FuzzyLumpkins
05-19-2016, 04:38 PM
Donald Trump’s Republican doubters like to think of him as an aberration, a one-time dalliance with a candidate who, once he’s defeated this fall, will be swept off the stage, leaving the GOP back in their rightful hands.
They’re already wrong: Even if Trump never sets foot in the White House, his stamp on the Republican Party will linger long past 2016.
Trump’s primary run spurred a string of like-minded allies to ride his coattails into positions of power within the Republican party, including seats on the Republican National Committee. With or without Trump, they — coupled with a host of conservative rabble-rousers swept in with the help of Ted Cruz — already marshal enough power within the party to change its course, whether the GOP establishment likes it or not.
Adding staying power to the 2016 rebellion is the fact that many of the incoming RNC members have won 4-year terms, virtually guaranteeing they’ll exert significant influence over the Republican Party through the 2020 presidential election and possibly long after.
“The one thing that I’ve seen across the country are change agents getting involved,” said Maryland’s David Bossie, the Trump ally and Citizens United CEO who ousted a 12-year member of the committee Saturday. “Whether they are 100 percent with me or not, I appreciate people who will stand up and be counted. That’s really I think what Mr. Trump’s done is given voice to a whole bunch of people who are going to be heard.”
In other words, when Republican elites lost control of their party during the 2016 primary, they lost it to a movement that has no intention of giving it back.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-republican-party-supporters-223341#ixzz498kbLZen
They’re already wrong: Even if Trump never sets foot in the White House, his stamp on the Republican Party will linger long past 2016.
Trump’s primary run spurred a string of like-minded allies to ride his coattails into positions of power within the Republican party, including seats on the Republican National Committee. With or without Trump, they — coupled with a host of conservative rabble-rousers swept in with the help of Ted Cruz — already marshal enough power within the party to change its course, whether the GOP establishment likes it or not.
Adding staying power to the 2016 rebellion is the fact that many of the incoming RNC members have won 4-year terms, virtually guaranteeing they’ll exert significant influence over the Republican Party through the 2020 presidential election and possibly long after.
“The one thing that I’ve seen across the country are change agents getting involved,” said Maryland’s David Bossie, the Trump ally and Citizens United CEO who ousted a 12-year member of the committee Saturday. “Whether they are 100 percent with me or not, I appreciate people who will stand up and be counted. That’s really I think what Mr. Trump’s done is given voice to a whole bunch of people who are going to be heard.”
In other words, when Republican elites lost control of their party during the 2016 primary, they lost it to a movement that has no intention of giving it back.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-republican-party-supporters-223341#ixzz498kbLZen