by Dr. Ellen Brandt
The Republican Intellectual class isn't comprised of fuzzy-brained Elitists in ivory towers, eating bonbons and corrupting impressionable Youth.
That's the Democrats.
You can't run a viable Presidential campaign without harnessing your Party's brainpower. The fourth important constituency within the Loyalist GOP Base that Team Trump needs to get in its corner is the activist, free-thinking, independent-minded, exceptionally brainy roster of Republican Intellectuals.
In many ways, this is the most important GOP group our Presumptive Nomineee needs to entice into his fold - and quickly.
The Republican Party includes a wide range of well-educated, innovative, and sophisticated thinkers and the entities which support them - publications, think tanks, foundations, and research institutions. But a substantial proportion of the GOP Brain Trust is feeling left out, abandoned, and angry.
That's because while Trump has conducted a well-nigh brilliant campaign from the standpoint of Media and its calculated coverage, many in the GOP Intelligentsia feel that his Media-focused tactics have led him astray in the realms of policy and basic ideology.
They complain that Trump is still talking, writing, and performing for the camera - all (Sound) Bite and no (Substantive) Bark.
As a corollary to this kind of Media-focused strategy, Team Trump has not enlisted as much help from tried-and-trusted GOP experts and policy wonks as Republican campaigns are wont to do.
His closest advisors have clearly been expert at holding entertaining rallies, provoking a wide range of Media outlets to hang on his every word, and beating rival GOP candidates into submission.
These may all be superb skill-sets when you're fighting to clinch your Party's nomination. But they are less useful when you move onto the National political stage and have to appeal to as many American voters as possible.
Since neither major political Party holds the firm allegiance of a majority of U.S. voters, a National candidate can't rely on personality and showmanship alone. Ideology and ideas come into the mix, as do skills as a debater and convincer and the ability to teach and be taught.
I believe our Presumptive Nominee is finally showing a willingness to listen to the GOP Intelligentsia. His outward persona may be brash and aggressive to the point of machismo, but he is well-educated, with 50 years of experience in economics and finance.
Who knows? Perhaps there is an Inner Trump every bit as serious and wonky as the typical Republican Intellectual. It just has to be nurtured a bit and allowed to emerge.
We hope so! And we hope that our Presumptive Nominee will quickly make his peace with creative GOP thinkers and philosophers throughout the Party. A few brief suggestions for how to do it:
***** A little recognition goes a very long way. Trump should state frequently - it both flatters the Base and distinguishes us from the Other Party - that Republicans are now what we have called the Party of Yes.
In stark contrast to Democrats and their now stale and hated political correctness, the GOP is the Party of ideas, the Party of useful debate and discussion, the Party that is unafraid to offer new policies and new solutions to the Nation's - and the World's - most pressing problems.
While stressing this basic theme, Trump should express his appreciation for the Republican universe of intellectual thought, research, and endeavor we referenced above. He should acknowledge that no candidate - particularly a presidential candidate - works in a vacuum and that the immense and wide-ranging resources of the Party and its academic and research institutions will play an active role in his campaign as it goes forward.
***** The Nominee needs to surround himself with a substantial cadre of key advisors whose area of competence is the world of ideas.
Thus far, Trump's most influential aides have been Media and political strategists entrusted with establishing a political persona for the Candidate and popularizing that persona with a sufficient number of primary state voters to ensure wins.
While these strategists have clearly been competent in terms of this initial task, they almost certainly do not have the ability - nor perhaps the interest - needed to formulate a truly National campaign, in which the person at the top of the ticket represents an entire Party's success, not just an individual's.
We suspect that before the Convention - or surely by the time it is over - the Presumptive Nominee will have expanded his roster of aides within the upper echelon of Team Trump to include several ideas-men-and-women whose interest is primarily substantive and ideological, rather than operational or Media-focused.
***** In addition to welcoming some new top aides on board, the Candidate might wish to set up an entire Brain Trust of GOP ideas-oriented activists and thinkers. Trump might even want to call them My Brain Trust, as the term seems to fit his basic style.
