Hoping Pipes stays with the GOP

Submitted by Stu Fagin (United States), May 4, 2016 at 11:05

Dr. Pipes has recently tweeted that a Trump nomination would end his long-standing identification as a Republican. I hope he would reconsider for the following reason. (As I write Trump has taken Indiana and thus the nomination).

1. The Trump candidacy is not based on a political philosophy that displaces conservatism within the GOP. Rather, his support constitutes a personality cult; to be sure, a cult dedicated to a loathsome and unconservative personality. Trump supporters I talk with (I live in a Houston suburb) asert vacuous attributes such as, not being pc, not being a politician, and being someone likely to shake things up.

2. The great majority of Trumpists I know support core conservative policy views when presented with them. They either believe, erroneously, that Trump does as well, or that his wonderful personal attributes outweigh any concern in this area.

3. Because conservatism remains the prevailing doctrine within the GOP it is reasonable to expect that Trumpism is a one-time aberration. Conservatism can be reasserted within the GOP in 2020 by nominating an able conservative. Indeed, the 2020 Tom Cotton for President Project should commence henceforth. This project would greatly benefit if insightful figures such as Dr. Pipes remain with the GOP to help foster its success.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".