Trump should stop beating up on Republicans
As my readers know, I have never been a fan of Trump’s pugnacious and braggadocios personality. They are not personality traits I admire in anyone. One of the traits I find most distasteful is his praising or lashing out at others solely based on his standard of personality loyalty at any given moment.
There is a small faction of the public – smaller than the media would like America to believe – who will pitch and yawl at Trump’s expressed whim-of-the-moment. Most people — even most Republicans (including me) — are not so easily swayed. We tend to be grounded in larger principles and beliefs.
If Trump wants to be the leader of the Republican Party – and even again seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States – he needs to stop narrowing his base. He needs to stop judging EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY based on his opinion of the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
I really do not have a problem with pursuing recounts, court cases, and audits. I find them to be rather harmless exercises. Not sure why the Democrats see them as such a threat. If they confirm the outcome of the elections in various regions … great. Democrats should be thrilled. If they uncover some previously undetected vote fraud … great. Who is against correcting the record? None of this is going to move Trump into the White House before 2024 – if then.
I have said that Trump would get my vote in 2024 IF … and that is a big IF … he becomes the nominee of the Republican Party. That puts me in the same situation in which I found myself in 2016 and 2020. I could not vote to empower the radical left that now controls the Democratic Party. Their current policies prove that my voting decisions were correct – at least for a conservative. But IF … another big IF … Trump has credible opposition in the GOP primary, I will most likely not vote for him – as I did not vote for him in the 2016 primary. I did in 2020 primary because there was no opposition, and his appointments and policies were more to my liking than I had anticipated.
I am first a conservative – and vote Republican because it is the only political vehicle in which I can pursue my political philosophy. I could not betray my long-held beliefs by supporting the left-wing Democrat agenda – as a number of my fellow conservatives did. I still do not understand their decision to abandon principles over a personality issue. No conservative can be happy with what we have today.
My desire is to empower conservative principles by empowering the Republican Party. And that means participating in a political operation in which I do not always agree with … or even like … all my fellow Republicans. To be successful, we must have a nominal level of tolerance and unity.
And THAT is where I think Trump has gone off the rails.
When I look at the long list of conservative leaders that he has brutally attacked — and mobilized voter animosity toward – I see a lot of people I have covered for decades. I see lot of people who I admire for all that they have done to pursue conservative principles and Republican interests.
I happen to believe that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has done a very good job for the Party and the conservative cause. He has the record to prove it. Trump’s attacks on him are unseemly.
I have long been an admirer of Vice President Pence. Conservatives were thrilled when Trump selected him – the first hint that Trump would govern to the right. I agree that as the presiding officer, Pence had no authority to decertify anything. That was up to the members.
I like and admire former Attorney General William Barr, Senators Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, and many of the others that Trump has blasted based on only one issue — the outcome of the 2020 election.
I am a pragmatic type. If it takes a Senator Romney to have majority control of the Senate, I will support him in a General Election – although I might vote for someone else in a primary. We do not win elections by tossing grenades in our own foxholes. And we do not empower conservative principles by losing elections to radical progressives.
Trump recently made an after-the-fact “endorsement” of left-wing Democrat Stacey Abrams, who ran against Brian Kemp for governor in 2018. At issue for Trump was Kemp’s refusal to summarily change the vote count in Georgia. Trump was asking Kemp to do something that was not within his authority to do – even if he would like to have accommodated Trump.
Vernon Jones, a former Democrat, is Trump’s candidate against Kemp in the upcoming Georgia primary. If I were a voter in Georgia, I would be inclined to vote for Kemp. His conservative record is impeccable – and he has the best chance of defeating any Democrat. And I do not care that Trump is angry with him.
I may be wrong, but I do not believe the critical mass of Republican voters are going to simply follow Trump’s eclectic and inconsistent – and ever-changing – opinions. They will judge all those state and local candidates on their own impressions and information. At least I hope so.
My advice to Trump is to stop attacking fellow Republicans who may not agree with you on every issue – or that one issue. They have friends, followers, and voters. Many of those were your voters. But the more you attack Republicans on your narrow self-interest, the more you lose support. Personally, I do not care because I do not care if Trump is the GOP presidential nominee in 2024 or not – and I tend to lean to “not.”
Trump is not making any effort to grow the Republican Party. And no matter what the Democrats and their media cronies want people to believe. The GOP is not a cult-of-personality – even if Trump would like to think it is and even if some on the edge of the Republican Party act as they are.
There is no doubt that in a primary, I can think of a lot of Republicans – some Trump likes, some he does not – who I would vote for over Trump. I would base my voting judgment on who I believe can best represent conservative values, grow the Republican Party and win the General Election. Attacking conservative Republicans that I admire is not going to win any points with me.
So, there ‘tis.
I like this writer’s opinion page, usually, am not so sure about this article though. His is an extreme critique of President Trump. He Trump, had
being obnoxious, many times, but considering how many truths that man said fearlessly, that make it possible for millions of Americans to admire him, and no amount of HRC manipulation and a billion spent, could change the voters’ mind! Rude and an-diplomatic he was many times, ah but his common sense truths can’t be denied! Swamp, Deep Stake, Fake News, and the whole world taking advantage of America, and lately he even gave credit to Democrats, ”they stick together, I give them credit for that”.The opposite of what these respectable Reps that this writer mention, in this article. Forever no matter the explanation, they betrayed President Trump, because of his putting foot in his mouth? Don’t think so! That are convinced to be smarter than Trump, they are not. They are mere politicians!
