By F. Andrew Wolf, Jr.
Cliches are sometimes unavoidable (hindsight is 20/20), but then so is history – it provides clarity when obfuscation is the order of the day. Donald J. Trump certainly appears to be one of a kind, yet it still seems fitting to say that, in some respects, we have been here before. Earlier, it was with one who some say was a pioneer and even, in a way, a forerunner to 45: Patrick Joseph Buchanan.
The author, TV commentator, and advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan pursued a political agenda that still resonates today among conservative American minds. High on his list of priorities for America was a moratorium on unlimited immigration, including a wall along the southern border. He sought to rescind unfair trade agreements and reinvigorate US manufacturing. Buchanan cautioned Americans against foreign interventions and warned that American culture was slipping away. He decried as un-American a “rigged” political system with a voice that produced a ground swell, shaking Republican elites. And he was denounced (at the time) by the future 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
Buchanan and the Failed American Reformation
In 1999, the Reform Party in America had just been created from what remained of Ross Perot’s two efforts for the White House. Pat Buchanan was about to campaign under that aegis for his third presidential run in a decade. Contrary to his ‘92 and ‘96 bids, Buchanan arrived for his 1999 presidential campaign as a serious contender. It was assumed he’d give “the second Bush” a serious run.
But the Republicans were putting together something much stronger than what Buchanan had experienced before. It quickly became apparent; the contest was being orchestrated against him.
Sound familiar?
Buchanan realized his dilemma. He could surrender, like others before him; he could, against all odds, wage a principled but “rigged” battle against the second Bush. Or he could embrace America’s newest electoral entity – the Reform Party.
“The day of the outsider is over in the Beltway parties,” Buchanan said. "The money men have seen to that. Never again will our political establishment permit a dissident to come as close to capturing a nomination as we did in 1996. They have rearranged the primary schedules and rigged the game to protect the party favorites.”
Buchanan’s new book at the time was met with both enthusiasm and no small degree of trepidation. A Republic, Not an Empire amounted to a concerted exposition against foreign entanglements – especially military interventions. The “year 1989 was the American moment,” he writes, “but such moments never last.” Buchanan adds, “It is time to let go of empire.” He castigated the establishment (including the military industrial complex) by reconsidering America's past military ventures. Buchanan showed that “America’s latest commitments were a dramatic break with the most cherished and prudent traditions of American foreign policy. Washington’s Farewell Address was front and center in this story.”
The political commentator turned savvy politician fiercely resisted the Washington establishment by challenging not only the elites of the Republican Party but the scion of a former president from its ranks. He captured the fear and frustration of the latter, couching his 1992 campaign as “a culture war…a struggle for the soul of America.” But he also garnered the attention and wrath of a former president and his son, who feared that the adage “like father like son” would eventuate politically.
It has been rumored that within the Bush family, an uneasiness existed – if Perot cost the father a second term, would Buchanan now deny the son his first?
Buchanan’s solution to America's problems would be the basis for three back-to-back runs for the White House. America, he said, needs a “new nationalism” that focuses on “forgotten Americans” left behind by unfair trade agreements, detrimental immigration policies and foreign policy military incursions. The three-time presidential hopeful argued that “with the collapse of the Soviet empire, Europe, Japan, and South Korea were now more than capable of providing for their own defense.” America should no longer carry the burden of their defense.
Trump Carries the Torch
The logic of Buchanan’s political ideology can be seen as something of a framework for Trump’s successful campaign against Clinton, even if the former president didn’t consciously subscribe to it. As was attempted with Donald Trump in the run-up to 2016, Buchanan was marginalized as a fringe character for rejecting Republican orthodoxy on trade, immigration, and interventionism. But, in spite of not making it to the White House, perhaps Buchanan did accomplish something else. He could have in some way damaged the veneer of the political establishment in Washington. And this may very well have enabled the uniquely self-confident and much stronger candidate, Donald Trump in a different political climate, to take on the system Buchanan had 25 years earlier.
The ideas which Buchanan employed were and remain a function of his political ideology: libertarian, non-interventionist, contra open-border immigration, anti-establishment, against unfair trade practices.
In a like manner, the former president articulates his vision for America in ways that may strike a chord with the past, but that's only because things haven't changed much. The system doesn't permit much change, and the issues which need addressing are similar to those of the past.
Today, the former president has a consistent well-articulated position and passion for the above concerns – not because of Pat Buchanan – but because the 45th President of the United States has been in the position of power, knows the political intrigues of the “Deep State,” has seen the “backdoor” maneuvering in the “District” and understands what is (and is not) in America's best interest.
Pat Buchanan, now 85, looks back on a rich life replete with what he believed was in the best interest of America – that for all its significance or controversy, some have said it is at risk of being forgotten – but that was before Donald John Trump became the 45th President of the United States.
Pat Buchanan now views Donald Trump as “the future of the Republican Party.” The now retired writer had this to say about the former president: “Trump is sui generis, unlike any candidate of recent times. And his success is attributable not only to his stance on issues, but to his persona, his defiance of political correctness…charging in frontally where others refuse to tread…”
Can the former president – should he retake the job – surmount the disadvantage to American manufacturing due to poor trade agreements, deal with the reality of millions of illegal immigrants continuing to pour across the border, and foster an economy to replenish trillions of dollars squandered on regime change and short-sighted globalist political agendas? Well, “experts” have said no to his chances before – look at what happened – and now, here we are, again.
