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Where Now, Republicans?
Pickett’s Charge, Battle of Gettysburg, 1863.
It reminds me of the infamous “Pickett’s charge” during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. General George Pickett led his Confederate troops in an ill-fated charge across an open field in an effort to break the center of the Union line. It failed, but the Democrat’s own version of Pickett’s charge, with the artillery cover of the Capitol “insurrection,” has indeed breached the GOP middle. And how has the GOP responded? By shooting at each other.
I saw evidence of it on my now former Facebook page yesterday. Otherwise intelligent Washingtonians and anti-Trumper Republicans, the same ones who said little to nothing while over 200 cities were pummeled with violence this past summer, expect everyone to clutch their pearls and demand Trump’s immediate removal. And if you don’t, you support the insurrectionists and need to learn history (or, more accurately, “reeducation”). That all sounds familiar, and not in a good way. There is no nuance, no exceptions, and zero appreciation for history or self-awareness. With “friends” like this, who needs enemies?
Smarter, more dispassionate, and clear-eyed Republicans with some appreciation for history understand this. They know the party has been here before. After 1930. After 1958. After 1964. After 1974. After 1992. After 2008, when Barack Obama and the Democrats had a massive majority in the House and, for a time, a filibuster-proof Senate. It is time for some retrospection about events and to reengineer things for 2022 and beyond.
The path forward is not complicated, but not easy to traverse.
Let’s look at what has happened to the GOP over the past four years, from a 30,000-foot perspective.
The Republican Party has become an increasingly personality-driven party. It is the party not known widely for its successful policies and actions over the past four years, but as “The Party of Trump.” For all of Trump’s undeniable success and record of achievement, that is historically unfamiliar territory for a party that has always been, during its most successful days, an agenda-driven party – lower taxes, less government, a strong economy, safe neighborhoods, good schools, and peace through strength.
But what has America been hearing the past several months? The election is rigged or stolen. But vote Republican anyway! How did that work out in Georgia’s January 5 US Senate runoff elections? They’ve also seen Republicans shoot at each over the failure, in many minds, to give election law violations and irregularities (if not outright fraud) a fair hearing, especially by the courts. When some in Congress tried to provide such a hearing, consistent with the Electoral Count Act, the Capitol insurrection led by a few QAnon nuts and criminals undermined it and turned some House and Senate members into pariahs and targets for marginalization and outright cancelation. Ultimately, the job of exposing election illegalities fell to state legislatures, and they mostly punted.
That’s where we are. What now?
Republicans cannot allow Democrats to succeed in driving a wedge between Republicans. Republicans, for their part, need to focus their sights on two things: rediscovering their agenda (their “brand”) and combatting Democratic excesses that are sure to come. They always do.
A forward-looking, optimistic agenda that resonates with our new, emerging multi-ethnic working-class base should also help bring suburban voters turned off by Trump back into the fold. Restoring our economic strength by smartly ending the badly-implemented lockdowns; reforming and building good schools run by parents and focused on critical thinking, not indoctrination; safe neighborhoods; and military strength to preserve the peace and reign in an emergent communist power in Asia. Add “Big Tech” censorship and election reform (at the state level) to the list as well, but those may not resonate as well with voters we need to attract.
While Trump isn’t going away – Democrats hope he doesn’t, and fully intend for him to serve as an albatross around GOP necks the next four years – there is no doubt that Republicans had successes at the local, state, and US House level in 2020. Republicans need to build on those successes to capture more seats at the local, state, and congressional levels with a focus on capturing a House if not a Senate majority in 2022.
Part of that will be allowing new spokespeople and leaders to step forward. The RNC should consider naming a new lead spokesman for the party. Someone not running for President who has the respect of House and Senate leaders, as well as GOP governors. A leader or leaders with sharp minds, quick wits, and a pleasant demeanor, who don’t clearly and cleanly fall into a “never” or “pro” Trump group trap. Leave the party machinery to the estimable current RNC chair Ronna McDaniel.
Who are some of the new spokespeople the GOP should promote? US Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC. US Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, R-NC. US Rep. Mike Garcia, R-CA. New US Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX). That’s a younger, geographically and racially diverse group of leaders with great personal stories and inclusive messages, most of whom are also serious, articulate legislators. There are others, but those come to mind. And the leaders need not come from the ranks of the elected, but successful community activists, business leaders, educators, and elsewhere.
Lastly, Republicans of all stripes need to show some grace and stop focusing their guns on each other. Never Trumpers should stop disparaging pro-Trump Republicans, and learn to listen. Pro-Trumpers should focus less on tribalism, accept the reality of the moment, reject lawlessness, and work constructively to build on their successes of the past four-plus years. Republicans cannot afford to lose members of either camp. Both sides are guilty of shouting past each other and possessing an “either-or” mentality. How is that working out for you? Both wings of the party are needed for a successful flight.
