Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse for the Ages – Donald Trump
 
Could it be that Donald Trump is a Trojan Horse for the Democrats, ensuring their dominance?  Sure, it sounds absurd. The guy who has been at war with the liberals (and much of his own political party), who has been impeached twice, is somehow a weapon meant to destroy the Republicans from within?

Going into the 2016 Presidential race, the Republicans were poised to expand leads in the House and the Senate that they gained in the 2014 Obama midterms.   Democrats were becoming more sharply divided between the Bernie/AOC wing and the moderates in their party.  Meanwhile Republicans were on a roll, unified, and poised to win the White House.   Before we go into the why Trump would be a Trojan Horse, let’s look at the evidence.  It reads like a Nancy Pelosi Christmas (or in her words a Winter Solstice Celebration) Wish-list:

Republicans lost the Presidency, House, and Senate in 4 years under Trump  

It’s hard to remember back to 2016 with the events of the last year, but Republicans controlled all three houses when Trump took office.   Despite an emergence of radicalism, riots, socialist trends, and more from the left, the Democrats now control the House, Senate, and the Presidency.

Republican Party is now completely divided 

Although Trump would likely say that all Republicans who oppose him are part of the “deep state”, he had about 95% support within his party early in his Administration.  His extreme and embarrassing rants on social media made it difficult for conservatives to support him, despite his great successes on the economy, eradicating ISIS, judicial appointments, and more.  But he seemed completely unhinged after the election and his claims of fraud without implacable evidence was a bridge too far for many Republicans.   Forcing the hand of even his most staunch supporters in Congress, Republicans haven’t been this divided in my lifetime. 

Super charged the Dems 

The Democrats greatest weakness has been getting out the vote.  They always have the numbers, if they can just get their voters to put down the bong long enough to get to the polls.  With the “Stop Trump” mantra, the Dems hoped to awaken the sleeping giant.   In 2020, they achieved the largest number of registered voters for Dems in history.  Mission accomplished. 
Yes, it is true that voters also came out in record numbers for the Republicans.  But, with a divided party, will that matter going forward?  Plus, how many came out just to stop the socialist and destructive aims of today’s Democrats? 

Republican brand stained with hate, nationalism, racism

We can’t blame Trump when Democrats try to label Republicans as nationalists, racists, and all-around evil scumbags.  But we can blame him for when it sticks.  The Democrats have been making vile, baseless claims like this for decades, despite the fact that they are the party that founded the KKK.   Trump’s rhetoric was so bad, and at times so misguided and irresponsible, that he made these claims believable for the first time in our history.   Entire generations will see Republicans in this light going forward thanks to Trump. 

Self-sabotaged at every turn 

To be fair, Trump accomplished a lot of big goals in his short tenure -- tax cuts, reduced regulation, largely defeated ISIS, and expanded/improved the George Bush era wall on our southern border.  He pushed to end the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.  But each time Trump has a win, he came out with a horrid, shocking Tweet that knocked down his popularity and distracted from his victories.  It was almost like he did it on purpose.

His victories look like Democrat victories  

Look at Trump’s accomplishments: Prison reform, un-ending government spending, ending wars in Middle East (without clear victory and future security in place), a new major government program – Space Force, pro-union efforts against NAFTA, TPP, etc.   It sounds like it came out of the Democrat playbook.  Okay, cutting taxes and regulations aren’t Democrat wins, nor is expanding the Keystone Pipeline and fracking.  But they do give Pelosi and team the old rallying cry that the Republicans are only supporting the wealthy and polluting the environment.

Sabotaged Republicans at every turn 

Republicans were poised to win at least one if not both Senate seats in the Georgia Senate runoff.  Then Trump told his constituents that it was a waste of their time to vote…their vote wouldn’t be counted, that it was all a fraudulent process anyway.  Democrats could not have wished for a better outcome and Republicans lost by a small percentage. 

It is clear that Trump or Trump-ism drove out GOP congress people like Jeff Flake, Paul Ryan, and many more.  Dozens of Republicans in Congress retired during his tenure, close to triple the number of Democrats.   He also fired or received resignations from hundreds of his own staff and key figures such as Priebus, Kelly, Bolton, Conway, Mulvaney and many more.  Even those who were fiercely loyal to him, like Senator Jeff Sessions eventually found their reputations trashed.

Now Trump threatens to run as a third-party candidate in 2024.  No doubt, he’ll continue to bash any that don’t pledge loyalty to him, whether he runs or not.   

Turned the message of the left into a Republican message

Trump fomented the themes of unfair elections, the victim-hood mantra, distrust of revered American institutions (military, FBI/Justice Department, police force, election systems, etc).   Sounds like the far left, not the right.   Yes, there are issues to address in our election system, particular ballot harvesting and other suspect practices.  Republicans always stood on higher ground than to delve into conspiracy theories and victim-hood.  Until now.  In fact, conservatives had always practiced peaceful protests until the January 6 raid on the Capital.  Thanks for bringing us down to their level Donald.

Left no future without him

What is the Republican party today?  Leaders typically have an ideal that they convey.  For Reagan, it was smaller government, Bush 43 was security, Trump was MAGA.  But how do you make it great?  By idolizing Trump.  He made everything about him, not an ideal he can leave with the party.  Today, there is “Trumpism”, not a tangible goal such as limited government spending or a stronger military. 

When Trump threw his immensely loyal VP Pence under the bus, no one was left to lead the party forward.   Perhaps that is a good thing as the party will have to rebuild from the ground up. 
 
With Trumps actions, the Democrats have had cover to push forward the most extreme agenda in modern history.  Their lofty and once unimaginable goals of socialism, the hateful race-baiting and race preferential-ism policies, environmental extremism, and the remarkable power grabs on our liberty would not have been possible without the Trump distraction.    Trump has been the greatest gift to Democrats in the party’s history.  So, why would they and the mainstream media not try to keep him in the news, keep Republicans divided?   I don’t know whether Trump knowingly set out to destroy the Republican party – the last line of defense against the extremism of the left.   If not, could he have done a better job of it if he tried?