I realize that a large number of the “movement conservative” #neverTrumpumpkins cast their first vote for president for Nixon. No, check that, for Gerald Ford. No, that’s not right either. Surely it was Ronald Reagan, right — if not in 1980 then definitely in 1984. Oh, yeah… it was for that avatar of modern conservatism, George Herbert Walker Bush, the man who effectively ended the Reagan Revolution, when he ran against Mike Dukakis in 1988.
So it’s little wonder they’ve been clueless about the forthcoming battle between the soon-to-be-indicted Dowager Empress of Chappaqua and a guy who, more than any progressive and far more than Obama himself, makes “movement conservatives” froth at the mouth, Donald J. Trump. Never mind that if all 57 states vote exactly the same way they did in 2012, and Trump flips Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida — he wins. (See for yourself at the link.)
Having been all of ten or twelve years old in 1980, what they forget — beyond the fact that Reagan was considered a crazy, trigger-happy cowboy who would nuke the world the first chance he got — is that (gulp) that was a huge part of Reagan’s appeal.
Next page: Retroactively, The Onion nails it.
Election news from 1980, courtesy of the Onion
Click on the link above to view full size. With the Sweet Meteor O’ Death not yet formally running, Trump’s unpredictability might be one of the biggest things he’s got going for him. “Kill the bastards”? Works for me.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member