Good morning,
DEAR REPUBLICAN FRIENDS,
I’ve been pretty hard on you lately and you have called me on this. I want you to know that, although we have our disagreements, I am not calling you out because of your core beliefs. Your serious engagement with the issues of our time and your active participation in a constructive dialog to move the country forward is missed. But, of late, the party has been an instrument of obstruction, election denial and conspiracy theory. I have been hard on you because you have embraced a virulent, hateful populism that is ripping at our American values through a glorification of grievance, seeks to undermine our democratic values, has attempted to make our judiciary simply another political branch of the government, tells lies about the sanctity and validity of our elections, and glorifies guns. And while you all certainly do not foment violence, the former president and front-runner for the nomination incites violence.
Most of you embraced Donald Trump, a flawed flim-flam man, without an ounce of principle in his body, solely out for his own aggrandizement—a man who has brought shame to our country and pits us against each other. Some are ardent MAGA members and others silently go along because he offered (and may be perceived by some as still offering) the clearest path to power. Many of your leaders bravely informed us of his unfitness for office and/or later condemned his actions on January 6th and the weeks leading up to that tragic date—only to abandon principle and reengage with Mr. Trump when it was thought to be politically expedient.
The corrosiveness of this “new” Republican wrong-turn demands that the party reclaim its proud traditions and values by opening the windows and letting the sunshine in. Ironically, this is not the first time the Republican Party has been faced with a demagogue. In the prior cases, the leadership of the party was up to the challenge. While it took some time, the party rejected Joe McCarthy (“have you no decency, sir?”). Then the party, under the leadership of Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley, rejected the John Birch Society as being hate driven, racist and antisemitic. Finally, when it became clear that Richard Nixon had to go, a congressional delegation met with the president and said that he no longer could count on them for support. In the current environment, toadies travel to Trump’s golf resort to kiss the ring and seek his endorsement.
This time around, while it is widely reported that the party leadership understands the crimes of Mr. Trump, secretly repulsed by his antics and statements, his fomenting of a coup, his abuses of the office, and his obstruction of justice, there is an eerie silence. The party couldn’t muster enough votes to remove Mr. Trump from office when his crimes were laid out for all to see. The party wouldn’t participate in the January 6th committee (other than a feeble attempt, which was rebuffed by House leadership, to appoint Trump acolytes and apologists). Meanwhile, a majority of Republican candidates up for election this last election supported the lie—proven false many times in various recounts, courthouses, and independent analyses—that says our American electoral system is flawed, there is a cabal of the “deep state” and the election was stolen from Mr. Trump. There is no honor and no sense of responsibility for the consequences of their actions (or inactions).
And then, as if riding a white steed to the rescue, along came the American people in the most recent election. The public took notice of the lack of bravery evidenced by the party leadership and the right-wing media. This election repudiated Mr. Trump (he, of the famous, “you’re going to be so tired of winning”). Mr. Trump brought defeat to his party in 2018, 2020 (when he lost the presidency), and now this year. Symbolic of this defeat is that Brad Raffensperger, the Republican Secretary of State in Georgia, was victorious, as were all the Secretaries of State (save one in Indiana) who ran on election denial. The American people told us that:
They were willing to ticket-split and make independent decisions on candidates’ fitness for office
They weren’t going to elect election deniers
The federal elections, but also many of the State-wide races, were a referendum on the fitness of Biden vs. Trump. Little policy was discussed, yet they made their pick
The Supreme Court was on the ballot. The overreach in limiting personal liberty on a platform of religious zealotry, and the disingenuous reading of “originalism” to serve a political agenda, as reflected in the vote against Roe and indicative of future possible decisions, was a factor.
I want you to know that I respect you for your beliefs and forgive you for your past blind embrace of Trump, even when you knew better. With the election in the rear view mirror, it is high time you stand up for the proud principles of the Republican party that we recall—a party that never would have accepted a party platform that in 2020 contained not a single statement of position, other than fealty to Mr. Trump. You once stood for fiscal discipline, yet the party votes for huge tax expenditures, in the form of tax breaks for small segments of their constituency. You once stood for America maintaining a robust leadership role in the world, yet the party endorsed Mr. Trump’s abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (essentially ceding the South China Sea) and weakening of NATO (which has kept us safe since World War II and which Mr. Trump described as irrelevant). And while we can argue about the Afghanistan draw-down, let’s recall Mr. Trump promised it would happen in short order, but wasn’t reelected to pursue his stated goal. Now, Speaker-to-be McCarthy has indicated the United States may begin stepping back from support of Ukraine.
You once were libertarian in your acknowledgement of the rights of the individual, ensuring their personal decisions would not be circumvented by the state. The case against gay marriage restrictions was argued by the conservative attorney Ted Olson, who represented George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore. The party now thinks the medical, religious and emotional questions surrounding the right to choice should be superseded by broad state bans. But now that the states have the right to legislate abortion’s acceptable limitations, some in Washington, who once supported states’ rights, are looking to adopt a national ban. So much for states’ rights. Some smart people now are betting that the Supreme Court will imbue fetuses with human rights, effectively ensuring a broad national ban on abortion.
