, Columnist
The Republican Party Got the Voters It Deserved
Trump's supporters were already trained by conservative firebrands.
He rode the wave.
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My View colleague Megan McArdle thinks people are exaggerating the Republican Party's responsibility for Donald Trump. Blaming the party, she concludes, “is like blaming the weatherman because it’s raining, or an economist for a recession.”
True, most Republican party actors resisted the Trump takeover right up to the point, and in some cases even after, all his nomination opponents dropped out. But the Republican Party nevertheless bears plenty of responsibility for the rise of the reality-show star, and many conservatives have acknowledged shortcomings in the party that Trump exploited. The question is still what exactly paved the way for Trump.