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Can the Republican Party Afford to Exclude LGBTQ Individuals?

July 05, 2023 , ,

The DeSantis War Room Twitter account, a Rapid Response team for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis caused quite a stir when they published a video attacking former President Donald Trump for apparently being too cozy with the LGBTQ community. While many defended the video, others in the conservative camp blasted the footage as deceptive and even homophobic.

This current brouhaha between Team DeSantis and Team Trump reflects an overall reality happening on the right, which raises questions about the future of the party when it comes to the LGBTQ community.

RedState’s Brittany Sheehan wrote:

The video opens with a spliced clip of then-candidate Trump at the National Republican Convention in 2016. In the DeSantis cut, the video shows Trump saying, “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens.” But, the clip doesn’t show the entire quote or context, although the screen shows the words “ISSUE: GLOBAL TERROR.”

The video, just like CNN’s “Fine People” hoax, cut out the rest of Trump’s words: “As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.”

The video also mentions Trump campaign shirts that read “LGBTQ for TRUMP,” emphasizing that support for Trump extended beyond the LGBTQ community. Another clip shows Trump agreeing to let Caitlyn Jenner use any bathroom in Trump Tower.

Many on the right criticized the video, including the Log Cabin Republicans, Richard “Ric” Grenell, Caitlyn Jenner, and others.

Grenell called the video “undeniably homophobic.” The Log Cabin Republicans argued that the video, and DeSantis’ rhetoric, would cause the party to lose voters. “This old playbook has been tried in the past and has failed – repeatedly,” the group said in a statement.

Brendan Buck, a former adviser to House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, also slammed the video, claiming that it does not represent the future of the party. It does sound funny coming from someone who represents the establishment, which was responsible for alienating LGBTQ individuals in the first place, but we know what they say about broken clocks, right?

During an appearance with Ana Cabrera on MSNBC, Buck said the video was “the kind of thing that you would expect from a fringe candidate” and not a mainstream contender:

He continued, “I don’t think it’s good politics. Look, the Republican Party has had a bad history on these issues, but I’m fairly confident that we’ve moved forward quite a bit. And that what Ron DeSantis is talking about is not the future of the Republican Party.”

Buck added, “The one caveat that I will say that maybe this is, there is some strategy here for Ron DeSantis. Ron DeSantis’s entire brand has been built around making enemies. Getting people on the left, not to like him. And if I’m looking for a rationale for this, it’s that he was throwing out more red meat to stir up controversy, to remind people that he has made a lot of enemies on the left. Who your enemies are is currency in the Republican Party today.”

Brad Polumbo, a libertarian journalist and podcaster, told The Hill that he previously considered supporting DeSantis, but this video has given him pause.

“It’s like he’s going mask off,” he said. “The cat’s out of the bag.”

“I’m somebody who has my fair share of policy disagreements with DeSantis, but I was considering voting for him in the primary before he entered the race officially,” Polumbo continued. “Since then, he’s done thing after thing that really makes me increasingly write off that possibility.”

It is important to note that it is not known whether DeSantis approved of the video. But as of this writing, he has not disavowed it. The fact that it was spread by his rapid response team could suggest he is not opposed to the message in the footage.

DeSantis appears to be banking on the belief that most conservatives share his concerns about progressive ideology infiltrating K-12 schools, particularly regarding gender identity and sexuality education. He is right in this instance. Many on the right also oppose the idea of schools and medical professionals offering puberty blockers and surgical treatments to children as part of “gender-affirming care.” However, this does not imply a desire to alienate members of the LGBTQ community, especially those who agree on the issue of protecting children.

If DeSantis intends to defeat Trump, his strategy of attacking the LGBTQ community may prove ill-advised. Despite the Republican Party’s history of mixed positions on LGBTQ rights, Trump, as a former president, has been more friendly towards the community than most other Republican leaders. Alienating LGBTQ voters could potentially backfire for DeSantis, as Trump’s broader appeal and comparatively positive standing among the LGBTQ community might be hard to surpass.

At the end of the day, this is no longer the Republican Party of the 1990s.

This situation also highlights a broader challenge for Republicans and conservatives. In order to maintain their influence and relevance in American politics, they can’t continue excluding various groups of Americans. The party cannot afford to solely court a narrow swath of voters; doing so will inevitably lead to political irrelevance. To remain a significant force, the Republican Party needs to broaden its appeal to a diverse range of voters. It appears DeSantis believes the old way of doing this is still the best way to appeal to the masses. But all indications over the past decade have shown something far different.



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