How Donald Trump Spectacularly Failed His Supporters

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At the start of his campaign for president, Donald Trump began to articulate a vision of American nationalism aimed at reviving the fortunes of the white working class. His core supporters believe that liberal immigration and trade policies are hurting them economically and culturally, so Trump promised to build a wall and reset the terms of global trade. No more, he swore, would their concerns be suppressed by the Republican Party's Wall Street and Ayn Rand wing.

Everyone on the American right comforted themselves that Trump would flame out like Pat Buchanan or Mike Huckabee. And yet, seeing the enthusiasm of his supporters, they were afraid to challenge him directly. So Trump quickly began to dismantle his 16 Republican opponents. He made fun of their lack of spirit and hammered the party's disastrous foreign policy record, until all that was left standing between him and the nomination was the deeply detested Ted Cruz.

But since that time, Trump has done little else but fail his supporters.

He stopped any attempt at further articulating his challenge to the establishment. His revolt should have been the vehicle by which a class of experts inserted themselves into the political fray. But this just hasn't happened at all.

He had some thought-out policy preferences on immigration, mostly borrowed from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). He took the language of enforcement through attrition. But, occasionally, his older, more liberal positions on immigration would peek out. He would praise touchback amnesty, or even assert that America was too hot for American workers.

Read the rest from Michael Dougherty HERE.

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