GOP elites vs. front runner. Been there, done that.

When the candidate started his quest for the White House he wasn’t given much of a chance. After a primary victory or two, people started to take notice but still dismissed the run as destined to fail. After a few more victories the political ruling class realized the candidate might actually win and the attacks began. The charge was led by Governor Romney and he was joined by most of the establishment types. The attacks didn’t work and this outsider snagged the Republican nomination for President of The United States. Donald Trump in 2016? Nope, the year was 1964 and the candidate was Barry Goldwater. The opposition was led by Governor George Romney of Michigan. I guess being a sore loser runs in the family. Goldwater’s rise was born as a response to the liberal policies of JFK that would be continued by Lyndon Johnson. He felt that the people wanted a more conservative approach but the Romney’s and Rockefeller’s wanted to keep the status quo. Sound familiar? The establishment types all turned their backs on the candidate, Nelson Rockefeller went so far as to attack Goldwater at the convention. Sound familiar? There was one noticeable exception, Richard Nixon. The former Vice President stood by Goldwater and campaigned hard for him. The election came and with no party support Goldwater was trounced. Johnson was elected and instituted many liberal policies, the welfare state of “The great society” which we are still dealing with today.  Goldwater was proven right four years later later when the man who stood by him, Richard Nixon, who pounded Romney and Rockefeller in the primaries, won the presidency. The country did want a change and the “Silent Majority” let their voices be heard at the ballot box. Boy were they heard in 1972 when Nixon won 49 states in a landslide victory.

The establishment got their foot back in the door in the wake of the Watergate scandal when Rockefeller was appointed Vice President by Gerald Ford. He was dropped from the ticket in the 1976 re-election campaign in order to appease the next non establishment man looking to wreck the status quo, Ronald Reagan. The elites pulled out all the stops and beat back his primary challenge to the sitting President. History would repeat itself. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter but 4 years later the outsider was elected President and in 1984 Ronald Reagan won 49 states. Sound familiar?

Fast forward to this year, the establishment types, Boehner, Kasich, Bill Kristol, the whole Bush family, apparently haven’t studied history because they are repeating the same mistakes of the past. They just won’t listen to the will of the people. They are so desperate  to hold on to power and wealth, it’s as if they are living in a vacuum. Donald Trump got more primary votes, 14 million, than any Republican candidate in history and increased voter participation by 50%. They think they know better than the American people but they are wrong, just like in 1964 and 1976. In their perfect scenario, Trump will lose the election and things will go back to the way they were. They think the people will forget and the next Republican candidate will be one of the establishment. Paul Ryan, Kasich, or maybe even Jeb Bush or Romney. The people don’t forget, the big wins for the non establishment in 1968 and 1980 prove that. The elites don’t realize that the horse is already out of the barn. They can never go back to an open border policy that gives the Chamber of Commerce an endless stream of cheap labor, terrible trade deals that close our factories in the name of globalism, and endless interventionist wars and nation building. The people won’t stand for it. If Trump does lose, the heir apparent will be someone who shares a lot of his ideas, or someone who has stood by him all along, like Nixon in “68. Maybe Chris Christie, Jeff Sessions or  Mike Pence. Ted Cruz killed his career with that stunt at the convention. You are either with Trump or against him, Cruz tried to have it both ways. He put himself before the country and the party, just like Rockefeller. That damn history again.

The country wants and needs Trump or someone like him and they will get it either this year or in 2020.  “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them”.  The Republican establishment elites apparently haven’t learned their lessons.