Over the past week, it should have become incredibly obvious to registered Republicans that the elected GOP and the party itself no longer represents its constituency.
It began with more than 20 members of the party voting against Representative Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House. Jordan, who has been popular with the base and one of the most vocal members of Congress over the past seven years, should have been a shoo-in if the party pays attention to its base, but they simply don’t care.
The second thing of note that happened was Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell simply rolling over for the Biden proposal to send another $106 billion dollars to our current “forever wars” and “other projects.” Broken down, the $106 billion would mean $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel, and $30.1 billion for other projects like “border security,” whatever that might mean to an administration with a wide-open southern border.
There was no push back, no negotiation – fiscal conservatism be damned – Sen. McConnell just said yes to $106 billion, over $75 billion of which is for other countries – keep in mind, there was discussion when in 2018, Trump only requested $18 billion over 10 years to complete our southern border wall.
Thirdly, there was war hawk and frequent strongly written letter author, Senator Lindsey Graham who led a bipartisan delegation to Tel Aviv, Israel for a photo op amidst the ongoing war. When questioned by the conservative news outlet, NewsMax, Graham showed a bit more of his true colors.
Upon completing a standard talk about “how we all need to come together,” NewsMax’s Israel correspondent, Daniel Cohen asked Graham why there wasn’t stronger condemnation of pro-hamas Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib continuing to leave a false tweet up about Israel bombing a hospital.
Graham’s response? Yelling to, “Get this guy out of here!” Very Republican of the being who is known for claiming he’ll “get to the bottom” of issues in his regular appearances on Fox News’ Hannity.
When no one moved to remove the dual United States and Israeli citizen, Graham walked the statement back claiming things were just a bit stressful and his emotions were, “raw.”
It doesn’t take a deep dive into those three consecutive actions from the current Republican party to know that they are actively choosing not to represent their base – or even any loose definition of conservatism. Whether it be electing a popular Speaker of the House, being fiscally responsible and not supporting what could be the beginning of WW3 or shutting down a reasonable question from a conservative reporter, not a single actual registered Republican would claim this is what they voted for.
But since Trump was in office, ticking off campaign promises the way successful businesses are run, this has been par for the course for the GOP.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, even if the House of Representatives had a Speaker, would Republicans be moving forward with the impeachment of Joe Biden?It seems like every week, especially when Kevin McCarthy was Speaker, they uncovered piles of damning criminal evidence against the current resident of the White House – but what did they do with it? When the House GOP finally opened an impeachment inquiry – they were slow walking it, unlike how former Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved Trump’s impeachments (with significantly less evidence) along as quickly as possible.
It was a carrot on a stick for the Republican base – they never had the intent to impeach Biden, just fundraise off the proposition.
Over the past 2 decades that I’ve spent in politics, the difference between the parties became evident – Democrats would move the ball when they had it – Republicans wouldn’t.
Because Democrats fight for their bases interests – no matter how crazy they may be, and Republicans write strongly worded letters.
The problem now is that the solution to the problem will take longer than many have the patience for. It’s not about just nominating new members of the Republican Party – if you want to make a difference, it’s going to mean taking it over from the bottom all the way up.
The current chairwoman of the RNC, Ronna Romney McDaniel, whose accomplishments include losing elections, starting a podcast and getting raises for herself, isn’t going anywhere any time soon – and the only way to flip the party in the direction of the people is to start replacing the people who keep her, and the current do-nothing members of Congress in power.
Who are those people? The heads of your local Republican party clubs – and the representatives of your State Republican party. If you don’t feel like the current party represents you, it’s time to start showing up to the local meetings and taking over. Get your church groups, neighbors and friend groups who agree with you – and go get those people out of their minor offices.
It will take time, but ultimately, this is the long-term strategy to reset the GOP and make them work for the people – not themselves.