How We Got Trump and How He Got Ideas

August 7, 2020

A glance at Peggy Noonan’s headline (“Burn the Republican Party Down?” Declarations, Aug. 1) had me torn as to whether I should read the piece. Good thing I did. She summarized what the American public has endured for 25 years and the dilemma voters face this fall. How did we get here, with President Trump? She cites a rudderless foreign policy and long, unsuccessful wars, the financial collapse in 2008, and anxiety-provoking illegal immigration that Washington never addressed.

She could also have mentioned a smug, do-nothing Congress that views us as deplorable masses. Both parties bear the blame. The nation deserves better.

Laura Duffy

Redondo Beach, Calif.

In the Midwest, no one is talking about redoing the Republican Party. Here the party is more unified than it has been in many years.

Starting about 10 years back or so, the Missouri Republican Party went through a gut-wrenching experience. We had our Tea Party moments that almost tore the party apart. But the party adapted, changed and in many ways remade itself, incorporating parts of the Tea Party agenda. The election of Mr. Trump was the crowning achievement. Most folks knew that he didn’t represent everything that the more-conservative elements of the party wanted, but he brought a feeling that someone outside the Washington cabal would be calling the shots.

Sharon and David Stackelhouse

Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Ms. Noonan could have saved a lot of ink by simply writing: After eight years of failed Republican policies and then eight years of failed Democratic policies, we deplorables said, “What the heck, can’t be any worse.”

Howard Shotts

Stover, Mo.

Ms. Noonan suggests most of the president’s programs and ideas came out of applause lines—he stuck with the ones that received the most cheers at his rallies.

Undoubtedly, Mr. Trump loved playing to the crowds, and they loved what he had to say. But I heard from him a distinct set of ideas: tax reform, deregulation, judges bound to the Constitution, fewer military operations overseas, standing up to China on trade, border security, no more free-riding for allies, walking away from the Paris Climate Accord and Iran nuclear deal, immigration reform, and health-care reform. He has had much success with the first eight items and much less with the last two.

This is a remarkable record considering that Democrats never accepted Mr. Trump’s victory and have worked ever since to undermine the 2016 results. Ms. Noonan may disagree with the president’s policies, but she can’t deny he had a consistent platform and has mostly followed through on it.

Don Stuart

Nashville, Ind.

Although no one would mistake Mr. Trump for a jazz musician, his ability to wing it is one of the main reasons he triumphed over the scripted automatons he faced in 2016. It also stands him in stark contrast to his current, barely visible opponent.

Tom Paronis

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ms. Noonan does a masterful job explaining why both parties set the stage for President Trump. Increasingly, the public appears to agree with John Adams’s view that the development of a two-party system is to be “dreaded as the greatest political Evil, under our Constitution.” How right he was. Both parties have poisoned politics. Conflict, not compromise, is the order of the day.

Strangely, Ms. Noonan concludes from this that both parties foster unity because voters must join a coalition, either the Republicans or the Democrats, at the end of the day. This kind of unity smacks of a shotgun wedding. It’s regrettable that the world’s greatest democracy has to force voters to choose between two parties, neither of which represents the best the country has to offer.

Michael J. Polelle

Sarasota, Fla.