Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, and the Future of the GOP
By Peter Spiliakos — January 22, 2018
1. Tom Cotton has strengthened his chances of being the Republican presidential nominee someday. He was the most effective Trump surrogate and has earned the “fighter†reputation that Cruz wanted so desperately. He needs a broader populist economic policy to go along with his support for transitioning to a system of high-skill immigration. He should work with Senator Mike Lee on pro-parent tax policy and with James Capretta on health care. A populism that is only about immigration isn’t populist. He also needs to come up with an interpretation of what happened in the Iraq War that reassures people he won’t repeat George W. Bush’s mistakes.
2. One thing that doesn’t seem to be talked about is that Trump had relatively few downside risks in this fight — as long as he didn’t give in to the Democrats. Trump has spent the last year being on the wrong side of 25–60 splits, as he was stuck with unpopular policies proposed by the GOP Capitol Hill leadership. The government shutdown pretty much united center-right opinion in opposition to Schumer’s tactics. Just getting the GOP electorate behind him represents an improvement in Trump’s political fortunes. The only figures on the right that supported the Democrats were either media figures who had already forfeited whatever center-right audience they ever had (Jennifer Rubin, Evan McMullin, Joe Scarborough) or they were a couple of Republican senators who were fanatically committed to expanding low-skill immigration.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/455671/print
