Every election is an “information war” election, but this one was also a “Divine Providence” election.
Like so many happenings during the Revolutionary War, the good guys were up against a great deal. What Donald Trump overcame is astounding. Several impressive primary opponents. The Clinton machine. A hostile press. His own missteps and inexperience. The electoral map. An incredibly damaged “Republican Party” brand. Some high profile conservative critics and the Never Trump movement. I’m sure I’m leaving a few things out.
But the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency was so awful to think about, many of us prayed like we have never prayed before about an election. Last night we believe our prayers were answered.
Trump did run as a conservative — and he won. Here is Seth Barron writing at The Federalist:
Donald Trump’s stunning victory represents a tectonic shift in American politics. Against every imaginable odd, and the combined opposition of the political and media establishments, Trump tweeted and elbowed his way to the most extraordinary electoral win in American history.
From the beginning of his campaign, Trump’s appeal was characterized as lacking substance, and his supporters as reality-television-besotted fools. Hollywood uber-liberals such as Rob Reiner sneered about the “Kardashianization of America,” and pundits waxed nostalgic for a lost time when serious debate instead of frivolous chatter dominated.
In reality, Trump’s campaign and appeal were always issue-based. From the start, he stressed three fundamental policy points that catalyzed a large base of support. Though he refined and shifted the specifics of how he would implement these policies, his essential message was articulated at least 15 months ago.
The first issue was immigration. The presence of uncounted millions of “undocumented” immigrants in the United States has long been a sore spot for many Americans. While the dogma of open borders has been received wisdom among the political and economic elites for decades, polls have consistently shown illegal immigration to be a serious concern for the population at large. True or not, open borders have been perceived as an attack on the existing population, and a source of downward wage pressure. It was only a matter of time before some astute politician recognized that the “national question” was an untapped, undervalued source of concern.
Read more: The Federalist
Image credit: www.donaldjtrump.com.
