Pat Buchanan and the Republican Party

Pat Buchanan changed the Republican Party in 1992. That’s what the Washington Post thinks, and they hate it.

Or did he? If you consider the fact that the Republican Party still acts like the Grand Old Stupid Party as Sam Francis called it, I would argue not much has changed.

But Pat’s 1992 “Culture War” speech had been brewing for decades. Long before his indictment of establishment Republicans sent shock waves through the Party, the argument that conservatives had not been represented in Washington had been brewing for years.

Even before Barry Goldwater in 1964. R.L. Dabney chastised American “conservatives” in the late 19th century as being just discarded liberals.

He was right then and right now, particularly those that simply regurgitate the Lincoln myth.

George Wallace tapped into this sentiment during his runs in 1968 and 1972. The Dixiecrats said much of the same in 1948.

This was Jimmy Carter’s appeal in 1976, and his “Crisis of Confidence” speech was “Make America Great Again” before MAGA.

It’s funny how this is now considered anti-American.

Much has changed in almost fifty years.

Ronald Reagan promoted a type of MAGA sentiment during the 1980s, but as we all know, the Bushes were simply establishment stooges. Same for Romney and McCain.

Trump was not really an aberration but an acknowledgement of a deep American resentment for establishment hacks.

He was one of them, but he spoke like someone else, an outsider who wanted to clean up corruption.

He was Grover Cleveland in 1884 but not nearly as good.

In 1884 as in 2016 the “establishment” had become so corrupt Americans wanted something done.

And as Cleveland found out, they would fight back. He lost in 1888 because of a stolen election–corruption.

The establishment does not like to be shown up.

Of course, the intellectual root of all of this anti-establishmentism comes from Dixie.

That is why the South is always the root of the problem for establishment stooges and why Hillary Clinton called them a basket of deplorables.

I discuss Buchanan and his influence on American politics on Episode 746 of The Brion McClanahan Show.