You have totally missed Trump’s appeal. Trump “grabbed” the center away from the Democrats. By appealing to workers, who comprised a large core group of moderate Democrats especially in key Midwestern Democrats, he tore the “balance” out of the Democratic party.
The remainder without the steadying effect of these blue collar Democrats and their representatives tilted towards the progressive liberal side of the party. Trump’s immigration polices are not the Republican policies of the past, but rather the Democratic policies of just 20 years ago. Democrats will argue they have moved on since then… but a sizable component of their party has not and so they have joined Trump.
The movement to national health care scares these same blue collar Democrats whose current health care plans which they fought so hard to get are better than Medicare. These same people felt threatened for good reason by the globalist policies of Obama and energy policies of the “Green New” deal. The Democrats have been accused of becoming a coastal party for good reason as time after time they are caught disparaging the jobs and intelligence of middle America.
Republicans are not going down with Trump… he is opening up the party with a new set of policies and values aimed directly at the working guy. One might argue in 2016, he targeted primary the “white” blue collar worker, but perhaps a more valid argument would be he targeted “blue collar” workers generically without addressing some of the particular needs of African Americans.
This year with his support for alternative school options for the children forced to attend failing school systems, religious freedom, prison reform, gang and drug violence, job training, expanded child credits, special assistance to historically “black” colleges and a host of other actions or proposals, he is aiming directly at African American workers and they are responding…
The Democrats response is “reparations”. They want to buy the African American vote with a “promised” one time indemnity payment that most African Americans realize is not going to happen. While Trump is promising escape from poverty with a full time job and educational assistance and the release from prison for minor offenses.
One could easily make the argument that the Democratic platform for African Americans borders on “racist”. Their platform is designed to preserve the African American community as a voting block identity group, while Trump’s policies are designed for them to become full partners in the American economic system by addressing many of the barriers that stood in their way like poor education and inner city violence and crime. Democrats rejection of the power religion plays in inner city communities is in stark contrast with Trump’s embracing of the inner city church leaders to provide the moral reinforcement needed in a world where societal pressure can tear families apart.
James Carville recently sounded the alarm on the behavior of Democrats. Media sources like The Atlantic are part of the problem. They promote coastal ideology at a time it has moved out of step with the mainstream of America. Interestingly, mainstream America is far less white than it once was and it is turning out that what was once thought of as “white values” were really American values. Most African Americans I know don’t want reparations, they just want a “shot” at the American dream… that means a good education that leads to a good job. Asians have already attained the American dream as a group… I kid my Asian wife that she is more conservative than I am and she is “first” generation.
If Trump puts together a practical immigration reform solution, now that the border is becoming secure that focuses ICE on illegal immigrants who are committing crimes. And introduces a guest worker program for illegal immigrants who have been in this country for at least 3 years without committing a violent crime, then it is game over for Democrats until they figure how to get their party back into “the middle” of American political ideology.
