(Video above: Cliff Sims explains why Trump’s message resonates and Jeb’s doesn’t)
On Wednesday’s edition of Yellowhammer Radio, host Cliff Sims delivered one of the best explanations yet of why Donald Trump’s message is resonating with voters, while Jeb Bush has struggled to gain traction.
On Tuesday night, Bush was Stephen Colbert’s first political guest as the new host of the Late Show on CBS.
Colbert asked the former Florida governor if he believed he could bring people together in Washington, saying that Republicans have spent the last several years painting President Obama as “the devil” and “maybe not American.”
“I’m going to say something that’s heretic, I guess,” Bush replied. “I don’t think Barack Obama has bad motives. I just think he’s wrong on a lot of issues. If you start with the premise that people have good motives, you can find common ground, even when you don’t agree… We have to restore a degree of civility.”
After playing the clip of Bush’s comments, Sims said he does not necessarily disagree with Bush, and understands that the mild-mannered candidate is not a bombastic flamethrower.
“If you’re going to run for the presidency, you’ve got to be who you are… Just be yourself,” he said. “Jeb Bush is not going to the flashy guy. He’s not going to go out there and say things that get the crowd riled up. It’s not going to be crazy, over-the-top emotional. You can’t fake that… Bush is who he is.”
But Sims quickly noted that Bush’s go-along-to-get-along demeanor is out of step with the current mood of the American people.
“The Bush campaign is completely out of touch with people if they actually think that adding a degree of civility is what Republican primary voters are most concerned about in this election,” he explained. “You are completely out of touch with regular people if that’s what you think Republican primary voters want.”
The Yellowhammer Radio host, who has at times been critical of Donald Trump’s long history of flip-flopping on various issues, said the billionaire real estate mogul is nonetheless tapping into the deep frustrations of the American people in a way that Bush has not.
“Jeb will never survive in the age of Trump. I’ve been a critic of Trump’s in different ways… But Trump is tapping into emotions that Jeb Bush is clearly out of touch with,” Sims said before launching into a detailed explanation of why “Make America Great Again” is such a powerful slogan.
We are sick of getting beat. Sick of politics as usual. Sick of politicians. Sick of everyone and everything in Washington. Sick of Democrats shoving things down our throats and sick of Republicans rolling over and taking it. We’re sick of a president who disregards the rule of law and has no problem issuing illegal and unconstitutional executive actions. We are sick of watching the evils of Planned Parenthood go unchecked.
We are sick of living in a country where it is suddenly acceptable to fine and jail people of faith for exercising their religious beliefs. We are sick of our government placating dictators like those in Russia and Iran and turning their back on our allies, like Israel. We are sick of Big Education’s attempts to indoctrinate our children into their global warming cult. We are sick of American jobs being taken and American citizens being killed by illegal immigrants. We are sick of living in a country that requires every citizen to prove they are insured, but does not force everyone in the country to prove they are a citizen.
We are sick of the kind of out of control political correctness that makes it no longer acceptable for men to act like men, women to act like women, and boys and girls to aspire to do the same. And perhaps more than anything, we are sick of living in the greatest country civilization has ever known while watching our leaders apologize for it.
“Is it any wonder ‘Make America Great Again’ resonates with people in such a profound way?” He asked in conclusion. “Ninety-nine of out 100 people would take that over ‘Make American Politics Civil Again.’”
Yellowhammer Radio with Cliff Sims airs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily on Superstation 101.1 WYDE. It can be streamed online via the TuneIn app or on 101wyde.com.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015