Wall Street Journal (Opinion)
By Doug Heye
September 2, 2015
With
its release of an online video Tuesday criticizing “The Real Donald
Trump,” Jeb Bush‘s campaign has (finally) signaled that it’s game on–and
gloves off.
Donald
Trump has repeatedly said that those who have attacked him have not
fared well. But it’s worth noting that those attacks have been the same
sort of Trump-esque
hits and that those candidates have been toward the bottom of the field
and received attention only when criticizing Mr. Trump. Whatever one
thinks of Rick Perry saying that Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on
conservatism,” the charge is merely name-calling
in a campaign already filled with it–not, say, a point-by-point
refutation of Mr. Trump’s record.
Similarly,
when South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham insulted Mr. Trump on CNN this
summer, as opposed to discussing how he would address serious challenges
facing our country,
the political conversation the following week centered on Sen. Graham’s
cellphone. That doesn’t advance Mr. Graham’s candidacy or our political
discourse, and it played into Mr. Trump’s hands, allowing him to
dominate airwaves on his terms. Simply put, attacking
Mr. Trump without using substance tends to backfire.
What
Mr. Bush has done is wholly different. On the stump and now with a Web
video, the Bush campaign is hitting Mr. Trump on what looks like his
campaign’s soft underbelly:
his record. It’s pointing out his pro-choice past; his support for
single-payer, Canadian-style health care; his repeated praise for
Hillary Clinton. It’s not hard to envision more attacks using Mr.
Trump’s own words–and there are a lot of them–against him,
particularly as voters start to pay more attention to issues after
Labor Day.
One
of those issues likely to concern many is taxes. Donald Trump is on
record supporting tax increases, as the New York Times noted in a
front-page headline: “Increase
Taxes? Talk By Donald Trump Alarms G.O.P.” This is an issue that will
not go away.
Mr.
Trump is hitting back, hard, showing adroitness that many may not have
expected. But for a candidate who has put forward very little to
substantiate his positions,
strong attacks targeting issues should be cause for concern.
The
Bush campaign’s Web ad shows that Mr. Trump is starting to receive the
scrutiny a front-runner deserves. If this is the beginning of a
sustained focus on the liberal
positions Mr. Trump has taken for decades–positions most Republicans do
not know about–this could affect his credibility with Republican
primary voters. And, in the meantime, it might make the Sept. 16
Republican debate must-see TV.
Doug
Heye is a former communications director for the Republican National
Committee and deputy chief of staff to then-House Majority Leader Eric
Cantor.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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