Laura Ingraham says Republicans can win 2016 elections; immigration, trade are pivotal

Laura Ingraham says Republicans can win 2016 elections; immigration, trade are pivotal

Political commentator and radio talk show host Laura Ingraham keynoted the WANADA Annual Meeting and Luncheon last week as the media was abuzz about Donald Trumpês proposal to bar all Muslim immigrants from the U.S. But in talking about what she called the –Trump phenomenon,” Ingraham said, –Itês not about the personalities. Itês about the politics that have failed the American people.”

Trump has attracted followers because he is talking straight about trade and immigration, two major issues for the nation, Ingraham said. –No one signed up for this mass migration into the U.S.,” she said, then quoted her former boss Ronald Reagan: –A nation without borders is not a nation.”

–What kind of country do we want to live in?” Ingraham asked. –I come from working people. My mother was a waitress until she was 75. My brothers and I picked fruit, waited tables, whatever it took to get through college. So I donêt like hearing there are jobs Americans wonêt do.”

Speaking of trade, Ingraham slammed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the idea of trading with China for the –cheap junk” we import from there. We now have a $347 billion trade deficit with China, and we lost millions of jobs to cheap, overseas competition.

Ingraham presented herself as the champion of business and business people. –Thereês a real opportunity for all of us together to show that business can work,” Ingraham said. –CEOs can save this country.

–You guys are incredibly powerful,” she told the dealers. –Youêre an engine of growth. I want more businesspeople to run [for office]. If you have not run a business in America, I donêt see how you can manage anything in government.”

On Twitter, she posted, –Wonderful car dealers from Metro DC arealoved meeting so many business owners who get it!” Her 606,000 followers have seen that.

Among Republicans, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson have 66 percent support, and establishment candidates just 17 percent, Ingraham said. That should not come as a surprise. –Think about how the Republican party has treated Americans in the past 15 yearsÄ.If the establishment had taken one step toward the people, Trump wouldnêt be a factor.”

Even after the Republicans won big in 2014, they accomplished little. This year House Speaker John Boehner panicked at the idea of shutting down the government. But Ingraham was happy when, during the October 2013 shutdown, only essential government employees reported to work. She thought the shutdown was a great way to trim the bloated bureaucracy.

–People should believe the government works for them,” Ingraham said. –Today, the majority of Americans believe the American dream is out of reach and the American government does not work for the peopleÄ.We havenêt had a wage increase for the middle class in almost 15 years, and thatês not going to hold.

–Most people think America has wandered,” Ingraham said. –A lot of Republicans could do well against Hillary [Clinton] if they have the right values.” Jeb Bush doesnêt look like a good choice since he hired his brotherês foreign policy advisors. Ted Cruz can do well, and Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie are very smart.

–If the GOP wants to, it can win,” said Ingraham, but not likely with an establishment candidate.

–People are really worried, and they have a right to be,” she said. –The establishment has failed them.”