Donald Trump, establishment fight could help local Republicans

Even as former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Thursday that Donald Trump lacks the “temperament” and the “judgment” to be president and that nominating Trump would enable Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, local Republicans say the divisive national fight might, in fact, help the party here.

The 2012 nominee waed a packed auditorium at the University of Utah that any of the other GOP candidates would be better than the billionaire businessman who’s leading this year’s Republican race.

“The only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront today, come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich,” Romney said of Trump’s GOP rivals. “One of these men should be our nominee.”

Trump dismissed Romney as “a stiff” who “didn’t know what he was doing” as the party’s candidate in 2012 and blew a chance to beat President Barack Obama. “People are energized by what I’m saying” in the campaign and tuing out in remarkable numbers to vote, Trump told NBC’s “Today.”

Romney called Trump a “a phony, a fraud” whose “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” as party elites pore over complicated delegate math, outlining hazy scenarios for a contested convention and even flirting with the long-shot prospect of a third party option.

But the division might be good for Republicans overall, said Curt Hagman, a member of the San Beardino County Board of Supervisors and chairman of the county GOP.

“I hate to see the party fighting against each other, but it’s political season and the gloves come off,” Hagman said. “But tuout rates have been really high, (and) the media time and press time for Republican issues far exceeds other elections. I’ve never seen so much coverage of our issues. There’s a lot of positives and I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy.”

Hagman said he hadn’t seen coverage of Romney’s Idea, specifically, but he thought so-called down-ticket races, including in San Beardino County, could be helped.

“I’m really encouraged by having our issues front and center,” Hagman said. “At the same time, Democrats are losing steam. As long as we don’t alienate them at the end of this process, all the up- and down-ticket items could do well.”

Conservative candidates also see Trump’s rise as a good sign for their campaigns.

“The current political climate is a direct byproduct of the lack of leadership in Washington that has led to recent ‘lone-wolf’ style attacks and orchestrated terrorist attacks here at home — most notably the attack here in San Beardino — as well as the uncontrolled spread of ISIS abroad,” said John Van Winkle, campaign manager for Paul Chabot’s effort to unseat Democrat Pete Aguilar, D-San Beardino. “People — especially the base of the Republican Party — across the U.S. are upset and it’s affording anti-establishment candidates like Trump to enjoy a level of viability they otherwise would not.”

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West Covina Councilman Mike Spence, one of several Republicans ruing for the Assembly seat they expect Ling Ling Chang to vacate for the state Senate, said the anti-establishment message has been brewing for a while.

“I disagree with a lot of Donald Trump’s public policy, but I’ve never been establishment,” Spence said. “I never voted for Aold Schwarzenegger. So I’m not an establishment guy. I understand why people are mad — I get that, absolutely. The problem is, the establishment didn’t get the message until it was too late.”

Spence, an early Ted Cruz supporter who is also chief of staff to Hagman, said he meant “too late” to stop Trump — probably — not that the party’s message would be hurt.

“I don’t believe that debates necessarily weaken us,” he said. “Does a (Beie) Sanders candidacy hurt Democrats, when he’s doing better than Eugene Debs (who ran for president as a socialist in the early 20th century)? I remember when people said Ronald Reagan would never win because he was a wild cowboy or whatever.”

Hillary Clinton was drawing broad support from voters and her party’s leaders. Rival Sen. Beie Sanders vowed to keep up the fight, though his path to the nomination has become exceedingly narrow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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