BloggeRhythms

In a lengthy article @politico.com via Drudge, Tim Alberta includes considerable political history that’s well-worth reading as he describes similarities between Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump.  

To the headline “The Ideas Made It, But I Didn’t,” Mr. Alberta added the subtitle: “Pat Buchanan won after all. But now he thinks it might be too late for the nation he was trying to save.”

No matter one’s opinion regarding of the man himself, good, bad or indifferent, Buchanan’s keen knowledge of the nation’s history is insightful and immense giving him the opportunity to assess future probabilities far better than most.

In that regard, way back in 1992 the motto of Buchanan’s first presidential campaign was “America First.”

At the time he was running against President George H. W. Bush whom he called a “globalist” associated with “bureaucrats in Brussels” pursuing a “European superstate” that trampled on national identity. Buchanan warned his "rowdy" audience, “We must not trade in our sovereignty for a cushioned seat at the head table of anybody’s new world order!” His radically different prescription, which would underpin three consecutive runs for the presidency: a “new nationalism” that would focus on “forgotten Americans” left behind by bad trade deals, open-border immigration policies and foreign adventurism. His voice booming, Buchanan demanded: “Should the United States be required to carry indefinitely the full burden of defending rich and prosperous allies who take America’s generosity for granted as they invade our markets?”

Considering the similarities with the Trump agenda, it’s certainly no surprise that Buchanan told Mr. Alberta: “I was elated, delighted that Trump picked up on the exact issues on which I challenged Bush,” he tells me. “And then he goes and uses my slogan? It just doesn’t get any better than this.” 

“Buchanan, who has published such books as The Death of the West, State of Emergency, Day of Reckoning and Suicide of a Superpower, admits that November’s election result “gave me hope” for the first time in recent memory.”

While Buchanan’s elation is certainly logical concerning the political similarities between himself and the new POTUS, the next phase of the article indicates that there’s another aspect of Trump’s “style” that few grasp whereas they lack his unique talent for keeping others off balance and preoccupied with trivialities.   

Mr. Alberta writes: “But none of this means he’s suddenly bullish about America’s future. Buchanan says he has “always been a pessimist,” and despite Trump’s conquest, two things continue to color his dark forecast for the nation. First, Buchanan harbors deep concerns over whether Trump, with his off-topic tweeting and pointless fight-picking, has the requisite focus and discipline to execute his nationalist agenda—especially over the opposition of a media-establishment complex bent on his destruction.”

However, it seems that Buchanan, much like most others, is focusing on disturbing asides Trump initiates while his team is quietly turning the nation’s economy around, greatly reducing illegal border crossings, moving toward health care tax revision, preparing for tax reductions and improving relationships with Europe, Japan, China, Israel and even Mexico. 
   
And what’s most important about the way Trump operates, is that the influence of the mainstream media has been greatly reduced whereas his constituents obtain their input from myriad other sources, accessed via Drudge and other web providers. 

As far as Buchanan’s second worry is concerned, he fears that “even if Trump delivers on the loftiest of his promises, it will be too little, too late. Sweeping change was needed 25 years ago, he says, before thousands of factories vanished due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, before millions of illegal immigrants entered the country, before trillions of dollars were squandered on regime change and nation-building.”

Now, naturally, future outcomes regarding the issues Buchanan mentioned cannot be presently determined. However, if the vast majority of voters were asked not all that long ago if they thought Trump had a chance of election the answers would have been resounding “No’s.” 

Which means that, while it may be true that all this should have been done 25 years ago, it’s finally getting started now. And as has been seen so far from Trump, underestimating his capabilities is a very bad bet indeed. 

That’s it for today folks.

Adios