yet as I said, he is definitely, without a doubt, perfect for the Republican Party. Even though many affiliates of the party struggle to disavow him, or tell the world he isn’t really Republican, or even fully disassociate themselves from him, they fail because they are wrong. A “Donald Trump” has been in the works for a long time—all that was needed was the person. And now, in this election, we have him.

Certain members of the Republican Party find much in common with Mr. Trump—they have a distrust, or even fear, of immigrants; they find fear in those who are different from themselves. Even though Mr. Trump may appeal to the lowest common denominator among conservatives, this past year has proven that this group is just as big as anyone could have expected—at the very least, big enough to put a demagogue at the head of their own party. If voices like Donald Trump’s are commended by his party, conservatism will find its end. And maybe, the time has come for the outdated party to go quietly into the night.