All of Trump’s power comes from Republicans – they made him what he is. They let him put his family members in charge of various parts of the government, and his major donors in the rest. They allowed him to retain control of his hotel in Washington, where foreign patrons shoveled money into his pockets. They gave him a pass about showing his taxes. He played golf at his own course and overcharged Secret Service services, rooms, even fricking golf carts, all of which fed back into his own pockets. They looked the other way while Barr kept Trump’s Russian campaign crimes under wraps. They praised him when he cozied up to Russian, Chinese, Korean, Hungarian and other dictators, while destroying our relationships with traditional allies. They let him off the hook when he tried to blackmail the Ukrainians for dirt on his political rival. They ignored his mishandling of COVID, and are now competing to see who can be worse. 90% of member of Congress continue to repeat the Big Lie that he actually won the 2020 election and Biden lost.
Awww… Trump is being mean to them… So, excuse me while I laugh at the big babies. When you make a deal with the Devil, you don’t complain about losing your soul. It’s gone. Ain’t comin’ back. Find a new line of business where you don’t need one (oh, wait, you’re Republicans in Congress, my mistake).
And Larry, you’re just as complicit as any of those whining Republicans. You make a big deal about “Everybody knows I find his antics distasteful”, you’ve repeated that many times… and yet you’ve given Trump almost unconditional support without acknowledging the damage that he’s done to the country. You’ve supported the Republicans that enabled Trump in the name of “conservatism” – which means nothing to them anymore, their whole agenda is reduced to just holding on to power. Trump has torn down the conventions that kept our country together in good times and bad, but to you it’s “a breath of fresh air”… And in the end, all you can say is “I wish Trump was a little nicer”. That will look good on your tombstone, next to a million or so graves that say “I wish Republicans hadn’t talked me out of getting vaccinated”.
I know you hate frequent flyers who push back and critique; you seem to consider any faithful critics to be “obsessive trolls.” Especially ones who use lots of words to say a bit. Tis funny coming from a guy who touts his career obsession as reason for living while writing an entire piece of gibberish. I do not think your opinion is correct.
“As my readers know, I have never been a fan of Trump’s pugnacious and braggadocios personality.” Why put up with it? Your next sentence usually explains why you will vote for him anyways. You get what I want policy-wise, you get to win, win, win, and that’s the most important part, not how you win. Isn’t it? Easy to shelve those principles when you get to win for doing so, nothing really lost right?
In for a peck, in for a pound Larry. You aren’t holding your nose anymore, you stopped breathing.
At some point, you have to take responsibility for your actions, you can’t pick and choose amongst traits, words, and actions. Just like you said you were for Texas’ abortion lack-of-law but didn’t like the rape and incest forced-to-term aspects. No, Larry, it’s in for a peck, in for a pound. You can’t say the law is mostly OK if it isn’t OK. Forced to have rape babies, forced to have incest babies is not OK, it should have been a barrier to passage, and most certainly, acceptance as you have. Same with Trump. You can’t say “I’ll put up with the biggest liar in the world’s who’s malfeasance in office resulting in America not mounting an appropriate public heath defense causing many Americans to die unnecessarily because he lowered taxes.” At some point you have to own the whole enchilada.
“If Trump wants to be the leader of the Republican Party.” Newsflash Larry: sssssh, Trump IS the leader of the Republican Party.
It certainly ain’t Moscow Mitch nor Insurgent General McCarthy. And who got excommunicated by Trumpism: Paul Ryan, Romney, Cheney, it’s a long list, mostly good Republicans. And it’s been happening for awhile: https://theweek.com/speedreads/866990/4-10-house-republicans-office-when-trump-inaugurated-have-now-quit-lost-seats One Congressmen summed it up: “it just isn’t worth it when they are stalking and terrorizing my family over this.” They are literally being intimidated out of office; it’s not a party of ideas, it’s a party of ideologues.
Larry, 70% of the Republican Party thinks Trump legally won that 2020 election. Thousands of them stormed the Capitol to physically force that issue after attending this man’s rally where he said he would join them in their “walk down to the Capitol,” followed by “You will never take back our country with weakness.” Over 600 have been indicted so far. They didn’t think the election was stolen; they still think he won. Why? Because that’s what he told them.
And you want to tell me he isn’t the leader of all Republicans. Then, who is Larry?
Lyndsey Graham said “Donald Trump was my friend before the riot.” “I’m trying to keep a relationship with him after the riot,” “I still consider him a friend. What happened was a dark day in American history. And we’re going to move forward.” Graham then said what Larry often says is the best way to win: “with Trump, not without Trump.” So keep telling us about what you hold your nose over as Trump leads your party forward based totally on his personality which is now yours as well.
In for a peck Larry, in for a pound.
hello!,I really like your writing so a lot! share we keep up a correspondence extra about your article on AOL? I need an expert on this space to unravel my problem. Maybe that’s you! Taking a look ahead to see you.