Conservatives must call Trump to account when he veers from fundamental standards of morality and good sense.
Unless Donald Trump significantly changes course, conservatives should get ready for a wild, inconsistent, and exhausting four years. With the exception of short periods of quiet caused by desperate political necessity, the president-elect’s governing philosophy seems relatively simple: He does what he wants, when he wants. We’ve seen this movie before. It starred Bill and Hillary Clinton.
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Trump partisans wave this all away. He’s not impulsive; he’s “disruptive.” He’s not erratic; he’s playing nine-dimensional chess. But his partisans won’t ultimately decide his fate. He won millions of votes from people who don’t like him, but like Clinton less or simply wanted change. He is starting with Republican majorities in the House and Senate but without a strong public reservoir of good will. If he thinks that he can careen through his first term kicking up controversies every week, he may be in for a rude political awakening. After all, the Democrats aren’t dumb enough to nominate Hillary again.
The GOP needs merely to look to recent history to observe how quickly political triumph can turn to tragedy. Obama began his first term with larger House and Senate majorities than Republicans have now. He lost the House in two years and the Senate in six, even as he remained personally popular. In the latter part of Bill Clinton’s second term, Democrats crowed over his victory in the impeachment battle and his high personal approval ratings. But they wouldn’t win back the White House for another eight years.
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Republicans need to decide: Will they allow Trump to Clintonize the GOP, or will they use their influence to hold him accountable not just to the party’s professed principles but also to basic standards of decency and good sense? If they don’t, then we can see their political tomorrow. It looks a lot like Hillary’s today.
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Don’t Let Donald Trump Clintonize the GOP https://t.co/pmAugZqcRw via @NRO Americans will grow weary of constant drama and scandal
— David French (@DavidAFrench) November 28, 2016
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