Why Trump Is A Plausible Republican Candidate

Because he’s no more full of shit than any of the other candidates (boldface mine):

I’m not saying that everything is great in the U.S. economy, because it isn’t. There’s good reason to believe that we’re still a substantial distance from full employment, and while the number of jobs has grown a lot, wages haven’t. But the economy has nonetheless done far better than should have been possible if conservative orthodoxy had any truth to it. And now Mr. Trump is being accused of heresy for not accepting that failed orthodoxy?

So am I saying that Mr. Trump is better and more serious than he’s given credit for being? Not at all — he is exactly the ignorant blowhard he seems to be. It’s when it comes to his rivals that appearances can be deceiving. Some of them may come across as reasonable and thoughtful, but in reality they are anything but.

Mr. Bush, in particular, may pose as a reasonable, thoughtful type — credulous reporters even describe him as a policy wonk — but his actual economic platform, which relies on the magic of tax cuts to deliver a doubling of America’s growth rate, is pure supply-side voodoo….

Again, I’m not making a case for Mr. Trump. There are lots of other politicians out there who also refuse to buy into right-wing economic nonsense, but who do so without proposing to scour the countryside in search of immigrants to deport, or to rip up our international economic agreements and start a trade war. The point, however, is that none of these reasonable politicians is seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

The only difference between Trump and the most of the rest of the Republican field is that Trump doesn’t even attempt to pretend to have a serious economic policy agenda. Remember, this is the party which turned to Paul Ryan, he of the Magic Asterisk, to develop a Very Serious Budget Plan–which was anything but serious.

Trump is just playing the Republican game better than all of the other Republicans. George Pataki, the Republic turns its lonely eyes to you….

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2 Responses to Why Trump Is A Plausible Republican Candidate

  1. Chris Hill says:

    Since I haven’t heard this comparison anywhere else yet, why not here? He’s an intellectual lightweight, or more accurately someone not interested in policy details even if maybe he could understand them. A policy that sounds good is more important than one that will actually work. Still – he’s obviously canny politically, a good communicator who feeds red meat to the white conservative base and rides that popularity. Before running for president he really had two careers, one of which was show business. I’m describing Ronald Reagan ca. 1979…

  2. colnago80 says:

    Yeah, just ask Michael Schiavo how moderate and thoughtful Jebbie is. Not.

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