Ayatollahs Of The Republican Right

The Ayatollahs Of The Republican Right

By

Leonard Zwelling

It might as well be a religion.

The Republican belief that Donald Trump is the future of the GOP as espoused by Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy is ridiculous.

First, it’s silly because Trump is nowhere near the best candidate the Republicans could run in 2024.

Second, Trump is not even a real conservative with his America First foreign policy of disengagement from the world. This is not at all what the GOP stands for.

Third, the Trump response to the coronavirus was simply inadequate and not serious. Thus he has shown himself to be a poor leader in a crisis although credit should be given to Operation Warp Speed in the development of the vaccines.

Fourth, Trumpism is against everything. It’s against universal health care, against organized immigration, against engagement with the world and against the rule of law and all-inclusive voting. These are not Republican values.

For many of us centrists, the Democratic Party is weaving an ever more socialist web of giveaways that are fiscally irresponsible and inflationary. At a time when unemployment is still recovering from the pandemic job losses, jobs are going wanting for applicants because too many people can live on government welfare better than they could on a low-wage pay check. Do I think minimum wage ought to be higher? I do. Can this be done in one fell swoop without raising prices? That’s doubtful. The housing market is hot with prices rising as well. The last thing we need is another real estate bubble circa 2007-8 or a round of successive inflationary cycles.

The way I see it, classical Republican values of fiscal responsibility, low taxes, restraint in government spending and a strongly projected American power image are more timely now than even in 2016. The GOP is thus in a wonderful position to win both houses of Congress in 2022 and move on to contest the White House against either an aging incumbent, a less than polished vice president, or some other candidate. Yet, rather than have their eye on the prize of winning seven million more votes than the Democrats next time, the Republicans are hovering around Trump as if he were the guy to do it. Heck, it’s likely by then Trump will be in a New York prison.

Now is the time for the rank and file of the real Republican Party to rise up and throw off the chains of Trumpism and coalesce behind someone like Ben Sasse or Jeff Flake or even Liz Cheney. They need to put Trump in the rear view mirror and lead with strength. By 2024, America will be tired of the liberal giveaway. You watch. But if Trump is the answer, I am going to have to wonder what question the GOP was asking itself.

I can think of no better moment for the re-emergence of true Republican values in the face of an ever more liberal Democratic agenda. Equality means equal opportunity not equal outcomes. That’s a Republican value that’s very current. There are better standard bearers than Donald Trump for true conservatism and now is the time for them to make themselves known and heard.