Did the GOP totally underestimate Donald Trump and as a result are being summoned by him to their day of reckoning? It is still too early to say that this is the case but should things continue to go in Mr. Trump’s favor we all know that he will not be shy about calling them onto the carpet. You’re fired, he would likely arrogantly bellow to those that he would even more likely label as a bunch of ‘losers!’

Although Mr. Trump is still a long way from becoming the Republican nominee so has not yet declared this ‘day of reckoning’, many Republicans now recognize him as a formidable force and are beginning to formulate strategies on how to stop him or, at least, slow his momentum to a manageable pace, which would give them more time to…figure out how to stop him.

The problem is that in trying to meet the challenge that Mr. Trump has presented the Party with, they are continuing to stubbornly hang on to politicians’ old, worn-out, self-serving, Washington ways of doing things. Just as they have done in times past (e.g., the 2012 presidential election) they either assign little meaning to or totally ignore any polls that do not coincide with their numbers and way of thinking.

For instance – and there have been other polls and articles that have suggested this before, on August 31, 2015 Jim Tankersley wrote an article in The Washington Post that talked about how many Republicans and Americans overall feel about the economy in our country. The article is entitled Trump upends GOP message on economy. You can read the entire article, which I recommend that you do, by clicking on the preceding link. But following is some information quoted directly from Mr. Tankersley’s article that might be of interest to you:

In a 2014 Public Religion Research Institute survey, 57 percent of Republicans said immigrants mostly hurt the economy by driving down wages, compared with 33 percent who said they helped by providing low-cost labor. The nation as a whole split evenly on the question.

This year, the Pew Research Center found Republicans were evenly split on whether trade agreements helped or hurt their families; Americans in general were slightly more likely to say they had helped. Majorities of Republicans — and pluralities of all Americans — said trade deals lowered American workers’ wages and led to job losses in the United States.

Appealing to those sentiments is one way for GOP candidates to deliver on a promise they’ve been collectively making since the start of the campaign: to offer relief to American workers who have not only struggled through the Great Recession and its aftermath, but have seen their incomes stagnate over the past quarter-century.

That appeal is one that many conservatives, increasingly angry at GOP leadership, have embraced, and that they believe is a political and economic winner, the article said.

But the GOP leadership continues to reject having meaningful discussions on how to Address America’s economic challenges if those seeking these discussions do not first espouse the Republican Party’s long-held view of how to best fix the economy. It is Mr. Trump who is openly and boldly stating that measures considered to be taboo by the Republican Party also need to be considered in order to address these issues.

He is suggesting that things be done that fly in the face of how for about the past 30 years Republican leaders have said will be the best way to fix the American economy, help the middle class and assure the economy’s continued growth and success. He has even hinted at increasing taxes on the rich and big business. Establishment Republican leaders hate what Mr. Trump is doing and they are furious at him for doing it. With Donald Trump being who he is, all of this fury and anger seems to roll right off of his back and he just continues to press forward full speed ahead.

Right or wrong – for some reason that I cannot exactly put my finger on, the fact that Mr. Trump is saying a lot of things that make sense and sound appealing to me is scary. I do not think that he would make a good President and I do not want him to become President. However – at least at this point, I am not totally disappointed with the success that he is having because it is forcing all Republicans to bring to the fore and discuss issues that they have staunchly refused to even recognize as legitimate issues let alone to have discourse around them.

I have long said and will continue to say that there are many Republicans that have good and innovative ideas that would benefit all Americans if they were put forward, discussed and made law. Unfortunately, too often even the potential for these efforts to blossom are doused by powerful politicians who are either political hacks for their Party or are simply self-serving politicians who are primarily interested in lining their own pockets and/or furthering their political career.

If it takes Donald Trump to force politicians to finally step up and do the job that they were elected to do then so be it. Republicans are not the only politicians who are besmirching their oath of office and neglecting their responsibilities as elected officials; Democrats have their fair share of politicians who do this as well.

Since Mr. Trump is a very successful businessman he knows the lay of the land when it comes to big business and finance. Just because what he is saying is angering Republicans and causing them a lot of angst does not mean that what he is saying does not make sense and if implemented, according to the Republican leadership, would only lead to economic disaster.

What it does mean is that Republican leaders are afraid that because Donald Trump is a highly successful businessman who obviously knows the lay of the land his opinions will carry a lot of weight and to some degree reinforce and provide credibility to what Republicans reject as a liberal way of thinking. And because this does not fit into the Republican leadership’s way of thinking – kind of like Mr. Trump does not fit in, they feel that they must stop it in its tracks if not totally destroy it.

I think that all of the shouting, screaming and flailing of arms by many Republicans is more about Donald Trump not being a meaningless threat and as stupid as many in the Republican Party and the public thought that he would be than it is about him offending and alienating voters that the Republican Party direly needs if they are to win in 2016. After all, they have proven time-and-time again that they either have no real interest in building a bigger and more inclusive tent or they are incapable of achieving such a goal.

Well – so far, Mr. Trump has fooled a lot of folks. And since he is a Republican, it is members of the Republican Party and their 2016 presidential candidates that he has babbling and running around in circles as if they are completely psychotic. But Democrats had better not become so engrossed in enjoying the show that they become complacent. Because if the Democrats and their 2016 Democratic candidates for President fail to learn anything from what they have witnessed of Mr. Trumps foray into politics and are not extremely careful, ultimately, he may fool them as well.

Eulus Dennis