Conservative Wall Street Journal writer Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, said Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s popularity is rooted in patriotism, not adherence to party dogma.
“In my continuing quest to define aspects of Mr. Trump’s rise, to my own satisfaction, I offer what was said this week in a talk with a small group of political activists, all of whom back him,” Noonan wrote in her latest column.
“One was about to begin approaching various powerful and influential Republicans who did not support him, and make the case. I told her I’d been thinking that maybe Mr. Trump’s appeal is simple: What Trump supporters believe, what they perceive as they watch him, is that he is on America’s side.”
Trump is currently on track to win the GOP nomination, having trounced his rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich in five northeast states who voted in the primary this week.
Noonan said that after 16 years of two separate administration’s driven by clear ideology — she described President Obama as “a hero of the international left” and former president George W. Bush as a neo-conservative — Americans are ready for something new.
“Mr. Trump comes and in his statements radiate the idea that he’s not at all interested in ideology, only in making America great again, through border security and tough trade policy, etc,” she said. “He’s saying he’s on America’s side, period.”
