A.G. Gancarski
Much has been made of the latest comments of GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump regarding Muslims entering the United States, made in reaction to President Barack Obama’s address to the nation Sunday night. However, those close to the Trump campaign, such as Florida Co-Chair Susie Wiles, are not concerned that his comments will impact his viability as a candidate.
Trump, said Wiles on Wednesday, “has an ability to tap into the vein of what the vast majority of Republican voters are concerned about,” an ability, adds Wiles, that Trump has shown “over and over again.”
Though the establishment Republican “leaders of the party” and the news media, added Wiles, are “not in agreement” with Trump’s views, Wiles posits that the “rank and file Republicans” are even more supportive of Trump’s straight talk as time goes by.
As well, adds Wiles, Trump’s comments were “somewhat blown out of proportion,” as Trump proposed such restrictions “temporarily” and “with exceptions” while government “figures out a national strategy.”
There has, Wiles added, been a “change in the way that Americans think about the global situation,” and there is a meaningful delineation between agents of terror and “people who just practice the religion.”
Trump, added Wiles, is just advocating for a “pause” in unfettered immigration, while policy makers “come up with a national policy” to “respond to the real threat.
While there are those, including “establishment Republicans,” who posit that “isn’t in keeping with who we are as a nation,” neither are incidents like what happened in San Bernandino.
One of the reasons Trump’s message on this issue has been distorted, says Wiles, is that he’s having a “hard time getting traction with the media and establishment Republicans.”
One of them, Representative David Jolly, rebuked him this week.
Wiles’ thoughts on that?
“He’s running for office,” she said.
If both men get their respective nominations, she expects that pragmatism will carry the day.
In a state like Florida and a city like Jacksonville, where Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio partisans predominate in the establishment circles, Wiles is an outlier when it comes to this particular election. However, it is clear that she sees the great divide between Trump and the establishment wing of the party as less significant than most.
Describing Trump’s opponents as “incrementalists,” it’s clear that Wiles believes that they are too ensconced in Washington to make the kind of changes that are necessary in 2016.
