Giving in to Trump

The consternation created among the leaders of the Republican Party following Donald Trump’s triumphant campaign in the U.S. primary elections has finally culminated in the statement signed by the candidate and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. They both made a call for conservatives to unify around Trump, with a view toward the presidential election in November.

The call for support for the millionaire doesn’t signal an alliance, but rather an unconditional surrender by the Republican establishment, which will have consequences into the future as well as during the current campaign. Trump – who, if there are no surprises, will be proclaimed the candidate at the convention in Cleveland in July – didn’t budge an inch, either in his populist positions or in his absurd proposals, such as building a wall, paid for by the Mexicans, along the U.S.-Mexico border or a U.S. foreign policy that converts the armed forces into little more than a service for hire.

That is the problem: U.S. conservatives have embraced a candidate who, on a number of basic issues, proposes positions not only different from, but absolutely contrary to, the party’s classic principles. From the first moment, the Republicans were unable to deal with Trump and his nonsense, magnified in the media. At first, the party downplayed his chances; then they tried to act as though he were a fringe candidate. Now, having failed completely, they are embracing his cause. Nothing worked, not the money spent to slow his rise, not the declarations of the conservative aristocrats, nor the letters from 50 foreign policy experts warning about the implied danger if he got to the White House …

The irony – one case of it – is that at the start of his campaign, the tycoon stated that he had so much money that he wouldn’t have to go into debt to finance his run for the White House. Not true. According to what he himself has acknowledged, he needs to raise at least $1 billion. As it turns out, he’s going to need the help of the Republican Party machine that he has harassed so much, and that now has capitulated to him. Trump barely has an organization on the ground, and because of that, in the primaries, he has resorted to mass demonstrations and television coverage – always effective, when entertaining performances are presented.