Donald Trump fits GOP’s celeb infatuation — but it doesn’t make him a winner

Republicans have a history of recruiting celebrities into the party ranks going back 60 years, but find themselves at a crossroads with Donald Trump — who is using his celebrity power to attack rather than to revive the Grand Old Party, writes Kathryn Cramer Brownell

REPUBLICAN Party leaders have dismissed Donald Trump as “just” a celebrity since last summer. Yet, as much as the Republican establishment might want to deny it, Trump’s improbable candidacy in the 2016 presidential election is actually a product of the Grand Old Party’s decision 60 years ago to elevate actors to the rank of politicians. And Trump’s loss at the Iowa caucuses does nothing to change the pattern.

Though liberal celebrity activists have often gained publicity by pressing specific policies, conservative celebrities have carved far deeper into US electoral politics and made more lasting changes.