Posted on 01/22/2021 12:05:47 PM PST by Kaslin
What will help Republicans unite this difficult coalition is packaging an anti-establishment temperament and policy agenda in leaders of strong character.
With Donald Trump out of office, Republicans now face the difficult balancing act of retaining new voters he brought into the party while bringing back voters he alienated. Remarkably, Trump brought former Democrats and union workers and minorities into the GOP. He also oversaw some bleeding in the suburbs. To stop the tide of illiberal cultural leftism, Republicans can’t afford to write off either group.
I don’t know what degree of political involvement Trump will have going forward. I do know, however, that the Trump base is much more loyal to the man himself than to the Republican Party. That’s a lesson the Beltway establishment seems to forget.
Appealing to Trump’s base while also appealing to educated suburban voters might seem like a mutually exclusive exercise. For Trump himself, I think it was. His utter singularity creates advantages and disadvantages, which is illustrated by this exact predicament. The brashness that gave Trump appeal with new demographics is what hurt him with groups like suburban women.
The question, then, is whether it’s possible for Republicans to channel Trump’s brashness in a way that doesn’t also alienate key voting blocs. It won’t be easy, but I think the answer is clearly yes. Not only is that formulation politically advantageous, it’s also the moral path forward. Without the baggage of Stormy Daniels or bizarre tweets about Mika Brzezinski, Republicans should embrace an aggressively anti-establishment temperament and agenda.
Take this fascinating prescription from the infamous 2012 RNC Autopsy report: “When it comes to social issues, the Party must in fact and deed be inclusive and welcoming. If we are not, we will limit our ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with us on some but not all issues.”
“Inclusive” and “welcoming” were code words for “socially moderate.” That Republicans believed they could stitch together a diverse coalition of voters under the pastel banner of “growth and opportunity” (the report is literally in pastels) by ignoring or moderating on social issues is remarkable to think about now. Just two years after the report’s release, a big chunk of the GOP’s base proved that wrong, flocking to Trump not in spite of but because of his political incorrectness.
To the extent it’s possible, Republicans must absolutely seek to elevate leaders of good character who represent conservative values. That is not mutually exclusive with fighting back aggressively in the left’s culture war.
Cancel culture is an umbrella issue with some room for policy solutions and a lot more room for cultural solutions. But it’s a hugely important issue for working people, in rural America, in suburbs, and in cities. What happens to the mom who politely questions their public school’s embrace of the pro-trans book “I Am Jazz” in curriculum for elementary students? What happens to the father who loses his job or gets a suspension over a Facebook post about Colin Kaepernick? When cancelations unfold in the media, Bari Weiss can start a Substack. When they unfold outside the Acela Corridor, cancel culture’s victims lack powerful platforms to push back.
As we’ve reported, whether these hypotheticals are happening at a substantial rate (and I think they are), suburban voters worry about them. Who wouldn’t? Kamala Harris used to discourage Democrats from obsessing over identity politics because what keeps people awake at 3:00 a.m. has more to do with mounting bills and health care. Maybe. But these days, I don’t think “cancel culture” is just an abstract concern that looms large over newsrooms. I think it keeps a lot of people up.
All that is to say, part of what voters in these ostensibly disparate blocs want from the GOP is a fighting spirit. It’s not just about NAFTA or a child tax credit, although done correctly the latter is a good example of policy solutions that can appeal to both groups. The increasingly right-of-center working-class agrees with the Tea Party base on one point: They have zero tolerance for politicians who make fiery speeches at CPAC about fighting back and then vote with the establishment in D.C.
It’s not just about cancel culture. It’s about the media. It’s about immigration and corporate welfare and the Second Amendment and foreign entanglements and nonsensical leftist notions of gender. It’s largely about temperament but with some serious policy implications in terms of developing a pro-family, working-class agenda.
