For years, when discussing politics with friends and conservative co-workers (in the white collar world, one simply does not discuss politics with a liberal co-worker, lest the latter become ‘triggered’, file an HR claim, or worse), I have rhetorically asked folks “When will we see a new Pat Buchanan… We need a Pat Buchanan 2.0”. So, it goes without saying, more than anyone else in the pundit class, I’ve been wanting to read or hear Pat Buchanan’s reaction to the election. An hour ago, he posted his first post-election column (“Memo To Trump: Exploit Your Win!”), where he notes:
As for promptings that he “reach out” and “reassure” those upset by his victory, and trim or temper his agenda to pacify them, Trump should reject the poisoned chalice. This is the same old con.
Trump should take as models the Democrats FDR and LBJ.
Franklin Roosevelt, who had savaged Herbert Hoover as a big spender, launched his own New Deal in his first 100 days.
History now hails his initiative and resolve.
Lyndon Johnson exploited his landslide over Barry Goldwater in 1964 to erect his Great Society in 1965: the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid. He compromised on nothing, and got it all…
“Action this day!” was the scribbled command of Prime Minister Churchill on his notepads in World War II. This should be the motto of the first months of a Trump presidency.
For the historic opportunity he and the Republican Party have been given by his stunning and unanticipated victory of Nov. 8 will not last long. His adversaries and enemies in politics and press are only temporarily dazed and reeling.
This great opening should be exploited now.
Few anticipated Tuesday morning what we would have today: a decapitated Democratic Party, with the Obamas and Clintons gone or going, Joe Biden with them, no national leader rising, and only the power of obstruction, of which the nation has had enough.
The GOP, however, on Jan. 20, will control both Houses of Congress and the White House, with the real possibility of remaking the Supreme Court in the image of the late Justice Antonin Scalia…
There is nothing to prevent the new GOP from writing history.
In his first months, Trump could put a seal on American politics as indelible as that left by Ronald Reagan…
Donald Trump said in his campaign that that this is America’s last chance. If we lose this one, he said, we lose the country.
The president-elect should ignore his more cautious counselors and act with the urgency of his declared beliefs.