Establishment Republicans Have More in Common With Hillary Than Trump

For several years now there has been a fight within the Republican Party, pitting establishment Republicans against movement conservatives.
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For several years now there has been a fight within the Republican Party, pitting establishment Republicans against movement conservatives. The former group, most frequently associated with likes of Mitt Romney, George H.W. Bush and, in this election cycle, Jeb Bush and John Kasich, has strong ties to big business, champions low taxes, but also the need to actually govern, and while frequently taking conservative positions on social issues, rarely place great emphasis on those issues. The latter group are less concerned about governance and more focused on social issues and taking principled, if fruitless, positions to demonstrate their conservative bona fides. Count the Freedom Caucus in the House and people like Ted Cruz as members of this group. In the 2016 primary, these two factions--whose differences are ultimately more about style than substance--battled and produced a winner: Donald Trump.

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