Win or lose the White House, the Republican Party is at a tipping point with Donald Trump | Opinion
Character. Compassion. Checks and balances.
These are values that Americans have prized in our way of life since our forebears defeated a king and imbued our nation’s government with “just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Now, 248 years later, the nation may elect a president whose insults pervade his speeches and foster fear and division, whose old lies about his 2020 loss being illegitimate persist, whose new lies about FEMA aid being withheld following Hurricane Helene jeopardized rescue workers in North Carolina, and whose stated plans for office include being a dictator but only on day one.
As a clear voting majority in ruby red South Carolina would say, it’s the substance not the style of once and perhaps future President Donald Trump’s message that appeals to so many: He says he’ll bring down the cost of living, lock down the border and tamp down violent crime.
He may get the chance. But win or lose, the Republican Party that has now nominated Trump as its standard-bearer in three consecutive presidential elections will find itself at a crossroads, facing an existential question: What will the GOP look like in the next presidential election?
Will it follow another Trump or will it follow someone like John McCain or Mitt Romney, the 2008 and 2012 GOP nominees who were driven by integrity and principles not id and ego?
Put another way, will it give greater weight to character, compassion, and checks and balances?
That answer will determine the future of the GOP, so it’s not too soon to start thinking about it. If Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins on Nov. 5, the GOP will need a new leader. If Trump wins, candidates from both parties will start to position themselves for 2028 immediately. Either way, post-election evaluations on the left will focus on conventional matters of policy and messaging, while soul-searching on the right should zero in on the captain tied to the wheel.
Locally, it’s hard to imagine a surprise in South Carolina’s presidential contest. Trump’s Palmetto State dominance in 2016 and 2020 suggest he will easily win its nine electoral college votes again. But nationally, it’s anyone’s race, which only raises more questions about party identity.
The GOP has long been known for limited government, lower taxes, free trade, global and constitutional values, and the soaring principles of Abraham Lincon’s “better angels,” George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” and Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill.”
Trump’s character, rhetoric and approach have fundamentally changed that. He wants expanded executive powers, not limited government. He supports tariffs economists say will hurt the economy. He prefers American isolationism to defending the world. He attacks free speech.
In a country made by overthrowing a king, Trump has remade the GOP in his king-like image and promised to punish political enemies if restored to the White House. In a party that prefers less government, he has vowed to take more executive action, weakening the powers of Congress that should be on par with his. At this point, it’s honestly hard to imagine a Republican responding like John McCain and single-handedly turning a thumb down to short-circuit anything Trump demands. Candidate Trump asked senators to kill an immigration bill full of fixes, and they did.
The question now is what will the GOP stand for. The question is what will America become.
Everyone associates “Make America great again” with Trump. He actually trademarked the phrase in 2015. But it originated with Reagan, who uttered it repeatedly in his successful 1980 presidential campaign. One difference? Reagan’s appeal famously began with “Let’s” — “Let us.”
Us.
With Trump, there is no us. He cut it. In his 2016 GOP convention speech, he actually said: “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”
I alone can fix it.
The Republican Party’s path from “Let’s” to “I alone” has had many twists and turns, and whether Trump wins or loses this election, the GOP will ultimately be forced to consider important questions about a new direction — about character, compassion, and checks and balances.
Let’s hope it doesn’t forget about them. Let’s hope it doesn’t forget about us.