GOP’s problem isn’t Donald Trump; it’s the voters

GOP’s problem isn’t Donald Trump; it’s the voters

by Michael A. Cohen at the Boston Globe

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/07/17/gop-problem-isn-trump-voters/Zo1aVVkJRq3Y7GqTWMZFaO/story.html?event=event25

"SNIP..............


The problem for the GOP is that the inmates are running the asylum.

Trump might be a deeply clownish figure, immune to facts, evidence, and good taste — but he’s not stupid. He clearly understands, as many members of the Republican Party did before bashing immigrants became a political liability, the way to the heart of a rank-and-file Republican voter.

This, in a nutshell, is the dilemma that risks turning the GOP into a rump political party. Their base of voters is overwhelmingly white and old, cultivated by two generations of Republican officeholders who played on their resentments and fears. Now the GOP is paying the price. Those white voters don’t much like illegal immigrants, don’t look kindly on politicians who want to improve the party’s appeal among Hispanics, and can clearly be reached by a racist demagogue with lots of money and bad hair. The result is turning off not only Hispanic voters, but also tolerant white voters. Republicans always had a tough hill to climb in winning over Hispanics. Trump has made it that much harder, if not impossible in the near-term.

Donald Trump might be dominating the headlines today and causing GOP leaders all kinds of agita. But viewing Trump as the issue misses the point. Republicans don’t have a Trump problem; they have a Republican voter problem.




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