This group, with individuals categorized by their experience dealing with a number of key issues or areas of expertise, should include not only some prominent sitting politicians, but also theorists, researchers, and writers aligned to Republican thought, from a wide range of academic and non-academic institutions, including scholarly journals, think tanks, foundations, faith-based groups, and business associations.
***** In a bold move, how about setting up a brand-new think tank, initially funded by Trump and others who share his values and interests, which can endure beyond the election and evolve into a major center for GOP research.
Call it the Great America Institution, if you like. Tap a respected and mature Republican political theorist - or a few of them - to head it. Possibly affiliate it with a top-ranked university or college. And integrate it - sincerely and respectfully - into the Nominee's campaign as a steady source of supportive research and actionable ideas.
This Center might be structured around various departments, specializing in areas of research on which a Trump administration - and other future Republican administrations - could draw: economics, geopolitics, healthcare, aging, culture, media, education.
***** As soon as possible, set up a Working Group within the Trump campaign whose principal purpose is acting as a liaison to GOP intellectuals - in academia, foundations, business and economic research centers, and at scholarly publications.
This Working Group might wish to commission a series of quick-turnaround white papers on various issues, which the Candidate can make good use of in his campaign, during rallies, debates, interviews, and other public appearances.
***** Make sure the Candidate's appeal is to as broad a base of voters as possible - and expand outreach efforts to prove it.
While Trump's calls for turning the GOP into a workers' party have gained him many adherents among unemployed or underemployed factory workers, truckers, oilfield hands, and others self-identifying as blue-collar - including a fair number of former Independents and Democrats - it has lost him some favor among GOP economists and small business groups and has seemed to ignore much of the traditional GOP voter base.
We applaud the Presumptive Nominee's foresight in comparing the 2016 election to the historical election of 1980, when - against an equally hostile-to-Republicans Mainstream Media - Ronald Reagan persuaded similar cross-over voters to switch allegiances, ushering in twelve years of GOP control of the White House.
But the Country - and the Electorate - and the Party - have all changed since then. Higher education or sophisticated skills training is the norm, not the exception. There are as many working women as working men. We are far more mobile, both geographically and in terms of career. And - as we have emphasized repeatedly - more than 2 out of 5 Americans - and 1 in 2 current American voters - are part of the Gray population age 50 and older.
What all this means is that Trump, while striving to maintain his popularity among those identifying as blue-collar, must also make a strong point of reaching out to the much larger group, within both the GOP Base and the population as a whole, who self-identify as white-collar, no-collar, or professional.
The Candidate should start orienting more of his rallies and presentations to well-educated voters and the groups they are part of, including professional and business groups.
He needs to make restoring the position and prestige of Main Street small business a special priority, since it has historically been this Nation's major source of economic and job growth.
And despite many Republicans sharing his dislike of the bad - often very bad - international trade pacts entered into by the Obama administration, Trump should at least embark on some friendly dialogue with primarily pro-trade groups representing bigger business - if only because so many lifelong GOP adherents are part of these groups, and he needs them to support his campaign.
***** Start to float some names of potential Cabinet members and federal agency heads that the GOP Brain Trust will thoroughly approve of. Ask for the input of academic and other experts whenever possible.
While all parts of the GOP Loyalist Base would be pleased to observe some thoughtfulness and sophistication in Team Trump's potential choices to fill key positions, Republican Intellectuals should appreciate it most.
The Candidate's status as an Outsider and a Maverick may have an appeal to parts of the rank-and-file. But policy experts and researchers want to be reassured that those Trump appoints to important key posts can fill those posts successfully, make difficult decisions, and carry out policy.
The Presumptive Nominee must give them this reassurance - and do everything possible to ensure that the GOP Brain Trust is in his corner.
Next Up: The Left-Out, Harassed, Annoyed, and Looking-for-Some-Political-Love GOP Media.
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