Over 100 Never-Trump Republicans, including some who used to work for Donald Trump, have declared that if the Republican Party refuses to leave the cult and change course, they will begin taking steps to create a new party.
As expected yesterday, Donald Trump got his money’s worth from the party he bought and paid for after his merry band of sycophants removed Liz Cheney from her position as chair of the Republican Conference for her lack fealty to Donald Trump when, in a display of the cowardice and capitulation that identifies today’s Republican Party, members met behind closed doors and removed Cheney on a voice vote to ensure that no one would be officially “on the record” for doing the bidding of Dear Leader.
This sellout to Trumpism resulted in a letter headlined: “A Call For American Renewal,” where over 100 Never-Trump Republicans announced their intention to begin exploring a move toward creating a new, breakaway party.
“The Republican Party is broken. It’s time for a resistance of the ‘rationals’ against the ‘radicals,'” said Miles Taylor, one of the organizers. Taylor wrote an anonymous opinion piece in the New York Times in 2018 headlined: “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” when he worked for Trump.
“I’m one of those in the group that feels very strongly that if we can’t get the GOP back to a rational party that supports free minds, free markets, and free people, I’m out, and a lot of people are coming with me,” said Taylor.
Other officials signing the letter include former ambassadors, governors, congressional members, and Cabinet secretaries. A few notable names are former Bush-era Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, ex-Reps. Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble, and Mickey Edwards, as well as former Govs. Tom Ridge and Christine Todd Whitman.
The Never-Trump Republicans’ threat to create a new party is good news, but it’s bad news if breaking from Trump is the only objective. Yes, Donald Trump destroyed conservatism when he hijacked the GOP, but the party was broken before he arrived on the scene. All he did was finish the destruction.
If a return to “a rational party” means going back to the broken party that existed in 2016, then creating a new party means a return to the same pathetic, weak, ineffectual, cowardly, compromising, self-interested, lying, pusillanimous, perfidious and untrustworthy representation we’ve been getting from the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan rode off into the California sunset in 1989 after serving eight years as president.
After “Thousand points of light” Bush, “New economy” Clinton, and “Compassionate conservative” Bush had pretty much destroyed the gains realized by “The Gipper,” Barack Obama arrived on the scene with a promise to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”
During the Obama years, Mitch McConnell declared war against conservatives and Tea Party members, and he wasn’t alone. Other members of the Republican Party who distained conservatives included: John McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner, Peter King (R-NY), the Main Street Partnership, and pretty much everyone else in GOP leadership.
During the Trump years, McConnell found an ally in the New York liberal. Together, they destroyed conservatism and replaced it with Trumpism and Nationalism, giving us a mixed bag of socialism-friendly policies diametrically opposed to our values.
If this what Never-Trump Republicans have in mind for their new party, that’s clearly bad news.
As she was leaving the closed-door meeting, Cheney told reporters she was committed to opposing Trump should he seek office again. “I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” she said. “We have seen the danger that he continues to provoke with his language… I think it’s very important that we make sure whoever we elect will be faithful to the Constitution.”
The return to conservatism and the Constitution will ultimately depend on allies banding together against Trumpism and Nationalism. Likewise, it will also require taking a firm stand against the faux-conservatism peddled by the Republican Party for decades.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) appears to understand the task that lies ahead. After being isolated by Trumpist Republicans for voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — he was one of 10 House Republicans to do so — he launched the Country First Political Action Committee.
Kinzinger said he created the Country F1rst website to be a “landing place” for fellow conservatives who feel as he does concerning the Republican betrayal of conservatism, and he characterized his PAC as a place where we can return to “conservative principles” after the GOP “lost its moral authority in a lot of areas.”
As I wrote at the time, I find it hard to get too excited about Kinzinger’s Country First PAC because the “we need to return to conservatism” mantra has been the crutch used by the lame Republican Party every election season. This is why I decided years ago to be Never Trump and Never GOP and remain so to this day. I’m a Constitutional conservative and a Christian, and that’s never going to change.
Based on past history, the plan by Never-Trump Republicans to create a new party will ultimately be little more than an empty threat. And even if it proves to be real, it will most likely result in a return to the broken party that existed well before Trump destroyed it.
I’m intrigued and hopeful that something good will come out of this. If nothing else, the threat of creating a new party confirms what people like me have known all along: the Republican Party no longer represents conservative values. It’s been transformed into a cult where faux conservatives are unconditionally and completely devoted to a man who puts personal ambition and power ahead of America and the Constitution.
I’m a little gun-shy, but I’ll be keeping an eye on Never-Trump Republicans to see if their plan to create a new party turns out to be good news . . . or bad news.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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