ANALYSIS/OPINION:
In the long run, it may not matter much who wins the presidential election.
That is, of course, heresy among pundits, consultants and the political class, but it is at least as accurate as any other thing being said about the race at the moment.
President Trump came to office borne on a wave of discontent with the nation that the elites had constructed in wake of the Cold War. The regime created by the Bush and Clinton dynasties was characterized by open trade and open borders, a neocolonial rather than conservative foreign policy, an unwillingness to prevent the rise of a new and aggressive Communist power in China, and a government whose default setting was indifference toward its own citizens and whose incompetence ranged from an inability to balance budgets to an inability to win wars.
In the minds of many voters, the business and financial elites, the technological elites on the West Coast, and the government elites in Washington jointly share blame and, accordingly, are disliked and distrusted pretty much equally by those citizens who have to live with the consequences of their misrule.
The president won in 2016 precisely because he was willing to at least notice when the elites actively worked against the interests of their fellow Americans. He talked about those who buy influence in Washington. He talked about companies playing nice with the dictatorial regime in China. He talked about inequitable trade deals and the hollowing out of American manufacturing.
It is unlikely that any outcome in November will change the underlying fundamentals of the situation. The elites will still be present. They will still be mostly indifferent to fate of their less fortunate countrymen. Income inequality, uneven trade deals, willingness to offshore jobs for a few extra dollars, and an itchy trigger finger when it comes to sending the young men and women of others overseas to pointless wars will remain imprinted in their DNA.
The government will continue to be unable to master even rudimentary tasks.
For their part, the great and wonderful majority of Americans — patriotic, religious, committed to the nation, to family, and to duty — now alerted to the policy and personal preferences of their “leaders” will not be able to unsee what they have seen.
Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden knows this. Hence, his newly-found emphasis on Buy America, his proposed tax on offshoring, and his sudden conversion with respect to fracking.
Mr. Trump also knows this. Unfortunately, his efforts to explain what he would do given a second term have been halting. This White House does not really do “policy,” but they do need to articulate a set of goals, grounded in something other than reelection, that match up with the expectations of those who support the president.
Such goals could include continuing to cut away at the the regulatory state. Or bringing our soldiers back from the Middle East and Afghanistan. Or explicitly removing supply chains from China. Or getting serious about transparency in campaign finance, or draining the swamp by reducing the budget of the federal leviathan.
A good start would be to focus on a few, sharp messages. Perhaps educate the voters about Mr. Biden’s proposed tax increase, which would do nothing except transfer money from small business owners and some deep-pocketed elites to the political elites in Washington. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that those tax dollars will work in any way to the betterment of the republic.
But it has to be done now. Relying on Mr. Biden to stumble or the rioters to destroy is not a plan. The movement that carried the president to victory will continue without him. It would be better, however, if he were a part of it and helped articulate a roadmap for its future.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
