The punditry snicker, the politicians sneer, and the editorialists scoff, but the American people speak and Donald J. Trump rises –commandingly so – confounding the powerful institutions of Washington D.C. and New York and earning him the ire of both.
He is a true outsider – no doubt – forgoing political norms, defying the crusty cowardly so-called “Establishment,” and refusing to cower in the face of political correctness. Flanked on both sides, organized forces on the Left and the Right have made every effort to topple Trump, but these efforts have only served to embolden him and broaden his support.
Leading in Iowa by 6 percent, New Hampshire by 18 percent, South Carolina by 16 percent, Florida by 21 percent, and nationally by 16 percent, Trump’s meteoric rise has left the editorialists dumbfounded.
But Donald Trump’s rise is entirely explainable for those who are open to understanding it.
Americans feel they have been left behind by a President who chastises them about their intolerance of illegal immigration and their labeling of radical Islamic extremism and by a political establishment who promises to fight for them but then chooses to forgo them at the first invitation to a swanky K Street cocktail party.
How refreshing it was for an outsider to arrive on the political scene promising to put America first.
Barreling into the GOP field with a thunderous presence, Donald J. Trump crashed through the poll-tested flourish of the Washington elite, promising something entirely different: to protect the American family from radical Islamic terrorism; to defend the American churchgoer from attacks on his or her religious freedom; and to create opportunity for the American worker by standing up to bullies like China who seek to diminish American exceptionalism at every turn.
In short, Donald J. Trump promised to put America first, and in turn, “make America great again.”
As such, it should come as no surprise that Trump leads not only among evangelicals, conservatives, and Tea Party voters but also among nontraditional Republican voters.
Despite what the pundits may tell you, early indicators show Trump doing exceedingly well among minority voters (see here and here), which are traditional Democrat strongholds. Moreover, Trump is striking fear in the hearts of union leaders, who have publicly expressed concern that their members will defect from the union-endorsed Democrat candidates and flee to Donald Trump. This uncharacteristic appeal of a Republican candidate to Democrat voting blue-collar workers puts key swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio in play in a general election, not only suggesting that Trump could win the nation’s highest office, but perhaps do so sweepingly.
Nevertheless, the political establishment naively derides the mere mention of Trump winning a general election, much like they fallaciously mocked the idea of Trump being a first place contender for the nomination.
The fact is Americans have lost faith in their country. We have lost faith in the elected officials who purport to represent us. We have lost faith in the purveyors of public opinion who seek to shape the news rather than report it. And we have lost faith in the scripted political mannequins who seek to garner our votes with sly political rhetoric meticulously crafted in the smoky backroom of a campaign headquarters.
There are two bedrock principles that propelled the United States of America to a level of greatness never before seen in world history: first, our Founder’s faith in God and reliance on Judeo-Christian values and second, the realized American dream that any American regardless of race, religion, social status, or origin can rise to levels of greatness without the help of government.
These founding principles are long lost, but I am confident that Donald J. Trump can restore the faith and opportunity that made this country the greatest on earth.
A vote for Donald J. Trump is a vote for renewed American greatness.
Kayleigh McEnany is a conservative writer and commentator who appears regularly on CNN and Fox. She is pursuing her J.D. at Harvard Law School. Kayleigh graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and also studied politics at Oxford University