
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Division is never good for marriages and political parties. ; Abraham Lincoln lifted a biblical admonishment that a “house divided cannot stand.” ; And then there is that old truism, “united we stand, divided we fall.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Make no mistake about it. ; Heading into the 2024 presidential election, Democrats are essentially united, and the Republicans are not. ; That means Democrats have a cohesive and simple message, and Republicans do not.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There is not likely to be a divide in the Democratic Party as we saw in 2016 and 2020 – with the Bernie Sanders faction of the Party in direct conflict with the old guard establishment. ; That will not be the case this season. Without a dramatic turn of events, President Biden will enjoy a coronation rather than a competitive contest. ; As long as he is able to wheeze and wabble, he will be nominated for a second term.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That is not the case with the Republican Party. ; It is deeply divided – and not just in two. ; The GOP is suffering from three major fractures. ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are those dedicated to President Trump – the MAGA crowd. ; MAGA has become an enduring label for those supporting the former President and a pejorative for those who hate him – Democrats and some Republicans.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The latter comprises the second faction – and it is composed of two sub-groups. ; Those who remain in the party – but will not support Trump as the nominee under any circumstances – and those who left the GOP to join the Democrats or become so-called independents.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The third faction is those who are members of the Republican Party in good standing – and will support the Republican nominee no matter who it is as the better choice or the lesser of two evils. ; They, too, are divided into two categories – those who are Republican loyalists, period … and those who are loyal to conservative principles above partisanship. ; Those who will distinguish between far left-wing Democrat policies and conservative policies are best represented by a Republican President. ; (By way of disclosure, I am in the latter group).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It seems clear that if the nominee is not Trump, a portion of the MAGA crowd will stay home on Election Day or skip the top of the ticket. ; If Trump should be the nominee, a lot of the second faction will skip voting or even cross over and cast their ballot for Biden.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unless someone can achieve general appeal among the factions – essentially uniting the Party – the GOP will lose the 2024 election. ; The nation’s voters are so evenly divided that neither party can afford to lose support at the ballot box. ; Division makes the get-out-the-vote efforts even more challenging.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, who is out there on the Republican side who can unite the GOP – at least enough to win the election? ; Damned if I know. ; In the current pantheon of potential Republican candidates, there is no one person who demonstrates that ability. ; That does not mean that there are no unifiers among the group. ; There are a number of POTENTIAL unifiers. ; However, the question is: Will they rise to that?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First, we have to admit that Trump cannot – or will not (it makes no difference) – be that unifier. ; He bears some responsibility for the current division &#8212; more or less, depending on your view of him. ; At this juncture, it is hard to imagine that he can pull in a enough voters to win a General Election in 2024. ; Okay, nothing is impossible, but the impossible does not happen a lot.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Of course, a lot of folks are looking to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be the guy. ; He could – unless he gets painted into the MAGA corner. ; Staking a firm claim in any of the three factions is a receipt for defeat. ; It is what a unifier does NOT do.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As much as I like DeSantis, I am concerned that he is taking up residency in the hardline MAGA faction. ; It may have less to do with policies than rhetoric – how he talks about his policies. ; And also, how his enemies talk about them. ; There is no doubt the left-wing media sees DeSantis as a threat. ; That is why he is getting the one-sided prosecutorial treatment from the left-wing media – almost as much as Trump. ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Any who follows DeSantis knows that he is not Trump – not in personality, demeanor, veracity, and politics. ; As voters get to know him – as they do in Florida – he could become the pre-emptive candidate for Republicans. ; ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are other potential GOP candidates who could bridge the gaps in the Republican Party – and be a unifier. ; They have yet to develop a national public image, so we do not know how they will roll out to the public. ; Among those are former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and others.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I am not sure that Vice President Pence can be a unifier. ; Not that he does not have the right instincts, but he has been too entwined in the issues that have divided the nation. ; There are too many in the GOP – and in the country in general – who have formed a dislike for the guy, whether he deserves it or not.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There is one guy who is not in the race – and may not ever be – who connects well with the public. ; I have seen him on several news shows, and he comes across as well-informed and highly credible. ; That guy is John Bolton, the former White House National Security Adviser. ; Most of the public have no fixed image of him. ; He is relatively unknown to the voting public. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But if Bolton gets into the race – and voters get to see more of him – he could end up being an attractive candidate to a broad spectrum of the public. ; Yes, he is a very dark dark horse at this time, but that can change. ; He is in no more unlikely a position than were Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton in the early days of their presidential bids – or even Trump.  ; Bolton would be my wild card pick.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In addition to “who” can unite the GOP, the question is “how?” ; I think you go back to the Ronald Reagan model. ; He was also one of the most demeaned presidential candidates. ; He was said to be too far to the right … too crazy … too out of touch … too dangerous. ; So unacceptable – so they said – that President Carter and the Democrats hoped and prayed he would be the Republican nominee. ; They got their wish, but it did not turn out as they expected.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Reagan not only defeated an incumbent President – he was only one of the 14 (out of 46) presidents to serve two full terms. And in his second run, he carried 49 of the 50 states with a landslide popular vote of 59 percent. ; It seems logical that Republican presidential candidates should at least study Reagan – his policies and personality – to divine what made his so popular and such a unifier with the American people. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I can offer a few hints. ; He never viciously attacked his opponents personally – and most certainly not his fellow Republicans. ; In fact, he proffered the 11th Commandment … never speak ill of a fellow Republican. ; He spoke proudly of the American people as an exceptional political culture. ; And he never attacked the symbols of unity – the flag, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance. ; </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He had a sense of humor with an iconic smile – and never a sneer. ; He presented positive programs and proposals without characterizing the opposition’s platform as un-American and evil – just wrong. ; He never viewed Democrat voters as stupid, cultists and dangerous to the Republic. ; Reagan unified the nation because he constantly spoke of the goodness of all the American people without dividing them into warring tribes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I think the American people are craving a return to civility, decency, and veracity in our political dialogue – and the candidate who provides that will win them over and restore America’s cultural unity. ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, there ‘tis.</p>

Who Can Unite the GOP? Anyone?