Of course, it’s not as simple as standing at a podium and laying into CNN. Suburban voters want the GOP to stand against Democrats’ wild spending priorities. That will come into some tension with the working class, along with other conflicts. But what will help Republicans unite this difficult coalition is packaging an anti-establishment temperament and policy agenda in leaders of strong character.
Future Republican standard-bearers needn’t tweet about the size of their nuclear buttons or act like Jeb! Bush to keep the advantages of Trumpism and ditch the baggage. They just need voters to know they’re fighting. The good news is that this is both a politically expedient strategy and a morally correct one.
Nothing new, like never showing FDR in a wheelchair.
Horse puckey! If the senate convicts, the GOP will never get Trump voters back. Looks like that’s going to happen. GOP commits suicide.
No GOP votes from me.
Correct, the GOP is assigned the minority party role by the oligarchy. The 2020 election has proven beyond doubt that elections and the two party system are a sham.
Like Fox News, “We did it”, and other traitors, they must first show repentance by jettisoning snakes in their midst.
Fox wants us back with token action but we won’t fall for it. We won’t return until all the traitorous SOBs are gone, and they include in no particular order:
Wallace, Brazile, Roberts, Smith, Williams, Harf, Fatuvo
A true fighter is by definition a son of a bitch. Colin Powells can never be George Pattons.
And you watch, if they do convict Trump, you will see the GOP start looking even more Trumpian than Trump to try to fool people to come back to them.
Don’t fall for it.
The article ends with reference to the nuclear button. That brag was aimed at N Korea and to great effect.
When can we stop worrying about democrat smokescreens.
I’ll tell you what cost us support. The failure of 100’s of republican office holders to stand up for the president.
I think most who did claim to support Trump are frauds as well.
This beoitch, sounds like the ‘typical’ GOPe adviser, gag me with a maggot.
THE GOP is represent by a coven of backstabbers,
child rapists and their leader
Ronna McDaniel who says the only path:
“Republicans must bow before and
kiss the toes, as she does, of Sen. RAT RomneyCARE.”
Burn it down
Burn it to the ground
Then, burn the ground
Here is no reason to vote Republican. There is no reason to vote at all.
Period.
So lemme get this straight- the GOP BETRAYS us and the nation and Trump- turning on us all, crapping all over us and destroying fair elections forever, and now they want our support so they can remain in office in 2 years?
As i said in previous posts- when the GOP call asking for money- I will tell them to cease and desist calling because I no longer support traitors to the nation. We’re done giving money, and support, to those that hate us-
The GOP is dead. They just don’t know it yet. I will never vote ever again for whatever few years I have left on this earth. Why bother voting, when the Republicans have said it’s okay for someone else to vote in your place anyway.
This is a great read.
You’re probably correct, but this past fall post election caused a lot of those who voted Republican to take crash courses in the constitution over what we were seeing. I would say most know the constitution at this point better than most of the Republican house and senate. 75 million feel betrayed by all but 134 house members and 6? Senators. Aside from those that stood with the president, the rest can simply pound sand. Most are looking towards a Patriot Party and looking to oust most of the existing GOP at the first opportunity. Most know that out of the majority of republicans elected in the past twenty years. Only Trump kept the majority of his promises. We all know the GOO fought him at every turn and most of his accomplishments had to be done by executive order. We all remember the big thing they all campaigned on to get re-elected in 16 and afterward being given a mandate, sat on their hands and did nothing. We also watched their for show hearings with big tech which resulted in nothing. We saw how they helped the coup and overthrowing a president by saying nothing. The mascot of the republicans is an elephant because elephants have long memories. Yes, we do. We remember everything the republicans have done in the past ten years which put them at odds with their constituents. Now they must reap what they have sown. For good or bad. But we will never be treated again as the useful idiots they think we are. They have lost any good will we have allowed them.
Neither the GOP nor FOX has a hope in hell of me coming back. I hate them only slightly less than I hated Osama bin Laden. They are murderers in my eyes.
What, all 27 of them? Versus the millions he brought in?
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