The hard part is trying to achieve this in the face of media, cultural, and educational headwinds. The questions are, who will lead, and will anyone follow?
Published in General
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 06: Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump pray outside the U.S. Capitol January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress will hold a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators have said they will reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appoints a commission to audit the election results. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
This is from last week’s rally. A person draped in a Trump flag, prostrate in prayer before a cross.
This is sacrilegious.
This is also an abomination of what our Republic was founded on.
The person in this photo certainly had a savior complex when it comes to Trump.
In the short term (maybe a year into the Biden presidency) I’d advise the R’s to be play good defense and capitalize on turnovers by the D’s. The D’s are turnover prone because they try to “force things,” and their signal caller in the White House is well past his prime.
Skip, did you consider the possibility this person is facing east?
Or we might otherwise be seeing something out of context. All I’m saying is we’ve had a lot of strong reaction here lately, let’s not assume facts where we have only an image.
Trump won 74 million votes. During a pandemic. While under relentless media attack. That’s astonishing. That turnout was driven by grassroots enthusiasm. The Dems gamed election rules and racked up 10 million plus extra votes with corporate sponsored vote harvesting to put them over the top. And they still had to cheat.
What is the Republican game plan going forward? Shed 10 or 20 million icky Trump voters but make up for it by recapturing upscale suburban women? By being nicer. Call the Dems socialists. Don’t say or enact anything controversial. Avoid being called racist. Be less bad than the Dems. With lots of corporate money of course.
This image is one of dozens of similar demonstrations seen by many many reporters (conservative and liberal) out there that day.
Moreover, I don’t care if they were facing east or not – one does not drape oneself in a Trump flag to pray. That is sickening.
My goal in 2021 is to call out caveat-speak every time I hear it. I don’t remember people talking like this 20 years ago. It’s a result of PC culture turning everyone’s spines into Styrofoam. I don’t feel the need to begin everything I say with “I don’t always agree with so-and-so, but….” because there isn’t a single person on earth that I always agree with on everything.
Okay. Do what you feel you must.
So, there’s absolutely no possibility that the person shown might be, perhaps, praying for God to help Trump?
I’m glad you absolutely know that, for certain.
But of course you don’t.
Sacrilegious? Maybe. Or maybe he’s coming before our Father representing Trump (as with the drape) and America (as with the flag) and offering repentance and asking for divine assistance.
So you say, so you say. I don’t agree that this is sacrilege just because he’s wearing a flag while praying. He’s wearing a flag, not worshiping it. Heck, I’ve said some prayers for the president and the country while wearing a MAGA hat. Am I sacrilegious too? An abomination?
If this guy is praying to Trump, well then I think he’s wrong to do so. If he thinks of Trump more literally as a Savior then I think he’s wrong to do that too. Are there people like this? Sure. There’s all kinds of people. I dispute that it’s common, though.
It’s open to interpretation. One’s perspectives are going to influence that interpretation.
The same ‘Pearl Clutchers’ that have been wetting & self-flagellating themselves for the past week are the same types that will hire the same guys as last time, remember the “Autopsy of 2012” and golly gee, they recommended Amnesty! They same guys that would repeal Obamacare “Root & Branch!”
Seriously, after Contract with America, after the Tea Party, after Repealing Obamacare, does anyone here believe anything one GOP politician, let alone a collection of GOP politicians, say?
She will likely get a significant number of them to follow her.
“Republicans”, both as elected figures and conservative commentators, have told the Republicans that supported Trump that those Trump supporters are not welcome. That before they can even think about pushing back against Democrats or coming up with something of a policy position that they actually intend to fight for (rather than just giving lip service), Trump and anyone who does not completely disavow him must be attacked.
Well fine if the Republican Establishment (used because I can not think of a better word) doesn’t want Trump’s voters they will find somewhere else to go and someone else to support.
These Republicans who don’t like Trump would have been better served to stay quite or even possibly celebrate the end of the Trump Presidency, without attacks on Trumps supporters most importantly but also Trump himself. Just let it end.
I am astounded that even when confronted with photographic evidence that people are treating Trump with religious reverence that our nation’s founders would have found utterly abhorrent, and which is actually sacrilegious, people here still choose to defend it.
I’m a fan of Skip’s. I have an anecdotal experience about this that is the basis of my opinion, however.
My hometown had 82 different denominations of Christianity, plus a few other religions. Some of them specified particular clothing for their parishioners, others used a bit of a different choice of phrases in their worship, others were more evangelical, some reserved.
