The right wing of the Republican Party employs a dismissive euphemism for other Republicans who do not share the right wing agenda - RINO - which stands for Republican In Name Only. It is predicated upon the assumption that all "real" republicans are on the far right of the political spectrum.
It will be interesting to see what they make of the President Elect who is at best vaguely acquainted with the Republican agenda and would be hard pressed to delineate the right wing from the left. Trump's agenda as defined so far coincides with some parts of the traditional Republican platform and not in others. He endorses tax cuts, for example, but opposes free trade. He wants to cut back on government in some areas but not in others.
His ambiguity is most conspicuous in his backtracking on his promise to immediately repeal Obamacare. Already he is saying he would like to keep parts of Obamacare. Actually, I believe this will go down smoothly. The hysterical opposition to Obamacare was always largely anti-Obama and will soon fade from view. There will be changes to the Affordable Care Act which even Secretary Clinton acknowledged was inevitable during the campaign.
After all the furor has settled down and the riots quelled, the two major parties face a daunting challenge - deciding what they stand for in this new age. The Trump "revolution" did not denote a major power shift between parties. Clinton ran up more than a million more votes than Trump did. The Democrats gained seats in both the Senate and House. It was pure and simple a protest against the Washington establishment and Trump caught the wave.
It is difficult to imagine Trump having a successful presidency if he does not shift somewhat to the political center and build a bi-partisan coalition to find common ground on a middle path. This will be true for the growth agenda he desires - on taxes, trade, infrastructure and other basic issues.
While that drama is playing out, the major parties have to do some serious soul searching. The basic precepts that have defined them all these years are in tatters. What does Republicanism really stand for? Is it really a movement committed to deporting 11 million illegal immigrants, banning Muslims and stifling the black vote? They will find that has limited appeal and Trump is already backing away from his more extreme proposals in this area.
The Democratic Party has its own philosophical crisis. Can it accommodate the younger set demanding universal health care, free college education for everyone and abolishment of all fossil fuels regardless of the consequences? At the same time they want to overregulate the market system needed to pay for all these things. That way eternal minority status lies.
The setting is ripe for a new approach that will carve a majority out of the political middle if it can be found amid the extremes. Trump's extremism will not travel well or long, and Clinton's recital of overly simplistic big government solutions rings hollow. The stage is being set for something new. The question is which party will seize the opportunity.
Jerry Jasinowski, an economist and author, served as President of the National Association of Manufacturers for 14 years and later The Manufacturing Institute. You can quote from this with attribution. Let me know if you would like to speak with Jerry. November 2016
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