The Trump Convention : Republican Principles for a Troubled World

As the Republican National Convention gets underway in Cleveland, preparing to name Donald Trump the Republican presidential nominee, it's a good time to consider the world he will inherit if he is elected the 45th US President in November. The GOP Convention is a microcosm of the world today. ~~~~~ Political Correctness reigns in the West. From the Charlie Hebdo attack to Thursday's jihadist slaughter in Nice, French President Hollande has, like Obama, called the killers "terrorists" -- and his polls are at 12-15%. Trump from the start has been attacked for his direct talk about America's immigration problems. President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrat politicians, who attack Trump's directness, somehow think that not talking about immigration will solve the problem -- a lot like Obama's refusing to say "islamic jihad" in the hope that silence will make the phenomenon disappear. ~~~~~ Political parties are being pushed to face the world as it is now. Most Republicans have resolved their initial concerns about Trump and those who remain outside the new GOP tent will find themselves sidelined in this critically important presidential race. Their absence -- especially that of the Bush family and Mitt Romney -- speaks volumes about their false pride concerning petty personal slights that has reduced their support of Republican principles to zero and plays into the hands of a progressive-marxist gang led by Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. ~~~~~ Citizens in every western country want their leaders to face down groups that threaten their way of life. French Prime Minister Valls was booed Monday at a Nice memorial service. Trump rallies have been disrupted by leftist Soros-backed protests, often ending in violence. Protests are threatened in Cleveland. They will carry signs about Black Lives Matter -- but Trump and the GOP are on the right side of this issue. All lives matter, especially the lives of police officers who were shot dead in Dallas and Baton Rouge. There has been such a deterioration in race relations and respect for police under Obama that most Americans are disgusted with his posturing advice to "temper our words and open our hearts," instead of acting to prevent the killing of policemen. While there may be Democrat political uses of rioting or other disorder during the GOP convention and while it could harm Trump by reinforcing the Progressive smear of him as a divisive figure, it also could backfire -- showing Hillary, the Democrat Party and the Left as out-of-step and unable to control their dangerous street-protester messengers. Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor in political communications, told TheHill : "Trump will absolutely use them [Cleveland protests] as a foil and to reinforce his message that you’ve got a lot of bad actors out there, and this is just more proof that the country you love is not respected by everyone. My best guess is that any protests will play into Trump’s hands.” ~~~~~ Political leaders are changing. Obama is now in the past, as is the UK's David Cameron who misjudged the deep resentment of the British for a "faraway" government telling them what's best for them. Ronald Reagan understood. Cameron didn't. And in the next year, French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel will face equally resentful electorates. Donald Trump 'got it' from the beginning. So did Senator Ted Cruz, who will give one of the most important Convention speeches, on Republican principles. Cruz and Trump apparently agreed that Cruz should emphasize America's need to change direction. Cruz says : "I’m going to urge Americans to get back to the Constitution to change the path we’re on: eight failed years of the Obama-Clinton economy; eight failed years of a presidency disregarding the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Eight failed years of a commander-in-chief not protecting Americans and keeping us safe from radical Islamic terrorism. It's time for that to end." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Trump Convention may be unusual -- but it will be full of GOP principles.