Writing in the Wall Street Journal, executive editor Fred Barnes argues that unless Donald Trump’s 2016 course is corrected, the election this fall might very well be a repeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Donald Trump has committed the Barry Goldwater mistake. In his 1964 speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Goldwater said that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” His declaration sent two messages: Goldwater wouldn’t seek to reconcile with his GOP opponents in the cause of party unity. And he was every bit the uncompromising conservative his critics had said he was. Mr. Trump, since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee after winning the Indiana primary on May 3, has sent pretty much the same message. Rather than concentrate on unifying the GOP, he has spent considerable time bashing Republicans who haven’t endorsed him and even some who have. Though he would like to have party leaders on his side, Mr. Trump says he can win the White House without them. He also insists he won’t change his wild-and-woolly campaign style, though it tends to buttress the idea, popular among Democrats and the media, that he’s unfit to be president. It is one thing for Hillary Clinton to suggest that. But some Republicans agree and say so, usually privately but occasionally in public.
If there is an attempt at a convention coup, Barnes writes, “Mr. Trump may be short on allies.” From apologizing to the Bushes for his incorrect statements about the Iraq war to bringing skeptical conservatives on board, the piece highlights some ways Trump can avoid becoming Goldwater 2.0.
Alas, time is running out for Trump as the convention is less than a month away.
If no unlikely convention coup materializes, Mr. Trump’s speech accepting the nomination on July 21 will be a final opportunity to pull his party together. The question is whether the discipline and geniality he has lately displayed will endure until then. If so, Mr. Trump may be able to show, unlike Goldwater, that he isn’t who detractors say he is.
Read the whole item here.
