‘Trump Is for “The Great Man” Politics, with Himself as Great Man’

Ben Shapiro writes off this Trump tweet:

Shapiro may be over-reading it, but it is hard to quibble with or improve on his take on Trump:

So why is Trump blaming “the help of Conservatives” for the lies of the Republican establishment? Because Trump isn’t conservative, and now he’s admitting it. Trump has spent most of his career giving money to Democrats; he has spent most of his career rejecting conservative policies; even now, his version of conservatism boils down to “give me power and I’ll make great deals,” which is a leftist vision of government rather than a conservative one. Like many members of the Republican establishment, Trump thinks the biggest problem with the Republican Party is ideology; he only dislikes the establishment because he doesn’t run it. He wants to replace the old Party establishment with himself. He wants to top the power pyramid.

And so he blames conservatives.

This is also a strategic play to get ahead of the Cruz-led argument that Trump doesn’t philosophically qualify to win conservative votes. Trump is stating pre-emptively that he isn’t failing conservatism – conservatism has already failed, and he’s just here to help the country. Many of his followers believe this – I routinely receive emails and tweets proclaiming that Trump fans don’t care if Trump is conservative, because he’s a “real American,” as though Americanism can be boiled down to nationalism while excising Constitutionalism. Trump’s going full-bore populist now.

So Republicans have a clear choice. Cruz is an actual conservative, who believes in a philosophy of limited government and personal freedom, combined with social institutions that instill virtue in the American citizenry. Trump is for “The Great Man” politics, with himself as Great Man – beyond ideology, beyond principle.