Sheesh, cousins, you had me worried there. The prospect of Donald Trump leading Ronald Reagan’s party was almost too dreadful for words. Quite apart from the implications for that party’s credibility, it would have made me look like a complete idiot. For 15 years, I have been campaigning for the introduction of U.S.-style primaries in Britain. Just as I was starting to get somewhere, opponents began to come back with a devastating three-word putdown: “Yeah. Right. Trump.”
Well, thanks Iowa. And thanks, in particular, to Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who campaigned alongside Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina, three genuine patriots, in a successful attempt to move the Republican party beyond the Donald. Alarmed by Trump’s readiness to forget about states’ rights and the powers of the legislature, he tweeted him a series of questions. “You talk A LOT about ‘running the country’ as tho 1 man shld ‘run America.’ Will you commit to rolling back Exec power & undoing Obama unilateral habit? These r sincere questions & I sincerely hope u answer rather than insult.”
The response? “@BenSasse looks more like a gym rat than a U.S. Senator. How the hell did he ever get elected?” So many levels of irony in less than 140 characters. As the poet Coleridge wrote in a different context: “Beware beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair!”
I’ve written here before that, despite their self-image as rough frontiersmen, Americans are, in my experience, by far the politest people in the Western world. There is a difference between being refreshingly outspoken and being a narcissistic oaf, and Iowans saw it. Good for them.
From where I’m sitting, this now looks like a three horse race: Trump, Cruz and Rubio. And you know what? Either of those chaps with the Spanish surnames would make a first-rate president.
I know that this will upset partisans of both men but, as far as I can see, the policy differences between them are slight. They both want to cut taxes and spending. They both want to raise the retirement age and reform entitlements. They are both pretty hawkish on foreign policy. They’re both in favor of free trade — although, bizarrely, they’re both hesitant about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. They’re both hardline on abortion, gay marriage and the like — though, to their credit, they both seem to understand that this isn’t part of the job. To be honest, I’ve never understood why these ethical issues are so important in presidential primaries. However you read the Constitution, they have nothing to do with the White House.
It probably helps that both men have Latino names. A failure to connect with Hispanic voters, by far the fastest-growing demographic in America, presents the GOP with its most serious long-term challenge. I don’t want to overstate things. When we talk of ‘Latino voters,” we mean, to a single approximation, “Mexican voters.” Take it from me, as someone born and brought up in Peru, these distinctions matter.
The idea that someone with Cuban ancestry will intrinsically appeal to a Mexican-American is a bit like saying, “OK, we couldn’t find an Italian candidate, so let’s run a Frenchman.” Still, since New Mexico’s wonderful Susana Martinez isn’t in the race this time, a guy with a Hispanic background who knows how to win in Texas or Florida is probably the next best thing.
What really distinguishes Cruz and Rubio from Trump, though, is their sense of optimism. Trumpery is based on the idea that things are getting worse, that America is decomposing, that we need to build walls to hold it together. The Donald “tells it like it is”, his supporters say.
No he doesn’t. America is a better place now than it was a generation ago, and it’s getting better all the time. Advances in biotech, 3-D printing and, soon, driverless cars, are transforming how Americans live. Poverty keeps being redefined upwards. Longevity keeps rising. No wonder so many people pay the United States the supreme compliment of wanting to move there, bringing their energy and enterprise with them. As the Gipper used to say, “Every immigrant makes America more American.” You can’t imagine Trump being so cheerful, can you?
If there is one country in the world where optimism was written into the founding charter, it’s the United States. The candidate who best articulates a sense of a better tomorrow will win this race; and, what’s more, he’ll deserve it. I say “he” because — well, because I’m an optimist, too.
Dan Hannan is a British Conservative MEP.
