Summer of Sanders -- and Trump
But efforts to gain comprehensive reform -- securing the border and finding a pathway to legalization for the estimated 11 million immigrants already unlawfully in the country -- have divided Republicans too deeply for even fellow presidential hopefuls to touch it until he brought it up.
And remarkably, that inaction seems to be just fine with a large body of conservatives who condemn any reform supported by Democrats as "amnesty."
Attention to such details as what is to be done with the 11 million immigrants who already are here appeals more to the left. That's what political scientists like Matt Grossmann of Michigan State University and David Hopkins of Boston College say distinguishes the parties in their recent academic paper, "Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats: The Asymmetry of American Party Politics."
Boiled down to everyday language, the paper, which was recently published in the journal Perspectives on Politics, is all about what makes liberals and conservatives different in American politics.
Democrats succeed "not when they defend government in the abstract," Grossmann said in a Salon interview, "but when they focus on particular goals that can be solved with specific policy solutions."
Republicans, by contrast, do better with their own supporters and the broader public "when they talk in broad principled terms about the size and scope of government, and respect for traditional values, and America's unique role in the world," Grossman said.
The dilemma for the Republican establishment is obvious. Trump's insulting language about immigrants turns off voters of color whom the GOP is trying to attract. He also has pushed to the front burner an issue that GOP leaders were hoping to sweep out of sight. Now they wish they could sweep Trump out of sight -- although not his voters.
Meanwhile, the GOP's march to the right leaves enough room for Hillary Clinton to criticize Wall Street without moving far to the left. She should thank her former friend The Donald for that.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2015 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
