As seven Republican presidential contenders squared off here for the final debate before voters begin winnowing the field, Republican US presidential frontrunner Donald Trump presided over his own, separate rally nearby in front of a packed house of cheering supporters.
It would be hard to find a more ideal metaphor for the forces tearing asunder the Republican Party.
For months, Trump has chosen to operate in his own political universe, violating the conventional wisdom that governs presidential campaigns, thumbing his nose at conservative institutions ranging from the Fox News Channel to the National Review and advocating policies at odds with party orthodoxy.
Photo: Reuters
Whether he wins the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Trump’s candidacy promises to continue to upend the established political order as the presidential race intensifies ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
Most national opinion polls have him with more than 30 percent of the Republican primary electorate — and those voters are showing little sign of switching to anyone else.
“I think he will have made a permanent impact on the process,” former US house speaker and 2012 Republican US presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said.
Trump’s campaign, he said, “is one of those great disruptions that reshapes everything.”
Tensions within the Republican Party between grassroots conservatives and the Washington establishment have been simmering since the Tea Party movement arose during US President Barack Obama’s first term, catapulting presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul to office, among others.
However, Trump’s insurgent candidacy has carved new fissures into the party, splitting conservative talk-radio hosts, religious leaders and Washington pundits, with some sounding the alarm, while others implore the party to respond to the anger toward Republican incumbents among voters who are fueling Trump’s rise.
The billionaire businessman has mounted his campaign on the notion of the fading US working class, saying they are under threat by both free trade deals favored by Republicans that encourage companies to send jobs overseas and by waves of illegal immigrants who work for low wages.
“People are upset. People believe that promises made have not been promises kept. There comes a point when you’ve had it,” said Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, who has appeared at Trump rallies.
Trump’s candidacy threatens to scramble the Republican coalition built since the administration of former US president Ronald Reagan, one that worked to unite evangelical Christians and other social conservatives, economic conservatives and military hawks behind a standard-bearer.
The New York real-estate tycoon and former reality TV star does not check many of those boxes.
He shocked evangelicals in Iowa when he told them he has never asked God for forgiveness and spends little time on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. He has threatened to slap tariffs on imported goods to protect US jobs and raise taxes on hedge-fund managers. He has decried the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has sounded reluctant to deeply involve US forces in the conflict in Syria.
“He is attracting people of all kinds of backgrounds who have never thought of themselves as Republicans,” Gingrich said. “I think it’s very hard for traditional political observers to understand [what’s happening].”
Early during Thursday’s debate in Des Moines, it seemed that the seven Republicans on the stage worked collectively to try and wean voters in Iowa and elsewhere off of Trump, with some dismissing him as an entertainer and others blasting his policy stances. His absence loomed over the entire event.
And Trump demonstrated the sway he holds over the race when it was revealed that Fox News executives had made an 11th-hour pitch to woo him back onto the debate stage, handing him a rhetorical victory of sorts even as his rivals seemed to relish his absence.
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