Byron York writing in the Washington Examiner
* * *
* THIS IS FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO STILL DON'T
"GET" THE APPEAL OF TRUMP... OR WORSE... DISDAIN THE APPEAL.
* AGAIN... I'M A CRUZ GUY! AGAIN... TRUMP IS SIMPLY WRONG
ON A GREAT MANY ISSUES AND HE'S NO CONSTITUTIONIST OR IDEOLOGICAL CONSERVATIVE
IN AN ACADEMIC SENSE. BUT... TRUMP IS ALSO RIGHT ON A GREAT MANY ISSUES!
* BOTTOM LINE... IF TRUMP ENDS UP THE NOMINEE... WE'VE
GOTTA SUPPORT HIM... WE'VE GOTTA TAKE THAT LEAP OF FAITH.
* I... HATE... THE... REPUBLICAN... ESTABLISHMENT...!!!
In late January, the New Hampshire Republican Party held
a gathering that attracted GOP officials, volunteers, activists, and various
other members of the party elite from across the state. At the time, Donald
Trump led the Republican presidential race in New Hampshire by nearly 20
points, and had been on top of the polls since July.
What was extraordinary about the gathering was that I
talked to a lot of people there, politically active Republicans, and most of
them told me they personally didn't know anyone who supported Trump. Asked
about the Trump lead, one very well-connected New Hampshire Republican told me,
"I don't see it. I don't feel it. I don't hear it, and I spend part of
every day with Republican voters."
* DUMB AS BRICKS. BLIND AS BATS. COMPLACENT BEYOND ALL
REASON!
* FOLKS... I WAS HEAVILY INVOLVED IN COUNTY REPUBLICAN
POLITICS FOR MANY YEARS. IT'S A CESSPOOL. (AND OF COURSE THE DEMOCRATS ARE AS
BAD IF NOT WORSE!)
Readers of the story came to one of two conclusions.
Either New Hampshire Republican leaders were so out of touch that they couldn't
tell something huge was happening right under their noses, or there really
weren't very many Trump voters, and the Trump phenomenon was a mirage that
would fade before election day.
Now, with Trump's smashing victory in the New Hampshire
primary, we know the answer. There really were a lot of Trump voters out there,
and party officials could not, or did not want, to see them.
* IDIOTS. (AND AGAIN... FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE... MANY
OF THESE TYPE PEOPLE REALLY ARE IDIOTS ACROSS THE BOARD.)
And what an astonishingly varied group of voters Trump
attracted. At his victory celebration in Manchester Tuesday night, I met a
young woman, Alexis Chiparo, who four years ago was an Obama-voting member of
MoveOn.org. Now she is the Merrimack County chair of the Trump campaign.
"We just delivered Concord!" Chiparo told me
excitedly. "We were getting a really excellent response from a very
interesting swath of voters - veterans, disabled people, elderly people, women,
blue-collar workers."
They were joined, it appears, by an even wider group of
their fellow New Hampshirites.
According to exit polls, Trump won among men, and he won
among women. He won all age groups. All income groups. Urban, suburban, rural.
Every issue group. Gun owners and non-gun owners. Voters who call themselves
very conservative and those who call themselves moderates.
In short, Trump won everybody.
And... he did it in a way that's hard to diminish.
In the days before the primary, scores of out-of-town
journalists and visiting politicos debated among themselves how to set the
rules for the "expectations game." Say Trump won but underperformed
his polling, as he did in Iowa; some observers thought he might fall to 25 or
26 percent. And then say some other candidate in second or third place did
better than expected; what would the numbers have to be before the opinion
makers would declare the other candidate the "real" winner of the New
Hampshire primary?
(*CHUCKLING AT THAT*)
* BUT, YEAH... SERIOUSLY... THAT'S HOW THESE SCUM IN THE
MEDIA ROLL.
(*SHRUG*)
Conversely, how high Trump would have to score before the
commentariat would concede that he really won?
In the end, it wasn't even a question. The last
RealClearPolitics average of polls before election day had Trump at 31.2
percent, leading his closest rival by 17.2 points. With most of the votes
counted, Trump will finish around 35 percent, with an 18-point lead over
second-place John Kasich.
The Trump supporters who came to the election night party
- they waited outside for a long time in 22-degree weather - saw something
unique in his blend of personality and positions on issues.
"I haven't believed in the system in so long, and
now it's time for a change," said Muriel Labrie, of Manchester, who is 51
and says she has never voted before Tuesday's primary. "I feel Trump is
going to kick ass and take care of us the way our country should be taken care
of."
"He speaks from the heart, and he keeps America very
close to his heart," said Dan Barter, of Raymond, who described himself as
a lifelong Democrat.
"He's outspoken, and he's not afraid to stand up to
the establishment," said Dawn Petruzziello, of Manchester.
Dawn's husband Angelo cited the economy and immigration
as his reasons for supporting Trump. Angelo is an immigrant himself, he
explained; his parents came to the United States from Italy when he was two,
after waiting seven years to come here legally. Looking at immigration now,
Angelo said, "They've got to fix that, because it's so unfair and it's so
wrong."
* YEP! DAMN RIGHT!
By the way, Dawn and Angelo told me they made their
decision to vote for Trump just yesterday, after attending Trump's election-eve
rally at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. Before that, they had been
leaning toward Marco Rubio.
* WHICH OF COURSE MAKES NO SENSE... NO LOGICAL SENSE...
BUT... PEOPLE ARE WHO THEY ARE; MOST ARE IGNORANT; MOST DON'T HAVE A CLUE
CONCERNING "THE DETAILS."
(*RUEFUL SNORT*)
During that state GOP meeting a couple of weeks ago, I
asked former Gov. John Sununu, a man with a lifetime of knowledge about New
Hampshire politics, if he knew any Trump supporters. Sununu pondered the
question for a minute and said he thought a man who lived down the street from
him might be for Trump.
(*SHAKING MY HEAD IN AMUSEMENT*)
Immediately after the story was published, I got an email
from a real estate executive and former member of the New Hampshire House of
Representatives named Lou Gargiulo, who happens to live down the street from
Sununu. "I'm the guy!" Gargiulo told me. "Not only do I support
Mr. Trump, I am the Rockingham County chairman of his campaign. The governor
would be shocked to know that many of his other neighbors are Trump supporters
as well."
* NO DOUBT SUNUNU WOULD BE SHOCKED! AGAIN... FOLKS...
THESE PEOPLE AREN'T SIMPLE OFTEN VENIAL...
(*PAUSE*)
* OFTEN... THEY'RE TOTALLY CLUELESS!
I looked for Gargiulo at Trump's victory party Tuesday
night. It turned out he was still working the polls in Rockingham County, so I
asked him via email why he thought so many members of the state Republican
power structure were unable to recognize the extent of Trump's support.
"I think like most Establishment Republicans, they
thought if they kept promoting the narrative that Trump was a passing fancy and
he would collapse, it would happen," Gargiulo told me. "But this
phenomena is the result of 25-plus years of failed promises and lackluster
leadership over multiple administrations from both parties.
(*NODDING*)
People have had it, and those in power don't want to
accept the reality they can no longer maintain the status quo."
* SO... CRUZ GUY THAT I AM... LIBERTARIAN-LEANING
CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE THAT I AM... GOD BLESS DONALD TRUMP...
* AND WHILE I'M AT IT... IN THE SAME ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT
VEIN... GOD BLESS BERNIE SANDERS TOO!
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