With Trump presidency country has last chance to reduce the administrative state but Never Trumper Republicans are squandering it by selfishly focusing on Trump's persona. Trump should have been heralded by these people, he actually did what they claimed had to be done-Rush Limbaugh, 10/24/17

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"Trump ran against the administrative state. Romney, McCain, George W. Bush...Obama, Hillary. They were the administrative state. Trump gave everybody the blueprint on how to win."...

10/24/17, "Victor Davis Hanson on Trump and the GOP Civil War," Rush Limbaugh

"Rush: Victor Davis Hanson. He’s got a piece at National Review today called, “The ‘Never Trump’ Construct.”...So where is this civil war in the Republican Party? He’s not denying there’s a civil war. He’s not denying there’s a civil war. What he’s denying is that it’s over Trump, and he’s drawing a distinction between voters and people in Washington, voters and the establishment. And as far as concerned are concerned, there isn’t any civil war going on with Trump....

These Romneys, the McCains, what did they all say that they needed to do? When Rand Paul ran, he came by my office, and he made the point: “We can’t win with just Republican votes! We gotta go get Democrats. We gotta go get independents.” Well, Trump did! Trump should have been heralded by these people. He actually did what they claimed had to be done, which is why they claim they supported amnesty. The way they decided to do it, the Romneys and McCains — the way they decided to get Democrat votes — was to go Democrat light.

You know, be in favor of amnesty, be in favor of some national health care, but not like Obama’s. In other words, the McCain-Romney approach was, you know, tell enough to fool conservatives into thinking you were one while you were really going out and trying to appeal to Democrats and so forth. But they didn’t appeal to Democrats in the right way. They tried to peel off Democrats by being Democrat light, rather than what Trump did to get them. What did Trump do to get these disaffected Democrats, independents, Reagan Democrats? 

What did he do? “Make. America. Great. Again.” Trump ran against the administrative state. Romney, McCain, George W. Bush were Obama, Hillary. They were the administrative state. Trump gave everybody the blueprint on how to win....Never Trumpers on the Republican side...join the Washington establishment in opposing Trump simply because he’s an outsider....

Trump is a symptom of much more. In fact, it [Hanson's article] makes the point that Trumpism has been alive and percolating long before Trump came along and gave voters an outlet for it. What it really adds up to is that for 20 years or more, Republicans (conservatives, primarily) have been growing angrier and angrier and wearier and wearier of the Republican establishment. They have grown less trustful and less desirous and less supportive. But they had nowhere else to go.

They had to vote for the Democrat nominee or the establishment Republican. The first guy that came along who was not establishment Republican who articulated, validated what all these people felt….The point of the piece is to try to share with the Never Trumpers because there are still so many people that to this day have no idea why Trump won....

If you read Victor Davis Hanson’s entire column, you find out that most of the differences between Never Trumpers and Trump is not policy. It’s Trump. It’s his manner of speaking. It’s his personality. It’s his decorum. It is that he embarrasses people in his party and it embarrasses them because they want to be respected by our opposition, by our enemy. It’s the same old lament. There’s nothing new in it. But it is childish. There is an agenda out there that needs to happen to restore the country’s greatness and to defeat the left.

This insider-versus-outsider thing is a childish thing that’s stopping it. It’s pure opposition to Trump based on things that are not related to policy. It’s not as though Trump is doing things the Republican Party doesn’t support. He’s doing everything they do support! Or say they do. Repeal and replace Obamacare. Cut taxes. Fix immigration. Regrow the economy. Everything Trump’s doing is exactly what the Republican Party has said for years that they believe in....

Both in the media and in academia to think tanks and in Congress, they just can’t bring themselves to agree with Trump because Trump repulses them personally or what have you. It’s small-minded, it’s small-sighted, and it’s actually kind of selfish when you consider the stakes involved. Meaning: The future of the country and what kind of country we’re gonna be and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we have here. I don’t know about you, but I never thought we’d have full control of the House, the Senate, and the White House at the same time. 

I never thought this opportunity would present itself. I hoped, don’t misunderstand. But I never thought so actually. Now it has, and it’s being squandered. It’s being squandered, and not because Republicans disagree. Now, I realize a lot of Republicans say things on the campaign trail that they don’t mean — and McCain! McCain is out there….McCain is supporting some newfangled cockamamie thing called truthfulness in ads. From the guy who lied to the American people about his immigration policy just to get elected, and then abandoned it after he gets sworn in again."
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Rush Limbaugh "Related links"

National Review: The ‘Never Trump’ Construct - Victor Davis Hanson


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