Don't Make Trump Inevitable
There are three groups of politically-engaged people who want to convince you the GOP primary is a waste of time, and that the Republican Party is now owned by Trump: Democratic Party strategists, Donald Trump’s campaign and its most loyal supporters, and a certain kind of Never Trump Republican.
I understand, even as I disagree both as a matter of political strategy and principle, why some Democrats believe it is in their interest to prop up Trump and brand MAGA-Republicans. I’ve spoken out about the cynical tactics that have been employed to empower MAGA by the very people who claim Donald Trump’s candidacy poses an existential threat.
I obviously understand why the Trump campaign wants to convey that he owns the Republican Party. Trump’s profile rests on this idea that he doesn’t lose (I know, I know), and that he knows how to make systems and the people in them subservient to his will. Even more straightforward, if voters believe it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll win the primary, why would they pay attention to the other candidates, or donate to their campaigns? Trump’s campaign slogan should be: “Trump 2024: there’s no point hoping for someone better.”
Here’s the thing though: the primary is one check on Trump that he cannot evade. He will have to run and face voters. Whatever pledges have been signed, whatever evasive tactics his opponents employ to avoid turning off his voters for the moment, Donald Trump does have opponents in this campaign. Serious opponents. His own former Vice President. A current United States Senator. A politically-talented former Governor (sorry, Asa and Chris…I’m talking about Governor Haley). Don’t voters deserve a chance to consider them?
Democrats might be afraid of some of the alternatives to Trump, so some don’t want voters to consider them. Trump’s supporters want him back in The White House, so discrediting even the plausibility of alternatives makes sense. What makes less sense to me, at least as a practical matter, is the stoic, self-congratulatory cynicism of some Never Trump Republicans.
This is (or, perhaps, was) their party. It was a party that they advocated for through Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, maybe even into Trump’s term as president. It seems to me that Never Trump Republicans hold the greatest responsibility for using whatever rightful influence they have to both increase the sense of possibility for this GOP primary, and to advocate and work for an outcome to the primary that does not end with Donald Trump as the nominee. If you’re going to build an entire political profile off of opposing Trump, you should probably actually do the work of opposing Trump.
Instead, I worry that for some the pain of losing the primary in 2016 has led some former party loyalists to become too enamored with their own platforms. In the absence of actual political engagement that is bound by time and space, what is built is not a better political future, but a personal brand. The message that is sent is that the Republican Party—of which they used to advocate for and pressure others into supporting—and Republican voters are now somehow unalterable and beyond redemption. Why not give Republican voters the chance to change their mind? What was the cutoff date at which change became unacceptable?
If we’re going to advocate for democracy, for rule of law, for the constitution, for political institutions and processes, then we have to be voices for a GOP primary in which voters have a real choice to make. For all of the criticism of some of the GOP candidates running for president for not speaking out about Trump enough or supporting the indictments against Trump, etc. etc. (some of which I share, by the way), I must say that I find running against Trump to be a far more potent and courageous critique of him than yet another social media post about how personally forlorn someone is that they “lost their party.” The problem, the lapse in judgment, is that they ever thought the party was “theirs.”
It is in light of this critique of the anti-democratic presumption of the futility of the Republican primary that I want to commend David Brooks, who did exactly what I think someone in his position should do. David watched the debate, looked for a bright spot and pointed at it. The bright spot Brooks saw, (we saw it, too) was former Governor Nikki Haley. Read David Brooks’ column from this past week which is both realistic about the odds of Trump losing the primary, yet clear and vision-casting regarding the possibility of an alternative, better outcome. You could even look at the Republicans involved with the Forward Party or No Labels, who are at least investing in actual alternatives (however plausible), rather than just wearing white robes on the sidelines while using megaphones to decry how muddy everyone is on the playing field.
Those who believe that who serves in The White House matters, and especially those who believe what matters most is that anyone other than Trump is sitting at the Oval come January 2025, now find themselves in the window of opportunity for doing something about it. Voters are barely tuned into the Republican primary yet. As we head toward 2024, and voters turn their attention to the GOP primary, make sure they know they have a choice to make.