Barry Goldwater was a right-wing Arizona senator who ran against former President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Goldwater was hailed by many Republicans as the perfect leader that would help the conservatism movement come underway in the U.S. Johnson fired back with powerful ads that portrayed Goldwater as racist and a dangerous radical.
In one of many ads by the Johnson campaign illustrated the horrendous endorsement Goldwater received from the Ku Klux Klan. The extreme conservative views of Goldwater caused the Democratic Party to seize control of Congress. In the same manner, many suspected that Trump winning the Republican nomination might allow the Democrats to seize control of Congress.
Trump has won the Republican nomination. Trump has, also, won the 2016 presidential elections. Furthermore, as of 2015, the amount of register independents in the United States is estimated at around 39% and register Republicans at around 23% and Democrats around 32% according to the Pew Research Center. An interesting factor to consider is whether the percentage of register Republicans has increased where the percentage of register independents dropped; if so that could suggest that Trump could possess qualities that appeal to independents.
I had the benefit of talking to a registered Independent who said he was switching parties in order to vote for Trump. Many of the disgusting remarks Trump has made throughout his campaign resonate strongly with some Republican policies such as his stance on immigration. To the extent that his desire to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico has even resonated strongly with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Goldwater’s campaign in 1964 would probably have been a success had he campaigned in 2016 as many of the Southern states are what would be considered far-left in 1964.
In Lee Edwards’ The Origins of the Modern Conservative Movement, he suggests that the American conservative movement’s success “rests on its role in two epic events one foreign, one domestic” where the foreign event being “the waging and winning of the Cold War”. Similarly, the wars that have been waged against the Middle East and the 9/11 terrorist attacks have attributed to the growing conservative attitude within America. Just as conservative were embracing an anticommunist position during the 1950s throughout 1980s, many Republicans in 2002 were advocating strongly for the Iraq War of 2003 and embracing an anti-radical Islamic position. The 2002 Afghanistan invasion along with the Iraq War of 2003 and the long military occupation in Iraq was branded as the “War on Terrorism” ignoring the thousands in civilian casualties and unjustifiablity of the Iraq War. The success of conservatism can also be attributed to patriotism where Americans are encouraged to denounce radicals and communism in order to protect their American values and the country itself. To answer the question as to whether Trump is another Barry Goldwater?
In some aspects, yes. Throughout Trump’s campaign, he has embraced this disgusting strong opposition to immigration while denouncing terrorist organizations such as ISIS. For example in one of his rallies, Trump stated he would “bomb the shit out of ISIS” because that is what the United States does best; carpet bomb foreign countries with no regard to the innocent civilians residing within those countries. Americans tend to pride themselves in having one of the strongest militaries and, as a result, leads to the justification of many right-wing led interventions and wars. But it is important to note that Trump did garner a tremendous amount of support despite losing the popular vote; according to the 2016 election results, Trump received 46.1% of the popular vote which is only 4.9% shy of a majority. While Trump does embrace some policies similar to those of Barry Goldwater, unlike Barry Goldwater, Trump was met with much more support as proven by his victory in the 2016 elections.
