Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are about to "begin a discussion about the kind of Republican principles and ideas that can win the support of the American people," according to the House speaker.
We know what kind of Republican principles Ryan espouses. He came of age politically under Ronald Reagan, worked for Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett and is otherwise a product of modern American conservative movement.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, represents something different. Exactly what is a matter of some dispute, though it is clear that it resonated with a higher percentage of GOP primary voters than the more familiar forms of Republican politics.
Conservative complaints about Trump notwithstanding, he is no left-winger. He has more in common with the nationalists and populist parties of the right gaining a foothold in other Western democracies, reacting to immigration, transnational bureaucracies and cultural conflicts engulfing Europe.
But in other ways, Trump is also a throwback to pre-Reagan Republicanism — if not Richard Nixon, then Spiro Agnew. His supporters wave signs identifying themselves as part of the "silent majority." They are pro-American but not ideological, traditionalist but not always Christian right-style social conservatives, pro-business not consistently for free markets or limited government.
Read more:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-not-ryan-not-reagan-but-maybe-the-new-nixon/article/2591108----
Meet the old (Establishment) boss, same as the new (Establishment) boss...
