OPINION: The GOP Disconnect on Trade, Laid Bare by Donald Trump

By Matthew McMullan
Mar 08 2016 |
“There are other presidential candidates who’ve been critical of China’s trade policies … But none scream it as loudly as Donald Trump, because, well, that’s impossible.” | Photo by Gage Skidmore

The party elite pulls one way while its supporters go in another direction.

Today, Michigan holds its presidential primary. Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul writes in a Huffington Post opinion that trade policy might propel another Donald Trump victory there:

Back in 2012, Romney's rhetoric on trade was brushed off as simplistic and naïve – easy to dismiss as political posturing by pundits with zero skin in the game. Romney's now carrying their water, suggesting precisely the same thing about Trump, saying it risks a trade war. But that's a colossal mistake.

How quickly the GOP Brahmin forget the real feeling out there among voters, many of whom trend to the right, that America's trade alignment is badly skewed.

Read the entire opinion here.