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Opinion: Trump can’t win again without focusing on middle-class jobs, but will Republicans go along with him?

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To the editor: You have to hand it to President Trump: Grandstanding about his plan to make the GOP “the party of the American worker” reflects deft, if cynical, triangulation. (“Trump’s popularity at CPAC gathering, which he shunned a year ago, shows how he’s conquered conservatives,” Feb. 24)

Trump needs American workers to augment his unwavering support from two other groups: die-hard Republicans, who would back Donald Duck over any Democrat, and religious conservatives, who don’t mind Trump’s personal sins so long as he throws them occasional symbolic bones.

Last year Trump reeled in white working-class males with gauzy pitches to clinch his improbable election. But now he seems to understand that campaign rhetoric won’t placate American workers forever. Hence Trump’s newfound focus on producing the jobs they so direly need.

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David Schaffer, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Judging by Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, there are two competing visions of the future:

The first is a global community of peaceful cooperation, with strong countries helping weaker ones.

The second (Trump’s) is separate countries with strong borders, competing for territory and resources, leading to a warring planet.

Trump’s America will no longer be the leader of the free world working for peaceful coexistence, but a selfish bully of a nation like Russia, threatening war if it doesn’t get what it wants. Sad!

Joanne Tatham, Irvine

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To the editor: It would be more accurate for the headline to read, “Trump now embraced by ex-conservative movement.”

Trump proposes to spend billions on a border wall, has talked about spending $1 trillion on infrastructure and plans a massive budget request for one of the greatest military buildups in American history.

So much for conservatives’ traditional and moral values. Beyond the CPAC shindig, let’s wait and see who the real conservatives in Congress are.

Ken Johnson , Piñon Hills, Calif.

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