Peter Gosselin talked to various “reform conservatives”–for shorthand here, I’ll say people who think conservatives need to do a better job of showing how applying conservative principles can make American life better–and reports that “to one degree or another,” almost all of us “expressed apprehension that the Republican contest could degenerate into the negative, policy-light brawl of four years ago, something party officials and policy advocates had sought to avoid.” The headline has it that Donald Trump has us all worried. My own degree of apprehension is pretty subdued. I’ve repeatedly made the case for not being worried about Trump. I’d note also that there have already been more policy proposals than we saw in the entirety of the last primary season. (That may be true if you just compare Rubio by himself to the field last time.) The most substantial health-care proposal from a top-tier Republican in either cycle came from Scott Walker yesterday, well into Trump season.
Ross Douthat argues that Trump’s presence in the race could make for a more freewheeling policy debate. Or the race could, as Gosselin notes, “degenerate.” If it does, though, it will be at least as much because of how other candidates react to Trump as because of him.