CHARLES C.W. COOKE: Tucker Carlson Misfires with his Analysis of Conservatism for Politico.
If you’ll forgive the expression, this is a post-mortem without a body. At present, Donald Trump has the theoretical support of a plurality — not a majority — of Republican primary voters. Indeed, at present, most Republicans prefer someone else. As of today, not a single vote has been cast. As of today, the nomination could go one of three or even four considerably different ways. If Trump ends up as the nominee, then it may well be fair to say that the Republican party has been proven to be “out of touch with its voters” and that, in 2016, “the party had no idea who its voters were or what they believed.” But if he doesn’t? Well, then this prediction is going to look really quite odd. It is one thing to say “there is a sizable portion of GOP voters who are unhappy with the status quo”; that much is demonstrably true, and was noted well in National Review’s recent editorial. But it is quite another thing to presume that those voters are “the GOP” per se. Unfortunately, Carlson does precisely that.
Had the GOP done its job, these voters wouldn’t be alienated and angry.