Michael Steele was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee prior to Reince Priebus. In what has become Republican tradition, he left his position after a scandal. He has offered some opinions about the debacle which is Donald Trump.
“This is all part of the process,” he said. “This has to happen. This confrontation with ourselves.” That confrontation involves the GOP realizing that it has itself to blame for the destructive rise of Trump. “[I]n large measure, we laid down the metrics and pathway for Donald Trump to emerge and to arise the way he did,” Steele said. “He understood the GOP better than the GOP understood itself.” Steele contends that because trust between the party and its base is gone, “[T]his confrontation within the party is something that is long overdue.”
He is the first to acknowledge that the establishment is to blame for Trump’s rise to the position of GOP standard bearer. None of the media were truthful from the beginning of Trump’s campaign. His supporters were actually protestors. They were displaying their anger with the Republican Party’s failures over the last eight years.
“Timing is everything,” and Trump’s decision to campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination coincided with the growing displeasure of GOP voters. In addition, all of the other 16 passengers in the clown car were totally unqualified, lacked charisma, and failed to obtain respect from voters.
However, what Mr. Steele is either not aware of or is attempting to hide, is that “Trumpenstein” is the creation of failed leadership; it did not occur naturally.
It began with Steele’s replacement as Chairman of the RNC, Reince Priebus. His loyalty to the Koch brothers superseded his concern for his party. Beginning with the 2008 election, his failures increased in number. After the 2012 loss, he promised his party that the GOP would reinvent itself. He claimed that they would work hard to appeal to demographics other than their base. He promised that the RNC would work hard to attract voters who are black, Hispanic, and women. Nothing has changed; the party remains mostly middle-aged and older, white, Christian men.
Added to Priebus’ failures, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell failed Republicans in the House and Senate.
Boehner allowed a small group of extremists who once called themselves the “TEA Party,” and now wear the label “Freedom Caucus,” to control the House. It moved so far to the right it became dysfunctional. Eventually, unable to control his constituents, Boehner resigned from his position as the Speaker, and from the House.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proved that he was far worse than Priebus or Boehner. Immediately after the election of President Obama in 2008, he openly promised that his party would do nothing with the exception of guaranteeing that he would be a one-term president. That proved to be another Republican failure. However, that hasn’t stopped McConnell from continuing his policy of ‘doing nothing;’ the Supreme remains one member short of the nine required to be effective.
Republican leaders finally succeeded at something; it took them seven years, but “Trumpenstein” is now a reality.
What is frightening is that they allowed the most unqualified candidate in history to receive the party’s nomination. This should have been avoided at all cost. The Republican Party cannot be saved. It continues to be split between hypocrites who now support Trump, and those who continue to denounce him. The extremists who moved the party so far right that our government reached gridlock, remain.
Michael Steele is correct; Trump is the result of years of Republican failures, but he was remiss by not admitting that he and others in leadership positions were ineffective, and continued to support special interests, instead of broadening the party’s appeal to include the working class, minorities and women.
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Photo Courtesy of WisPolitics.com
Follow me on Twitter: @jamesturnagenov
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