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.
But that’s just the problem with RINOs. They’re spineless. They don’t fight. They prefer to stab those who supported them in the back. Deplorables don’t trust them and for good reason.
That didn't use to be the case, at least for me. However, it is now the truth as far as I am concerned. For I have now accepted the reality that they do not care about their base whatsoever. They have exposed themselves as the self-serving people that they really are.
[[I’ll tell you what cost us support. The failure of 100’s of republican office holders to stand up for the president.]]
exactly- and why should we support any longer those who betrayed the President, the Republican base, and the nation and ensured that we will never have fair elections again?
Rinos are so corrupt, so out of touch with reality, that they think we will all just forget about how they betrayed us, and will vote for them in upcoming elections-
Time to purge the party of garbage by voting them out- the party just stinks too much now because of them to allow it to continue
Did the 60s Radicals form their own party? No, they simply took over the Democratic Party.
We need to go on a full court press to revamp and re-invigerate each and every state and county Republican Party headquarters and begin preparing for 2022 now. They did a good job getting 75 million to vote for Trump, but we didn’t win. Part of their job is preventing all the dishonesty we saw on the ground. Every Legislature needs to assess their election laws and make sure they do not allow mail in ballots. Absentee voting should only be for those who qualify and must be carefully controlled. All precincts must purge their lists of voters of all but resident citizens - and verify. There is much to do and a short time to get it done. Hop to it!!!
I live in Alabama. I never voted for George Wallace, though I had a few opportunities. My grand-father was a dedicated Democrat and voted for Wallace at every opportunity.
I never had much respect for Wallace, but there is one thing he used to say that has rung forcefully in my head through the years:
There isn't a dime's worth of difference between a Democrat and a Republican
Unfortunately, we have had that lesson pounded in our heads in the last 3 or 4 months. The article has it right. I am a lot more loyal to Trump than the Republican party.
Just so that, once we’re all back on board, they can stab us in the back again? No thanks! Done with the GOP. I said before, only a moron would support the GOP at this point.
I feel weary of all these columnists giving “this is how you should do it” political advice as if they were Ann Landers or Dear Abby. If you think you have great suggestions, go work as a strategist for a campaign.
She's nothing but a GOP hack.
Trump is to blame. Supporters must change. Trump alienated.
If election was free and fair? If Media Matters thugs were not there to say these things were done wrong to deflect their corruption against America? If we weren’t fighting for truth as communist revolutionaries try to have us locked up?
We need our own revolutionary armies. We need to infiltrate feds like they have but be smarter. They have 20, we need 100. We love America!
We need to stop doing business with those who use the money against us. Social media will end because they have only themselves to insult.
We are the majority regardless if what they feed you in the media. 79 million citizens can make a huge difference.
If we don’t hurt them in their pockets and take senate and Congress 2022, we are doomed.
The GOP is dead. You can be the target of political bukakke but I am having no part of it,
“whether it’s possible for Republicans to channel Trump’s brashness in a way that doesn’t also alienate key voting blocs.”
Lol.
Those blocs voted for Trump the first time around AND the second!
But we can’t forget the more important “robot bloc” that votes overwhelmingly for dems.
Gotta cater to the cyber vote.
Hoping the suburban women decide they don’t like it when their daughters cannot play sports or have privacy in the girls’ restrooms at their schools. When the CFS people start removing 4 year olds from their family homes, due to the parents continue to dress them according to their birth gender. When there is a quota for 70% of the school discipline events MUST be issued for White students, just because. When the kids bring home their history books, and there is nothing in there about the USA from 1750-2008, and then it starts up with 0bama.... When the require language in the public schools will be Spanish... ETC
“I think Biden and Harris will bring the suburbs back to us all on their own.”
Agreed, but it won’t help with the Trump voters. These morons actually believe it’s about loyalty to the man. It’s not, it’s about his loyalty to We the People.
Do you think they are up to that? Do you think they can even comprehend it? Let the primaries begin!!!
In Washington there isn’t much of a difference between D’s and R’s. Most of the elected officials in Washington represent themselves and Washington much more than their districts or states. Local involvement with members of the state legislature is the only avenue to positive change. If your State Rep or Senator isn’t focused on election integrity they need to be. Without hardcore election integrity the rest is useless. Also, there needs to be immediate investigation into this past election at every level to expose the truth and prosecute the guilty to the fullest extent possible. Most of these state legislators won’t have the stomach for that unless pushed. So, push them and don’t let up.
Inclusive and welcoming is getting the truth out what the democrat party stands for. We are welcoming and that’s why we have Walkaway,Blexit, muslim and Mexican come into our tent. They figured out democrats promise only to get elected. Democrats are the true party of death, communism and racism.
If welcoming means amnesty and free $$$ over our citizens then no thank you.
We need to form our own party and call it ‘MAGA’...
The GOP only cares about their ‘elites’ in DC...
You are correct.
The GOP in its entirety is a disaster
The Dems must have loaned a package of their Kool-Aid to The Federalist because they obviously have been drinking something.
It’s game over for the GOPe. They had an opportunity to back this President (and I don’t mean Biden) and decided their power in DC was more valuable than doing the people’s bidding.
As the Knight Templar said in the Indiana Jones movie: “Choose wisely”.
They didn’t
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.