You once believed in law and order, but many in the party vilify the FBI, the Justice Department and other instrumentalities of public safety, all in the service of Mr. Trump and his lies. You once believed people should be safe on the streets of our cities, but the party, under the thrall of the NRA and gun lobbies, now want anyone and everyone to be able to carry weapons in public, anywhere, without restriction. You once believed in freedom of speech and expression, but now countenance the diminishment of the free press as the “enemy of the people” and the banning of books in schools and public libraries.
I understand that you believe many of the excesses of the left are to be resisted. You believe we need to return to some values that may have been forgotten—like appreciation for our history and traditions, and an embrace of the laudable values of merit, hard work, and sacrifice. You think we’ve gone too far in academia in squashing alternate views, that faculty are scared to speak their mind or engage in debate, for fear of being called out and canceled. You think the machinations we’re going through for gender-neutral pronouns and the performative art of the liberal elites has gone to far. It’s hard to disagree. You want to limit spending (although supporting spending for your causes and tax breaks). I understand that spending is rampant and it bodes for dangerous things in the future unless we rein in our impulses to simply spend. You are right that we have to educate university students and others who seek to thwart the free exchange of ideas in academia and people who demand that ideologies be taught in schools at the expense of basic math, literacy, and critical reasoning skills.
The Republican party once was the party of Lincoln, who started as a unionist who sought to avoid abolition earlier in his career, eventually becoming an abolitionist who issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It was the party of Roosevelt and Taft, as they fought against the Trusts and economic inequality. It was the party of Eisenhower, who backed up civil rights by calling out the national guard, having previously led our troops to victory over fascism. It was the party of Nixon—yes Nixon—who extended the olive branch to China and presided over the largest expansion of the social safety net in history. It was the party that brought Reagan, who demanded that Gorbachev “tear down this wall,” and George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, who maneuvered the “soft landing” of Communist Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
Now the party has been burned for having elevated people to run for office who believe QAnon is a thing, that there is a vast conspiracy by the “deep state” (whatever that is), that there is no greater sin than Hillary Clinton keeping a server in her basement (but Hunter Biden’s laptop will set us free). It nominated people who can barely string a sentence together, don’t understand American history, are con-men on TV who have had to pay out judgments due to bad medical advice, people who say the most outrageously bigoted things and who promised that “a Democrat will never win an election here again,” if only people voted for him. The party has been working at the state level to limit what nonpartisan election officials can do, while broadening the rights of partisan legislatures to count votes, disqualify votes, certify elections, and overturn the will of the people.
As Peter Bain notes: “The Republican Party today stands against what the clear majority of Americans believe and barricades itself behind “Originalism.” They proclaim loudly that the Founders “intended” the Constitution to support whatever absolute position is at issue. They pretzel themselves into supporting both the idea that life begins at birth, and therefore the government can intrude into what may well be the most intimate decision a woman may ever have to make, while also asserting that guns are a “fundamental” right, and therefore the government has no right to insert itself into this most deadly equation. Or, as George Carlin so rightly nailed it decades ago, ‘The government cares about you without limit, right up until you’re born and then, baby, you’re on your own!’”
I honestly don’t know what the party stands for anymore. It has squandered its birthright in the pursuit of power. It is rooting against the “home team” and refuses to engage in serious debate or negotiation toward meaningful legislation. But what does it stand for now? Certainly not freedom and individual rights. Certainly not leadership in the world. Certainly not freedom of speech. Certainly not an independent judiciary. And certainly not fiscal prudence. These are all things the Republican party once held dear, but they’ve traded it all in for fealty to Donald Trump and fear of their own electorate. They haven’t spoken truth to their constituents or each other. That said, there are notable examples of those on the center-right who respect their constituents enough not to propound lies and to present reasonable governance and problem solving proposals. We need to see more of them.
Now the people have spoken to the party. The message is that a majority of us have had enough of the histrionics and lies. The message is that moderate candidates on the right can win in tough, Democratic-leaning states and districts. The party needs to lance the boil of Trumpism, xenophobia, and attacks on our democratic institutions and move on toward healing and being a reasonable center-right party of values.
I don’t just want our Republican leaders to be better Americans. I also want them to be better Republicans.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives:
BRAVO! This was a very clear summary of what has happened to the values and the platform of the Republican Party. I would love to see both parties get back to presenting true platforms for voters to study before casting their votes.
Excellent piece Glenn. Thanks very much. It makes you miss folks like Bob Dole, doesnt it. Sitting in the elevated gallery in the US Senate in 1994, Senator Dole was the one senator on the floor, milling about with others, who gave us a hearty wave and a big smile. I'll never forget that.
Are there any actual statesmen in the Republican Party today? At least statesmen who are not flying under the radar. Other than Liz Cheney? I'm sure there must be. I liked Kasich from Ohio, though I haven't heard from him in a while. Others know the players better than I do.