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.