Donald Trump was every bit the buyer ready to walk off the lot if he couldn’t be shown a bargain.
“Does
it have to be unified?” he said last Sunday, musing aloud about the
need for the Republican party to come together behind his candidacy for
president. “I’m very different than everybody else, perhaps, that’s ever
run for office. I actually don’t think so.”
Was
the author of the Art of the Deal bluffing? It does not matter now,
because in the last week Trump has gotten what he professed not
necessarily to want: substantial party backing for his presidential
candidacy.
A
series of meetings between Trump and congressional leaders in
Washington on Thursday turned out to be a victory lap for the candidate.
His success with House speaker Paul Ryan, previously billed as his most
powerful adversary, was typical. Ryan went from being “just not ready”
to back Trump one week to “totally committed to working together” the
next.
Or,
in Trump’s words on Twitter on Thursday afternoon: “Great day in DC
with @SpeakerRyan and Republican leadership. Things working out really
well!”
The
Republican coalescence around Trump is indeed working out really well,
for the candidate at least. By the Guardian’s latest count, 45 of 54
Republican senators either support Trump wholeheartedly or have pledged
to support the nominee. Only three senators have said they will not back
Trump.
Senator
Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, is one of six senators in a third
category: wait-and-see. In a statement to the Guardian on Friday, she
said she expects to support the Republican nominee, “but I do want to
see what Donald Trump does from here on out”, including whether he will
dispense with “gratuitous personal insults” and “clearly outline for us
what his vision of America is beyond a slogan”.
Collins said she would not make a decision until the national convention in July.
In
the House of Representatives, the break towards Trump has not been
quite so clean. Some members clung to “#NeverTrump” sympathies even
after his run on the Hill. Republican governors presiding over states
where Trump’s name is mud with moderates, such as Charlie Baker of
Massachusetts, or with important constituencies, such as Susana Martinez
of New Mexico, likewise have withheld their support.
A
significant opposition remains among the party’s passé ruling class and
current donor class. Both former presidents Bush have said they will
sit out the 2016 campaign, as has former presidential candidate Jeb
Bush. The 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, said on Wednesday that Trump’s
refusal to release his tax returns was “disqualifying”. Important
mega-donors including Paul Singer and the brothers Koch have not visibly
moved to back Trump.
About Emmanuel
0 comments:
Post a Comment