In a lengthy analysis in the upcoming March 6 Weekly Standard, which was released early on the internet, Executive Editor Fred Barnes makes the case that out of all the organizations participating in the 2016 election, the NRA is the one most responsible for defeating Hillary Clinton and putting Donald Trump in the White House.
“The NRA did just about everything right,” Barnes wrote. “It endorsed Trump last May when he was still just the de facto nominee. The goal was to persuade Second Amendment supporters who’d backed other candidates to unify behind him.”
Barnes also wrote that the NRA had done its homework on Clinton’s anti-Second Amendment past. “Once she was the Democratic nominee, they were ready to shred her claim to back the Second Amendment and the right of women to own guns.”
In closing, Barnes wrapped up his election analysis quite succinctly. “Absent the NRA, I think we know how Trump would have fared,” he said. “He'd have lost.”