I guess because of those experiences I would make no assumptions about what that person is doing, and leave him to his own devices and preferences.
Your opinion/bias is obviously not held universally, and why should it be?
It’s pretty amazing, and makes for a good analogy. The wack job, Q-Anon types in the Party are to the whole of Trump voters as the rioters at the Capitol were to the enormous number of peaceful attendees. I think we’re supposed to see it differently, so maybe I’m wrong.
What if one is already draped in a Trump flag (say, they’re at a Trump rally) and at some point during the day they feel the need to pray. Is that still sickening even if they didn’t wrap themselves in Trump paraphernalia in order to pray?
What if they were at the football game and they still have their cheesehead hat and foam finger still on them? Is that abomination? What if they have Bears facepaint and the Bears flag still on their shoulders – can they pray then without falling short of your standard? I wouldn’t pick that time to pray either, but some people are more conscientious about praying than I am. Or are you just rationalizing to fit the narrative you want?
And you wonder why some people bandy the term “cultists” at this point.
Not even myself!
I dunno, maybe they’re defending it. What I see is you making a subjective assessment of what a picture represents.
If you look at American history you would be hard pressed to find any such displays as normative or acceptable. George Washington specifically eschewed any means of addressing him beyond “Mr. President” putting the Office of the President above the person in the office. Many past presidents tried to portray themselves as part of the common people (even if at times this was a bit of a stretch). Just a scant decade ago we considered Obama’s obvious cult of personality marketing something deeply un-American – the elevation of Obama above the office that he held. Should it be excused now because it is Trump?
Moreover, covering oneself in a personal flag is an ancient symbol of service directly to that person. To do so while at prayer like this is a declaration of personal loyalty to Trump – as a knight to a king. That right there is the sort of demonstration of personal loyalty that the founders specifically rejected in founding a civilian government – no divine-appointed loyalties.
Ok and that is where this whole thing keeps breaking down. The more Pro-Trump side is willing to admit that if this guy is praying to Trump this is a bad thing.
That said, we have absolutely now idea based on your “photographic evidence” that this person is praying to Trump rather than being a Trump supporter who is praying for Trump or for an admittedly unlikely out come.
That you look at a photo and decide, without context or knowing what the guy in the photo is actually doing, that it is concrete proof that a guy is Cult like praying to Trump is why there will not be “peace” in the party for sometime.
Skip, at least four people so far have disputed your characterization of that photo. People are not defending sacrilege or Trump worship. Are you so committed to rationalizing your antipathy that you won’t even entertain a different characterization or something less than certainty of what’s happening in that picture?
I’m not a mind-reader so I don’t know if the guy is praying to Trump or for Trump. Nothing wrong with the latter; everything wrong with the former.
Yeah, you’re right. I think that you need to look in the mirror. I think that you’re the cultist.
You have no idea what is going on in that photo. The person seems to have shown up wearing a Trump flag as a cape, and wearing or holding an American flag. He’s not kneeling before a Trump flag. He seems to be kneeling before a cross, wearing whatever he happened to be wearing.
Are you gonna complain if I happen to pray while wearing a MAGA hat or a pro-Trump shirt?
I’m astounded that you see that in that photo. What would you say if you saw someone tearing his garment and see sackcloth underneath, that he’s worshiping burlap or potatoes? Sorry for half-hearted sarcasm, but no one I know who likes Trump worships him. No one.
Quibbles
It wasn’t simply an open field, there was a hill they had to go up where the Union forces were. If you’ve been at the top of the hill (it’s not huge), but after running and being slaughtered, you’re faced with a hill to go up.
They don’t need to. Republicans are perfectly capable.
Sorry, but the most successful Republican post World War II was Reagan, and you want to tell me that wasn’t personality driven? I know lots of people who voted for him but then disagreed with him on most of what he stood for.
And how could the so-called Party of Trump be a party of personality when most of those who supported him did so despite his personality. Clearly, Trump thought it was about him, but it never was. He was simply a vehicle.
Trump assembled this as a result of being socially conservative and economically moderate. Fiscal hawks will drive the new part of the coalition away. If you’re going to declare war on the welfare state, you will not be assembling that type of coalition and drive away the new voters. The new part of the coalition liked the economic populism of Trump’s agenda including tariffs and trade wars. And then there is immigration. The gorilla in the room that will divide the Republican Party faster than anything.
Good luck with that. I am much more an advocate of Sean Trend’s analysis of attraction and repulsion. Before you can attract, you must shed some in order to attract those who are repelled by those with whom you are in coalition.
Who could be more of a cultist than the apparently Pope SkipSul The First?
Maybe that person doesn’t worship ancient history as much as you seem to?