With Memorial Day weekend now in the rearview mirror and the meteorological start of summer (June 1) knocking at the front door, Americans will start anew today to assess the state of culture in the land of the free.
It’s safe to say many of us took a break from politics over the three-day respite from the concerns of the present, but just because we didn’t watch as much TV news or take timeout from backyard barbecues and beach time to read the usual pundits’ back-and-forth over polls and Electoral Vote projections – or delve even deeper into the coming Donald J. Trump vs. president senile Joe Biden debates, now less than a month away – doesn’t mean the subject lessened in importance or slipped away.
In the grand scheme of things, the end of May is just a mark on the calendar punctuated by more graduations, the two upcoming party conventions and the tense situation fostered by the animosity between the two most prominent political leaders in the United States. Trump and Biden don’t like each other. Neither do their respective supporters admire those in the other camp. No big ambiguity there.
What was unforeseen was talk re-surfacing about Trump’s potential impact on the future prospects of the Republican Party. You probably recall how, in 2016, gleeful liberals, Democrats and establishment media members (one and the same?) practically broke themselves bellowing with hilarity at Republicans seemingly divided by the ultra-controversial, anti-establishment Trump assuming the steering controls over the Grand Old Party. How many predicted it would mean the end of Democrats’ adversaries?
Well, Trump won the election, improved originalist hold over the Supreme Court (thanks to Trump’s three appointments, of course) and the party held its own in other national-scale contests. We won’t talk about 2018, which was fairly standard for the president’s party losing seats in off-year elections.
But by most objective measures, Trump has left the Republican Party stronger and in better condition than when he first took on his second career in the summer of 2015. Not only did Trump win real policy victories, he paved the way for successful Republican governors to improve the party’s lot in a number of states in addition.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t be nearly as powerful in his domain without Trump having opened the door to stomping on the Democrats in the Sunshine State. But we’re not relitigating the 2024 Republican primaries here. Let’s just concede that Trump’s grip on the GOP is strong and, with his leadership, the party is in good shape to make progress on most levels after this year’s election.
Despite the writing on the wall, there are commentators who still see the Trump-led Republican party’s proverbial glass as half empty. In an opinion piece titled “After Trump’s destruction, how much of the GOP will there be left to save?”, the always reliable for an ugly argument Democrat apologist Juan Williams wrote last week at The Hill:
“The Trump bulldozer has also reduced to rubble the once-sacred GOP belief in the U.S. as a champion to the world for democracy. Trump wants no part of that and takes an isolationist approach, turning his back [on] a conservative principle once held high by Republican presidents named Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush.
“The principled GOP belief in America as a welcome home to people fleeing oppression is also on the trash pile. Trump long ago discarded Reagan and Bush’s effort to update the immigration system to welcome newcomers to a nation of immigrants…
“In today’s Republican Party, there is little evidence that conservative principles matter to MAGA base voters consumed with grievance and anger. How else do you explain elected Republican members of Congress rushing to New York to show solidarity with Trump while he is on trial for falsifying business records to pay hush money to a porn actress?”
Blah, blah, blah. Yes, Juan, you need something to write about that generally avoids touting what a great job senile Joe and company have done. Thanks to the current White House occupant, the old refrain “What have you done for me lately?” has been replaced by a new one, reading “What have you done TO me lately”?
The pre-Trump Republican party that Williams laments was completely taken over by Bush/Romney wishy-washy big government types and Liz Cheney neocons. No wonder the Republican base revolted against the “old” Republicans in 2016. Is anyone, besides Juan, Democrats and establishment bluebloods, sorry that the post-Reagan days are gone?
Besides, I reject Williams’ insinuation that Trump alone has roundly rejected the old Republican/conservative notion that a government that governs best, governs least. Many of the planks within the MAGA agenda are inherently liberty-minded and in line with the hands-off philosophies of the Founding Fathers. While Trump himself will never be remembered as the ideological heir of Patrick Henry and his “Give me Liberty or give me death!” proclamation before the Second Continental Congress in 1775, much of what has been accomplished through Trump’s leadership has had a similar effect.
