This week’s question: The Republican and Democratic national conventions are coming up fast. How do you think they will turn out (coup? revolt?), and will the parties be unified post-convention, ready for a classic general election?
Steve Kroes, president, Utah Foundation. I see that by procrastinating my reply, I have the benefit of this morning’s news that Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton next Tuesday. With that added knowledge, I feel pretty confident that the Democratic convention will build some unity. It certainly doesn’t look like a coup is brewing, and we’ll probably see several noteworthy concessions hammered out with the party and the Clinton campaign to secure Sanders’ cooperation. Maybe something on trade, maybe some distancing from Wall Street, and probably one of the items in this morning’s news – a plan to reduce college expenses for students.
On the Republican side, I don’t see a coup, but there sure is continuing discord! With Donald Trump basically chest-thumping Senator Jeff Flake and other hesitant Republican members of Congress in his so-called consensus-building meetings, I’m amazed at how incapable he is at toning down his bully instincts. Animosity toward Clinton is really the main unifying force for Republicans at this point. Trump isn’t going to prove himself capable of transforming into a party unifier, so I suspect the party will focus on an anti-Clinton message to rally the faithful. And it will work pretty well. I think Trump’s biggest threat (besides his belligerent temperament) is the percentage of votes that will go to the Libertarian ticket this year.
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