Political Party Vs. The Candidate

Unless there is a fight between a party and a candidate carrying the party's flag, the public is not aware that that we have here two centers of political power.  Today we see this with Trump and the Republican Party and also with Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party.

The Bernie Sanders situation is easier to analyze.  Hillary is the Democratic Party leader and Debbie Wasserman Schultz is her lieutenant.  And, within that party, you have some rebels; namely, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are further left than their party.  The rebels have put up a good fight, but it is clear that Hillary and her party will prevail.

In the case of Trump, you have a man who comes with the label of the Republican party, but remains a stranger to the party.  He was never the party's choice.  They never wanted him.  And, yet, among voters calling themselves Republicans, he was their man.  Now, he is the presumptive Republican candidate for  the presidency of a party that has accepted him only grudgingly.

A party matters because party leaders have their interests, make their deals in Congress and wherever.  When a renegade candidate for the presidency comes along, carrying their party's flag, all that they have worked out so carefully comes into jeopardy.  Trump could resolve all Republican Party concerns if he simply said, "Okay, guys.  I'm with you 100%.  Whatever you guys have worked out is okay with me."  But that's not Trump.  He's let it be known that he's his own man.  This has proven most unsettling for the party.

All of this is coming out under the glare of the Trump University case and the judge hearing it, Judge Gonzalo Curiel.  The case of Trump University, of and by itself, is no big deal.  The Clintons have their own educational establishment debacle.  However, Trump's attitude toward the judge, a person of Mexican ethnicity, has provided both the Democrats and the Republican Party with a weapon against Trump.

The Democrat's position on this matter is obvious.  Judge Curiel is a good man.  He's stood up to the drug cartel.  Also, he's not Mexican and never was.  Trump's objection to him hearing the Trump University case is racist.

The counter argument is equally obvious.  Trump's position regarding the building of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico has not found favor with people of Mexican ethnicity.  And, while Judge Curiel is clearly not Mexican and was born and raised in America, he is of Mexican ethnicity and a man supportive of La Raza, a pro-illegal immigration advocacy group.  Right, or wrong, Trump does have a valid argument.

Does the Republican Party give its support to its Republican candidate for the presidency.  No.  While I believe Trump has a good argument against Judge Curiel sitting on his case, we find Republican Party elders sitting on their thumbs, clucking over his lack of finesse.

Will Trump surmount the assault now led against him by Morning Joe and various Democrats?  Will having the Republican Party sitting on its hands in this matter prove Trump's undoing?  I hope not.