ANALYSIS/OPINION:
No, GOP swampers, Donald Trump is not going away.
Much to the shock and dismay of establishment Republicans in Washington, President Trump has no plans whatsoever of going quietly into that good night. Or retirement. Or surrender. Or whatever.
Did you see his rally in Iowa this weekend? Or the one in Georgia before that?
No. Your long, national nightmare is nowhere near over.
And the fact that so many of them think that Mr. Trump might just walk away reminds us of just how fantastically out of touch from their own voters the Republican Party has been for decades. It is why Mr. Trump so easily hijacked the party in the first place.
Even more alarming, the fact that so many Republicans in Washington still think it is a possibility that he might go away after the past five years only proves they still have yet to learn a damned thing from the Trump tsunami that hit them.
It is so obvious, in fact, that even the crazy leftwing press can see it.
“Trump may run in 2024,” reports The New York Times. “So might they. It’s getting awkward.”
Mr. Trump was so delighted by all the awkwardness and confused speculation that he blasted out the headline to his email list.
Ask yourself this: Is there any other politician in America who would do such a thing? Certainly not a Republican. And maybe that’s one part of their problem.
One small part.
The rest of their problem are all the issues that Mr. Trump dragged them kicking and screaming to finally care about.
Illegal immigration. Fairer trade policies. Ending foreign wars. Confronting our enemies. Smart energy policies.
All of these issues got Mr. Trump elected in 2016. But they have not gone away. In many cases, they are more potent today than ever before.
So it takes a mountain of gall for Republicans — who ignored these issues for decades — to now say Mr. Trump may be right about these issues, but he is some kind of imperfect messenger. Well, he is not nearly as “imperfect” as all the bozos in the Republican Party who ignored these issues for so many years that it took an orange monster from the outside to steal all their lunches.
I mean, how bad do things have to be in Washington for a political slogan as simple as “America First” to become controversial? Or somehow hateful? Or “racist?”
Sadly, Republican swamp creatures have apparently learned nothing.
“I think we’re better off when he’s not part of any story,” groused one sitting Republican senator — anonymously, of course — to The Hill newspaper.
“He’s a classical narcissist,” the Washington politician went on to say.
Seriously? Has this anonymous Republican senator ever met a politician in Washington before? Has he ever looked in the mirror?
Meanwhile, the Trump train rolls on.
As always, Mr. Trump is most effective when he is talking about the issues that got him elected. People today are yearning more than ever for that kind of straight talk on those very issues he alone brought to the center of debate in Washington.
Of course — Mr. Trump being Mr. Trump — he also talks incessantly about the last election and how it was “rigged” and got “stolen.” This gives vapors to Republican swampers.
But it also once again proves that Mr. Trump is still willing to talk about whatever it is nobody is supposed to talk about. He most loves dwelling on anything that gets you kicked off Twitter or thrown in Facebook jail — which is why the guy got elected in the first place and why he garnered more votes than any Republican in history.
Too bad they are such narcissists that they can’t learn a simple lesson.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at the Washington Times.