Which brings us to Mr. Robert Hugin of the Celgene corporation. He is the promising candidate for the United States Senate that has the whole GOP establishment buzzing. They say this erstwhile Marine is the man to beat Bob Menendez. And a big reason they are so excited about Hugin is his ability to fund his own campaign.
Hugin earns over $20 million a year -- making him one of the best paid bosses in the pharmaceutical industry. Before joining Celgene, he worked for Wall Street's J.P. Morgan & Company. Hugin is a longtime member of Chris Christie's fundraising inner-circle, whose allegiance was transferred to Donald Trump after Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential contest. Hugin even served as a Trump delegate. This biography strongly defines the man, making it hard to see how the average Bernie or Hillary voter could ever mark a ballot for him.
But sure enough, it has emerged that Hugin is conveying to people the idea that he is "a different kind of Republican" and not one of "them" -- as in Pro-Life, et al.
Hey, you donated six figures to Chris Christie and served as a Trump delegate... so do you think you're going to fool a committed Democrat with that Pro-Choice on Abortion line? You will only drive away thousands upon thousands of voters who want to vote for you, but for whom you will make it so that they can't, in good conscience.
Could Hugin run as the kind of populist who doesn't need cultural conservatives? Sure, as a Democrat. Those chocolate and vanilla "kitchen table" issues are grafted onto a cultural worldview that makes you a Trump populist or a Bernie populist. Neither could have attracted so many voters had they adopted the other's cultural positions.
In trying to have it all their own way, the "My-Party-Too" crowd might end up destroying the Republican Party in New Jersey. Ideas matter to most voters and it is ideas that draw people to identify with a political party in the first place. But in New Jersey, ideas are merely advertising gimmicks for the lobbyists, vendors, and consultants who increasingly run the GOP. It is something almost unknown to most Republican voters... but too, too easy to demonstrate. So few don't have Democrat money in their DNA.
Many GOP leaders make money off Democrats -- or with Democrats. Lots of money. While most Republicans just get taxed by Democrats. That's the great divide. So where do you stand? And would you like to know?
Already, conservative libertarian Dr. Murray Sabrin is thinking about another third party run -- like the one in which he almost sunk Christie Whitman. Perhaps an even stronger candidate will emerge. Surrendering cultural issues conservative voters to these candidates would not be a good strategy for Mr. Hugin.
If cultural conservatives, reform conservatives, good-government conservatives, non-insider/crony capitalist conservatives, were to figure out that the fix was in, and that no matter how hard they worked with the GOP establishment they would never get a break, then who knows -- in these troubled times of Trumpian rebellion and Bernite reaction -- how this could flower? Would we see its fruit in the low, low turnout 2019 elections? Would a third-party, seeking that elusive 10 percent, find its way?
Instead of trying to stand-out and apart from the "usual" Republican through the tired and ultimately unconvincing trope of "a different kind of Republican" when it comes to issues like abortion and LGBT rights, Robert Hugin could act boldly to unify Republicans -- the establishment thimbleful and the conservative majority -- by finding a way to meet both half way.
Yesterday, Senate Democrats blocked an effort to bring the United States into line with most of the nations on earth in preventing abortions after 20 -weeks, the point at which science has shown that an unborn child is sensitive to the pain of being... killed. Every other country on earth recognizes this fact except North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands. Isn't it time we bring our laws into line with science and the rest of the civilized world?
The Senate's vote was on whether to stop the Democrats’ filibuster of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This legislation highlights how unborn children feel intense pain when they are killed in abortions. Fifty-one senators (forty-eight Republicans and three Democrats) voted to take the bill up for debate, but 60 votes were required. Because Republicans don’t have 60 votes in the chamber to overcome the filibuster, Democrats successfully stopped the bill, which came after President Donald Trump indicated he would sign the bill into law.
Hey, you can still support Roe v. Wade and acknowledge the scientific fact that after 20-weeks, a child should not suffer the kind of death that the U.S. Supreme Court wouldn't apply to serial killers, mass-murder terrorists, and rapists who murder children in the commission of a sexual assault. That, the Court would argue, is "cruel and unusual" for the worse criminals... but for unborn children... are we supposed to look the other way?
So be "Pro-Choice" on abortion. But support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act too. Give conservatives something.