Author and senior contributor at the Daily Caller, Matt K. Lewis, wants the Republican Party to return to real conservatism. Candidates and pundits alike are in a cycle of saying outrageous dumb or offensive statements, and while they sell more books and go up the polls, Republicans and conservatives collectively suffer.
Lewis’ new book, Too Dumb To Fail, describes how conservatism began as a thoughtful, intellectual philosophy, and how it has changed. He joined the Federalist Radio Hour to discuss his investigation of populism, party elites, and how the ideas are evident in the 2016 election.
He said he thinks part of the reason we have Donald Trump is because elites and establishment types have failed average Americans. “I think that what we’re seeing right now is that there are so many frustrated, angry, mostly working-class Americans who believe that the American dream has left them behind,” Lewis said.
Domenech and Lewis discuss Tucker Carlson’s recent piece, ‘Donald Trump is Shocking, Vulgar and Right,’ and why conservative think tanks or institutions have done more than Carlson gives them credit for. Domenech argues that these intellectual nonprofits have bore incredible fruit over the last 30 years. “We’ve has all sorts of innovations in this space: innovations that have resulted in welfare reform, innovations that have show a significant shift in state-level policy.”
Lewis and Domenech recap the most recent Republican debate and discuss whether Trump’s absence was a mistake for the reality TV star. “We’ve had candidacies in the past two decades that have been completely destroyed just because a guy yelled into a mic on a stage,” Domenech said. “Because people have said something mildly extreme in one debate and they’re over. It just doesn’t apply to him.”
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