Not long ago, I said I believe that Donald Trump will be as President just as Arnold Schwarzenegger was as California Governor. Leaving aside the recent brouhaha about the debate (I will only say that if Trump cannot handle a little attack from Megyn Kelly, Vladimir Putin and ISIS will eat him for lunch), everything that Trump has done since I wrote the article has convinced me I was exactly correct. Once again, I start with the disclaimer I support Ted Cruz. That, however, does not change my observations and comparisons.
Schwarzenegger’s leftist lackeys rejected my premise, claiming Schwarzenegger practiced the politics of “inclusion,” whatever that means. They said Schwarzenegger reached out to his opponents, wanted to include his opposition, not demonize them as Trump has done. Schwarzenegger, say his apologists, was nice and fuzzy.
I don’t know how calling your opponents “girly men” is being inclusive. In fact, when he was running for office, Schwarzenegger called the Sacramento crowd corrupt, and he was going there to clean it up. I was at a rally in Sacramento, where the theme song was the Twisted Sister song “We’re Not Going to Take It,” and Schwarzenegger stood on the Capitol steps with a broom and said he was “going to sweep the corruption out of Sacramento.” In his first year in office, he proposed initiatives that were “in the face” of the interest groups that controlled Sacramento. When he lost those initiatives, he collapsed. After that, he practiced the politics of capitulation. He, like the French, surrendered first, and then negotiated the terms of the peace. He became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sacramento interests. He came to Sacramento bragging he “didn’t need contributions,” wasn’t owned by the “special interests,” and he would hire the best people, and fight those interests. He ended up opening the bank vault, and paying them all off. He quit, and California voters (and California Republicans) paid the price for his betrayal of the promises he made in the recall.
Trump people as well, as if they know how devastating the comparison can be, have rejected the analogy. They said Trump has come up with real “Republican” solutions to country’s problems. He is saying and doing what this country needs. I will say that he is saying what the country needs, and that he has tapped into the anger that rank and file Republicans feel for the betrayal by those in Washington. But I will also say that Schwarzenegger did the same. Schwarzenegger’s early proposals were very Republican, and exactly the right things that needed to be done to fix Sacramento. However, when his opponents did not cave, he capitulated. His budget, tax and business proposals began as Republican strong, and ended as Democrat light, every time.
Recently Trump has said he should be President because everybody hates Senator Ted Cruz, and Trump knows, and can negotiate with, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats in Congress. The fact is, he can’t. Congressional Democrats don’t negotiate until they are confronted and defeated in the marketplace of public opinion. Trump, as President, will have days when his public approval ratings will fall. I predict that, when that happens, he will act as Schwarzenegger reacted, capitulate, and claim victory.
Schwarzenegger and Trump are businessmen and showmen. They both have a need to be in the spotlight, and be liked. They don’t like to lose. Schwarzenegger responded to those needs by completely capitulating, then claiming he won. Everyone knew he was lying, but he would meet criticism with bravado. Trump seems to do the same. His most recent comments that he can “negotiate” with the Democrats reinforces my belief that Trump cannot be trusted.
I get the frustration. I feel it with everyone else. We need to fight the creeping socialism in this country, or there will come a time when a Bernie Sanders will actually win. A lot of my conservative friends foolishly think that Trump will stop that because he has uttered a few “politically incorrect” platitudes. What he has said is great, but the warning signs are there. Too many people are so blinded by their anger at the Washington Republican establishment that they are not seeing the warning signs. Trump’s damage will be done when he is President, and the harm it will do the movement will be so great that, like in California, the national Republican Party may not be able to recover. The problem is, by the time we figure this out, it will be too late.