The View From The Rebellion

Daniel Henninger’s hymn to Paul Ryan and The Party of Governing in Monday’s Wall Street Journal is a great example of the power of the establishment. What’s interesting about the increasingly desperate attempts by the Ruling Class to clear away the pitchfork carrying insurgents is that they really don’t understand why they’re out there in the first place.

The Republican electorate is a cauldron of anger, principle, desperation and personal agendas. No one understands exactly what is going on inside the base, and that now includes Donald Trump, the great disrupter, who this week said he was mystified by Ben Carson’s rising appeal.

I would think that the first thing people would do if they are faced with an internal rebellion is to try to understand why. I can only conclude that they really don’t have a pipeline to the people in rebellion and have concluded that they are gripped by a form of insanity.

To help them out, here’s the view from the rebellion:

The Republicans went into the 2008 election by nominating the eminently electable and beloved-by-the-media, Maverick John McCain, war hero and the next guy in line. For some reason they lost the Presidency and both houses of congress.  They blamed George Bush. Scared stiff of being called racists they rolled over for Mr. Obama bleating that they could not do anything because the country loved Obama, they were out of power and he had impeccably creased pants.

Preparing for the 2010 mid-terms they promised their constituent that if they could capture the House they could stop Obama by wielding the power of the purse. Still terrified of being branded racists they did not such thing – Lucy pulled the football and all the voters who went to the polls – the gullible Charlie Browns - landed on their asses.

So the Republican Party of Governing went to their stable of eminently electable candidates and produced Mitt Romney; Mr. Clean. Mitt was a great guy, handsome, "severely conservative," wonderful family man, successful business man and ended up losing to the man who presided over a moribund economy with high unemployment. Why? Because while the Chamber of Commerce loved him, there were not enough Chamber members. Mitt wasn’t talking to the working man in the working man’s language. He captured the all-important “moderate” vote that Republicans thought was their ticket to the White House. But for some reason the working man who was losing his job and his home to foreclosure wasn’t on the Republican’s radar and didn’t show up by the millions when it came time to vote. The Republican establishment takes its core constituency for granted even more than the Democrats do theirs.

Then the Republicans went to back to the voters and blamed all the bad things that were happening on Harry Reid. They told them that if we can only get rid of Harry Reid and capture the Senate was well as the House, then you’ll see us come roaring back.  We'll repeal ObamaCare, stop illegal immigration and stop wasteful spending. We’ll have the power of the purse plus that bad old Reid won’t be able to kick us around anymore. So once more the Charlie Browns ran to kick the football voters went to the polls and once again they landed on their asses.

So now the refrain – you’ve heard it here again – Congress is not enough. “if only we had the Presidency, you’ll see this time will be different. Trust us.” Oh, and we have to make sure that bad old Hillary doesn’t win the election because that would be a disaster.

So the Republican Party of Governing teed up Jeb! Jeb with all the power brokers backing him, with gazillions in donations, with the Chamber of Commerce supporting him, the magic of his family name, his sterling reputation as governor. And along comes a billionaire developer and TV personality, with funny hair, making over-the-top comments who kicks the pins out from under him and relegates him to also-ran status. The Republican Party of Governing still hasn’t figured out what hit them. They never listen to Trump except to ridicule him. They don’t realize he’s a great communicator who connects with people despite the fact that he brags about his wealth, his planes, his buildings, even his wives.  Despite his billions, his constituency are the kind of people who the Republican Establishment disdains.  Republicans don't talk their language.  They really don't understand their interests, their fears and their problems.  If the truth be told, they're really ashamed of them because they're not "cool."    

Now realizing that Jeb! is not catching on, they’re desperately trying to get him out of the race so they can go to their next pinch hitter, Marco Rubio. Good looking, silver tongued, great rags to riches story and sure to enact all the programs that the Republican Party of Governing has on their wish list.

They’ve modified their story-line a little. The Party of Governing is telling Good Old Charlie Brown that their earlier mistakes had nothing to do with their fear of Obama, their fear of the media and the fact that they were really not that unhappy with bloated government. The problem, they said, was that they has promised more than they could deliver. So, give us the Presidency Charlie Brown and this time – for sure – we’ll let you kick the football.

Stay tuned to see if Charlie will buy the lie again.