http://www.nationalreview.com/node/423294/print Donald Trump: Pat Buchanan’s Heir
By Jim Geraghty — August 31, 2015
A pugnacious, television-savvy, anti-trade, anti-illegal-immigration candidate comes out of nowhere, attracts intense enthusiasm from an angry Republican grassroots, gets denounced by a disgusted media, and suddenly endangers the hopes of a presidential frontrunner named Bush.
That was Pat Buchanan early in the 1992 presidential election; that is Donald Trump today.
Buchanan is one of the most significant figures in modern Republican history, but he’s been a perpetual outsider since leaving the White House in 1987. Once a trusted adviser to Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, he never held office himself, though he ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996, and was the Reform Party nominee in 2000. His populist philosophy always attracted significant support in Republican circles, but never enough of a following to put him over the top.
Today, that may have changed. The similarities between the Buchanan and Trump agendas are pretty clear: Both are harsh critics of free trade, both staunchly oppose illegal immigration, both spoke out against the Iraq War and find themselves at odds with the party’s hawks. They each wear accusations of racism, xenophobia, and hatred as a badge of honor for bravery against the forces of political correctness. And they share a certain style: blunt talk, raised voices, jabbed fingers, and pounded podiums.
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