Laura Ingraham - Billionaire at the barricades: the populist revolution from Reagan to Trump

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For Chris Edwards

and

my faithful listeners and viewers

I f I had to pinpoint a single moment that foreshadowed the rise, and ultimate victory, of Donald Trump, I would choose June 10, 2014. That was the day a little-known economics professor defeated the Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor in a primary challenge. It had never happened before in American history. Not a single member of the media or political Establishment saw it coming. Yet Dave Brats victory didnt come out of nowhere. It was actually a logical outcome after years of a Republican leadership that had grown smug, insulated, and totally out of touch with the concerns of its own grass roots.

In early 2014, when filmmaker and Virginia native Ron Maxwell initially brought Dave Brat to my attention, I was skeptical for the obvious reasons. Id never heard of him and didnt know anyone who had. But Maxwell, a conservative populist, had done his homework and tilled the ground for several months before I ever entered the picture. Brat appeared on my show several times over the last four and a half months of the campaign. Although we had yet to meet in person, I found him to be humble, courageous, and smart.

Meanwhile, Brat was doing precisely what I had urged interested Americans to do 10 years earlier in my book Power to the People get involved, run for office, and pursue policies that give power back to the people. In 2009, the Tea Partythe first authentically populist movement on the right in decadesemerged in response to Obamas reckless bailouts and gained strength after the passage of Obamacare. Although the Tea Party helped elect a number of people to Congress, it was still a minority within the GOP. Undaunted by the very imposing barricade of Establishment money and power that lay before him, Brat took his case directly to the people. Most aspiring politicians would have been scared off by Eric Cantors staff of 23, or the $5.4 million he had to spend on advertising. But not Brat. He had a team of two and had raised only $200,000. It was Dave versus Goliath. They dont take me seriously, he told me a few months before primary day. And right now, thats just the way I like it.

His drive and determination were inspiring. Disorganized and small in representation, the Tea Party movement had wandered since the 2010 midterm elections, and Brats brainy fearlessness was exactly what it needed. Besides, I reasoned, how will we ever save America from a corrupt, unresponsive, ineffective federal government if we dont support those with real talent who are willing to stick their necks out and challenge the status quo? Even if Brat could come within striking distance of Cantor, that could spur other independent, strong conservatives to challenge lame incumbents across the country. Such were my thoughts as I weighed whether to throw in with the underdog.

On June 3, 2014, a Tuesday night, my producer, Julia Hahn, another business associate, and I made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Washington to the leafy Virginia town of Glen Allen to support Dave Brat. The Republican primary vote for Virginias 7th Congressional District was just a week away, but as we rolled up to the Dominion Club, none of us knew what to expect. Incredibly, not a single national Tea Party group had given Brat any financial support, although the local Richmond Tea Party had endorsed him. The polls showed Cantor ahead by 2530 points, and he was getting big money air cover in the form of ads from powerhouse lobbying groups like the American Chemistry Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Realtors.

Lets hope people actually show up tonight besides some snarky reporters, I told Julia, who personally took it upon herself to make my appearance happen. I wondered to myself whether the whole thing was a bridge too fara total waste of time. We were doing the round-trip in one day, after my three-hour radio show and an appearance on Fox & Friends. I should be home eating dinner with the kids, I thought.

But then as we approached the clubs driveway, we saw the carshundreds of themlined up, spilling out of the parking lots. The moment we walked into the lobby, I was overjoyed that we had made the effort.

The Brat Pack was out in full force.

Thank you for coming, Laura! chirped a 40-something woman standing in the hallway with her teenage daughter. Dave Brat is the MAN! someone else blurted out. Our boys gonna win! exclaimed a man who introduced himself as just a plain old farmer. He had come at the last minute after learning about the rally from his neighbor. A few were wearing Cant stand Cantor buttons; most were just neatly dressed, everyday middle-class Americans.

We got him right where we want him, Brat insisted, in reference to the incumbent Cantor, at what was our first face-to-face meeting. I laughed, and wondered if I would be that optimistic were I in his shoes. Tan, with his sandy brown hair combed back, in wire-rimmed glasses, Brat had the look of an all-American prepster. His smile was real and reassuring.

More than the average politician, Brat understood the urgent need to disrupt the old GOP hierarchy. Fundamental, conservative change would not be possible in Washington, unless and until the Establishment in both parties was exposed and defeated. For decades, on key issues, they had been in an alliance of convenience, working against the interests of everyday Americans. On no issue was this collusion more apparent than immigration reform (aka amnesty).

Over the years, Ive developed a pretty accurate rule of thumb for judging the conservatism of Republican politicians. If they refuse multiple requests to appear on my radio show, theyre usually up to no good. Case in point: Eric Cantor. Majority Leader Cantor had turned down several invitations from my bookers to join us on air to discuss his 2013 legislation misleadingly known as The Kids Act. It was essentially his version of President Obamas DREAM Act and would have given a path to legalization to illegal immigrants brought here as children. Cantor thought he could dodge the tough questions by simply avoiding them. That told me a lot. Apparently it was that same aloof, I-dont-need-to-answer-to-anyone attitude that rubbed the voters of the 7th Congressional District the wrong way, as well.

In the final week before the June 10 primary, we covered the race every day on radio. I begged Glenn Beck to get involved and to his credit he did, by interviewing Brat on his popular radio show. Radio host Mark Levin had been in the pro-Brat camp for some time and was also extremely influential. Likewise, the populist website Breitbart played a critical role in this historic primary by covering the race and the issues motivating Brats challenge. As for the rest of the mediamany of the same people and institutions that look down on talk radio and conservative websitesthey barely touched on the race at all.