A second Trump presidency will certainly return the upper echelons of government to demands for accountability and, based on what Trump’s been through, restore the people’s basic rights and natural suspicion of excessive government search and detention authority. The “deep state” needs to be cleaned up and cleaned out. Isn’t this an inherently conservative aim?
And who the heck is Juan Williams to criticize the Republican Party’s movement towards a more populist, America First (anti-neoconservative) orientation?
It’s also correct that Trump would never be considered a true social conservative, but the 45th president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee has brought more victories to the conservative cause than any “true believer” like George W. Bush ever did. Trump came onboard promising to protect religious liberty and to use the presidential bully pulpit to make headway in the battle to save unborn babies’ lives through overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the abortion matter to the states themselves.
Williams is correct – Donald Trump is no principled fiscal conservative, either. But Trump’s administration took an axe to the federal regulatory books and promised to do it again if he comes back to power next year. Trump also helped keep the economy strong through leading the effort to slash taxes where they needed to be cut as well as to prod the nation’s energy producers and their technological improvements to make the U.S. the world’s greatest energy producer and exporter.
Americans aren’t dumb. They know that prices at the gas pump and local store have gone up dramatically since Trump left office, and the inflation flames senile Joe Biden fanned have ruined families. How many newly graduated young adults will be extending their stay at mom and dad’s house because they can’t afford rents let alone to buy a new house for themselves?
Where’s the destruction there, Juan?
In reality, Williams’ article theme should have been, “After [Biden]’s destruction, how much of the [Democrat Party] will there be left to save?” If you don’t believe it, ponder this question: What voter blocs have strengthened their links to the Democrat party because of senile Joe Biden’s (and Barack Obama’s before him) time as president?
In fairness, there have been some. They’ve gotten weirder, too. In no particular order, the broken-down, back-slappin’, hair sniffin’, shoulders massagin’, child repellin’, prodigal son protectin’, senate staffer molestin’, classified records stashin’, and DOJ corruptin’ ancient doofus has bolstered Democrats with:
One, haggish limousine liberals like the crows on ‘The View’. This type doesn’t give a hoot about liberty or facts or fiscal sanity or anything remotely connected with good government, so Biden’s absence of a connection to reality has just made them more adoring of him. The Barbara Streisands and Whoopi Goldbergs of the world are even stronger in the tank for Democrats as are late night talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. Losers, all!
Two, Biden has firmed up the ties between Democrats and the radical, culture-destroying forces of the “alphabet people” as comedian Dave Chappelle has labeled the LGBTQIA+++ (whatever that means) activists. Put it this way, if you’re a freak and you just want to hang with other freaks and be heralded as a hero by the people who run the government (the Constitution be damned!), then senile Joe is your rainbow-flag waving standard-bearer!
Four, leftist billionaires and election fixers. There’ve been many, many reports of the Democrats’ fundraising successes under senile Joe Biden’s reign. It’s one of the reasons why Biden’s so readily held on to power regardless of his deteriorated mental faculties and gaffes – the leftists love the free rein they’ve enjoyed under the Biden/Obama regime.
Five, Biden has provided a niche for Hamas/anti-Israel perpetrators and anarchists to grow and gain power. Want a college protest? How many terrorist sympathizers will fund it for you?
Some of them have hitched their wagons to “climate change” and others, like Bill Gates and his wife, who seek to change the planet by eliminating meat and altering the way that math is taught, but the liberal super-rich have thrived in the new leftist Democrat party. Where does this leave the Democrat union working class? Heading to Trump, that’s where.
Lastly (there are more, but you must stop somewhere), Biden has been a boon to abortion lovers. Thanks to Donald Trump’s newly constituted Supreme Court, the states and people get to govern themselves. The baby-killers of the country aren’t happy! They like to hold signs, picket private homes, yell a lot, threaten people they don’t agree with and make a ruckus of themselves!
Senile Joe has made their lives happier.
So no, Donald Trump has not destroyed the Republican Party or its principles. He’s changed some priorities, but conservatives still dominate. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has wrecked the Democrat party in ways that won’t be easy to repair or reconstitute. Is there a political realignment going on? Evidence suggests that there is.