HB2 on the presidential stage

by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, April 22, 2016.

North Carolina continues to impress. Our much-debated discrimination bill made it into the GOP presidential contest. Donald Trump came out against HB2 while Ted Cruz came out in support.

Trump said that the state should have left it alone. “People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble.” He’s the libertarian on the issue.

Cruz then attacked Trump, picking up Pat McCrory’s line. He said that Trump “joined them in calling for grown men to be allowed to use little girls’ public restrooms.” Cruz is showing his big government conservativism that calls for government regulation of morality.

Cruz is still playing to the GOP base, hoping to catch Donald Trump in the run up to the convention. Trump, for his part, is feeling increasingly like the Republican nominee and shifting toward the middle. To be fair, though, that’s probably what Trump thinks. He doesn’t have a long history of gay bashing. He really does have New York values.

The new North Carolina Republican establishment has doubled down on its anti-LGBT position with Senate President Pro-Tem Phil Berger making it clear the law will not be repealed. Pat McCrory has tried to find middle ground but is stuck between looking weak if he can’t get the bill changed or looking extreme if he continues to support it. McCrory just wants the issue to go away. Instead, it’s now part of the Republican presidential primary debate and he’s on Ted Cruz’s side of the issue.

Donald Trump knows that he can’t win the presidency with just the Republican base. He’s starting to shift to the middle. It may be a difficult shift because his problems have less to do with ideology than rationality. His stance on HB2 is part of an effort to look reasonable. Cruz, for his part, wants to build momentum going into the election. To steal the nomination from Trump, he’ll need strong backing from the base. His position on HB2 reflects his standing in the race for delegates and the nomination.

http://www.politicsnc.com/hb2-on-the-presidential-stage/