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The most important policy speech of the entire RNC was given by a 20-something nobody
(Alexandra Smith, head of the College RepublicansC-Span)
The Republican National Convention was light on policy.
Ivanka Trump said something about equal pay for women and another thing about childcare — things her father then mostly left on the cutting room floor during his hour-long speech. We needn't discuss the other show stoppers — Melania Trump's speech and Ted Cruz's non-endorsement.
No policy. Just a media circus.
That is why we now have a strange situation on our hands — a situation in which the most important policy speech of the convention was given on Monday afternoon by 20-something Alexandra Smith, the head of the 250,000-member College Republicans.
The speech wasn't particularly inspired, but it was honest. And in its honesty it got to what really threatens the GOP and makes its platform untenable. Smith's speech was not about the GOP in this election; it was about the future of the GOP for the next several decades.
"For too long Republicans haven't been making their case to millennials," Smith said, her saccharine tone smoothing over the severity of the situation. "There's just too much old and not enough grand in the way we express our party's value to the next generation of voters."
In other words, you're losing us.
"What a drag it is getting old..."
When it comes to millennials and this Presidential election, the GOP can consider them all but forfeit.
According to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Youth Poll, young people across the political spectrum overwhelmingly dislike Trump. Hillary Clinton has 61% of young voters likely to turn out to the polls for her while Trump grabs only 25%.
Indeed, when NPR hit the streets of Cleveland trying to find young Republicans who supported Trump — young Republicans dedicated enough to actually attend the RNC — it was not an easy task. A moderator at a town hall of about 100 millennials attending the convention asked the room how many were "big believers" in Trump.
One hand tentatively went up.
(Pew Research Center)
There are two parts of Trump's platform that do not make any sense in terms of the millennial experience.
First, protectionism. Millennials never had the good-paying manufacturing jobs Trump is promising to bring back. Instead they grew up in a world of globalization, brought together by the transnational internet.
The other part of Trumpism that rubs millennials the wrong way is the overt racism and nationalism. Millennials are the most diverse group in US history. 43% of them are non-white.
"I feel like to win the millennial vote we need to hear that he's going to be more tolerant," one 18 year old North Carolina woman told NPR.
"I feel like millennials grew up in a totally different culture in a totally different atmosphere than the older generation of the conservative party... Not all of us want to see thousands of immigrants get sent back and not all of us want to see a huge wall built."
According to Pew, the generational ideological divide in the Republican Party is far more stark than it is in the Democratic Party. Young Republicans support gay marriage, are far more skeptical of capital and far less skeptical of government and its uses, and see immigrants as a positive force in America.
Intergenerational angst
"Millennials cost us the White House 4 years ago, and that's caused some of the political elite to write us off," said Smith in her speech. "But if anyone tells you that free market and liberty-minded principles aren't in demand with our generation, they just haven't looked at the world around them lately. "
In some young June Cleaver way, you may consider that statement Smith's message of defiance. Millennials, when rallied, can make a significant difference in electoral politics, but they need to actually be rallied. And by the way, millennials had to figure out how to make a living as young people in the world's post-financial crisis apocalypse economy and still haven't completely rejected capitalism.
That deserves some credit, she hints.
But the ideas millennials have rejected are something that the GOP should also consider, and Smith — in the same tone one would use to sell Girl Scout Cookies — gets at it a little bit.
"The very essence of our generation rejects a one size fits all top down approach," she said. "We may drive you nuts because of it, but no one has ever told my generation how to be consumers, communicators or learners. We are some crazy freedom loving people."
Oh yes, totally crazy.
(Pew Research Center)
According to data compiled by Pew Research Center, millennials don't really do political parties to the same extent as older generations. About half of them are registered independents. They don't need to be loyal to anyone. They don't care to be counted on as a base.
That disconnection from established parties isn't just about experimentation anymore. Historically, young people have tended to continue experimentation after college into their early 20s — that goes for politics as it does psychedelics and music. Remember, Hillary Clinton was active in the College Republicans before becoming a Democrat.
But, after a while these experimenters have also historically settled on a party. Millennials are showing signs that they may not do that in the near term — especially not with GOP leadership like Trump's. And maybe they won't do it ever.
That does not bode well for the Republican Party when Millennials reach an age where voters really tend to turn out to the polls.
All of this crucial millennial insecurity, this feeling of being ignored despite demographic trends — was crystallized into a 3 minute speech that nobody watched, nobody referenced later, and that no one in the party will remember in between praising Ivanka Trump and bashing Ted Cruz.
Sad!
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