NEWT ON TRUMP – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 2:02 P.M. ET:  Newt Gingrich, in my view, is still one of the most astute political observers we have.  He is baffled at how the elites can't understand Donald Trump.  From Fox: 

When President Trump imposed direct trade measures on some foreign products – including solar panels, steel, and aluminum – to protect U.S. industries that were being undercut, the elites reflexively questioned his political-trade-foreign relations acumen. Seemingly none of them stopped to consider that President Trump’s decades of success in international business may provide him with an informed opinion and worldview counter to their own.

As we have seen President Trump make changes to his Cabinet and personal staff, the elites in Washington and the national media have insisted that these decisions are a sign of dangerous instability in the White House. Never mind that the best business leaders and managers routinely make tough staffing decisions to improve their organizations’ long-run initiatives or mission.

It seems the elites simply refuse to think about the Trump presidency through any lens other than that of traditional Washington – despite the fact that President Trump has never been a part of (and represents a departure from) the traditional establishment. This confused, square peg-round hole analytical approach is made worse by the fact that the elites then try to use Washington jargon to define and attack the president.

In the minds of the elite, President Trump doesn’t fit the post-World War II international mold that regards the United States as the world’s only real superpower that can afford to prop up all its allies – and even some of its enemies. For that, the elites claim President Trump is an isolationist.

The president doesn’t fit the traditional Republican free-trader mold because he demands that Americans must benefit from trade agreements. Therefore, according to the elites, he must be a protectionist. 

COMMENT:  I think that's basically correct.  The problem, of course, is that the academic/media complex is dead set against Trump, and is out to destroy him.  They beam their message each day to millions of Americans, who are either watching TV news, reading newspapers, or taking classes.  The complex is powerful, and it changes votes.   It also works through the Washington establishment.

Will the establishment destroy Trump in the end?  It is possible, I'm afraid.  That's what the fight is about.

March 17,  2018