Veteran pollster Pat Caddell thinks the nation is at “the tipping point” of political “revolution” in the 2016 election because the Washington establishment doesn’t understand the legitimate concerns motivating ordinary Americans. Caddell believes the establishment “empire is trying to strike back” against the populist movement challenging their power, but the American people have “left the building.”
Caddell explained to Breitbart News Daily host and Breitbart Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon that the rise of candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders reflects the sentiment of the majority of Americans “who feel the country is in decline, who feel that they are getting screwed, their children’s futures are at stake, and nobody gives a damn about it in Washington, which they’re correct [about], and the things that they believe in are mocked and ignored. This is the makings of a Jacksonian Revolution.”
Caddell said the establishment is not going to “give up power easily.” However, “for the establishment to understand how to take Trump seriously, they would have to understand what his voters are about, and since they cannot recognize the legitimacy of those claims… it’s impossible for them to calculate the figure of the threat coming. Now they see it, and now the empire is trying to strike back.”
The political establishment of both parties “have a mistaken view that the American people are here to serve them… as opposed to their job is to be the servants of the people,” Caddell said. “They’ve got this relationship backwards, and they’ve been running Washington and politics and corruption of unimaginable proportions to their benefit. And what’s happening is the American people want their sovereignty back.”
“This country will not go gently into that good night of decline,” Caddell asserted.
“I listened to the debate that Trump wasn’t at, and even with Ted Cruz and [Ben] Carson, all the sudden they were all back talking about establishment things,” Caddell noting, adding that the role of the American people in that debate was “to shut up, vote our way, and don’t get in our way.”
Bannon interjected in agreement, saying, “This is why people have dialed out of politics. It’s the dryness and thinness of the political dialogue. They talk about all these issues that, yes, are all important, but they’re not vital. But when you talk about building a wall to stop illegal immigration, when you talk about bringing ten million jobs back from China, which is emblematic of how we’ve gutted this country with these trade deals, when you talk about a temporary ban on Muslims — [Trump’s] basic themes have been to drive the narrative back to things that matter to working class people in this country.”
Caddell said that whether you agree with Trump’s positions or not, he is raising “the most vital questions.”
“And it’s not that immigration may be the most vital, but nonetheless, his argument about it is: You either have a country or you don’t,” Caddell said. “Even if you don’t like what he’s saying… or agree with his solutions, for most Americans that’s a pretty hard thing not to agree with.”
“Same thing on the [temporary] Muslim ban,” Caddell added. “I don’t agree with that. But he is touching a cord and saying, ‘We have no security, we don’t know how to control this, we’re so PC, and we are making our country vulnerable.’ And that issue of security in America is really high.”
Caddell noted that when Trump says, “Nobody owns me; I’m paying for this campaign,” he is addressing the “unspoken” issue of corruption in American politics, which, along with the economy and national security, is one of the top three issues for voters.
“You’ve got 70-some percent of the American people who believe flat out that both political parties have failed economically and that we need a different approach,” Caddell said. “We have had this pantomime – this kabuki theater of politics for too long, and now people are worried. And they’ve been worried, but now they’ve decided to do something about it.”
Bannon asked, “Do you believe we are at a tipping point of revolutionary times?”
Caddell said, “Yes, we are, and that tipping point is the American people being willing to overthrow their leadership through the democratic process. And then if that doesn’t work and they manage to be screwed out of that, then that will not go over well.”
“There is a warning here and it’s from 1860,” he said, referencing the 1860 presidential election when multiple political parties ran candidates.
Caddell closed by saying, “All of what I’m saying summed up is this country is in revolution,” and “the establishment will not deal with the fact or give credibility [to the concerns]. When they attack Trump the way they do with the personal viciousness and stuff… what they’re saying to the American people is: ‘This is you. Get back in your box.’ And they have left the building, folks.”
“All of you – you people have left the building,” Caddell said to Bannon and the Breitbart News Daily audience. “Your audience – ask them today. You have left the building.”
Listen to Caddell’s full interview below:
Breitbart News Daily airs from 6 am EST to 9 am EST every weekday morning on SiriusXM Patriot 125.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.