The G.O.P. After Donald Trump

Over the past few months, a cavalcade of Republican policy wonks, pundits and partisan strategists have beclowned themselves on national television trying to defend the indefensible: their party’s nominee. Free-trade advocates have become protectionists. Strategists are treating Drudge Report surveys as scientific endeavors while dismissing legitimate polls as Clintonian propaganda.

And this past week, leaders of the “religious right” solidified themselves as religiously wrong when they defended Donald J. Trump’s comments that he could grab women by their genitals because he was a celebrity. It was just words, some of these pastors asserted.

In November, when Mr. Trump’s meteor enters the atmosphere of the voting booth, Americans will be treated to a spectacular flameout as late-night comedians and professional Twitter warriors rush to tweet, “You’re fired!” But when the Russians go home, the pastors repent and riot police disperse white nationalist protests, the Republicans will need fresh ideas.

Republicans first must acknowledge there are legitimate concerns that fueled Mr. Trump’s rise. Both parties are more interested in listening to check writers than voters. Many Americans see their neighborhoods being overrun by addiction and poverty, but see neither help nor recognition of the problem from Washington. It is not hard to conclude that Republicans and Democrats alike value cheap, imported labor and could not care less about the heartland.

Read the rest from Erick Erickson HERE.

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