<u+201c> the great unraveling: populist waves flood gop <u+201d> (page one, oct. 27) is overwrought. a very similar populist wave upended gop hopes in the 1992 presidential campaign when frustrated blue-collar voters found an unlikely champion in another <u+201c>straight-talking<u+201d> billionaire, ross perot. mr. perot adopted the same anti-washington, anti-trade, anti-immigrant themes as donald trump, albeit without the misogyny and gratuitous slurs (recall his <u+201c>giant sucking sound<u+201d> of u.s. jobs heading to mexico). as a third-party candidate, he garnered just under 20 million votes in the general election and is widely credited with enabling the clintons<u+2019> first move into the white house. the gop erred in coaxing donald trump to stay inside the tent this year to prevent a repeat of 1992, betting he would lose in the primaries. the republicans blew it by having too many candidates splitting the primary vote, treating mr. trump with kid gloves for too long and having winner-take-all contests that unwittingly rigged things in mr. trump<u+2019>s favor. the electoral result will likely be no different. once again a billionaire-as-regular-guy populist helps to secure the white house for the clintons. so what<u+2019>s new? if mr. trump had run as a third-party candidate, estimates of the numbers of his hard-core supporters suggest he would have fared no better than mr. perot in 1992. hillary clinton still would have won the election, but at least the gop wouldn<u+2019>t have sold its soul. john shephard jr. williamsburg, va. populists and conservatives aren<u+2019>t mutually exclusive. trump supporters represent the heart of america<u+2014>working-class voters, small-business people and middle-aged citizens, as well as minority groups. i am a longtime conservative, military veteran and retired corporate ceo, but foremost, i am realist. for my views, apparently, i am a populist. for establishment conservatives to refuse to support their party<u+2019>s nominee is dishonest after pledging to do so and shows their lack of character, regardless of their wealth and so-called community status. whether donald trump is elected or not, there will be no kudos for these elitists except, possibly, by democratic party members. don severe green valley, ariz. it<u+2019>s about time the average supporter of the gop is correctly acknowledged. we have been taken for granted for the past 50 years. our parents were democrats when democrats were conservatives in their spending and social beliefs, and we became republicans when the democratic party went too far to the left. we are basic americans who want limited government, security and lower taxes. theodore d. galanides virginia beach, va.
no wonder we see a flood of gop populism - wsj
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