Early 2016 saw the presidential race go into full swing. It seems like a lifetime ago, but the year started with Presidential debates, the most interesting being those on the Republican side. 16 men and one woman began their campaigns in earnest. The stage literally was not big enough for all of them, so was created the undercard debate. One candidate, Carly Fiorina, emerged as the only candidate to earn a spot on the big stage with the true contenders. Meanwhile on the Democrat side, Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-avowed Socialist caught fire with connecting with of all groups, the far-left leaning youth. Iran became a campaign issue when the extremely dubious nuclear agreement went into effect, coincidently, four American hostages that were held in Iran were freed. Later it would become apparent that their freedom had been purchased in the dark of night with unmarked bills.
The Executive branch was not the only branch to undergo far-reaching change. In February, the country lost one of its greatest jurists, Antonin Scalia, a conservative justice on a split Supreme Court. Before the end of March, three different Republicans had won primaries, including several won by Donald Trump, establishing him as a serious contender for the nomination. Bernie Sanders became the hot ticket on the Democratic side, stringing together early primary victories, showing that there would be no early coronation for Hillary. Meanwhile, terrorism was set to rear its ugly head again in Europe. The attack in Brussels, the capital of the European Union exposed the dangers of letting in millions of lightly vetted migrants and refugees from countries with serious terrorism problems. Further attacks were to come, peaking in the middle months of the year.
While the primaries were in full-swing, it made sense for movement conservatives to speak out against Donald Trump. He made many a comment that would have ended the campaign of any other Republican. His statements about Senator McCain immediately turned off many a patriotic conservative. He made statement after controversial statement and yet his popularity with the working man only increased. His has policies were all over the political map, some being conservative, some to the left of even Hillary, mostly all of them populist. He was outmatched in knowledge about foreign affairs by nearly all of his opponents. His near absolute ban on Muslims was completely unworkable, but since then has been refined away from populism to pragmatism. He’s also made it a point to surround himself with foreign policy and military experts. Still, there were preferable alternatives who showed greater aptitude for conservatism, and who had nearly mistake-free campaigns.
For the last couple of weeks presidential candidates have lavished attention on the Northeast. Now the so called “Acela Primary” is over, the Northeast won’t see much of the candidates until June. One June 7th, NJ will be one of the last states to hold a primary and it will mean something. Don’t expect a lot of visits from GOP candidates to the Garden State though, they are already campaigning in California where the mother load of remaining delegates resides. The Democrats want to spend time in a blue state, so seeing Bernie is a good bet.
Dr. Carson had the funniest line in the Thursday night’s GOP debate. After being largely ignored, and during a spirited exchange between his fellow candidates he begged, “Can somebody attack me please?” to an amused audience. The levity provided a needed break from an otherwise intense debate. His question also was symptomatic of a chronic problem of his, a lack of understanding of how presidential debates differ from the academic kind. Academic debates are measured, well controlled affairs. Presidential debates are media events. Even so, they have rules, some apparent and official, some less apparent and unofficial. The same rules that work for Trump, Cruz, and Rubio work against the good doctor.
