The GOP’s ‘Whatever’ Moment

Donald Trump has his go-to words, among them “great,” “terrific,” “rich” and “I.” But the Trumpian word that best sums up his candidacy—and the current mood of his supporters—is simply this: “Whatever.”

“Whatever” is The Donald’s response whenever or wherever he confronts something that he doesn’t like or understand. It’s a way out of taking a position: Does he support D.C. statehood? He’ll do “whatever is good for the District of Columbia.” (Whatever that is.)

It’s a way of ending discussion on a topic he can’t remember, or never knew in the first place. (“I stand by whatever I read.” Next.)

It’s a stand-alone, irritated dismissal. (Mr. Trump, what say you to the argument that most of your proposals are legally or politically or geophysically impossible? Whatever.)

Imagine a Marco Rubio or a Jeb Bush explaining that his position on Iran is to do whatever is terrific. It’s not simply that they couldn’t get away with it. It’s that it wouldn’t occur to them to try. And that’s the great disconnect of this current race. The conservative electorate is thrilling to a “whatever” moment just as it is finally getting the quality candidates and substantive debate it has spent years demanding.

That electorate threw its heart into GOP primaries that cleared out dead wood and sent new blood to Washington. It threw its soul into delivering a new crop of young reformers to state houses and governors’ mansions. It fumed as the party blew two presidential elections, and it made clear it expected far better.

Slowly, the effort paid off. This Republican field is teeming with serious candidates (many elected in response to Mr. Obama) who’ve collectively beaten public unions, reformed pensions, cut spending and taxes, overhauled education, and embraced the energy boom. It’s a talent pool that contains a neurosurgeon, a businesswoman, a Rhodes scholar, a prosecutor, and several state executives—not one of whom looks remotely like Mitt Romney or John McCain. And not one of whom teamed up with a state casino authority to try to seize a woman’s property, to make way for a Trump hotel limousine parking lot. But, whatever.

Read the rest of Kim Strassel's op-ed HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.